Regulatory Alerts

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services) have jointly proposed removing the definition of “harm” from regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

As stated in the proposal:

“The existing regulatory definition of ‘harm,’ which includes habitat modification, runs contrary to the best meaning of the statutory term ‘take.’ We are undertaking this change to adhere to the single, best meaning of the ESA.”

With the recent issuance of IM-2025-009 and its attachments, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) provided updated guidance to improve the efficiency of processing mining plans of operations under surface management regulations (43 CFR subparts 3802 and 3809). This guidance outlines a process for early coordination with the BLM and other agencies prior to submitting a mine plan of operations. This pre-plan coordination allows potential conflicts to be addressed early in the process, thereby shortening review times.

The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is an iconic butterfly, well-known around the world due to its striking physical appearance, global distribution, and long-distance migration patterns. Within the continental United States, monarchs occur in at least three populations, including the two migratory populations (western population, eastern population) with the Rocky Mountains acting as the general divider, and a non-migratory population in south Florida.