The Ozark hellbender is one of 40 endangered species tracked by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in the state. The hellbender is a large aquatic salamander found in cool, clear streams in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. (Photo by Jill Utrup/U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service)
A proposed change to the federal Endangered Species Act would send Arkansas preservation efforts backwards amid an ongoing crisis, one state wildlife expert said.
Terri Lane, director of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, said a recently proposed rule from President Donald Trump’s administration “removes an important level of protections, paving the way for increased habitat destruction.”
The rule, which is open for public comment through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service until May 19, would rescind the regulatory definition of “harm” in the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which has provided a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.
The current definition of harm under the federal law includes habitat modification, and the proposed rule would remove that protection. According to information posted by the Federal Register, “harm” runs contrary to the best meaning of the statutory term “take.”
Nationally, environmentalists have said the proposed rule would gut habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission tracks the state’s nearly 40 endangered species, including the hellbender – the largest salamander in North America – a number of fish, birds, bats and mollusks. An alligator and one beetle also make the list.
AGFC’s Arkansas Wildlife Action Plan, which is required of the state agency as part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s State Wildlife Grant program, identifies nearly 380 species of greatest conservation need in Arkansas. The plan was last updated in 2015, and its nearly 1,700 pages provides extensive detail on the state’s ecoregions, habitats, and the projected effects of climate change.
Nick Goforth, wildlife diversity program coordinator for AGFC, said, regardless of any changes to the Endangered Species Act, “we will continue to work collaboratively and consult with the [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] to do what’s best for Arkansas’ wildlife and native habitats.”
Goforth said the agency is aware of the proposed changes to the federal law, but officials are still assessing how it would affect Arkansas’ endangered species and their role in implementing the Endangered Species Act.
‘Grassroots efforts must increase’
“Wildlife are in crisis,” said Lane, who has led the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, a decades-old independent watchdog organization, for the last two years. “They depend on a network of quality habitat to survive. In the short term, this rule change moves us backward in the fight to save already vulnerable species from further decline or extinction.”
Lane emphasized the importance of biodiversity, and said that complex interactions keep ecosystems healthy.
“The ecosystems upon which all life depends, including our own,” she said.
Looking further ahead, Lane said long-term effects would include a shift from collaborative efforts to solely the private sector. She predicted the rule change would increase the wildlife and biodiversity crisis, thus requiring more efforts, funding and regulatory protections in the future.
“Rule changes like this, particularly at a time when the agencies tasked with wildlife recovery are experiencing dramatic cuts to their budgets and workforce, mean that our grassroots efforts must increase,” Lane said. “The private and nonprofit sector must step in and fill the gaps, working with broad coalitions, sounding the alarm and finding solutions where species are being impacted.”
Trump, who recently celebrated the 100-day mark of his second term, has made scathing cuts to environmental programs nationwide. In Little Rock, AmeriCorps staff lost their funding; along the Buffalo National River, a visitor center closed in February after a wave of firings; and in Fayetteville, a major solar project at the University of Arkansas is stuck in limbo.
Slashes to programs championed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are expected to have an adverse effect on Arkansas food banks and farmers alike as they lose a major funding source for protein.
Currently, however, the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund seems unaffected. AGFC has received a number of these grants over the years, specifically for habitat preservation for the state’s endangered species.
Last June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded the state with a $2.2 million grant to protect the yellowcheek darter, a small freshwater fish, and other species. The AGFC and The Nature Conservancy – a national environmental group with offices in Little Rock and Fayetteville – provided matching funds and increased the total investment to nearly $3.1 million.
yellowcheek darter
In Arkansas, allocations from the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund have been used to purchase more than 10,000 acres for the conservation of a variety of species. In 2020, more than 1,100 acres at the Beryl Anthony Lower Ouachita Wildlife Management Area were purchased for conservation of the red-cockaded woodpecker.
AGFC also offers conservation incentive programs to private landowners, but spokesperson Keith Stephens said they were more geared toward game animals than endangered species.
In a statement, Goforth said the state agency supports federal changes that aim to streamline the process of protecting endangered species.
and the protections and benefits it offers, we are in support of any favorable reforms that would aim to address the challenges in its implementation and would work to streamline consultations and other processes, while both ensuring that its goals and objectives can be met more efficiently and effectively and also maintaining the existing protections for those listed species and their habitats, which are essential to their continued existence and recovery,” Goforth said.
Several organizations in Arkansas focus on the livelihood of the state’s endangered species, including the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission. Data gathered during on-the-ground field surveys to locate and evaluate endangered species help identify ecologically significant land most in need of protection, according to its website.
Spokesperson Danyelle McNeill deferred all questions about how the proposed rule may affect Arkansas animals to federal agencies. Answering for Director Jennifer Ballard, McNeill said the commission’s scope of services has currently not changed.
Taylor Pool, acting assistant regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s southwest regional office, did not reply to specific questions about the proposed rule change.
“At this time, we have nothing for you,” Pool said.
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