Date: 5/19/25 11:25 am From: Cheryl Vellenga via groups.io <killdeer54...> Subject: Re: [sd-birds] Rescinding the Definition of “Harm” Under the Endangered Species Act
Thank you Chris for that important reminder. Everything we need for adding our voices can be found right in the top link in Chris's post. You can even comment anonymously if you'd prefer and if you're not sure what to say, just find a previous comment that says it well and copy and paste that into the form, tweeking it further if you'd like. Many others have obviously done that. Easy!
Cheryl Vellenga
Sisseton SD
On Mon, May 19, 2025 at 9:30 AM, Chris Anderson via groups.io<canderson1...> wrote: Birders,
Sometimes it's a challenge to keep up with the news these days, but this weekend I learned that there is a proposed change to the Endangered Species Act that would rescind the definition of the word "harm" in the act. In short, the proposal would limit protection of listed species to the "take" (kill/capture) of said species, and would no longer consider habitat modification as a harmful prohibited action. More information is available at the link below.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/17/2025-06746/rescinding-the-definition-of-harm-under-the-endangered-species-act South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks currently lists 16 species that exist within the state as federally endangered or threatened, plus more that are listed with state-level statuses. These include birds, mammals, fish, and invertebrates (butterflies and mussels). Habitat modification/loss is among the reasons they are endangered, and a lack of protection for their remaining habitat could have dire consequences for these species.
To provide a comment electronically, the deadline is TODAY, Monday, May 19 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern (10:59 Central/9:59 Mountain).
Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
In the Search box, enter FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0034 (you can copy and paste it in), which is the docket number for this rulemaking. Then, click on the Search button.
On the resulting page, in the panel on the left side of the screen, check the box next to "Proposed Rule (1)." Then click the blue “Comment” box on the right side of the screen to leave a comment.
Thank you to the other folks in the state who have publicized similar issues as they have come up in the past; I will try to do the same going forward as well.
Chris AndersonSDOU and Sioux Falls Bird Club PresidentSioux Falls, SD
