North Carolina Wildlife Federation (NCWF), alongside conservation organizations from across the country, has notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service of its intent to sue over the agencies’ unlawful decision to eliminate long-standing protections for the habitat of endangered and threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
NCWF is joined by the National Wildlife Federation, South Carolina Wildlife Federation, Florida Wildlife Federation, Association of Northwest Steelheaders, and Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi in challenging the agencies’ rollback of the ESA’s long-standing definition of “harm.” The notice begins a required 60-day period before litigation may be filed.
For more than 50 years, the ESA has recognized that destroying or significantly degrading essential habitat can harm protected wildlife. That interpretation has been consistently applied across presidential administrations and was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995. By rescinding the definition of “harm” to exclude habitat destruction, the agencies are undermining one of the law’s most fundamental and effective conservation tools.
“To remove habitat considerations from how we conserve wildlife is simply illogical,” says Tim Gestwicki, NCWF CEO. “This proposal to remove habitat protections is a death knell for species.”
Habitat protection lies at the heart of successful wildlife conservation. Since its passage in 1973, the ESA has helped prevent the extinction of 99 percent of listed species and supported the recovery of iconic wildlife such as the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and southern sea otter.
In North Carolina, the ESA has supported efforts including Red Wolf reintroduction at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Atlantic sturgeon research and spawning habitat protection, conservation of old-growth forests for the Carolina northern flying squirrel, and voluntary partnerships like the Safe Harbor Agreement at Pinehurst Resort.
Federal data show that habitat loss or modification is a factor in the decline or recovery of approximately 92 percent of listed vertebrate species in the United States. Across North Carolina, healthy habitats support not only endangered species but also game species, migratory birds, clean water, resilient forests, and the state’s outdoor recreation economy.
Last year, NCWF joined conservation partners in opposing this abrupt reversal, warning that this unfounded modification ignores decades of scientific understanding and undermines the foundation of the ESA. Weakening these protections jeopardizes decades of conservation progress and places hundreds of species at greater risk of extinction. Protecting wildlife means protecting the places they live – and if we lose those places, we risk losing the species themselves.
Yet the still lingering threat of this reversal has led the coalition to provide legal notice arguing that the agencies’ action violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the ESA, itself. If the agencies do not reverse course within 60 days, the coalition intends to file suit in federal court.
“This is simply a line in the sand the agencies have created,” says Manley Fuller, NCWF VP Conservation Policy. “They are forcing us to go to court to halt this ill-conceived plan.”
