Author: Arran Robertson

Portland, Ore., – The Trump administration this week announced a sweeping series of rollbacks to wildlife and habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). These actions revive efforts previously attempted during Trump’s first term, which were later blocked by the Biden administration. The newly proposed rules would weaken core safeguards for threatened species, limit habitat protections, and elevate the priorities of logging, mining, and oil industries over wildlife recovery.

Oregon is home to several endangered species, including Humboldt marten, coho salmon, western painted turtle, monarch butterfly, Oregon silverspot butterfly, Gentner’s fritillary, rough popcorn flower, and Howell’s spectacular thelypody.

One of the most significant proposals would eliminate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s long-standing “blanket rule.” This rule automatically extends protections to species that are newly listed as threatened. Under the Trump proposal, threatened species would no longer receive automatic safeguards. Instead, agencies would be required to create individual rules for each species, creating a lengthy and cumbersome process that leaves wildlife vulnerable at critical stages of decline.

A second proposal would force officials to weigh economic impacts when deciding whether to protect critical habitat. This change would increase the influence of industry interests and reduce the role of science in agency decisions. 

These rollbacks are in addition to earlier proposals that weaken wildlife protections, including narrowing the definition of “harm” under the ESA and President Trump’s March 1 executive order, which threatened to sidestep species protections to accelerate logging projects in national forests and on public lands.

“Oregon Wild opposed these reckless rollbacks during Trump’s first term, and we will do so again,” said John Persell, Senior Staff Attorney at Oregon Wild. “The Endangered Species Act has saved 99 percent of the species under its protection. Weakening its core provisions at the request of industry lobbyists puts decades of conservation progress at risk.”

With the federal government once again turning wildlife protections into a political battleground, Oregon Wild is championing strong state-level action to safeguard species that are already declining.

“Under the Trump administration, the logging, mining, and oil and gas industries are calling the shots in Washington, DC. As a result, states will increasingly have to fill the gap,” said Danielle Moser, Wildlife Program Manager for Oregon Wild. “The extinction crisis is not something that’s just happening in other countries. Oregon has more than three hundred species of greatest conservation need, and that list continues to grow. This is why proposals like ‘1% for Wildlife’ are so important.”

The ‘1% for Wildlife‘ proposal, which is expected to be considered during the Oregon Legislature’s 2026 short session, would dedicate a modest increase in the statewide lodging tax to wildlife conservation, habitat restoration, and community resilience projects. Even with this increase, Oregon’s lodging tax would remain among the lowest in the country. Economic analysis has shown that the proposal would not harm tourism competitiveness. The funding would help preserve the landscapes and wildlife that draw visitors to Oregon.

“Oregon cannot afford to let wildlife conservation rise or fall based on the political landscape in Washington, DC,” added Moser. “By passing ‘1% for Wildlife,’ state leaders can ensure Oregon’s species and habitats have the stable funding they need regardless of federal politics.”

Oregon Wild will oppose the administration’s efforts to weaken the ESA and will continue its long-standing work to defend imperiled species and the habitats they depend on.

Photo by USFS

PORTLAND, OR — Conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for denying protections to the imperiled North Oregon Coast population of red tree voles. The voles spend most of their lives in the upper branches of the Oregon Coast’s mature and old-growth forests.

The Service’s 2024 decision to deny life-saving Endangered Species Act protections to the North Oregon Coast population echoes a similar 2019 Trump administration denial, which also sparked a lawsuit. Those decisions were made despite studies showing that these red tree voles are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, largely due to logging and climate change-fueled wildfires.

“Red tree voles have graced Oregon’s coastal old-growth forests for thousands of years, but we could lose them forever if they don’t get Endangered Species Act protections soon,” said Ryan Shannon, a senior attorney in the Center for Biological Diversity’s endangered species program. “It’s time for the Fish and Wildlife Service to follow the science and do the right thing by stepping up for red tree voles.”

Red tree voles build their nests on complex branch and bole structures found in mature and old-growth forests. The North Coast is dominated by a combination of private industrial timberlands and the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests. Decades of rapacious clearcut logging, as well as a series of historic fires known as the Tillamook Burn, have eliminated most of the area’s old forests along with the red tree voles that once called them home. Red tree voles are an essential species in the last remaining old-growth and mature coastal forests in Oregon and protecting them is necessary for ecosystem recovery.

“Red tree voles are a key prey of the threatened northern spotted owl whose population is plummeting,” says Joe Liebezeit, statewide conservation director for Bird Alliance of Oregon. “We need to step up protection of voles to ensure the integrity of forest ecosystem as a whole — including the food web which so much wildlife depends on.”

Remaining North Coast voles are concentrated on federal public lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Although the Northwest Forest Plan helps protect these remaining small and isolated populations, the long-term survival of the voles depends on improving state and private land forest management and connecting fragmented and isolated red tree vole populations.

Oregon is in the process of adopting a state forest habitat conservation plan that will provide some protection to the vole, but the plan will also allow for continued logging of thousands of acres of potential vole habitat without any surveys to determine if voles are present. There are currently no meaningful protections in private forests.

“The red tree vole is a unique species with adaptations that allow them to live almost their entire lives high in the canopy of mature and old-growth forests,” said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild. “Its range and habitat are already limited, and without protection for the North Coast population, we could lose red tree voles to irresponsible logging.”

In response to a 2007 Center for Biological Diversity petition, the Service determined in 2011 that protection of the North Oregon Coast population of red tree voles was “warranted but precluded” by other listing priorities. It then moved the voles to a list of candidate species for a decade, repeating its determination that the North Oregon Coast population warranted protection several times before reversing course and denying protections in 2019. A Center lawsuit over the denial resulted in a 2022 settlement directing the Service to reconsider the decision.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service is yet again shirking its duty to this and future generations to prevent the extinction of our most imperiled wildlife species including the red tree vole,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director for Cascadia Wildlands. “Red tree voles are an important indicator species of forest health; their decline should be a wake-up call to us all to better care for our remaining mature and old-growth forests.”

Bird Alliance of Oregon, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild are represented by the Center for Biological Diversity in today’s suit.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Bird Alliance of Oregon was founded in 1902 and works statewide to advocate for Oregon’s wildlife and wild places, and to inspire all people to love and protect birds, wildlife, and the natural environment upon which life depends.

Cascadia Wildlands defends and restores Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets.

Oregon Wild works to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations.

SALEM, OR – In the final hours of the 2025 legislative session, a landmark bill to fund wildlife conservation fell short—not for lack of public support, bipartisan backing, or legislative merit, but because of cynical obstruction from a small group of Republican senators. Democratic leadership in the Senate had the power to stop them, but chose to give in.

HB 2977, which passed the Oregon House with a three-fifths bipartisan majority and cleared the Senate Rules Committee, would have modestly increased Oregon’s statewide transient lodging tax—currently among the lowest in the country—to fund urgently needed wildlife conservation. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has identified nearly 300 species in decline, yet lacks the general fund resources to act.

“This bill was built on compromise, unity, and a shared love for Oregon’s wild places,” said Danielle Moser, Wildlife Program Manager at Oregon Wild. “It brought together hunters, anglers, conservationists, and rural community leaders, people who often don’t agree. And it showed what’s possible when we put politics aside. Unfortunately, a few obstructionist senators decided to stand in the way of that hope.”

Senators Daniel Bonham and Cedric Hayden used procedural gimmicks to block a floor vote on the bill, despite growing momentum and a written minority report ready to be set aside. While a few Republican legislators defied their caucus to vote for HB 2977, the obstructionists prevailed—for now.

Still, advocates say the coalition and public engagement behind this bill have created a wave of political will that won’t disappear.

“Every legislator and staffer I talked to had heard from Oregonians about this bill,” said Casey Kulla with Oregon Wild. “Phone lines rang off the hook. Inboxes were flooded. People showed up. This was grassroots democracy at its best, and it worked, even if the final vote didn’t happen. We are just getting started.”

While Republican obstruction was central to the bill’s defeat, conservation advocates are also pointing to internal resistance among some Democrats, and Democratic leadership’s decision not to advance the bill to the floor, as a missed opportunity that can and must be corrected.

“We’re disappointed,” Moser said. “But we’re not deterred. We’ve built something powerful. Next session, we’re coming back stronger.”

Oregon Wild and the statewide coalition behind HB 2977 are already preparing for the 2026 short session. 

“The need to fund wildlife and their habitats remains, and the broad public support has never been clearer. This was the closest Oregon has come in decades,” Kulla added. “And next time, we’re going to finish the job.”

SUPPORT FOR HB 2977

SALEM, OR – A landmark bill to fund wildlife conservation in Oregon is being held up in the State Senate, despite passing the House with strong bipartisan support and clearing Senate Rules. HB 2977, backed by a broad and diverse coalition across Oregon (listed at the bottom of this release), is now stalled due to obstruction by two Republican senators, Daniel Bonham and Cedric Hayden, who are using procedural tactics to try to kill the bill.

“This bill has support from every corner of the state,” said Amy Patrick of the Oregon Hunters Association. “It’s a smart, fair solution to address a wildlife funding crisis, and it’s been shaped by everyone from hunters and anglers to birders and business owners. The House did its job. The Senate Rules Committee did its job. I urge the two senators attempting now to derail it to respect the extensive work done by stakeholders and legislators alike, and allow the bill to move forward.”

The so-called “minority report” being wielded to delay the bill has already been written and is available to view, but Senators Bonham and Hayden refuse to officially submit it. 

According to the rules of the Oregon Legislature, Senate President Rob Wagner has the ability to put HB 2977 for a vote on the floor. 

“Senate President Rob Wagner has the power to put HB 2977 on the floor today—and Oregonians from across the state are calling on him to do so,” said Danielle Moser of Oregon Wild. “This is not a party-line issue. Our wildlife, the habitats they depend on, and the democratic process deserve better.”

Over 70% of the submitted testimony available on the Oregon Legislative Information System (OLIS) is in support of the bill.

“Oregon’s fish and wildlife is big business in Oregon, and this incredible resource is in jeopardy of blinking out,” said Bob Rees of the Northwest Guides and Anglers Association. “The Oregon Legislature is on the precipice of passing its first meaningful funding to turn the tide of these imperiled species through a bipartisan wildlife funding bill. If this bill doesn’t pass, those imperiled species will continue down the path to extinction and, along with it, our community of outdoor enthusiasts that represents one of the greatest transfers of wealth from urban to rural communities in Oregon. We’ll hold those obstructing the passage of this bill personally responsible for its demise, the first real opportunity to recover Oregon’s troubled fish and wildlife species.”

“Rarely has a bill brought a more diverse stakeholder coalition together like HB 2977 has, and with strong bipartisan support in both chambers of the legislature, the bill was set for success,” said Dr. Sristi Kamal, Deputy Director of the Western Environmental Law Center. “But now it is being held hostage by gimmicky tactics such as a minority report by a few Senate Republicans who want to kill HB 2977. They have no interest in unifying rural and urban Oregon and instead thrive by dividing us. We urge the Senate Democratic Party to save HB 2977, and honor the democratic process that got the bill this far.”

Stakeholders are particularly frustrated that genuine compromise and broad consensus are being undermined by obstruction.

“HB 2977 is the result of ranchers, guides, hoteliers, birders, business owners, and sportsmen all pulling in the same direction,” said Tristan Henry, Oregon Field Representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “The Senate has an opportunity now to finish what this broad coalition started and deliver a lasting wildlife-funding solution for Oregon. We urge President Rob Wagner and Senate leadership to use every tool available to move HB 2977 forward and pass it into law.”

HB 2977 would increase Oregon’s statewide transient lodging tax—currently one of the lowest in the nation—to provide long-overdue funding for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The agency has identified nearly 300 species in decline, yet lacks the resources to protect and recover them.

A recent economic analysis found that the bill would not deter tourism and could actually boost outdoor recreation spending in Oregon by improving visitor experiences and protecting iconic species and landscapes.

Supporters say the bill is a win-win: funding from tourists to protect the wildlife and landscapes they come to see, and economic benefits for rural communities that rely on outdoor recreation.

“The passage of HB 2977 would be one of Oregon’s most significant environmental achievements in decades,” said Colin Reynolds, senior advisor to the Northwest program at Defenders of Wildlife. “This bill would deliver long-awaited and necessary sustainable funding for Oregon’s essential wildlife conservation programs that support our iconic species like the marbled murrelet, Southern Resident orca and fisher. On behalf of Defenders of Wildlife’s over 40,000 members and supporters in Oregon, I call on the Oregon legislature to pass this bipartisan bill before the end of the legislative session.”

SUPPORT FOR HB 2977

Dismantling the Roadless Rule Would Put Clean Water and Wildlife at Risk, Increase Fire Risk

Portland, OR — In a sweeping rollback of one of America’s most broadly supported and legally durable conservation measures, the Trump administration today announced it is eliminating the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This move puts nearly 2 million acres of Oregon’s most intact national forest lands at risk, including areas around the Metolius River, the Sandy River, the Oregon Dunes, Mount Hebo, Hardesty Mountain, Tumalo Mountain, and the Upper Hood River Valley.

Oregon Wild strongly condemns this short-sighted decision, which ignores decades of public input, legal precedent, and the irreplaceable ecological value of Oregon’s remaining wild forests.

“Once again, the Trump administration is siding with industry lobbyists and political insiders instead of the people of Oregon and the American public,” said Oregon Wild Climate Forests Program Manager Lauren Anderson. “This decision is an invitation for the most destructive commercial logging, roadbuilding, and development in some of the most remote, ecologically valuable, and unspoiled forests left in the country. These lands belong to all Americans, not just the industrial looters and billionaire donors who have the President’s ear.”

The Roadless Rule was established in 2001 after an unprecedented public process that included more than 600 hearings and 1.6 million comments. The vast majority of comments supported protecting roadless areas from logging and roadbuilding. The rule safeguarded 58.5 million acres of undeveloped national forests, including almost 2 million acres in Oregon, from most commercial development.

The Trump administration’s repeal of the rule comes amid a broader effort to ramp up logging on public forests in Oregon and across the West, as well as threats to sell off millions of acres of public lands, including in Oregon, to pay for Trump’s tax-cut and domestic militarization agenda. 

This effort is presented as “fire prevention,” but studies consistently show that roadbuilding and logging in backcountry forests do little to reduce fire risk near communities. In many cases, these activities increase fire risk while degrading clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation opportunities.

A recent poll showed that 74% believe the federal government should focus forest management on thinning small trees near homes and emergency services, rather than large-scale commercial logging in more remote areas like those currently protected by the Roadless Rule. Both state and federal policy heavily subsidize logging lucrative large trees in the backcountry in the name of ‘fire preparedness’ over effective ways to safeguard lives and communities.

“Oregon’s roadless forests are not only home to ancient trees and endangered wildlife. They are vital sources of clean drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people and support the state’s outdoor recreation economy,” said Erik Fernandez, Wilderness Program Manager for Oregon Wild. “Removing protections for these forests is not fire management. It is environmental vandalism.”

From the remote forests of the Rogue River-Siskiyou to the high headwaters of the Blue Mountains, Oregon’s roadless areas are among the state’s last best places. These landscapes provide refuge for salmon, steelhead, elk, and eagles. They offer cold clean water for communities like Ashland and Salem. They also offer a haven for hikers, hunters, and anyone seeking solitude in nature.

“Oregonians have made it clear time and again that they value their wildlands, clean water, and wildlife. The Trump administration’s decision is not only an attack on our environment. It is an attack on our values,” said Anderson.

Oregon Wild and its partners will continue to fight this decision in the courts, in Congress, and in communities across Oregon to ensure that roadless forests remain wild for future generations.

Background:

• The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule protected 58.5 million acres of undeveloped national forests from new roadbuilding and most forms of commercial logging
  
• Nearly 2 million acres of Oregon’s national forests are protected by the Roadless Rule, including parts of Mount Hood, Hells Canyon, and the Siskiyou Mountains
  
• These areas safeguard drinking water for more than 800,000 Oregonians and provide critical habitat for species like salmon, marbled murrelets, and bald eagles
  
• Roadless lands support a robust outdoor recreation economy and are central to Oregon’s wild backcountry experiences