The Trump administration has issued a new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act that strips federal protections from critical wildlife habitat — a move that affects old-growth forests across the West, including areas relevant to northern spotted owl recovery, and that state wildlife agencies say they are not equipped to replace.
For decades, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified and protected critical habitat as a core tool of the Endangered Species Act. The administration's reinterpretation effectively removes that layer of protection for wildlife habitat broadly, shifting any remaining burden to states that wildlife officials say lack the legal authority, staffing, and funding to absorb it.
Montana's own wildlife management infrastructure has operated alongside federal protections for listed species. Whether this policy change directly affects any active critical habitat designations within Lewis and Clark County or the broader Helena-area national forests was not immediately clear from available reporting, but the Helena National Forest borders the city and falls within the affected federal land framework.
State wildlife agencies quoted in reporting on the change said plainly that they cannot pick up the slack — a rare moment of public candor from agencies that typically work quietly alongside federal partners. The change does not require congressional approval and takes effect through administrative action.