Tell Congress: Reverse Trump’s Endangered Species Rollback

An animal does not have to be shot, trapped, or poisoned to be killed by human actions. Destroy their nesting grounds, cut a road through their habitat, drain the wetlands where they feed, or clear the forest they depend on, and the consequences can be just as deadly.

But the Trump administration has finalized a regulation eliminating the longstanding federal definitions of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act. Those definitions recognized that significant habitat destruction can violate the law when it actually kills or injures protected wildlife.

The new rule could make it easier for logging, mining, drilling, construction, and other development to wipe out places endangered animals need to survive without triggering the Endangered Species Act’s prohibition on “take.”

This is not a harmless technical change. It strikes at one of America’s most successful and popular conservation laws.

The Endangered Species Act has prevented extinction for approximately 99% of the species placed under its protection. Bald eagles, gray whales, peregrine falcons, and other animals remain with us because our country decided extinction was unacceptable.

Americans still overwhelmingly agree. Nationwide polling conducted in 2025 found that 95% of voters support the Endangered Species Act—a remarkable level of support that crosses the partisan divisions dominating Washington.

Congress must act, but it should not reopen the Endangered Species Act and give opponents another opportunity to weaken it.

Instead, lawmakers should include narrow, substantive language in upcoming federal spending legislation that overrides the new rule and reinstates the previous regulatory definitions of “harm.”

Congress should reaffirm that significant habitat modification can violate the law when it actually kills or injures wildlife by disrupting essential behaviors such as feeding, breeding, migrating, or sheltering.

Please sign the petition urging Congress to reverse this dangerous rollback through must-pass spending legislation.

The petition to Congress reads: Include language in upcoming federal spending legislation that supersedes the Trump administration’s new “harm” rule and restores longstanding protections against habitat destruction that kills or injures endangered and threatened wildlife. Do not reopen or weaken the Endangered Species Act—defend this extraordinarily successful, broadly supported law and preserve its promise that no species should be driven to extinction for someone else’s profit.

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2026/07/10/trump-rule-says-habitat-destruction-does-not-harm-endangered-species/

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-07-11/trump-endangered-species-act-california

https://www.npr.org/2026/07/11/nx-s1-5890025/trump-administration-imperiled-wildlife