Interior Appropriations Includes Wins, Losses for Biodiversity

The House Committee on Appropriations will consider spending for Interior and Environment for the fiscal year 2022 this morning. The spending bill includes both wins and losses for biodiversity. In the face of losing 1 million species to extinction, Defenders continues to advocate for increased levels of funding to support threatened and endangered species, and we are particularly disappointed in the low levels of funding for the main U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program responsible for implementation of the Endangered Species Act. Nevertheless, the bill also includes some important wins for wildlife.

“Species are being lost faster than ever before in human history,” said Robert Dewey, vice president for government relations with Defenders of Wildlife. “While today’s bill includes some badly needed increases for habitat conservation, it is concerning to see funding levels lower than the President’s budget for endangered species. Protecting habitat is only part of the solution to address the biodiversity crisis – adequately funding protections for endangered species is the missing half of this bill. We urge Congress to increase funding for endangered species in order for imperiled and threatened species to have a fighting chance at survival and recovery.”

Wins for Wildlife

• Multiple-Use Lands: The funding levels provided by House appropriators are consistent with  Defenders of Wildlife’s request for recovery of endangered and threatened species specifically on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. The Forest Service and BLM budgets are at almost the exact levels that Defenders of Wildlife advocated for, which is a win for imperiled wildlife on Forest Service and BLM lands – approximately 20% of our nation’s land base. The bill also includes $80 million for the conservation of sage-grouse on BLM lands.
• Migratory Bird Management: Nearly 3 billion birds had disappeared in North America since 1970. The bill provides the president’s request for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Management program, an $18.5 million increase, and includes language supporting the development of permitting program for incidental take of birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
• Sage-grouse Rider: In May, more than 80 environmental groups, including Defenders of Wildlife, sent a letter to key House and Senate committee leaders pressing for the exclusion of the greater sage-grouse rider from the FY22 Interior Appropriations bill. Since 2014, Interior and Appropriations bills have included a rider that prevents the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from considering protections for the greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Today’s exclusion of this harmful rider by House appropriators is a huge win for this iconic species.“We applaud House appropriators for dropping this harmful rider,” said Dewey. “We look forward to science, not politics in dictating this bird’s future.”
• Roadbuilding in the Tongass National Forest Prevention: House appropriators have included language to prevent destructive logging and associated roadbuilding in our nation’s largest forest – the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska – that would put imperiled wildlife and their habitat at risk, like habitat for salmon, Alexander Archipelago wolves and Sitka black-tailed deer.  

Losses for Wildlife

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Services Program: This program is the primary FWS program tasked with implementing the Endangered Species Act, our nation’s most effective tool for protecting wildlife from extinction.  
• The president’s budget requested a more than $60 million increase, the largest increase requested for this program in history and a meaningful down payment in addressing the biodiversity crisis. Unfortunately, the Interior bill fell short of the president’s budget by $17 million. 
• Defenders believes an increase of almost $200 million is needed as a first step to meeting this need. 

“The opportunities to make lasting impacts for imperiled species and to combat the biodiversity crisis are becoming fewer and farther between,” said Dewey, “House appropriators missed this opportunity by underfunding the most important program that protects species from extinction. Defenders will continue to advocate for significant increases in funding for the Endangered Species Act and commitments from Congress, because without both, millions of species could be lost. As the Senate develops its appropriations bills in the coming weeks, we will be redoubling our efforts there to advocate for no less than the president’s request.”