American Bird Conservancy * American Forests * American Rivers * Born Free USA Cascadia Wildlands * Center for Biological Diversity * Center for Food Safety * Clean Water Action * Conservation Northwest * Defenders of Wildlife * Earthjustice Endangered Species Coalition * Environmental Protection Information Center * Friends of the Earth * Humane Society Legislative Fund * Humane Society of the United States International Fund for Animal Welfare * International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute Klamath Forest Alliance * Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center * League of Conservation Voters * Living With Wolves * Los Padres ForestWatch * National Parks Conservation Association Native Plant Conservation Campaign * Natural Resources Defense Council * Northeast Oregon Ecosystems * Oceana * Oregon Wild * Predator Defense* Project Coyote Quality Parks * Save the Manatee Club * Sierra Club * The Nature Conservancy * Turtle Island Restoration Network * Western Watersheds Project * WildEarth Guardians Wildlands Network
June 20, 2017
Dear Chairman Calvert, Chairman Culberson, Ranking Member McCollum, and Ranking Member Serrano:
As you work to develop the FY 2018 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies and Commerce, Justice Science and Related Agencies appropriations bills, we write to urge you to reject damaging funding reductions proposed in the administration’s FY 2018 budget for programs that support implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and conservation of imperiled and at-risk species. We also ask that the bills be kept free of riders that undermine the ESA as well as all other anti-environmental riders that would harm protections for our air, land, water and wildlife.
The ESA is our nation’s most effective law in protecting wildlife and plants in danger of extinction. More than 99 percent of listed species have been saved from extinction. The American people care deeply about wildlife and are troubled by the concept of extinction. According to a June 2015 poll, 90 percent of American voters support the Endangered Species Act.1 Another poll from December 2016 found that 81 percent of American voters agree that saving at-risk wildlife from going extinct is an important goal for the federal government.2 Adequate funding for key programs is crucial in conserving imperiled and at-rick species and guarding against future extinctions.
Read the full letter to the Senate. Read the full letter to the House.
