This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.

At the end of July, the House and Senate both passed versions of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 8998/S. 4802) for FY 2025 that significantly cut funding for endangered species and protecting the environment. Tell Congress to prioritize conservation when they reconcile these bills!

The House version includes many dangerous provisions that would cut funding to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by $144 million, and specifically block funding to protect species including the sage-grouse, lesser prairie-chicken, northern long-eared bat, dunes sagebrush lizard, and wolverine under the Endangered Species Act.

It would also delist gray wolves and Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears, and make sure no restrictions are put in place to stop energy development from harming critically endangered North Pacific right whales, North Atlantic right whales, and Rice's whales.

Among other measures, like making sure lead ammunition and tackle can't be restricted on federal public lands, the bill is bad news for wildlife and conservation. While the Senate version, which was passed out of committee, omits many of these dangerous provisions, it also significantly cuts funding.

The differences in these two bills must be reconciled by the end of September when the federal fiscal year ends.

Letter to Decision Maker(s) for reference:

Decision maker: U.S. senators and representatives

Subject: Don’t Cut Funding for Wildlife and Environment in Interior Appropriations Bill

As someone who is concerned with wildlife and conservation, I’m writing to urge you not to support anti-wildlife riders in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 8998/S. 4802) that had been passed by the House.
 
The House version includes many dangerous provisions that would cut funding to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by $144 million, and specifically block funding to protect species including the sage-grouse, lesser prairie-chicken, northern long-eared bat, dunes sagebrush lizard, and wolverine under the Endangered Species Act. 

It would also delist gray wolves and Yellowstone National Park’s grizzly bears, and make sure no restrictions are put in place to stop energy development from harming critically endangered North Pacific right whales, North Atlantic right whales, and Rice’s whales.
 
Among other measures, like making sure lead ammunition and tackle can’t be restricted on federal public lands and blocking administrative rulemaking to protect old-growth forests in the National Forest System, the bill is bad news for wildlife and conservation. While it’s relieving these riders aren’t in the Senate version, it’s troubling that they may still be enacted when these bills are reconciled in the coming weeks.
 
I urge you to prioritize increased funding for the protection of our nation’s wildlife, wildlands, and oceans, and ensure the integrity and power of our landmark Endangered Species Act is upheld and managed by science, not politics, to protect the Earth’s most vulnerable species.

Sincerely,

Signed

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.