Trump rolls back protections for threatened species and habitat for endangered species
The rollback replaces automatic safeguards with species-specific plans and lets officials weigh economic costs, a shift critics say could slow wildlife protection.
- On Friday, the Interior Department canceled the rule providing automatic "blanket protections" for threatened species, requiring newly listed plants and wildlife to receive individualized protection plans instead.
- These protections were first adopted in 1975 and 1977, but the administration's move mirrors changes attempted during President Donald Trump's first term that were later reversed under former Democratic President Joe Biden.
- Interior Secretary Doug Burgum finalized a separate change requiring officials to analyze economic impacts when designating critical habitat; last week, officials narrowed the definition of "harm" to allow development on habitat if animals are not immediately injured.
- About 30 species, including monarch butterflies and alligator snapping turtles, currently await listing, prompting critics to warn that new requirements grant corporations undue influence over recovery efforts.
- Federal records show no new species listings during Trump's second term, compared to about 60 under Biden; the administration also reduced critical habitat for Canada lynx and transferred grizzly bear management authority to states.
86 Articles
86 Articles
Karen Telleen-Lawton: Hope is Not Endangered
Ten years ago, after just a dozen years on the Endangered Species List, the island fox was delisted. It was the swiftest recovery of a terrestrial mammal in the history of the Endangered Species Act. Once nearly extinct, the island fox made an amazingly swift comeback and is now off the Endangered Species List. (Courtesy photo) I never tire of sharing their miracle story with visitors to the Channel Islands. How they nearly went extinct in the …
How Trump’s Policy Change Could Lead to More Plant and Animal Extinctions
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Environmental Species Act in 2024, and the species is still pending protections. —Allen J. Schaben—Los Angeles TimesThe United States Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday updated its rules for implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA)—a move that could erode protections for plants and animals that are alread…
Trump admin gives wildlife 'one-way ticket to extinction' with new policies: expert
“Yet again, the Trump administration has sold out our endangered wildlife to the highest bidder,” said one biodiversity advocate after the US Department of Interior, in a Friday news dump, issued two new policy changes that would weaken the Endangered Species Act and make it easier for corporate pol...
Conservation Victory: New Federal Rule Reestablishes Incentives for Species Recovery
Bozeman, MT — Today, a policy recommendation long championed by the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) was officially implemented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. USFWS has rescinded the use of the blanket 4(d) rule under the Endangered Species Act, a critical step toward more effective, incentive-driven species recovery. “For too long, the blanket rule treated threatened species the sa…
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