7634

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7634
• Author: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Title: Threatened Wildlife of the United States.
• USFW Year: 1973.
• USFW - Doc Type: Washington, D.C.
• Copyright Material: NO

Institution's Division of Reptiles carried much of the burden of assembling the reptile and
amphibian sections. Dr. Robert R. Miller, Curator of Fishes, Museum of Zoology, Universit•
of Michigan, Dr. Edward C. Kinney, and Mr. Stephen H. Taub of the Division of Fishery
Services, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, were largely responsible for the section
on fishes. Howard R. Leach, Wildlife Management Branch, California Department of Fish
and Game, Sacramento, California, and others of that agency reviewed and constructively
commented on the data pages pertaining to California. Data were gleaned from the published
and unpublished work of many other scientists and agencies which are too numerous to be
acknowledged individually.
Federal Acts
Perhaps more confusion exists about the kind of protection an endangered species receives
than about any other aspect of the program . Neither the Endangered Species Protection Act
of 1966 (80 Stat. 926) nor its amended version, the Endangered Species Conservation Act of
1969, provides a Federal prohibition against the taking or possession of native endangered
fish and wildlife. Federal protection is afforded to migratory birds through the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act, as amended (16 U . S . C . 703-711); to eagles through. the Bald Eagle- Act, as
amended (16 U . S . C . 668-668d) : and to marine mammals through the Marine Mammal
Protection Act (F.L. 92-522) . Resident wildlife such as quail and pheasants, terrestrial
mammals, fishes, amphibians and reptiles may be under State jurisdiction but do not have
Federal protection except as provided on some Federal lands . Under the Lacey Act, as
amended (18 U . S . C . 42-44) the Federal Government can become involved if an animal
(endangered or not) is taken in violation of State law, and then moved across State or
international boundaries .
Formal involvement by the Federal Government in endangered species conservation began
with the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. That law acknowledged a national
responsibility to act on behalf of native species of wildlife which were "threatened with
extinction." It required the Secretary of the Interior to judge what was endangered and
publish in the Federal Register lists of such animals by scientific and common name. He
then was authorized to:
1. Conduct research on such animals .
2. Use limited amounts of money {$750,000 per area, $2.5 million per year
for a total. of $15 million) from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to
acquire habitat for them .
The Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 was signed into law on December 5, 1969.
This amendment to the 1966 Act broadened the scope of the effort to conserve endangered
species . Among other things it:
Broadened the coverage of the Act to include all vertebrates , mollusks
and crustaceans .
2. Permitted the consideration of subspecies as well as species (a subspecies
is a recognizable race or variant within a species).
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