The House passed a final spending bill on January 8 with deep cuts to the Department of the Interior. While the bill holds steady the budget for the National Park Service, it cuts the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s listing budget by 44 percent, bringing it to 2004 levels. The legislation will now head to the Senate where it is expected to pass.
“This isn’t just a budget cut — it’s American bumblebees, monarch butterflies and hundreds more species losing their last shot at survival,” said Stephanie Kurose, deputy director of government affairs at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Trump administration and this Republican-led Congress have been an absolute disaster for the natural world and future generations. Extinction is forever, and we don’t have time for this nonsense.”
The Center says the cuts to USFWS will hamstring the program in charge of determining which animals and plants deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Service is currently facing a backlog of more than 400 species awaiting consideration for protection, and it has already lost 18 percent of its staff under the Trump administration, including more than 500 biologists.
Additionally, the Service quietly rescinded its Refuge System Strategic Growth Policy in December, saying it was “necessary to ensure the Service is aligned with administration priorities.” The move, which bypassed the legally required public comment period, will make it even more difficult for the Service to protect wildlife, as the policy helped guide where the agency creates and expands refuges, which preserve landscapes and protect wildlife and habitats.
It’s unclear whether USFWS Director Brian Nesvik received explicit instruction to kill the policy or not, though it’s not surprising to see the Service fall in line considering that public lands, including parks and refuges, have targets on their backs under the Trump administration.
“The killing of the strategic growth policy was not a one-off decision, but part of larger anti-public lands playbook,” said Christian Hunt, director of national wildlife refuges and parks program at Defenders of Wildlife. “Amidst the extinction crisis we're facing, refuges offer a critical lifeboat, providing rare safe haven. Yet in wildlife's time of greatest need, this missive says loud and clear that imperiled wildlife doesn’t need nor deserve the extended support, marking a dark day for the Refuge System and endangered species alike.”
The Trump administration has made it clear that protecting wildlife is not one of its priorities over the past several months by repeatedly seeking to gut the Endangered Species Act. A bill that would significantly undermine the Act is currently moving through the House.
“Quietly killing this [Refuge System Strategic Growth Policy] speaks volumes about how the Trump administration is dismissing the Refuge System and ignoring the law, which mandates the Service facilitate its continued growth,” said Hunt. “The Service’s rationale for its actions exemplifies a disturbing disregard for Congressional intent and could be catastrophic to imperiled species and migratory birds that are already suffering from diminishing habitat.”
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