Conservation groups and a fishing guide filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s rule change to the Endangered Species Act.
The department rescinded a 50-year-old definition of “harm” on Friday that protected against injuring and killing endangered species as well as the destruction of their habitats.
The rule change applies nationwide.
Environmental advocates said it could put threatened and endangered species at risk in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. They said the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet, two federally threatened species, could lose habitat if old-growth forests are clear-cut. They also said the Siskiyou Mountain salamander, Pacific fisher and some fish species could be affected.
“We're going to see a lot more activity out there on the ground that adversely affects and harms, and may in fact push these species towards extinction,” said Susan Jane Brown, principal and chief legal counsel for the environmental law firm Silvix Resources.
The existing definition of "harm" prevents practices such as logging, mining and road construction that damage the habitats of endangered species. The revised rule is scheduled to take effect in September, potentially making those activities easier to carry out.
The Interior Department called the definition outdated and overreaching in its announcement of the rule change. The department said the previous interpretation blocked resource extraction even when it did not directly kill or injure protected species.
Brown disputed that reasoning. She said wildlife depend on habitat just like people depend on homes to live safely. She said the Trump administration is prioritizing “timber dominance” and “energy dominance” over environmental protections.