Trump Administration Finalizes ‘Harm’ Rule. Weakening Endangered Species Act Protections

The Trump administration has finalized one of the most significant changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in decades by rescinding the long-standing regulatory definition of “harm.”

The final rule was published in the Federal Register on July 14, 2026, and will take effect on September 14, 2026. Once effective, it will remove the regulatory definition that has, for more than 40 years, recognized significant habitat destruction as a form of prohibited harm to endangered and threatened wildlife.

Download the final Rule (PDF)

Since the early 1980s, federal regulations have interpreted “harm” to include habitat modification or degradation that kills or injures wildlife by disrupting essential behaviors such as feeding, breeding, or sheltering. In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that interpretation, making habitat protection one of the Endangered Species Act’s most effective conservation tools.

The Departments of the Interior and Commerce argue the previous regulation exceeded the language Congress adopted in the ESA. Relying in part on the Supreme Court’s 2024 Loper Bright decision, the agencies contend that the Act prohibits actions directed at protected animals themselves—not indirect impacts resulting from habitat destruction. Federal officials also maintain that other ESA provisions, including Section 7 consultations and designated critical habitat protections, remain in effect.

Conservation organizations strongly disagree. They argue that habitat destruction is the leading cause of species decline worldwide and that removing it from the definition of “harm” weakens one of the ESA’s most important enforcement tools. Several organizations have already announced plans to challenge the rule in federal court.

Why This Matters for Grizzly Bears

For grizzly bears, habitat is everything.

The greatest long-term threat to grizzly recovery is no longer widespread persecution—it is the steady loss and fragmentation of the landscapes bears need to survive.

Roads, subdivisions, logging, mining, energy development, and expanding recreation continue to chip away at secure habitat throughout the Northern Rockies. Individually, many of these projects may seem minor. Collectively, they create what we’ve often called death by a thousand cuts.

Grizzly bears require vast home ranges. Young bears must be able to disperse into new territory, populations must remain connected to maintain genetic diversity, and bears need the flexibility to move as climate change alters food sources and ecosystems. Without connected habitat, long-term recovery simply cannot occur.

Beginning September 14, 2026, projects that destroy or degrade habitat may no longer be considered prohibited “harm” under this regulation unless they directly injure or kill protected animals. Conservationists warn that this change could make it easier for development, logging, mining, roads, and energy projects to further fragment the landscapes that grizzlies depend upon.

How This Relates to Save the Yellowstone Grizzly’s Lawsuit

This rule is separate from Save the Yellowstone Grizzly’s lawsuit challenging the federal government’s grizzly bear management rule.
Our lawsuit focuses on whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has adopted a lawful, science-based approach to grizzly bear recovery and management.

Even so, both issues point in the same direction.

Successful grizzly recovery depends on more than maintaining isolated populations inside recovery zones. It depends on protecting and reconnecting habitat across the Northern Rockies so bears can naturally disperse, maintain healthy genetics, and occupy more of their historic range.

That principle forms the foundation of Save the Yellowstone Grizzly’s Seven Essentials for Grizzly Recovery:

1. Protect and Connect Habitat
   Reconnect the Greater Yellowstone, Northern Continental Divide, Bitterroot, Cabinet-Yaak, Selkirk, North Cascades, and other ecosystems through protected wildlife corridors.
   
2. Update the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan
   Replace the outdated 1986 recovery plan with one based on today’s best available science.
   
3. Restore Grizzlies to Suitable Habitat
   Restore bears to suitable ecosystems—including the Bitterroot—to rebuild a resilient, interconnected population across the Northern Rockies.
   
4. Promote Bear Smart Communities
   Reduce conflicts through attractant management, education, and coexistence programs.
   
5. Build Wildlife Crossings
   Reconnect fragmented habitat while reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions.
   
6. Plan for Climate Change
   Ensure connected landscapes allow bears to adapt as ecosystems and food sources change.
   
7. Honor Tribal Leadership and Indigenous Knowledge
   Recognize the essential role Native Nations play in grizzly conservation through their knowledge, leadership, and cultural relationship with the species.

These principles are grounded in decades of conservation science. Long-term recovery depends not only on the number of bears alive today, but on whether future generations of grizzlies can move freely across connected landscapes.

Why This Matters Beyond Grizzly Bears

Although grizzly bears are central to our mission, this rule reaches far beyond one species.
The Endangered Species Act protects more than 1,700 species of fish, wildlife, and plants. Many, including salmon, bull trout, Canada lynx, wolverines, monarch butterflies, and spotted owls, depend on healthy habitat just as much as grizzlies do.

Habitat loss remains the single greatest driver of biodiversity decline. For many endangered species, protecting habitat is synonymous with protecting the species itself.

What Happens Next?

Although the rule has now been finalized, it does not take effect until September 14, 2026. Between now and then, conservation organizations are expected to challenge it in federal court. Ultimately, judges, not the agencies, will determine whether rescinding the definition of “harm” is consistent with the Endangered Species Act and existing legal precedent.

Meanwhile, Congress continues to consider legislation that would remove Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems.

Taken together, these actions represent one of the most significant efforts in decades to weaken federal protections for endangered wildlife and the habitats they depend upon.

At Save the Yellowstone Grizzly, we will continue defending grizzly bears through litigation, science-based advocacy, public education, and by advancing our vision of a connected Northern Rockies where grizzlies can once again move freely between Yellowstone, Glacier, the Bitterroot, the Selkirks, the Cabinet-Yaak, and beyond.

Because protecting habitat isn’t separate from protecting grizzly bears.

It is the foundation of their recovery.

The Griz Abides. Can We?