Wildlife Conservation Sees Bipartisan Support in 116th Congress

This briefing from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute outlines bipartisan legislative efforts in the 116th Congress to preserve biodiversity in the United States. It details proposed laws and testimony focusing on wildlife corridors, land preservation, the Endangered Species Act, and the management of invasive species to mitigate threats from climate change and habitat loss.

• The 116th Congress introduced the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act of 2019 (H.R.2795/S.1499) and the Tribal Wildlife Corridors Act of 2019 (H.R.5179/S.2891) to improve habitat connectivity. The former aims to increase federal capacity to protect migration routes through initiatives like a Wildlife Movement Grant Program and a Wildlife Connectivity Database, while the latter empowers tribes to link corridors on tribal lands to USFS-managed lands.
• Legislative efforts for land preservation include the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act (H.R.2546), which seeks to protect over 1,000 miles of rivers and 1.3 million acres of land across Washington, California, and Colorado. Additionally, the Land and Water Conservation Fund Permanent Funding Act (H.R.3195/S.1081) proposes annual expenditures of $900 million from the LWCF to address a federal conservation needs backlog estimated at $30 billion.
• The Great American Outdoors Act (S.3422), introduced in March 2020, combines the Restore Our Parks Act (S.500)—which addresses national park maintenance backlogs—with the Land Water Conservation Fund Permanent Funding Act.
• To strengthen the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Protect America’s Wildlife and Fish in Need of Conservation Act of 2019 (H.R.4348/S.2491) was introduced to reverse 2019 Department of the Interior rules. These 2019 rules had limited critical habitat designations, removed protections for threatened species, allowed economic assessments in protection determinations, and simplified the delisting process.
• The Wildlife Innovation and Longevity Driver Act (WILD Act, H.R.872/S.268) aims to improve invasive species management, which is cited as a primary driver of biodiversity loss and a cause of billions of dollars in annual economic losses. The Act would expand conservation programs, mandate invasive species management requirements, and create the Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prize program for innovation in species management.

APA

Neal, A. (2020). Wildlife Conservation Sees Bipartisan Support in 116th Congress. Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/wildlife-conservation-sees-bipartisan-support-in-116th-congress

Chicago

Neal, Abby. Wildlife Conservation Sees Bipartisan Support in 116th Congress. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2020. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/wildlife-conservation-sees-bipartisan-support-in-116th-congress.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Neal |first1=Abby |title=Wildlife Conservation Sees Bipartisan Support in 116th Congress |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=8 May 2020 |url=https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/wildlife-conservation-sees-bipartisan-support-in-116th-congress |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{neal2020wildlife, author = {Neal, Abby}, title = {{Wildlife Conservation Sees Bipartisan Support in 116th Congress}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/wildlife-conservation-sees-bipartisan-support-in-116th-congress}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }