Federal Agency
Appears in 9 stories · Last updated Oct 29, 2026
Tightening wildlife reviews, creating another bottleneck for wind and solar
The Pentagon has started clearing onshore wind projects again after a federal judge ordered it to resume reviews. In October it advanced projects in Maine and South Dakota, but Democrats say hundreds more are still waiting.
Updated Oct 29
As of October 2026: Rescinded the 'harm' definition; defending it in court
A federal appeals court threw out a ruling that blamed Florida's sewage permits for manatee deaths in the northern Indian River Lagoon. The Fish and Wildlife Service had rescinded the Endangered Species Act's definition of 'harm,' which for 40 years treated habitat damage as an illegal 'take.'
Updated Oct 10
As of September 2026: Co-leads the binational Mexican wolf recovery program
In the 1970s, federal agents captured the last wild Mexican gray wolves in northern Mexico, seven animals that became the founders of a captive breeding program. Fifty years later, two packs descended from those wolves were released into Durango's Sierra Madre Occidental, their first wild home in Mexico since the subspecies vanished there.
Updated Sep 25
As of September 2026: Transferring 715 acres of refuge land to SpaceX
A federal judge in South Texas cleared the way Sept. 21 for SpaceX to take title to 715 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. In exchange, the company gives the government 683 acres of private land, expanding Elon Musk's rocket test facility near Starbase.
Updated Sep 21
As of September 2026: Issued the September 14 memo and rescinded the 'harm' definition
A logging company can now cut a tree holding endangered bats, and a ship can strike an endangered whale, without breaking US law, as long as the animal wasn't the deliberate target. The US Fish and Wildlife Service told its field offices on September 14 to apply the Endangered Species Act's (ESA) ban on "taking" protected wildlife only to intentional acts directed at a particular animal.
Updated Sep 20
As of September 2026: 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 Sep 11
As of September 2026: 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 Sep 10
As of September 2026: 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 Sep 9
As of September 2026: 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 Sep 7
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