Origins & Impetus
1964
The Department of the Interior appoints the Committee on Rare and Endangered Wildlife Species.
1966
The Committee publishes Rare and Endangered Fish and Wildlife of the United States.
Congress passes the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966.
This first list of species including the following members of Delisted 2023 (identified here with the names used in the original list):
American Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Kauai Oo (or Oo Aa)
Longjaw Cisco
Caribbean Monk Seal
Kauai Akialoa
Kauai Nukupuu
Bachman's Warbler
Dusky Seaside Sparrow
Blue Pike
1973
Congress passes the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and it comes into effect in December.
Section 4 (16 USC §1533) directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries (NOAA/NMFS) to determine whether a plant or animal species should be included on the endangered species list.
1982-2018
Between 1982 to 2018, Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA/NMFS remove eleven species from the endangered species list, delisted them, because the agencies consider them extinct.
2021
In September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes removing 23 species from the Endangered Species List because, based on the agency's "best available science," those species are extinct.
2023
The final rule comes into effect on November 16
On October 17, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service withdraws Phyllostegia
glabra var. lanaiensis, the single plant species, from the the proposed delisting rule.
The same day the Service publishes the final rule delisting 21 of the 23 proposed species.
The Service is still deciding whether or not to delist the ivory-billed woodpecker (ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus
principalis).