Defend the Endangered Species Act

Speak up against this unprecedented rule change by May 19.

Since 1973, The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been one of our nation’s strongest tools for protecting wildlife and the habitat they depend on. It’s saved some of our most iconic species from extinction—including the peregrine falcon, American alligator, grizzly bear, and bald eagle. Its success stems largely from a fundamental recognition that conserving habitat is essential to the recovery of threatened and endangered species. 

It’s common sense. When forests, rivers, wetlands, shrublands, and other habitats are degraded or destroyed, the animals that depend on these habitats are harmed and the damage is often irreversible. In fact, habitat degradation is widely understood to be the primary cause for species decline. For roughly half a century, the federal agencies implementing the ESA have rightly defined “harm” to include habitat degradation that kills or injures listed species—a definition that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990s.

Now, the Trump administration is proposing to rescind the regulatory definition of “harm”—an unprecedented move that aims to undermine the ESA’s ability to protect habitat and recover listed species. 

The ESA’s purpose is clear: to conserve the ecosystems that endangered species rely on. While the text of the statute is clear that habitat degradation harms wildlife, rescinding the regulatory definition of “harm” introduces unnecessary uncertainty, and runs contrary to how federal agencies have implemented the ESA for decades. 

In Central Oregon, where listed species like the Oregon spotted frog and steelhead trout are struggling to recover, this proposal threatens to undermine the years of work local partners have invested in conserving these species and their habitat. Especially amidst a global biodiversity crisis, we simply can’t afford to go backwards.

Now is the time to act. Please join LandWatch by submitting a comment opposing the Trump administration's attack on the ESA by May 19. Together, we can preserve the integrity of our bedrock environmental laws for our wildlife, wild places, and communities.

Bald Eagle pair near Twin Lakes by LandWatch Photo Partner David Willingham

Grizzly bear adult and cub.

American alligator.