The Endangered Species Act is a program that protects endangered animals and plants from becoming extinct.

The Endangered Species Act has been amended many times. The Act was passed by Congress in 1966.  It was first called the Endangered Species Preservation Act which was "the first federal effort to protect endangered wildlife." It was then modified in 1969 to provide more protection to endangered species from "worldwide extinction".  They did that by prohibiting the sale of those endangered species, and preventing them from being imported to foreign markets and from being harmed by trade. 

Then in the 1970s, the Act changed its name to the Endangered Species Act which was then passed by Congress in 1973 called the Endangered Species Act of 1973.  This Act had become more strict then the previous ones and had more rules to make sure that every endangered species even the ones classified as threatened was guarenteed protection under its law.  Several amendments over the years were then added to the Act to provide stricter laws to protect the endangered species even more and to guarantee them safety from extinction.

The Endangered Species Act was taken out and modified countless of times because there were protests from people who thought the Act was not as important than other concerns, and the legislative who wanted to "weaken the act."  However, there were people out there who were protesting to bring it back, to get it renewed and make it stronger to protect wildlife and their habitats. 

In 1982, the Endangered Species Act was going to expire in a few months. One couple from Florida wanted to take action to help extend the Act.  They wanted to create more public awareness about the Endangered Species Act.  The couples name was Bill Nelson who was a school teacher and Patricia Miller who was a court reporter.  To create public awareness about the Act, Nelson and Miller decided to ride their bicycle to Washington all the way to the Maine-Canada border.  During their "bike-a-thon" they came across a lot of people along the way.  Many of the people that they have met knew about the Endangered Species Act but did not know that it was going to expire in a few months.  Nelson and Miller encouraged them to "write to their congressmen" to extend the Act.  Nelson stated that his goal was to "meet as many people as possible" to help spread awareness of the Endangered Species Act.

Franklin D. McMillan who was an advocate for animals, also argued and protested to extend the Endangered Species Act.  He argued why the Act is important and why it should be extended.  He stated that the legislative branch wants to weaken the Act by making it harder "to put a species on the endangered list." He also stated that the "unchecked expansion of the human population has directly led to the extinction of more and more animal species as their habitats are slowly being taken away from them."  He wanted the public to know that this is the reason why extending the Endangered Species Act is very important. Without the Act, many animal and plant species would not be protected against extinction.  He also argued that "most people do not consider the loss of a species" to be important and that the reason why endangered species are being extinct is because of human impact and the carelessness and lack of knowledge that many people do not know that they are harming species and their habitats. He stresses how important the Endangered Species Act is by stating that if the Act was no longer enacted then "we've already begun the countdown where one by one each species will vanish until we, the intelligent humans, stand alone."