April 3 – Trump’s 2027 budget proposal cuts funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System, North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and the National Park Service by another 25%. It also decreases staff at the Bureau of Land Management, eliminates the entire U.S. Forest Service forest and rangelands research arm, and cuts all funding for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service state and tribal wildlife grants.
April 4 – Forest Services moves to implement Trump’s big timber Executive Order.
April 10 – The so-called “Fix” Our Forest Act (S.B. 1462) is introduced in the Senate.
April 11 – Presidential memorandum aggressively slashes agency regulations. The administration proposes rescinding the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act.
April 16 – The Senate votes to overturn protections from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, ending a 20-year mining ban in one of the most visited designated wilderness areas in the country.
April 22 – On Earth Day of all days, anti-conservation interests in Congress planned a floor vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on H.R. 1897, a bill that would gut the Endangered Species Act. In the face of broad public opposition, House leadership pulled the bill right before the vote – likely to prevent it from failing on the floor.
April 26 – The Trump administration fires all 22 members of the board overseeing the National Science Foundation, the independent governmental agency that supports academic research and publishes reports that help guide the federal government on science policy.
April 27 – Trump withdraws nomination of Scott Socha, a hospitality executive, as director of the National Park Service – after 75 days of public pressure.
