Photo Credit: Andy Reago and Chrissy McClarren

The Endangered Species Act – our nation’s most powerful environmental law protecting wildlife

Endangered Species Act Defense

The Endangered Species Act is our nation’s most powerful environmental law protecting wildlife. Today, the most important challenge in protecting endangered species is opposing attempts to weaken or outright overrule the law itself. Also essential is holding the federal government accountable when it underfunds, under-enforces and fails to meet its obligations under the Act.

We are working to safeguard the essential safety net of the Endangered Species Act by actively opposing attempts to undermine the law. We also work to uncover political manipulations and junk science, organize grassroots advocacy, pressure the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to fully implement the law, and demand that Congress fully fund the Act.

We strategically file lawsuits under the Act to compel needed decisions and protections for species on the brink of extinction. We litigate because it is our responsibility as citizens to do so. When the law was passed, Congress in its wisdom understood the government might not always adequately enforce the law and included a citizen suit provision giving us the right to step into the government’s shoes and ensure compliance with this key law. Otherwise, corporate and government greed can corrupt science and send species into oblivion.

You Can Protect Endangered Species

If you value native wildlife and want to see all imperiled species protected, get the latest updates, action alerts, articles and event invites from WildEarth Guardians.

Take Action

More than 85 percent of Americans support a strong Endangered Species Act. Supporters come from all backgrounds, cultures, locations, political parties, and perspectives. These diverse voices all agree that our precious natural heritage should be left intact for future generations of wildlife and people.

The Endangered Species Act is wildly successful. Scientists estimate that as of 2006, but for the Act, at least 220 species would have gone extinct. Many of our county’s most iconic species, including the bald eagle, would likely have gone the way of the dodo without the law’s essential protections.

Let’s work together to prevent the extinction of even a single species of native wildlife on our watch. Defend our nation’s most powerful environmental law by joining millions of other citizens in being an Endangered Species Act Guardian.

Science Under Siege

Sound science, not sounds-good science, should always guide decisions about Endangered Species Act listings, yet political whims and junk science or an outright hostility to science too often undermine the Act’s effectiveness. In an effort to enhance corporate profits and marginalize the public interest, the federal government has ignored good science and relied on questionable “science” to work to weaken regulations and laws protecting imperiled wildlife.

The tactics used to under-implement the Endangered Species Act include censoring independent scientific research, underfunding key programs like the listing program itself and recovery plan development, manipulating or ignoring data, silencing government biologists, interfering in the peer review process, attacking watchdog groups that counter political meddling, and stacking the deck with industry-friendly “biologists” whose scientific integrity extends no further than their paychecks.

Defend the Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act is our country’s most essential environmental law protecting plants and animals, yet some members of Congress want to weaken the law. Tell Congress you value native wildlife and want to see all imperiled species protected.

SEND A LETTER

How You Can Help

Help protect the incredible, vulnerable wildlife of the West! Be a guardian for the wild by joining the conversation, learning about current issues, and making your voice heard. Together, we’re a powerful force for nature.

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Wildlife Press

Wildlife disservice in New Mexico: Federal wildlife killing program intends to continue slaughter of native species

Sep 16, 2021

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—WildEar…

Federal Court Signals Hope for the Climate Threatened Joshua Tree

Counter Punch | Aug 26, 2021

After gearing up for the culmination of WildEarth Guardians’ nearly two-year long court battle to secure federal Endangered Species Act protections for the imperiled Joshua tree…

Should the wolf be relisted? Feds considering the question

Powell Tribune | Sep 16, 2021

Responding to concerns from environmental groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that it will study whether gray wolves in Wyoming and elsewhere in the West should be relisted as a threatened or endangered species.

Contact

[email protected] 207-798-9788

Danielle Plourde

Data Management Administrator

Danielle joined Guardians in the summer of 2021. As part of the Guardians Resource Team, her role is largely focused on background support to keep the small and mighty engine that is WildEarth Guardians running smoothly. Danielle is no stranger to supportive roles, when she is not at Guardians she is supporting families during the wonderful, potent and awesome transition that is pregnancy, birth and postpartum. She has supported many families in New Mexico as a Doula. She also runs a small herbal company that focuses primarily on this transition. Danielle has a B.A. in philosophy and religious studies and sees her role as a birthworker and a Guardian deeply intertwined and interdependent in the realms of public health and environmentalism.

Nicholas Bascom

Wildlife Program Intern

Nick is a 3rd year law student at UCLA serving as a summer intern with WildEarth Guardians in the Wildlife Program. For Guardians, he concentrates mostly on protecting imperiled species via the Endangered Species Act. At UCLA, his focus is on environmental law and tribal legal development. Before law school, he taught for many years and wrote for Science News and Research Penn State. His first novel, Mordor, California, will be published in the fall. He lives with his wife Camrynn, his son Kyber, and his dogs K.C. and London.

Javier Gallegos

Photography Intern

Javier is the Summer 2021 photography intern for WildEarth Guardians. His work focuses on photographing the Rio Grande and its impact on ecology and human life. He became concerned with the drying of the river from his experience of growing up in El Paso, Texas, without water in the Rio Grande. Only in pictures of other parts of the country did he know what a river was supposed to be like. He is currently a senior at New Mexico State University with plans to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism & Professional Communication and a minor in History in the spring of 2022. Javier enjoys watching stand up comedy and video games in his free time.

Siera Schroeder

Intern

Siera is a rising 3L at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. Growing up in upstate New York she fell in love with the outdoors but it wasn’t until she moved to Denver, Colorado that she realized how deep her passion and love for the outdoors – especially trees and water – actually ran. She now takes every opportunity she can to row or raft down a river, or go and see some trees! One may even say she’s become a real tree hugger. Siera hopes to translate her love and passion for the outdoors and all its wonders into a successful legal career advocating for the protection of the natural environment so it might be preserved for future generations to love and enjoy.

Rachel Pemberton

Intern

Rachel is a rising 3L at Lewis & Clark Law School focusing on environmental and natural resources law. Combining her interests in the natural and social sciences, she received her Bachelor's degree in environmental studies from the University of Washington in 2018. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest exploring parks and forests has made her passionate about protecting public lands, wildlife, and clean air and water for present and future generations.

Reza Sadeghzadeh

Wild Rivers Program Intern

Reza is a rising 3-year law student at University of Oregon School of Law. He received his B.A. from Humboldt State University, where he quickly fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. As an intern for the Wild Rivers Program, Reza’s work is focused on protecting the western yellow-billed cuckoo and the Upper Willamette Chinook salmon and Winter Steelhead. In his free time, Reza is usually doing some outdoor activity like backpacking, cycling, or diving.

Contact

[email protected]

Simon Miller

Intern

Simon Miller is a 2021 summer intern for WildEarth Guardians. He is a rising Junior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Simon is a Political Science major that has a passion for examining, improving, and defending the laws and regulations that make our world a better place for people and wildlife. Simon grew up and still lives in Oak Park, the first suburb west of the Chicago city limits.

Contact

[email protected] 303-501-5815

Andrew Rothman

Wild Places Program Director

A native of Wisconsin, Andrew’s interest in wildlife started in his youth, thanks to his many trips to their family cabin in the Northwoods. Growing up in the 80’s, Andrew’s interests in native wildlife expanded to that of the rainforests of Latin America that he learned were rapidly being destroyed. A lifelong aspiration to help protect wildlife and their habitat ensued. Andrew’s professional career has led him toward fulfilling those aspirations. Andrew helped thousands of people increase their connection to nature as the Assistant Naturalist at the renowned Horicon Marsh with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Andrew founded his own non-profit organization, Rainforest Biodiversity Group, to help protect and restore habitat for the endangered Great Green Macaw in Costa Rica; helping private landowners establish private reserves and creating Latin America’s first Birding Trail along the way. Andrew spent over a decade working with American Bird Conservancy managing a portfolio of projects in nearly a dozen countries in Latin America leading to the protection and restoration of thousands of acres of grassland, forest and wetland habitat for migratory and highly endangered endemic birds. Here he also helped establish ABC’s Great Lakes Program, co-authored the Golden-winged Warbler Non-breeding Grounds Conservation Plan, the first plan of its type for a songbird, and helped establish ABC’s Impact Investing Program, which looks to find ways to demonstrate how non-philanthropic capital can be invested for conservation outputs. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, with degrees in Biology and Wildlife Management, Andrew continues to bring innovative solutions to complex conservation problems. Andrew enjoys international travel having visited 28 countries. He also enjoys rock climbing, skiing, yoga, hiking and fine dining. Andrew is the descendant of two WWII concentration camp escapees.

Contact

[email protected] 928-242-3292

Jack Meyer

Greater Gila Arizona Advocate

A local to Arizona's White Mountains, Jack Meyer brings to the Greater Gila campaign a reverence for the wildlife and wild places that shaped him. Jack has worked on social and environmental justice issues throughout his adult life and during his time as an Environmental Studies student at Northern Arizona University. In 2014 he began working with 350.org's fossil fuel divestment movement, and has founded chapters for Our Climate and the Sunrise Movement in Arizona to advocate for science based policy solutions to address climate change. After a year in Tennessee working with Appalachian Voices on their energy democracy campaign Jack is back in the West as WildEarth Guardians Greater Gila Advocate for Arizona. Feel free to send him an email to chat about the work he is doing to protect public lands across the Greater Gila Bioregion.

Zoe Camporaso

Wildlife Program Intern

Zoe is an intern in the Wildlife Program at WildEarth Guardians. She is majoring in Environmental Science at Lewis & Clark College, with a minor in History. She is passionate about soil science and the rights of land. Zoe enjoys vegetable gardening and one of her life goals is to swim in as many bodies of water as possible.

The Endangered Species Act – our nation’s most powerful environmental law protecting wildlife

Endangered Species Act Defense

You Can Protect Endangered Species

Take Action

Science Under Siege

Defend the Endangered Species Act

How You Can Help

Recent Stories From Wildlife

Wildlife Press

WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.

Contact

Danielle Plourde

Data Management Administrator

Nicholas Bascom

Wildlife Program Intern

Javier Gallegos

Photography Intern

Siera Schroeder

Intern

Rachel Pemberton

Intern

Reza Sadeghzadeh

Wild Rivers Program Intern

Contact

Simon Miller

Intern

Contact

Andrew Rothman

Wild Places Program Director

Contact

Jack Meyer

Greater Gila Arizona Advocate

Zoe Camporaso

Wildlife Program Intern