Habitat Protection = Wildlife Conservation

North American endangered species

This proposal "threatens a half-century of progress in protecting and restoring endangered species," is how Drew Caputo, an attorney at Earthjustice, framed the Trump administration's latest attack on the environment. By redefining a key tenet of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that protects critical habitat of listed species, the administration would allow commercialization of the remaining places that endangered species live. As Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity noted, habitat destruction remains the biggest cause of species extinction.

The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on April 17th beginning a 30-day public comment period. If adopted, the rule change would redefine the term "harm" in the ESA to exclude degradation of habitat that's critical to the survival of endangered species.

The Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (which is also under attack) are the glue that holds the wildlife conservation effort together. Consider submitting a brief comment objecting to the proposed change at this web address

Habitat is the currency of wildlife.