UPDATE | Trump Administration Proposes Changes To Endangered Species Act Regulations

Editor's note: This updates with reaction from the National Parks Conservation Association.

The Trump administration said Wednesday it intended to restore regulatory changes to the Endangered Species Act that President Donald Trump made during his first term, a move quickly criticized as ensuring "a death sentence" to countless species that benefit from the act.

The announcement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the restoration of four rules align with the president's "directives to strengthen American energy independence, improve regulatory predictability and ensure federal actions align with the best reading of the law."

The changes, a release from the agency said, would "revise Biden administration regulations finalized in 2024 that expanded federal reach, created unnecessary complexity and departed from the statute’s clear language."

"The 2024 regulatory packages had reimposed provisions previously deemed inconsistent with the ESA’s statutory text," Interior staff maintained. "The administration’s proposed rules would replace those provisions with standards that reflect decades of implementation experience, consistent judicial precedent and the Supreme Court’s reaffirmation that agencies must follow the law as written."

One of the rules the administration wants to change involves how critical habitat for species is defined, specifying that economic and national interests can overrule habitat decisions. It also wants to eliminate the "blanket 4(d) rule," which establishes the default of automatically extending protections provided to endangered species to those listed as threatened, unless the Service adopts a species-specific 4(d) rule that provides exceptions to ESA protections.

“This administration is restoring the Endangered Species Act to its original intent, protecting species through clear, consistent and lawful standards that also respect the livelihoods of Americans who depend on our land and resources,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “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.” 

But staff at the Center for Biological Diversity contend the changes "would dismantle the Endangered Species Act and drive hundreds of imperiled animals and plants closer to extinction." The proposed changes would "make it easier for industry to bulldoze, drill, and destroy critical habitat, while making it harder for animals and plants in need of protection to get the safeguards they deserve," the Center said.

“Trump’s proposals are a death sentence for wolverines, Monarch butterflies, Florida manatees and so many other animals and plants that desperately need our help,” said Stephanie Kurose, deputy director of government affairs at the organization. “We assumed Trump would attack wildlife again but this dumpster fire of a plan is beyond cruel. Americans overwhelmingly support the Endangered Species Act and want to see it strengthened, not sledgehammered. We’ve fought this before and we’ll fight it again.”

Defenders of Wildlife officials said the changes, if adopted, would accelerate the biodiversity crisis the world faces.

“America’s imperiled wildlife remains at an uncertain crossroads, with one road pointing toward extinction and the other toward recovery. The Trump administration’s proposals announced today seek to undermine critical portions of the Endangered Species Act and will make recovery for many of those species that much more difficult,” said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO at Defenders of Wildlife. “These devastating proposals disregard proven science and risk reversing decades of bipartisan progress to protect our shared national heritage and the wildlife that make America so special.” 

National Parks Conservation Association staff said the proposed changes ignore "the will of the American people by decimating protections for endangered and threatened wildlife. Instead, their actions aim to dismantle the foundational tool that supports our more than 600 threatened and endangered fish, wildlife and plants of our national parks to fast track mining and drilling."

“Not only would this fundamentally change our ability to protect much of the habitats these species depend on, it could lead to increased extinction. It politicizes the selection process for species recovery and undercuts decades of sound science in decision-making," said Stephanie Adams, NPCA's director of wildlife. "The proposed changes, coupled with the mass firing of dedicated staff at U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the National Park Service, put the fate of species like Pacific salmon, the ghost orchid, and the red-cockaded woodpecker in a potentially dire position. Once a species is extinct, it’s gone. Is that the legacy we want to leave behind?”

The proposed rules will be published in the Federal Register and will be available for public inspection for 30 days beginning Thursday at this site under 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))