Stop Trump’s USFWS Director From Closing Wildlife Refuges

Right now, the Trump Administration’s Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) is conducting a sweeping “review” of the National Wildlife Refuge System — a process that could open the door to closing refuges, shrinking protected lands to benefit private industry, or weakening conservation safeguards. This review is underway at the exact moment scientists warn that wildlife is disappearing at an unprecedented rate. We cannot afford to stay silent while the places meant to protect wildlife are put at risk by ideologically-driven leadership at USFWS.

We are in the middle of a human-driven extinction crisis. Species are vanishing far faster than normal, and the leading cause is clear: habitat loss. When natural habitat is destroyed, wildlife has nowhere left to survive. The National Wildlife Refuge System exists to prevent that outcome by protecting irreplaceable ecosystems before they are lost forever.

Any attempt to close, consolidate, or downgrade wildlife refuges would be a direct assault on biodiversity and a violation of the Fish & Wildlife Service’s stated core mission of “working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.”

Once protected habitat is stripped away and given up for other uses, it is exceptionally difficult to reverse and extinction can become more likely for species who live there — and extinction is permanent. The time to stop this is right now.

The alarming urgency of this moment is heightened by the leadership overseeing this review. Fish & Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik has a troubling record from his time as Wyoming’s Game & Fish Director, where he repeatedly supported policies that weakened wildlife protections and favored political pressure over conservation or science. That history raises serious concerns about whether this ongoing review will prioritize preservation and conservation, or Nevik and Trump’s ideology.

Wildlife refuges are not expendable assets. They are carefully protected lands that shelter endangered species, migratory birds, pollinators, and entire ecosystems. They also provide clean water, climate resilience, and natural heritage that belongs to all of us — not political appointees.

Once refuges are closed or protections rolled back, the damage may be impossible to undo.

We call on the Trump Administration’s Fish & Wildlife Service to abandon any plans to close or reduce wildlife refuges, and publicly reaffirm its commitment to protecting wildlife habitat for our country’s future.

Tell the Fish & Wildlife Service’s Director Brian Nesvik: Hands off our wildlife refuges. Protect habitat now.

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Sources

https://www.eenews.net/articles/fws-chief-orders-comprehensive-review-of-wildlife-refuges/

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5657813-trump-fws-fish-wildlife-refuges/

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/interior-to-spend-holidays-studying-refuges-for-possible-closure