Federal agencies finalize Endangered Species Act rule changes, removing regulatory definition of “harm”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries have finalized revisions to regulations implementing portions of the Endangered Species Act, including the removal of the regulatory definition of “harm,” according to federal wildlife agency announcements.

The Fish and Wildlife Service announced additional revisions on July 17, 2026. The action follows a July 10 announcement that the agencies would remove the regulatory definition of “harm” from the framework used to administer parts of the law.

The revisions apply nationwide. They may change how federal agencies interpret and enforce protections for imperiled species and habitat, with potential consequences for conservation groups, landowners, developers and people who use public lands.

What the agencies changed

The Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries jointly administer relevant Endangered Species Act regulations. The agencies’ announcements describe the action as a revision to regulations governing administration of portions of the law, rather than as an elimination of the statute or its protections.

The central change identified in the available materials is the removal of the regulatory definition of “harm.” The source materials do not provide the complete final-rule text or a full list of every amended provision, so the specific wording and scope of all revisions cannot yet be independently detailed here.

The Department of the Interior described the July 10 action as restoring what it called clearer Endangered Species Act enforcement. That characterization is the department’s stated rationale, not an independent finding about the rule’s effects. The announcement also framed the action as balancing conservation goals with economic growth and quoted Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik.

Why the rule matters

The Endangered Species Act regulatory framework affects federal species-recovery and conservation administration. Changes to that framework can be relevant when agencies evaluate activities, permits and land-management decisions involving imperiled species or their habitat.

For conservation groups, the revisions may alter how they assess federal protection of species and habitat. Landowners and developers may face a changed regulatory framework when federal agencies review projects or other activities. Public-land users may also be affected by how federal agencies apply the revised rules to conservation and land-management decisions.

Those possible effects depend on the final regulatory language and on how the agencies implement it. The available source materials do not establish that species protections have been eliminated, nor do they establish whether the revisions will increase or decrease extinction risk.

The July 17 announcement is the latest identified step in the agencies’ regulation-reform effort. The July 10 project page described the revisions as applying to regulations that administer portions of the Endangered Species Act and identified species recovery and conservation as the project’s goals.

What happens next

The available materials do not state the rule’s effective date. They also do not include implementation guidance or the complete final text needed to determine how particular species, projects or public-land decisions will be treated.

As a result, the immediate practical question is not whether the Endangered Species Act has been repealed—it has not—but how the finalized regulatory language will be applied by the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries. A fuller assessment of effects on specific projects or species will require review of the final rule and subsequent agency guidance.

For now, the verified development is a nationwide change to the federal regulatory framework: the agencies have finalized revisions, and the definition of “harm” is no longer included in the regulations as described in the July 10 announcement.