Public Lands Watch: ESA Regulations

One of the most important statutes for management of federal public lands is the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  It’s important because it requires all federal agencies to avoid jeopardizing the existence of listed endangered and threatened species through their actions, and also to avoid adversely modifying critical habitat for those species.  That means when the Forest Service builds a road or conducts a timber sale (for instance), it has to follow procedures under the ESA to avoid jeopardy and adverse modification, and can’t take actions that would cause those outcomes. The Trump Administration has proposed significant revisions to the regulations that implement the ESA.  Those revisions are fairly complicated, and I plan to have more to say on their specific details later on.  In short, the revisions primarily would (a) make it a lot harder, or impossible, for the ESA to be used to address the threats of climate change to listed species; (b)…

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