One More Chance to Defend Migratory Birds

The 100-year old federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) is one of our first environmental statutes, and makes it illegal to hunt, trap, kill, or possess nearly 1,000 avian species. Despite providing crucial protections, the law has been under attack since 2017.

Now, the Trump administration has taken the next step in codifying damaging changes to the MBTA into law by filing their Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

When birds die through activities like energy extraction, the MBTA helps hold companies responsible, and is a strong incentive to avoid such impacts in the first place. If the proposed change becomes law, incidental, as opposed to deliberate, bird deaths resulting from these activities – for example, birds killed in oil spills – will no longer result in prosecution.

The Northern Saw-whet owl is one of hundreds of species protected by MBTA. Photo credit: Bri Rudinsky/USFWS

You can help fight this change.

A group of national conservation organizations are suing the Department of Interior over changes to the law, and there’s still time to voice our opposition through the public review process.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting public comments on this proposed change through March 19. You can submit your own comments to voice your opposition to these protection rollbacks.  

Let USFWS know birds are already in serious trouble, due to factors like habitat loss and climate change, and that it’s unacceptable to stop holding companies responsible for bird deaths at a time when 76% of all bird species in the US are declining.

Thank you for speaking up!