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Federal habitat rule change raises stakes for Indiana bats and other wildlife
A federal change to how the Endangered Species Act defines “harm” removes a basis for requiring safeguards when development damages habitat used by endangered species. Indiana conservationists warn the shift could weaken protections for bats and other wildlife as lawsuits challenge the rule.
Indiana’s endangered bats, birds and mussels could face fewer safeguards when development damages the places they need to survive, following a federal change to the Endangered Species Act’s definition of “harm.”
The U.S. departments of the Interior and Commerce revoked the definition in July. It had treated significant habitat destruction or modification as harm when it disrupted important breeding or feeding behavior and led to injury or death. Under the change, developers no longer face the same habitat-based permit requirements or standards intended to protect endangered species, according to the rule’s opponents.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the former definition intruded on private property rights. The Justice Department is defending the change in court, arguing that the rescinded regulations imposed an excessive burden on families and businesses and that the administration is enforcing the law as written.
States and conservation organizations have filed lawsuits challenging the change. Defenders of Wildlife and other groups argue that converting natural areas to housing, commercial uses, agriculture, logging, energy production and mining deprives species of resources needed to survive and reproduce.
In Indiana, conservationists say the change could undermine efforts to protect the federally endangered Indiana bat. David Van Gilder of the Hoosier Environmental Council said the law’s purpose is weakened if people can disregard what a species needs to live without violating it.
The Indiana chapter of The Nature Conservancy established a Bat Conservation Bank in 2021. Developers can buy credits through the program to offset bats killed by their projects, helping fund conservation in high-priority areas. Executive Director Cassie Hauswald said the program relies on payments from entities whose impacts were covered by the former definition of harm.
Indiana bats and other species have also been hit by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that spreads in caves where bats hibernate. Hauswald said removing the habitat protections could discourage responsibility for harm to species already in decline.
Conservationists point to the recovery of bald eagles as an example of how protections can help wildlife rebound. The birds were nearly wiped out in part by widespread use of DDT, a pesticide later found to have harmful effects. Hauswald warned that weakening protections for wildlife could also have consequences for people.