The U.S. has finalized a major rollback of the Endangered Species Act. One of America’s most successful conservation laws, credited with helping recover the bald eagle, gray wolf, and many other species, is being significantly weakened. The new rule removes habitat destruction from the legal definition of “harm” to an endangered species. This could make it easier for logging, mining, and development to damage the habitats that threatened and endangered wildlife depend on. Weakening these safeguards affects not only wildlife. It threatens ecosystems that provide clean water, carbon storage, flood protection, and biodiversity. The ESA has been a cornerstone of U.S. conservation for more than 50 years. Rolling back habitat protections risks reversing decades of progress while nature is already under immense pressure. You cannot protect endangered species if the habitats they depend on are no longer protected. [Source: NPR; Earthjustice (July 2026).]