The Trump Administration Continues To Propose Changes to the Endangered Species Act

A lot has changed since President Donald Trump took office, with certain policies altered as he sees fit. As rules and key provisions are revised, the changes that President Trump makes to various policies can have profound impacts on the planet.

Such is the case with the Endangered Species Act, which may soon undergo various changes that could have disastrous consequences for the planet and many of the animals who inhabit it. Endangered species are under threat from the Trump Administration.

If you are unaware of the key changes to the Endangered Species Act that have been proposed to President Trump, prepare for the worst. There is much to make of the proposed changes, which we will elaborate on below.

Continue reading to learn more about why the Trump Administration is seeking changes to the Endangered Species Act, and why their never-ending quest to undo policy updates from the Biden Administration means animals and the planet will continue to be under attack.

According to a November press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service brought forth four proposed rules to restore Endangered Species Act regulations to their prior versions, before the Biden Administration changed them during President Biden's term in office.

Two of the proposed rule changes were issued in coordination with the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

As Maine Audubon summarizes, threatened species protections (specifically, the "blanket rule") will be removed; interagency consultation regulations will be revised; a 2020 Trump Administration-era exclusion rule "that makes it easier to exclude areas from critical habitat designations" will be reinstated; and a 2019 Trump rule regarding "critical habitats" will be reinstated.

“These revisions end years of legal confusion and regulatory overreach, delivering certainty to states, tribes, landowners, and businesses while ensuring conservation efforts remain grounded in sound science and common sense," Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in the November press release.

Word salad aside, not everyone believes the proposed changes are the product of "common sense."

"Perhaps the largest potential change from this proposal is the shift in decisions away from science and toward economic considerations," Maine Audubon Advocacy & Outreach Manager Nick Lund writes. "There are economic impacts when taking action to protect species, but, historically, our nation has prioritized biological considerations above economic ones when it comes to the extinction of species."

The Center for Biological Diversity puts it succinctly: the Trump Administration's changes will spell the end for many species.

"If these Trump proposals had been in place in the 1970s, the only place you’d find a bald eagle today is on the back of a dollar bill,” Deputy Director of Government Affairs Stephanie Kurose said in a press release. “This plan hacks apart the Endangered Species Act and creates a blueprint for the extinction for some of America’s most beloved wildlife.”

Describing the Trump Administration's proposed rule changes as a "death sentence for wolverines, monarch butterflies, Florida manatees and so many other animals and plants that desperately need our help," Kurose said that the Endangered Species Act should be "strengthened, not sledgehammered."

According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service press release, public comments must be submitted to the regulations.gov website by Dec. 21. The public can access the relevant sections by searching the following docket numbers:

• FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0039 (Section 4)
• FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0044 (Section 7)
• FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0029 (Section 4(d))
• FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0048 (Section 4(b)(2)).