A Gallery of Wild Places

President Trump directed the Interior secretary to determine within 90 days whether gray wolves and Mexican wolves should be downlisted or removed from Endangered Species Act protections. The order does not itself change protections, but a status change could expand lethal removal and encourage states to weaken their own wolf safeguards. Mexican wolves have not met either federal recovery pathway: the U.S. population recently reached 319 wolves but has not sustained the required level, and severe genetic limitations remain unresolved.

The Center for Biological Diversity says the Trump administration and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are pursuing reviews and policies intended to expand fracking, drilling and mining on public lands and waters, including areas with existing protections. The organization warns that several million acres of protected landscapes, watersheds, cultural sites, wildlife habitat and recreation areas could be affected. Places identified include Oak Creek Canyon, the Upper Pecos River watershed, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Carrizo Plain National Monument, Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, Castle Mountains National Monument and the Grand Canyon region.