Defenders of Wildlife Encouraged by Proposed Rule to Strengthen Protections for Imperiled Species Affected by Climate Change

Today, the Biden administration proposed a new rule to significantly strengthen the federal government’s ability to protect threatened and endangered species in the face of climate change.  

If finalized, the rule would allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to introduce experimental populations of Endangered Species Act-listed animals outside of their historic range. The current rule does not allow FWS  flexibility to do this despite widespread human development and worsening climate change impacting where species have historically survived. 

“It is encouraging to see efforts to strengthen the Endangered Species Act and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stepping up to support imperiled species in the face of growing pressure from climate change and development. We thank the Biden administration for their leadership to advance protection of our nation’s incredible wildlife,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife.

Congress amended the Endangered Species Act in 1982 to allow the federal government to create experimental populations to help recover threatened and endangered species. Though Congress did not require such populations be restricted to the species’ historical range, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service subsequently implemented regulations that added that restriction. 

An experimental population is a population of threatened or endangered species that has been re-introduced into the wild, separate from currently-existing populations.