In 2020, the gray wolf lost protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) across 44 of the lower-48 states. The controversial decision by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was not informed by the best available science. In fact, an independent peer-review panel of scientists found several significant errors with the FWS delisting proposal. In a win for science yesterday, a federal court in California struck down this decision, granting ESA protections to the gray wolf once again. Will the ruling stick? The Biden administration could appeal the decision and has not given a clear indic ..read more

The Trump administration is no stranger to attacking protections for endangered species, the implementation of the process by which endangered species are afforded protections by the federal government, the science underpinning that process, or the piece of legislation that spells all of these processes out and has resounding bipartisan support (i.e., the Endangered Species Act). And there are lots of endangered species at risk of losing their much-needed protections such as the American burying beetle, Chinook salmon, and (still) the polar bear. This is all happening as scientists continue to ..read more

Today, a new analysis published in Nature Climate Change shows that the US government doesn’t have many plans to conserve hundreds of endangered species that are at-risk of being affected by climate change. The analysis finds that 99.8% of the 459 US animals listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) are at risk of having their populations further decrease under a changing climate. However, the two agencies in charge of managing conservation of these species, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), have plans to manage the effects ..read more

Sadly, we have grown accustomed to seeing political candidates denying the reality of established scientific facts, such as those that underpin our understanding of evolution and climate change. Science denial is even more disturbing, however, when it emerges from federal agencies such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that are meant to uphold scientific integrity. But scientists can play an important role in watchdogging government actions. My new peer-reviewed study sheds light on how far we’ve strayed from what the science says we should do in protecting the wolf, and how the F ..read more

Eastern Egg Rock, Maine — In the midst of a second-straight record year for breeding Atlantic puffins, the research crew on this tiny, treeless jumble of boulders six miles out to sea pondered how long this good fortune would last amid climate change. “I wonder if the puffins can feel the change,” said crew supervisor Sarah Guitart, 29, a marine science Boston University graduate of Boston University. “How long will they adapt? Will they adapt or die?” These puffins got more than enough fish in the 46th year of Project Puffin, the world’s first successful restoration of a seabird to an island ..read more

Today, the Trump administration released a final rule dismantling the role of science in informing protections for endangered and threatened wildlife. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the protections it has afforded to threatened and endangered species have been based on the best available science and commercial data. Today, science will take a backseat as the new rule will sideline scientific evidence and emphasize considerations of economic costs in decisions to list species and/or the habitat they depend on under ESA. This new rule will result in less protection for America’s threatened ..read more

According to a five-member peer-review panel, the administration’s proposal to delist the endangered gray wolf (Canis lupus) from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is chalk full of scientific errors that misrepresent the scientific consensus regarding wolf conservation and taxonomy. One member of the panel even said that the proposed rule seems as if it were written with a predetermined conclusion to delist the endangered gray wolf, and then the administration cherry picked evidence they thought supported their conclusion. “It looks like they decided to delist and then they compiled all the evi ..read more

On Thursday, March 28, the Senate will hold a hearing to advance David Bernhardt’s nomination for Secretary of the Interior. This is not good news for the Department of the Interior, its federal scientists and their work, or the people, public lands, and endangered species that are directly affected by the agency’s decisions. Over the past two years, Bernhardt has played a prominent role in sidelining science in policy decisions at the Department of the Interior (DOI), first as assistant Interior Secretary and then as acting secretary following Zinke’s resignation in December. We documented th ..read more

The Department of Interior simultaneously announced three majorly flawed proposals that would radically transform how the Endangered Species Act functions and gave the public just 60 days to provide feedback. Yesterday, without providing any reasoning, the department denied a request from UCS to extend the comment period. That means you have six more days to file a comment (Rule 1, Rule 2, Rule 3). This guide from UCS can help you craft an effective comment on one or all of these rules. The way the government uses science to manage endangered species like the greater sage grouse may ..read more

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rushed a scientific assessment on the endangered American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) in Nebraska, seemingly because the agency didn’t want to disrupt agribusiness. Two biologists that were working on the assessment, Wyatt Hoback and Douglas Leasure, told the Washington Post that the FWS pushed them to conduct their science on an extremely constrained timeline. The beetle has been a source of contention in federal government research since 2013. The species was listed as endangered after 1989 when scientific evidence showed that the beetle had ..read more