California Taking Steps To Protect Threatened And Endangered Species

Concerns that the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans will try to weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has prompted state legislation in California to protect listed species.

The measure, awaiting Governor Gavin Newsom's signature, "protects endangered and threatened species in California from federal rollbacks and streamlines protections under the California Endangered Species Act for federally listed species that have been substantially impacted by federal rollbacks," according to a release from Assemblymember Nick Schultz (D-Burbank).

The Trump administration already has taken some steps to weaken the ESA. Earlier this year it initiated steps to redefine what it means to "harm" a threatened or endangered species. Staff at the Center For Biological Diversity say that under that change "harm" would "no longer be interpreted to include habitat destruction."

“There’s just no way to protect animals and plants from extinction without protecting the places they live, yet the Trump administration is opening the flood gates to immeasurable habitat destruction,” said Noah Greenwald, the organization's codirector of endangered species, back in April.

The Republican-led Congress also is striving to overhaul the Endangered Species Act itself in ways that would weaken species protections. This week U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR), introduced a bill that seeks to delist gray wolves in currently protected areas of Oregon and Washington from the Endangered Species Act.

“This bill is the latest in a series of attacks on gray wolves that are senselessly attempting to strip protections away while the species continues to recover,” said Colin Reynolds, senior advisor to the Northwest program at Defenders of Wildlife. “As has been reported in both Oregon and Washington’s most recent annual wolf reports, wolves have not yet reached a sustainable population threshold, making this bill nonsensical and a direct affront to science and continued recovery efforts.”

Under the ESA, the gray wolf is listed as endangered in most of the Lower 48, threatened in Minnesota, and is not listed in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming and portions of Washington, Oregon and Utah.  

The half-century-old ESA protects such vulnerable plants and animals as grizzly bears in Yellowstone, tiny birds found only in Hawaii’s tropical forests, blubbery-looking manatees in Florida, and close to 1,000 rare plants across the country. Signed by then-President Richard Nixon, the ESA is the government’s promise to fend off their extinction.

Under the act listed species are due recovery plans and myriad survival aids — things like habitat protection and restoration, removal of invasive predators and non-native vegetation, and even captive-breeding efforts to push their populations back from the maw of extinction. The strategies often spark conflict over use of land that’s also in demand for non-conservation goals. During his first term, Trump redefined what constitutes critical habitat for listed species and allowed economic impacts to be considered when listing species. The Biden administration partially reversed the changes, but it's expected Trump will revert the rules.

Schultz said he was motivated to draft the legislation because "California is home to more species of plants and animals than any other state in the nation, and for decades we’ve protected our most vulnerable native and iconic species through the California Endangered Species Act."

"With threats looming at the federal level, AB 1319 bolsters those protections with a thoughtful, science-based process to shield at-risk species from federal rollbacks and strengthens our ability to stop the illegal trade of fish and wildlife in our state," the legislator added in a release. "I’m grateful to my colleagues for their support and look forward to Governor Newsom signing this bill into law.”

California staff for Defenders of Wildlife said threats to the federal ESA place a responsibility on states to protect threatened and endangered species.

“If signed into law by Governor Newsom, AB 1319 will give California the opportunity to proactively respond to the imminent loss of protections by all species only protected by the federal ESA," said Pamela Flick. 

Under AB 1319, "a new, faster and more efficient process in which CDFW can quickly protect federally listed species that have been substantially impacted by federal rollbacks," according to Defenders. "These species will remain on this new 'provisional' endangered species list until 2031 unless they are formally listed as state endangered or threatened through the existing listing process or they are removed from the list under the current de-listing process. AB 1319 also includes improvements to state wildlife trafficking laws by providing a state backstop if federal wildlife trafficking laws are weakened, providing more time for wildlife trafficking investigations, and updating fines and penalties for wildlife trafficking."