Nature News from Greater Yellowstone #69

July 17, 2026

As so much of the country has experienced, we too, have had some record breaking heat. Occasionally we’ll have a shower or even a couple of good storms and that has saved us, so far, from some of the wild fires happening in so many places around North America. Wildflowers, too, have been abundant this year. You’ve seen some photos in my previous stories and I’ll share a few more, today, but it’s still a beautiful bloom in many places. Friends have sent me many photos!

The other phenomenon of our most welcome sprinkles have been some wonderful skies. This morning I woke up to low light and a rainbow right over the road where I live! Wow, was it a great way to wake up.

Lots of visitors coming and going from Yellowstone. I live close to the West Gate and some mornings the lines are backed up into town. ‘Tis the season. Honestly, despite the fact we enjoy the times of year when it quiets down, it’s also important to know and observe people getting out to enjoy the natural world around them. Issues come up when a lot of people are packed into one place, but a little bit of education and the mistakes that are made can be resolved.

The parks need staff and hosts who can teach visitors the ways of observing wild animals and wild spaces.
People learn a lot and come to appreciate these open spaces when they are exposed to the wonders! One of the multitude of reasons our wild places are precious.

It hasn’t been too long since I sent the last Nature News, but astonishing and concerning news this week revealed that a new Federal Ruling is weakening the 1973 ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT! I want to share with you some information written by Dr Thomas Nicholls ( who happens to be a good friend and mentor for years)

What would you do if YOU lost YOUR HABITAT?
By Thomas H. Nicholls, Nature Education Center, Fifield, WI

Almost without exception, every visitor to our Nature Education Center in Fifield, WI gets the
Center’s key conservation education message: THINK HABITAT and the need to protect and conserve
habitats that provide essential food, water, shelter, and space REQUIRED by all living species to
successfully carry out their life cycles with minimum stress and loss of life. This includes the human
species as well! Humans also need food, water, shelter, and space like any other animal, to live and
thrive. Without those essential resources, stress sets in leading to poor health, sickness, and sometimes even
death and extinction.

Caring human beings do everything they can to minimize such losses to our homes and ecosystems
that provide habitats for life. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) is just one example of that, but
the Federal government has just issued a new rule that will remove the need for habitat to protect
endangered and threatened species in the Act of 1973.
The ESA is a U.S. Federal law that requires the government to protect species at risk of extinction
and the ecosystems they depend upon to survive. Its core function is to identify species as endangered or
threatened, protect them from harm, and support their recovery.
Its purpose is to conserve species in danger of extinction and the habitats essential to their survival.
Species can be formally listed as endangered (at risk of extinction) or threatened (likely to become endangered). Plants, animals, and distinct population segments can all be listed. The ESA is managed by
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) for land/freshwater species and NOAA/NMFS for marine species.
In summary, ESA is the nation’s strongest wildlife protection law, requiring federal action to
prevent extinction and restore vulnerable species and their habitats, but the current administration has
removed ‘habitats’ from the ESA equation. That is like saying fish and turtles don’t need water!

As Dr. Rich Beilfuss, President and CEO of the International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, WI, eloquently said:

“Since the Endangered Species Act was signed into law in 1973, it is credited with saving
99 percent of the species it protects, including the endangered whooping crane. At the time, fewer than
50 birds remained in the wild, driven nearly to extinction by unregulated hunting and massive habitat loss. Today, thanks in large part to habitat protections under this law, there are nearly 700 wild
whooping cranes. That recovery is one of the great American conservation success stories, and it is a
direct result of this law working exactly as intended. Whooping cranes are living proof that the
Endangered Species Act works.”

Other species that have recovered from the brink of extinction after the ESA was passed

• American Alligator: Brought back from the brink due to overhunting and illegal poaching.
• Peregrine Falcon: Recovered dramatically after the ban of the pesticide DDT.
• Humpback Whale: Rebounded after historic commercial whaling nearly wiped them out.
• Grizzly Bear: Populations in the lower 48 states have steadily expanded past recovery targets.
• Black-Footed Ferret: Brought back from presumed extinction through captive breeding programs.
• Gray Wolf: Successfully repopulated in several regions of the United States.

more from Dr Nicholls:

The primary effort to stop the new ESA ruling is through federal court challenges, already
underway and likely to expand. Courts will determine whether the rule stands or is overturned.
Conservation groups have already filed lawsuits in multiple federal courts to block the new ESA rule.
These suits argue the rule violates ESA’s text and decades of legal precedent. Removing habitat
destruction from “harm” contradicts the ESA’s purpose of protecting ecosystems. The rule conflicts with
the Supreme Court’s 1995 Sweet Home decision, which affirmed habitat destruction can constitute harm.
People writing the new rule allegedly ignored scientific evidence and failed to justify the change.
More challenges are expected by conservation coalitions who have already announced plans for
further legal action to block or overturn the new rule before or after it takes effect, to restore the
previous definition of “harm,” which protected habitat, and to prevent development in critical habitat
that could push species toward extinction.

This, of course, is of great concern for any of us who value the history this country has of preserving ecological habitats. Early federal, state, and private initiatives to preserve forests and open spaces begun during the 19th century continued into the 20th century. For now, I will leave that history for another newsletter. My intent is not to get partisan or political in these musings, but this is of such great concern and could have lasting impacts for thousands of species of life…including humans.

I will finish on a hopeful note with 3 quotations I find very powerful:
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” — Mother Teresa
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

Thanks for continuing to read this Nature News and I always welcome notes and comments from all of you.
My very best, Leslie lesliehstoltz@gmail.com

Next edition of this I will tell you about the Kid for the Wild Scholarship recipients and their experiences and adventures.