1980

Swayed by a well-orchestrated campaign carried out by the nation's leading conservation organizations, Congress passes the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. In one fell swoop, the act adds more than 100 million acres to the federal wildlands system. The National Audubon Society joins the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a last-ditch effort to save the California condor from extinction.

1981

As Ronald Reagan starts his first term as U.S. President, the environmental community braces for an assault on recent gains. Interior Secretary James Watt leads the charge, skirting wildlife protection and anti-pollution laws to push for increased oil drilling, logging, and mining on public lands. Audubon wins the National Magazine Award for General Excellence.

1982

Some California environmentalists attack the aggressive condor management planned by Audubon and federal biologists. Russell Peterson and state wildlife officials reach an agreement that lets biologists trap condors for radio tracking and captive-breeding programs.

1983

The federal government offers to buy the entire town of Times Beach, Missouri, because of dioxin contamination.

1984

With media mogul Ted Turner's help, Russell Peterson launches The World of Audubon TV series. Hollywood stars such as Robert Redford and Meryl Streep narrate the programs. The society also begins a popular children's education program and publication, Audubon Adventures. A toxic-gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, results in the worst industrial accident in history, killing more than 2,000 people and injuring 200,000.

1985

French agents sink the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior, which was to disrupt nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Congress enacts the Conservation Reserve Program to combat erosion and preserve cover for nesting waterfowl. Peter A. A. Berle, former chief of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, succeeds Peterson as Audubon president.

1986

A radioactive cloud is released in a nuclear-plant accident at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union; 450,000 people are driven from their homes.

1987

The last wild California condor, AC 9, is captured by Audubon biologists and put into a captive-breeding program with other survivors.

1988

The first condor chick is born in captivity in California, raising new hope for the species' survival. Rain-forest activist Chico Mendes is murdered in Brazil because of his out-spoken campaign to halt logging in the Amazon Basin.

1989

The supertanker Exxon Valdez brings a lackluster environmental decade to a fitting close when it blunders onto rocks in Alaska's Prince William Sound. Despite an enormous effort at containment by government workers and volunteers, the worst oil spill in maritime history kills 50,000 birds and countless other animals and plants.

1990

The Environmental Protection Agency vetoes construction of the proposed Two Forks Dam, near Denver. The dam would have altered the flow of the Platte River in Nebraska and dried up critical stretches where half a million sandhill cranes (80 percent of the world's population) stop during their migrations. Two hundred million people in 141 countries celebrate the 20th anniversary of Earth Day.

1991

Thirty-nine countries sign the Madrid Protocol, establishing a moratorium on mining in Antarctica. Michael W. Robbins becomes editor of Audubon.

1992

The gray wolf is removed from the endangered-species list, and the United States bans imports of yellowfin tuna captured in nets that kill dolphins. The United Nations holds the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to grapple with global warming and other environmental problems. The National Audubon Society moves into its new home at 700 Broadway -- one of the most environmentally advanced, energy-efficient office buildings in the world.

1993

Audubon acquires 76 acres in California's Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge and transfers the land to the Fish and Wildlife Service to use for releasing captive condors into the wild. More than 600,000 children enroll in the Audubon Adventures program.

1994

The bald eagle -- a victim of DDT but a beneficiary of the Endangered Species Act -- is moved from the "endangered" category to "threatened." The United States and Canada close the Georges Bank fishing ground. The International Whaling Commission declares Antarctica a permanent whale sanctuary.

1995

Federal biologists reintroduce the gray wolf to the Yellowstone ecosystem and wilderness areas of Idaho. In their Contract With America, conservatives in Congress take aim at environmental laws. A rider dubbed "logging without laws" slips through in a budget bill, causing further logging of the last remnants of old-growth forests. A denizen of these woodlands, the endangered northern spotted owl, continues to slide. But President Bill Clinton vetoes another budget bill containing a rider that would have opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. John Flicker succeeds Peter Berle as Audubon president.

1996

A six-week study by Audubon's Living Oceans Program finds 3,500 seabirds strangled and drowned in salmon-fishing nets in Puget Sound. Fishermen agree to modify the nets so more birds can escape unharmed. Republicans try but fail to weaken the regulatory power of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) begins monitoring population trends among the world's beleaguered sharks -- a major step toward global cooperation in protecting large oceangoing fish.

1997

Audubon lobbyists help beat back attempts in Congress to weaken the Endangered Species Act. They also help derail another version of the Garrison Diversion Project in North Dakota. Audubon publishes "The Yellowstone Massacre," by Doug Peacock, which helps draw national attention to the killing of bison in the national park.

1998

Republicans announce plans for a multimillion-dollar cleanup of California's Salton Sea as a memorial to the late entertainer Sonny Bono, who was the area's representative in Congress. Audubon holds its first-ever Great Backyard Bird Count; 14,000 individuals, classrooms, and families across the continent identify, count, and report the birds they see in their backyards, schoolyards, and parks. Lisa Gosselin becomes editor of Audubon.