Skip to main content

Untitled Backcover

December 2024
1min read

A peregrine falcon nesting on top of City Hall in Long Beach, California, in 1991 scowls at a photographer coming too close. In the early 1970s, after decades of exposure to chemical pesticides, the birds were extinct in the East and rare in the West—only two pairs could be located in all of California. Now thanks to zealous conservation programs that hatched eggs in captivity and then returned the birds to the wild, there are more than 150 pairs in the state and peregrines are coming back to the East as well. The gradual return of the endangered bird is one of many signs that we may finally be making progress in rescuing our environment. In this issue John Steele Gordon chronicles our nation’s erratic stewardship of a natural bounty that once seemed inexhaustible.

Enjoy our work? Help us keep going.

Now in its 75th year, American Heritage relies on contributions from readers like you to survive. You can support this magazine of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it by donating today.

Donate