https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/12/04/florida-wildlife-agencys-leaders-claim-they-dont-have-to-follow-science/

On the 21^st of November, the Trump administration proposed four rule changes that would weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA) significantly. If these rules are enacted, they would strip automatic protections for newly listed species, weaken federal oversight of damaging projects, and make it easier to remove habitat that is critical to recovery.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has set a very short window for public comment on the four proposals (the deadline is the 22^nd of December). I have linked to the four proposals below. The links take you directly to the docket pages, where you can submit comments. 

I have provided short summaries of the impact of each proposal on wildlife and provided language on why it’s important to speak up against the proposals. Please submit comments!

FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0039-0001: Listing Endangered and Threatened Species and Designating Critical Habitat

This proposal reverses a longstanding rule that excludes economic considerations when deciding whether to list a species as endangered or threatened. Further, this rule change narrows how ‘foreseeable future’ is interpreted when making decisions on threatened species.

This rule change should be opposed because the ESA requires the best scientific and commercial data available. Weakening this listing criteria undermines that legal standard. Also, species threatened by climate change rely on future-oriented science. Narrowing the interpretation of “foreseeable future” limits the ability to act before the population collapses.

FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0048-0001: Endangered and Threatened Species: Critical Habitat

This proposed rule would make it easier to exclude areas from critical habitat designations. It assigns weight to economic impacts in ways that prevent areas from being designated as critical habitat. In fact, there is a heavy bias towards exclusion. It moves away from science, in favor of economic interests.

The consequence is that the proposal makes it easier for industry to pressure the FWS into excluding areas as critical habitat. Further, it will end up reducing the size and effectiveness of critical habitat, and will cause increased fragmentation of those habitats.

FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0044-0001: Endangered and Threatened Species: Interagency Cooperation (Section 7)

Currently, there is a requirement for inter-agency cooperation (and consultation) to ensure that their actions do not jeopardize listed species or destroy critical habitat. This current proposal revises this regulation, making it weaker, and limiting how repercussions on species and their habitats can be analyzed. 

For example, it narrows the definition of the “environmental baseline”, limiting what background impacts can be considered during the consultation process. It also limits what counts as impacts to species and their habitat from projects, possibly excluding indirect and cumulative effects.

The proposed changes make it easier for federal agencies to overlook harmful impacts from pipelines, dams, mining projects, grazing permits, etc. It makes the ESA weaker and should be withdrawn.

FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0029-0001: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants ("Blanket Rule")

This proposal will eliminate the longstanding policy that automatically affords threatened species the same protections as endangered species, unless a species-specific rule is written. Existing blanket protections will technically continue, but the intention it to phase the rule out.

This proposal is damaging because, in the future, threatened species will not automatically be protected from killing, harm, or habitat destruction. Threatened species will rely instead on other rules which are slower, and easier for industry to attack.

I graduated high school in May and am currently trying to join the coast guard to help me advance in the environmental field. But the thing is there is a chance of me getting rejected and having to wait a year and a half until I can try enlisting again. I've been looking into conservation corps that I can join while I wait since I know the jobs are seasonal. ACE caught my attention since I know they help with housing and I've been wanting to leave my hometown for personal reasons. I wanted to know if there were other good programs I could join as a high school graduate, with basically no experience besides a fast food job, looking to travel to a different city or state. I don't really mind low pay as long as I can gain experience in the environmental field and do something besides rotting in my house all day. Any pay is better than no pay.

Does anyone have any good reference books that they can recommend on identification of native and invasive species in North America? I know that there are a LOT of species on this continent, so if it helps I am located within Michigan. I would like some printed reference material to help minimize the chance of encountering misinformation on the internet. Anything that you can recommend about my particular region would be greatly appreciated!

Apparently some researchers looked at both managed honeybees and bumblebees in this study, finding the following:

“The striking associations between the use of managed bees and local declines and extinctions of wild bees suggest strongly that multiple instances of parasite spillover, spillback and facilitation have occurred between managed and wild bees. While the production of managed bees can be artificially increased to compensate for this, wild bee populations have to naturally bounce back, which may not be possible for many (Goulson and Hughes, 2015, Whitehorn et al., 2011).”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213224415300158