To the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service:
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a profoundly successful tool at achieving the bipartisan goal of preventing extinction of wildlife, fish and plant species and the destruction of their habitats. Akin to an emergency room, the ESA is an effective response to ecological crises that aids species on their road to recovery. That success, however, is predicated on strong implementing regulations. The four proposed changes to those regulations would undermine the law’s efficacy. Each must be rejected.
I oppose any and all efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act and urge you to withdraw the proposed rule changes. The proposed rules:
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Deprive species newly listed as “threatened” with extinction of protections from killing, trapping, and other forms of prohibited “take,” even when that take is amongst the greatest drivers of the species’ decline. This makes no sense. We must address each of the threats that are causing imperilment.
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Fail to protect important habitat that was historically occupied but is currently unoccupied by narrowing the definition of critical habitat. Protecting historical habitat is often vital to the recovery of imperiled species. The goal of the ESA is to get species out of the proverbial emergency room, which inherently necessitates increasing populations and restoring species to historic range. Failing to protect historically occupied habitat fundamentally undermines the effectiveness of the law. Holistic approaches to species recovery is essential in the face of climate change impacts to habitat.
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Reduce cooperation between and amongst agencies tasked with implementing the ESA. This change would make it easier for agencies to green light destructive extractive proposals even when doing so will clearly further imperil listed species. Again, this proposed change undermines the letter and intent of the ESA.
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Allow consideration of economics in decisions of whether to protect species the science clearly shows are at risk of extinction, in direct violation of the ESA. The ESA clearly states that preventing extinction is the priority, and the Supreme Court has agreed. This regulatory change flips that on its head and allows short term potential lost profits to trump species safeguards.
Each of these proposed changes undermines the letter and intent of the ESA, a law passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed by a Republican President who stated upon doing so: “[T]his legislation provides the Federal Government with needed authority to protect an irreplaceable part of our national heritage—threatened wildlife. Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. This important measure grants the Government both the authority to make early identification of endangered species and the means to act quickly and thoroughly to save them from extinction.” – President Nixon.
It is a betrayal of this legacy to undermine the efficacy of the law by making these ill advised regulatory changes. We all should be proud of the effectiveness of the ESA. Take for example, the bald eagle, our national bird and symbol of the USA – without the ESA’s protections, we likely would have lost this iconic species. Now, Americans across the country are able to see bald eagles flying free.
As we confront the dual biodiversity-loss and climate crises, weakening the ESA is not only short sighted, it is dangerous. Protecting species and their habitats benefits humans as well – the law safeguards forest habitats that clean the air, watersheds and wetlands that filter drinking water for millions of Americans, pollinators that support our food supply, and estuaries that mitigate flooding. Humans are not isolated from the impacts of increasingly severe weather events and damaged ecosystems that are the symptoms of a rapidly changing climate.
Please rescind the four proposed rules (docket numbers: FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0048-0001, FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0029-0001, FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0044-0001, and FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0039-0001) undermining the Endangered Species Act for the benefit of wildlife, fish, plants and humans alike.
Sincerely,
