Photo by Diane Nunley/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In what can only be described as tone deaf and perhaps even cruel, the House of Representatives was primed to spend this past Earth Day voting on a bill that would have had disastrous consequences for endangered and threatened species across the country. Instead, the bill was yanked from the floor at the last minute, in reaction to Republican leaders in the House realizing that it would unlikely get passed.
The win was serendipitous because it happened at the same time that over 50 activists, including many Sierra Club members, were in DC to lobby in opposition to the bill. This Earth Day, democracy won out.
When it came down to it, both Republicans and Democrats in the House came together to defeat this bill before it even got to the floor (twice) because they care about endangered species and the safeguards those species need to survive. These members should be commended for their efforts to ensure our nation’s endangered species get a helping hand and have a chance to survive, so that future generations can appreciate them.
The “ESA Amendments Act” (HR 1897), sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR), proposes to drastically weaken the Endangered Species Act by rewriting key portions of the bedrock environmental law, decreasing protections for imperiled wildlife. The bill would extend timelines for listing processes, allowing imperiled species to continue to decline while decisions are pending. It would also fast-track timelines on delistings, arbitrarily limit federal agencies’ role in managing listed species, increase the allowable “take” — or the hunting, wounding, trapping, or killing — of threatened species, and narrow critical habitat designations. Although the bill has been defeated twice, it could still be worked on and end up coming back up for a floor vote in the future.
The Trump 2.0 Administration, and a small but very vocal minority in Congress, have been particularly aggressive in their efforts to destroy one of our country's most popular conservation laws. Since it was signed into law in 1973 by President Richard Nixon, the Endangered Species Act has helped more than 99 percent of listed species avoid extinction, with many on the road to population recovery. The Endangered Species Act has widespread bipartisan support from 84% of Americans.
Instead of attacking the laws that protect our nation’s most vulnerable wildlife, members of Congress and future administrations should be strengthening protections for wildlife and the habitat they need to survive. Bi-partisan bills like the Recovering America's Wildlife Act (RAWA) should be prioritized, and we need to make sure to fund the necessary science that is needed to make sound decisions on the ground.
When I was a young boy, I visited the International Crane Foundation headquarters in Baraboo, WI as part of a school trip. The trip was instrumental in influencing my ethics as a hunter and angler who sees all species as equals. On that trip, we were able to observe the whooping crane, one of the two native species of crane in the United States. Without a helping hand from the Endangered Species Act, whooping cranes very likely could be extinct today, or at least absent from my home state of Wisconsin. Due to the Endangered Species Act, I am able to drive an hour from my house in Milwaukee with my kids to see nesting whooping cranes in their home territory.
Americans want a strong, well-funded, and science-based Endangered Species Act. I am inspired to see that the majority of our representatives agree.