On September 14, “Harm” Stops Meaning Habitat. We’re Not Waiting to Fight It.
A rule takes effect in 29 days that says destroying a wolf den, draining a wetland, or paving a nesting beach is no longer “harm” under the Endangered Species Act — as long as you never touch the animal directly. There is a bipartisan bill to stop it. We need to make sure it actually moves.
Since 1975, federal law has recognized something simple: if you destroy the place a species needs to survive, you have harmed that species. That single sentence is why sea turtles still have nesting beaches, why sturgeon still have rivers to spawn in, why wolves still have somewhere to den.
This July, the Trump administration finalized a rule erasing that sentence. Published in the Federal Register on July 14, it takes effect September 14, 2026. After that date, habitat destruction alone may no longer count as harm — no matter how many species it kills.
There Is a Fix — And It’s Bipartisan
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) introduced H.R. 9901, the Safeguarding Endangered Species Act, to reverse the rollback and restore the habitat-based definition of harm. Read the bill text here. Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance has signed on alongside Defenders of Wildlife, Oceana, Save the Manatee Club, the Endangered Species Coalition, and PennEnvironment.
A good bill sitting in committee does nothing by itself. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan’s delegations aren’t on it yet. That’s the part that changes with pressure — and pressure is the part we build.
Two Things You Can Do Today
1. Call your representative. Tell them to cosponsor H.R. 9901. It takes two minutes.
2. Fund the watch. We found this rule buried in the Federal Register before most of the country knew it existed. That doesn’t happen by accident — it happens because people fund us to keep watching.
Don’t Sink the Ark — Donate Now
Why This One Matters More Than the Last One
This isn’t the first attack this year. A House bill to strip wolf protections passed on a near party-line vote. The “God Squad” was invoked for the first time ever to override the Endangered Species Act entirely. Now the definition of harm itself is on the chopping block. Each one makes the next one easier — and each one that succeeds unchallenged removes a reason for them to stop.
Endangered species don’t get a next election. A wolf pack that loses its den, a sturgeon population that loses its spawning grounds — that damage doesn’t wait for the political pendulum to swing back. It’s permanent. It’s happening on a deadline. Twenty-nine days.
Every one of these species — the wolf, the ferret, the monarch, the sturgeon — is a plank in the same ark. Pull enough of them out, and it doesn’t matter which one goes last.
We caught this rule before most people had heard of it. We’re already fighting it. What we need now is fuel — to keep reading every rule buried in the Federal Register, to keep the pressure on Congress, and to be ready for the legal fight if September 14 comes and goes without a fix.
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Thank you for all you do. With cost of living prices on the rise, income reduced and not enough savings to last a full year, I am not able to donate. It seems that opinions, and actions mean very little unless there is money attached.