mr. speaker , i appreciate the comments of my colleague on the committee on rules , the gentleman from utah , but he uses statistics very selectively .  let me cite a more important statistic , and that is more than 1 , 800 species currently protected by the act are still with us .  only nine have been declared extinct .  that is an astonishing success rate of more than 99 percent .  so this has been a successful act .  i will also provide for the record an article that appeared in the salt lake tribune by ben long , who is a contributor to the writers on the range , a service of high country news , who has written a great article about how the endangered species act succeeds with flying colors .  species act succeeds with flying colors the endangered species act -- which is being reviewed by congress this week -- is a soaring success .  just look up .  look skyward for a while and you might spy an american bald eagle .  hundreds of them live in my home state of montana .  across the united states , the bald eagle is a living , flying example of what works about the endangered species act .  rep .  richard pombo , r-calif. , is spearheading the effort to change the landmark , 30-year old anti-extinction law .  `` the act is n't working to recover species now , '' pombo said in a recent speech in washington state .  `` at the same time it has caused a lot of conflicts. '' pombo evidently spends too much time inside his stuffy washington office .  if he got out in the forests and rivers more , he might know the story of the bald eagle .  the american symbol was listed as endangered in 1978 .  that year , surveys turned up only 12 bald eagle nests in all of montana .  then , environmental laws such as the endangered species act and a federal ban on the pesticide ddt kicked in .  they protected the birds from chemical poisoning , destruction of habitat and needless , wasteful killing .  the results were gradual , but dramatic .  by 2005 , the number of bald eagle nests in montana multiplied to 300 nests -- 25 times the number before the bird was included on the endangered species list .  that 's just one state .  eagles were similarly successful in other states as well .  in 1999 , the bald eagle 's status was upgraded from `` endangered '' to `` threatened. '' if trends continue , they will soon be officially recovered and all america will celebrate .  today , montana is one of the top 10 eagle-producing states in the united states .  in a recent winter , i watched more than 30 eagles clean up a carcass in a rancher 's back pasture .  bald eagle congregations have been tourist attractions at places like canyon ferry and libby dams , where they feed on fish in the winter .  no matter how many times i see a bald eagle on the wing , i am taken aback by its beauty -- and thankful for the endangered species act .  conflicts over endangered species make headlines .  success happens in quiet obscurity .  but over time , the successes are dramatic indeed .  gray wolves are another endangered species act success story in the northern rockies .  wiped out by over-zealous predator control a century ago , wolves began trickling back into montana in the 1980s .  now , there are hundreds of wolves in western montana , and more in neighboring idaho and wyoming .  because montana stepped up to the plate and agreed to manage these animals for the future , the federal u.s. fish and wildlife service recently handed wolf management over to the montana department of fish , wildlife and parks .  this is evidence of the flexibility built into the law .  while i do n't like to see any animal needlessly wasted , i respect that ranchers need to protect their stock to make a living .  the endangered species act has allowed wildlife managers to kill problem wolves -- even wipe out entire packs that made a habit of killing livestock .  we humans now dominate planet earth .  we share a responsibility not to push species into extinction .  for 30 years , the endangered species act has helped keep america the rich and beautiful land we love .  my 17-month-old son loves watching finches and chickadees at the feeder outside our kitchen window .  he will grow up also watching bald eagles , some perching on a snag close to our backyard .  what a change .  when i was a kid , the only eagle i ever saw was on the back of a quarter .  