The next president and Congress face critical decisions for wildlife conservation. Already, nearly one out of every three U.S. species are considered at-risk, and many wildlife populations are in decline. Unless we act soon, many of these animals could reach a tipping point.
As you cast your vote this Election Day, consider where the candidates stand on the following issues. Check their websites for their policy positions, or call their campaign office to get answers to your questions. Vote for candidates who stand with wildlife!
Confronting climate change
A warming world stresses wildlife and their habitats. We’ve witnessed severe forest fires, hurricanes, floods, droughts, habitat shifts, heat waves, sea level rise, and ocean acidification. Our elected officials must come together and deliver on a positive, proactive climate agenda that protects your family and wildlife. This includes:
- Reducing the carbon pollution that fuels climate change, as well as other toxic air pollutants that harm public health
- Decarbonizing the industrial sector, by responsibly reducing new emissions and removing existing emissions
- Prioritizing the conservation and establishment of natural systems to support climate adaptation and mitigation outcomes for communities
- Advancing the responsible siting and deployment of clean energy transmission and renewable energy, including offshore wind and rooftop solar
- Reforming federal fossil fuel leasing to account for greenhouse gasses and the wildlife-related impacts of extraction
Funding wildlife recovery
State wildlife agencies have identified some 12,000 species that are in need of conservation efforts. Unfortunately, most funds available to states for wildlife recovery (such as fees related to hunting and fishing) fall short of protecting these species. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would give state and Tribal wildlife agencies the resources they need to implement collaborative, on-the-ground conservation projects before a species nears the brink of extinction. If passed by Congress, the new funds could help prevent thousands of species from being listed under the Endangered Species Act—a huge payoff.
Safeguarding public lands
Wildlife and communities depend on more than 600 million acres of public land and water across the country, but these lands are under threat from climate change, energy development, and politicians who want to privatize and sell off these lands for profit. Our leaders will need to tackle these problems by:
- Ensuring oil and gas leasing, mining, and other extractive industries don’t adversely impact wildlife
- Establishing renewable energy on public lands where it causes the least harm to wildlife habitat
- Allocating enough funding to restore degraded landscapes that have been ravaged by drought, wildfire, flooding and other disasters
- Designating new conservation areas to protect lands vulnerable to development
- Fighting any attempts to transfer, privatize, or sell off public lands
Ensuring clean water
Fish, wildlife, and our families have a critical need for clean, abundant water. Yet a recent Supreme Court decision gutted crucial protections for streams, wetlands, and other waters. Without a strong federal baseline that adequately protects these waters nationwide, the burden falls to states and localities to protect wetlands and streams. History has shown us that this state-by-state approach is not enough to ensure the protection of our waters for future generations. We need leaders who will stand up and fight back to stop the destruction and pollution of our waters by:
- Stepping up to address the harm done by the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision that upended pollution protections, and ensure federal safeguards for all important waters
- Supporting state and Tribal efforts to enact or strengthen protections for the waters we all rely on
- Increasing funding for key federal wetland conservation programs
- Advancing efforts to restore America’s great waters, including the Everglades, Chesapeake Bay, and the Great Lakes
- Advancing restoration and resilience efforts that incorporate natural systems, such as wetlands, dunes, and floodplains
- Prioritizing protection of our critically important rivers and wetlands
Conserving native grasslands
Scientists warn that grassland birds and other species in the northern Great Plains are reaching a tipping point as thousands of acres of native prairie—one of the fastest declining ecosystems in North America—continue to be converted to cropland. The North American Grasslands Conservation Act would help kickstart the protection and restoration of grasslands – and the livelihoods and wildlife that depend on them – by creating a landowner-driven, voluntary, incentive-based program to conserve and restore threatened grassland and sagebrush steppe ecosystems.
Lifting up Tribal rights and Indigenous partnerships
For generations, Indigenous communities have wisely stewarded the natural resources of North America through their knowledge, culture, and practice. It is crucial for our elected leaders at the local, state, federal and presidential levels to recognize that achieving the conservation and climate goals of the 21st century requires better understanding and recognition of this stewardship, reaffirmation of Tribal rights for resource conservation, and ensuring sufficient resources and capacity for policy advancements and on-the-ground-efforts. They also must step up in support of restoring wild buffalo to their historical habitat and restoring Native Americans’ cultural connections to buffalo.
Working for Environmental Justice
Poor air and water quality, natural disasters, and other impacts from climate change and environmental protection rollbacks disproportionately impact communities of color in our nation. The next administration will need to:
- Address racial and socioeconomic public health disparities
- Focus efforts to decrease water, air, and environmental pollution in frontline communities
- Be prepared for increased floods, fires, and other natural disasters, and provide relief for impacted communities