DOI Sec Burgum Should Fix USFWS, Not Fly Around the World

As America’s wildlife faces unprecedented threats, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is grinding to a halt — trapped in a growing backlog of endangered species protections. At the same time, key staff are furloughed and offices sit empty. Yet instead of fixing the problem, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is under fire for racking up frequent flyer miles and photo ops abroad — even as the government shutdown leaves critical conservation work undone.

Our nation’s most vulnerable plants and animals can’t afford delays. Deep staffing cuts and hiring freezes have already gutted the agency’s ability to review species in danger of extinction. Now, the shutdown has pushed the situation to the breaking point.

Burgum’s job isn’t to travel the world. It’s to protect America’s irreplaceable wildlife. Every week of inaction means more species slipping closer to extinction.

Wildlife law enforcement officers, park rangers, and conservation biologists have been forced to stand down. Critical protections for species on the brink — red wolves, monarch butterflies, Hawaiian honeycreepers, even desert wildflowers — are stalled in an ever-growing backlog. Each day of delay means another creature slips closer to extinction.

According to The New York Times and other outlets, Secretary Burgum has taken multiple overseas and domestic trips during the shutdown as U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff are furloughed and conservation fieldwork has ground to a halt. These journeys aren’t harmless PR — they highlight a serious failure of leadership at a moment when endangered species decisions are piling up, waiting for approval. While habitats are being lost forever, Burgum is racking up frequent flyer miles.

Secretary Burgum is traveling the world as his own agency back home lacks the staff and funding to carry out its basic duties. With park rangers furloughed, trash is piling up in national parks, wildlife is being disturbed, and fragile ecosystems in our national parks are suffering unchecked damage. The painful irony is that while Burgum makes speeches abroad about our country’s record of saving species, U.S. scientists can’t do their jobs, and America’s most iconic public lands are left unguarded. Choosing business trips over action is not leadership. 

We need Burgum to stay home and fix this crisis — not flee it.

Sign now to tell Interior Secretary Burgum:

1: Lead the effort to restore USFWS staffing and funding so scientists can do their jobs.

2: Clear the backlog of endangered species listings before more are lost forever.

3:Declare wildlife work and public lands protection as “essential” so shutdowns never halt protections again.

4: End all non-essential travel until the extinction crisis is under control. Our country’s Endangered Species Act is the worldwide model for saving species–but it only works if it is prioritized by the agencies that carry it out.

America’s wildlife can’t speak for itself — but you can. Sign the petition to tell the Secretary of the Interior: stop the needless travel, fix the backlog, and put saving lives over photo ops.

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Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/climate/interior-secretary-travel-shutdown.html