New rules proposed by the Department of the Interior significantly weaken the Endangered Species Act. Our friends at the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) have made it easy to alert your Members of Congress of your concerns. Read below for what is at stake.
The Act, now over 50 years old, has been remarkably successful in preventing extinctions. Proposed rules include: a) requiring economic considerations to weigh heavily in listing decisions; b) ensuring that protections are necessary and advisable to conserve each species without imposing unnecessary restrictions on others – which removes current protections for species that are merely “threatened,” and will likely push those species towards extinction; and c) reinstating a rule delineating how economic, national security and other relevant impacts are to be weighed when determining whether to exclude new areas from critical habitat designation - which will challenge the ability of endangered and threatened species to expand into new habitats, and thus weaken their ability to recover. If these proposed rules seem familiar, they were made part of the Act in 2019 and 2020, and removed in 2024. Act Now! More information is available from the ABC. Proposed rule changes are available here from the Department of the Interior.
Header photo: Golden Eagle
Daniel O'Donnell/Audubon Photography Awards