Last Friday, the U.S. Department of the Interior revised its rules for implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The move puts threatened and endangered species at risk by ending automatic protections for newly listed species and revising how economic impacts are weighed when offering critical habitat protections.
The revision will change the “blanket rule,” which was introduced in 1975. The blanket rule automatically grants threatened species comprehensive protections—generally the same protections extended to endangered species. Now, newly listed threatened species will only receive protections on a case-by-case basis.
The announcement also includes reinstating a first-term Trump administration policy that gives more weight to the economic impacts of listing an area as critical habitat. Most notably, the rule allows an area to be excluded from a “critical habitat” designation if that exclusion will not cause the extinction of the species.
This comes just a week after the Interior department redefined the meaning of “harm” under the ESA, making it so that damaging or destroying an endangered species’ habitat is no longer considered harm.
Utah Monumental Day of Action TODAY
Last week, President Donald Trump decimated Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, cutting them by a combined 3 million acres, or over 90 percent. If you’re in Utah, join the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance today, July 20, for a Monumental Statewide Day of Action. This will include rallies in Ogden, Salt Lake City, Provo, St. George, and Moab. Bring a friend, a sign, and be ready to raise your voice against the downsizing of these national monuments.
Quick hits
Bears Ears cuts also end first-of-its-kind Tribal land commission
Wildfires scorch Colorado as crews race to fortify containment lines
New Mexico leaders vow to fight BLM proposal to undo Chaco Canyon protections
Editorial: Utah lawmakers should be backing our national monuments, not sucking up to Trump
Feds sow confusion with rule to ‘increase management flexibility’ for grizzly bears
Should new rules for the Colorado River save some water for the river itself?
Trump administration allows killing of species threatened with extinction
A legal shortcut greenlit a data center on public land — and shut the public out
Quote of the day
To reduce Bears Ears again is devastating, but to abolish the Bears Ears Commission is to attempt to erase years of Tribal leadership, relationships and work between sovereign Tribal nations and our federal partners.”
—Davina Smith-Idjesa, Navajo Nation representative and co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, High Country News
Picture This
Here are (just a few) places that are no longer protected by national monuments.
#nationalmonument #publicland #nationalparks #bearsears #backpacking