U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

New Capabilities

Leads federal recovery program; listed species as endangered in 2014

The Poweshiek skipperling butterfly was down to nine known individuals in the United States in 2022. After captive breeding programs released more than 1,300 butterflies in 2025, surveyors this summer counted over 100 on a single walk at Michigan restoration sites.

Updated Yesterday

Rule Changes

Defendant in both lawsuits

Habitat destruction that kills endangered wildlife no longer counts as 'harm' under a July federal rule change. Twenty-one states filed two lawsuits Wednesday to overturn it, arguing the rewrite strips the law of its primary habitat protection tool.

Updated 2 days ago

New Capabilities

Manages the Red Wolf Recovery Program and monitored the foster

Three American Red Wolf pups born at the Saint Louis Zoo are now living with a wild pack in North Carolina. Trail cameras confirmed the wild mother accepted all three into her litter, a rare success for a species with fewer than 40 individuals left in the wild.

Updated 3 days ago

Built World

Partners in sucker-rearing experiment

In 2021, Karl Wenner, a co-owner of Lakeside Farms near Klamath Falls, Oregon, bulldozed 70 of his 400 acres of barley fields into a wetland. Four years later it hosts at least 140 bird species and has successfully raised federally endangered suckers to adulthood.

Updated 4 days ago

Rule Changes

Will implement any delisting determination

President Trump signed an executive order Sept. 4 directing the Interior Department to determine whether gray wolves and Mexican gray wolves have recovered enough to lose Endangered Species Act protections. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has 90 days to decide whether to begin delisting the animals, a process that would shift wolf management from federal to state control.

Updated 5 days ago

Rule Changes

Tightening wildlife reviews, creating another bottleneck for wind and solar

Trump promised to "unleash American energy." A federal judge disagreed: in April 2026, Chief Judge Denise Casper blocked five Interior Department policies that had frozen wind and solar permits nationwide, including Secretary Doug Burgum's rule requiring his personal sign-off on every renewable decision.

Updated Aug 8