The Bald Eagle is one of the most obvious beneficiaries of the protection and assistance of measures provided by the Endangered Species Act.

The final Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulatory reform package, released last week by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce, will marginalize protections and reduce assistance for threatened and endangered birds by diminishing science-based decision-making and protections.

“As a whole, the rule changes are political, unwise, and will only increase litigation,” said Sarah Greenberger, senior vice president for conservation policy at the National Audubon Society. “They tip the balance in decision-making against vulnerable wildlife and undermine incentives for effective conservation,”

The Endangered Species Act has helped numerous species recover, including our national bird, the Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcons, Kirtland’s Warblers, Brown Pelicans, Ospreys, and many more, and it has provided science-based means for similar recoveries for many other species of birds and other wildlife.

While some of the new rules are reasonable – including making it easier to direct resources to conservation projects by speeding up consultation requirements for federal projects that are beneficial to species – other changes would severely weaken protections for imperiled birds.

The most egregious of the new changes would allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to consider the economic costs of listing a species – something expressly prohibited under existing law. Other changes will make it much more difficult to provide any protections to newly listed “threatened species” or to designate the “critical habitat” species need to recover. The new rules also allow the USFWS to ignore the effects of climate change on imperiled species – effects we are seeing with greater regularity, such as hurricanes that jeopardize Piping Plover populations.

Greenberger added: “While Audubon could have supported some changes that may improve implementation while speeding up support for at-risk wildlife, these damaging new rules will weaken protections for imperiled species and include language that is wholly contrary to the law.”

The Endangered Species Act is our nation’s most powerful tool for protecting wildlife. Protections provided by the Act have succeeded in preventing the extinction of species listed and benefitted many others that depend on the landscapes it has helped to protect.

To get more info about the new Endangered Species Act regulatory reforms, see https://www.audubon.org/news/new-endangered-species-act-rules-will-weaken-protections-birds-and-other