Since this past December here at the Traveler we've been bringing you a series of stories on the Endangered Species Act and the threatened and endangered species it's intended to keep from going extinct.

For me, it's been an eye-opening series because of what our editors and writers have learned about threatened and endangered species — from birds to trees and even to grasses — and the work being done to help them recover. It's certainly not an easy task, and one that often takes decades before you can see progress.

In today's podcast, I sit down again with Jake Li, the vice president for conservation policy at Defenders of Wildlife, to get his take on efforts in Congress to rewrite the Endangered Species Act in ways that might not be so beneficial for threatened and endangered species. I think you'll find it to be a very insightful conversation. We recorded this conversation in mid-May, right before Endangered Species Day.