NOAA and FWS Issued Rule Revising Critical Habitat Designations

NOAA and FWS issued a final rule rescinding and revising significant parts of the Trump Administration’s 2019 rule limiting critical habitat designations.

On April 5, 2024, NOAA and FWS issued a final rule rescinding and revising significant parts of the Trump Administration’s 2019 rule limiting critical habitat designations (89 Fed. Reg. 24300, Apr. 5, 2024). Among other changes, this regulation removed the Trump-era regulatory language that allowed NOAA and FWS to refuse to designate critical habitat where species were primarily threatened by large-scale factors like climate change. As the agencies explained, removing this regulatory limitation better matched Congress’s intent in passing the ESA, and helped “advance the conservation of endangered species and threatened species, particularly in the face of the ongoing climate crisis.”