The Trump administration is seeking to rescind the definition of “harm” as it’s currently applied under the Endangered Species Act. Conservation groups worry the move could spell trouble for endangered species near Charleston and across South Carolina’s rapidly developing coast.

The debate focuses on a central question: Does the term “take” in the Act mean a direct, intentional effort to injure or kill a specific animal, or does it also refer to activities that might indirectly affect wildlife populations?

Under the Endangered Species Act as it currently stands, “taking” includes killing, harassing, hunting, pursuing or harming a listed species. The Act’s current definition of “harm” includes habitat destruction or modification. As such, the law essentially forces developers and local governments building in a protected habitat area to look before they leap, and places restrictions on projects that could hurt federally threatened or endangered species.

The proposed revision would remove that prohibition from the federal law. Several federal wildlife agencies — including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — said that previous rule changes have improperly expanded the meanings of “take” and “harm” outside of their original, congressionally approved scope.

The rationale for the change, according to NOAA, is to clarify the definition of “take” and align it with “the plain text of the (Endangered Species Act), as informed by historical and legal interpretations as an affirmative act directly affecting wildlife.”

Catherine Wannamaker, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Charleston office, called the proposal a “sweeping change” that would turn the act “on its head.”

“In any area where endangered species overlap with rapid development this is going to have a big impact,” Wannamaker said. While some parts of the state are seeing rapid depopulation, many areas of South Carolina are seeing their population skyrocket.

South Carolina is adding about 90,000 new people every year, The Post and Courier previously reported. But the state still has a negative birth rate (more deaths than births), meaning all of the growth comes from transplants. As those new residents arrive, construction is booming to meet housing and commercial demand.

“South Carolina is one of the fastest growing states, and the new development is really just changing the landscape of our beautiful state — which is the reason a lot of people move here,” said Sara Green, the executive director of the South Carolina Wildlife Federation. “The habitat protections that the Endangered Species Act currently provides are really critical to preserving that landscape.”

The Palmetto State is home to 43 federally threatened or endangered species, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — including migratory birds, flowers, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Charleston County is home to many of those vulnerable species.

Northern long-eared bats and red-cockaded woodpeckers sail through the canopy of the Francis Marion National Forest. The woodpeckers were downgraded from “endangered” to “threatened” last October, after decades of concerted habitat restoration work. Across the region’s barrier islands, three distinct species of sea turtles — all either threatened or endangered — arrive each spring to nest. Rufa red knots depend on the South Carolina coast as a critical stop-over point on their 19,000 mile voyage to the arctic circle.

Without the permitting process that comes with the harm rule, it’s possible that vulnerable habitats could be cleared and destroyed without the public ever receiving a full assessment of how a project could harm locally listed species, Wannamaker said.

“From woodpeckers and bats to turtles to red knots, keeping a space for these critters is really the only hope that they have of recovery,” she said. “This proposal is just a complete death knell to the Endangered Species Act as we know it.”

Many of those species are facing additional pressures from a changing climate. Sea turtle nesting sites are eroding away because of higher tides, more frequent severe weather events like hurricanes are threatening the coastal woodland habitats of bats and woodpeckers, and more turbulent winds could be throwing off the red knots’ epic migration.

The public comment period on the harm revision proposal rule change closed in May. But Green said South Carolina residents still can get involved in the process by sharing concerns with their representatives in Congress. The red-cockaded woodpecker is a resident of the nearby Francis Marion Forest.

If the proposed rule goes through, harming or killing federally listed species through hunting, trapping or other intentional pursuit methods still would be illegal.

2025-06-15 Posted by Post & Courier: https://www.postandcourier.com/rising-waters/south-carolina-endangered-species-trump-harm/article_baa