by Steve Schmidt, Darby
We very much enjoy western meadowlarks which nest and sing nearly continuously on our property. However, the annual Breeding Bird Survey and state monitoring indicate substantial long term declines for western meadowlark across Montana, consistent with continental declines. Consequently, Montana’s natural heritage and wildlife agencies list meadowlarks as a species of concern or note it among grassland birds showing declines.
We keep a large portion of our grass un-mowed and as wild as possible to provide habitat for meadowlarks. We love to see and hear meadowlarks and want them to thrive as much as possible.
The Trump administration has proposed to change the application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) so that the places where at-risk wildlife live are no longer protected. For decades, the USFWS has employed the definition of “harm” in the ESA to include “significant habitat modification or degradation where it actually kills or injures wildlife by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding or sheltering.” In July of 2026, the U.S. Department of Interior announced it intends to remove this definition of harm without replacing it with another definition. The intended effect of this change is that while direct killing of ESA listed species will still be illegal, destroying the places they live will be allowed.
Western meadowlarks are not on the list of federally protected threatened and endangered species. But what if, in the future, they were listed? If this action is allowed to stand, it means grasslands where meadowlarks nest and raise their young could be destroyed, as long as people did not directly kill the meadowlarks. The result nonetheless will be the loss of meadowlarks.
To put a finer point on it, if the rule change stands, a lake with an endangered fish could be drained with no consequence as long as the fish themselves are not killed.
It seems obvious that if you remove the homes of at-risk wildlife, you will destroy those wildlife populations.
I support all those groups taking the Trump administration to court. This action by the Trump administration is beyond tragic. It is just plain evil.
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