April 22, 2026
Legislation from Rep. Westerman would have drastically weakened bedrock environmental law
Endangered Species
Endangered Species
Protecting endangered species and their habitat is part of the foundational work that the Sierra Club was built around – and it’s working. Today there are more gray wolves, grizzly bears, and California condors than there were a generation ago thanks to Sierra Club members and supporters.
What is the Endangered Species Act?
The Endangered Species Act is one of the most important and effective conservation laws in history. The bipartisan bill passed Congress with almost unanimous support on December 28, 1973, preventing the extinction of roughly 291 species since its passage. Today, more than 80% of the public supports it.
The Endangered Species Act has helped save 99% of species listed for protection from extinction, including the humpback whale, grizzly bear, and bald eagle. Because of its success, gray whales still swim our coasts, peregrine falcons still soar our skies, and polar bears still roam the Arctic tundra. The Act is currently helping protect more than 2,000 species of plants and animals that are threatened or endangered.
The Endangered Species Act is considered one of the greatest success stories of the environmental movement and serves as a model for conservation efforts around the world.
41%
of ecosystems at risk of collapse
40%
of animals in the US risk extinction
The Endangered Species Act is Under Attack
The Trump administration and Congress continue to take unprecedented measures to limit or get rid of the Endangered Species Act, despite the fact that it is one of the most popular environmental laws in America. The Act has protected imperiled wildlife and wildlife habitat from activities like industrial development for over half a century. Science demonstrates that habitat loss is the primary driver of species extinction. The United States alone loses a football field’s worth of natural space every 30 seconds to development.
What We Are Doing
Sierra Club is working hard to fight back against attacks to the Endangered Species Act from the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress. Our chapters and volunteers are also pressuring local decisionmakers to save endangered species, restore keystone species to historic habitats, and protect and connect important habitats so that imperiled wildlife can thrive in the face of climate change and other human-caused threats.
We are leveraging our grassroots power to protect regional species like Florida panthers and grizzly bears in the Northern Rockies. We are also working with Indigenous partners to ensure that Native communities have the resources available to them to manage wildlife on their lands and to restore culturally important species like bison and salmon. In recent years, we have also worked to educate policymakers and the public on how the extinction and climate crises, and the solutions to these crises, are interconnected.
What You Can Do
Tell Congress: Defend the Endangered Species Act!
Tell Congress that now is the time to stand up for the Endangered Species Act and its importance to our country!
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Victory!
We recently saw a big win for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies. Thanks to legal action by the Sierra Club and partners, Northern Rockies wolves are one step closer to Endangered Species Act protections after a federal judge found the Trump administration's denial unlawful.
Press Releases
April 9, 2026
Sierra Club joins advocacy groups in suing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Army Corps of Engineers
April 2, 2026
Lawsuit claims Trump's use of 'Extinction Committee' violates law in numerous ways
March 31, 2026
Endangered Species Committee cites ‘national security concerns’ in unanimous vote to exempt all Gulf oil and gas activities from Endangered Species Act
March 30, 2026
Bedrock Environmental Law Restored to Pre-Trump Status