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KUNC is among the founding partners of the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration of public media stations that serve the Western states of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Changes To Environmental Species Act Could Impact Regional Wildlife

The North American Wolverine is proposed as threatened, but changes to how the Endangered Species Act is implemented could weaken its protections.
Roy Anderson
/
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The North American Wolverine is proposed as threatened, but changes to how the Endangered Species Act is implemented could weaken its protections.

Federal officials have announced changes to the Endangered Species Act, which could have big impacts on wildlife and habitat throughout our region.

Agencies can now take economic costs into account before listing a species, rather than scientific interest alone. The revisions also remove automatic protections for species labeled as "threatened."

"This is just a disaster for threatened and endangered species," says Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the .

Greenwald says climate change is also not a part of the equation when considering threats to habitat, which is particularly bad for the American Wolverine in our region. That animal depends on spring snowpack for mating.

"This is the Trump administration rolling back protections for threatened and endangered species at a time when threats are increasing, when the U.N. recently said millions of species are at risk of immediate extinction," Greenwald says.

The Department of Interior says its aim is to increase clarity, consistency and efficiency. Secretary Bernhardt said in a statement that "an effectively administered Act ensures more resources can go where they will do the most good: on-the-ground conservation."

Greenwald says his group plans to challenge the revised rules in court.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada, and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

Copyright 2019 KUNR. For more, visit .

Copyright 2020 KUNR Public Radio. To see more, visit .

Noah Glick is from the small town of Auburn, Indiana and comes to KUNR from the Bay Area, where he spent his post-college years learning to ride his bike up huge hills. He’s always had a love for radio, but his true passion for public radio began when he discovered KQED in San Francisco. Along with a drive to discover the truth and a degree in Journalism from Ball State University, he hopes to bring a fresh perspective to local news coverage.
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