Biodiversity

Earthjustice is utilizing litigation and public mobilization to defend U.S. biodiversity and ecosystems against Trump administration policies. Key efforts include challenging oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, fighting coal mine expansions in the Northern Rockies, and defending the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Roadless Rule. The organization is also pursuing the restoration of salmon in the Columbia River watershed and the reintroduction of gray wolves in Colorado, while challenging the legality of a detention center in the Everglades and the opening of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.

• The Trump administration has opened the entire 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing as of October 2025, and is seeking to open further areas of the Western Arctic to development.
• Earthjustice successfully challenged a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) letter that attempted to allow commercial fishing in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, with a federal court declaring the letter unlawful.
• Despite the Trump administration opening 13.1 million acres of national public lands to coal leasing, recent lease sales in Utah and the Powder River Basin have failed, indicating a market shift away from coal.
• A court ruling in March 2025 regarding the Great Salt Lake established that the "public trust doctrine reflects a fundamental societal mandate to preserve navigable waters for future generations," allowing Earthjustice to proceed with a case to prevent the lake's desiccation.
• Earthjustice is defending the constitutionality of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) against a lawsuit claiming the act cannot protect species found only in one state, using the Florida Scrub-Jay as a test case.
• The organization is pursuing legal action to force federal agencies to implement emergency conservation measures for salmon in the Columbia and Snake river dams after the Trump administration withdrew from a December 2023 agreement.
• Earthjustice is fighting to prevent the repeal of the Roadless Rule, which protects 45 million acres of national forest lands, and is challenging a proposed rule to eliminate ESA regulatory protections for endangered species' habitats.

APA

Earthjustice (2025). Biodiversity. https://earthjustice.org/feature/biodiversity-program-report

Chicago

Earthjustice. Biodiversity. 2025. https://earthjustice.org/feature/biodiversity-program-report.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Biodiversity |date=3 November 2025 |url=https://earthjustice.org/feature/biodiversity-program-report |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2025biodiversity, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Biodiversity}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://earthjustice.org/feature/biodiversity-program-report}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }