October 12th – The Endangered Species Act – Monthly Program
October 12 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
SAS Monthly Program & Membership Meeting: Monday, October 12th
The Endangered Species Act: 50 Years of Conservation Success-And an Uncertain Future with Tim Preso
For more than 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has stood as our nation’s most powerful environmental law. Enacted to stem a rising tide of extinctions that threatened to claim even our national symbol, the Bald Eagle, the Act represented a decision by our nation to do what no country had done before, establishing what amounts to a bill of rights for animals and plants. Half a century later, the Act’s track record of success speaks for itself: it has prevented the extinction of 99 percent of species that have come under its protection and recovered many – including the Bald Eagle, Brown Pelican, and Peregrine Falcon – from their formerly imperiled status. Now, however, due to recent regulatory changes, the future of the Endangered Species Act looks uncertain, prompting the writer Terry Tempest Williams to wonder recently in the New York Times: “What if 50 years from now, having plundered America the Beautiful and destroyed the habitat for the creatures around us, we are plagued by an inconsolable loneliness because so many species have left us?”
Tim Preso is an environmental lawyer who has spent more than 25 years working to protect some of our nation’s most iconic wildlands and wildlife, first as managing attorney of Earthjustice’s office in the Northern Rockies and more recently as leader of the organization’s national biodiversity program. He is a recognized expert in public lands, wildlife, and natural resources law who has worked to enforce the Endangered Species Act on behalf of species ranging from grizzly bears to Red Kknots. Tim is also a Bozeman birder and occasional leader of SAS field trips.
Membership Meeting Program Info.
The in-person meeting will be held Monday, October 12, 2026 at Hope Lutheran Church, 2152 West Graf (off S. 19th). A social begins at 6:30 PM; the program begins at 7:00 PM. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own reusable cups.
For virtual attendance, please register at:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5529150863865294684
Attendees—whether in person or virtual—are encouraged to share their bird sightings at this and every monthly program.
SAS monthly programs are free and open to the public, featuring a special guest speaker the 2nd Monday of each month, September through May. For more information, contact programs@sacajaweaaudubon.org.