{"id":703104,"date":"2026-07-20T00:00:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T05:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=703104"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:05:13","slug":"native-america-calling-tribes-sue-after-feds-redefine-harm-in-endangered-species-act-upend-decades-of-land-conservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/07\/20\/native-america-calling-tribes-sue-after-feds-redefine-harm-in-endangered-species-act-upend-decades-of-land-conservation\/","title":{"rendered":"Native America Calling: Tribes sue after feds redefine \u2018harm\u2019 in Endangered Species Act, upend decades of land conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"card mb-2\">\r\n  <div class=\"row\">\r\n    <div class=\"col-md-4 align-self-center\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/nativeamericacalling.jpg\" class=\"img-fluid\" alt=\"native america calling\"\/>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"col-md-8\">\r\n      <div class=\"card-body\">\r\n        <div class=\"h5-responsive card-title\">Native America Calling<\/div>\r\n        <div>\r\n           Listen to Native America Calling every weekday at 1pm Eastern.\r\n        <\/div>\r\n        <div>\r\n          <!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\r\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1859-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/playerservices.streamtheworld.com\/api\/livestream-redirect\/NV1.mp3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/playerservices.streamtheworld.com\/api\/livestream-redirect\/NV1.mp3\">http:\/\/playerservices.streamtheworld.com\/api\/livestream-redirect\/NV1.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>\r\n\t\t\tAlternate Links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nv1.org\/\">Native Voice One<\/a> |\r\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeamericacalling.com\/\">NAC<\/a>\r\n\t\t\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\"><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Monday, July 20, 2026<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source-links\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeamericacalling.com\/\"><i class=\"fas fa-link fa-xs\"><\/i> nativeamericacalling.com<\/a>\r\n&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nativeamericacalling\/\"><i class=\"fab fa-instagram fa-xs\"><\/i> nativeamericacalling<\/a>\r\n&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nativeamericacalling\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook fa-xs\"><\/i> nativeamericacalling<\/a>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">\r\nTribes sue after feds redefine \u2018harm\u2019 in Endangered Species Act, upend decades of land conservation\r\n<\/div>\r\nConservation groups and at least <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swinomish-nsn.gov\/swinomish-tribal-senate\/page\/swinomish-and-squaxin-island-tribes-file-lawsuit-challenging-recission\">two Pacific Northwest tribes filed lawsuits against the federal government<\/a> after it redefined \u201charm\u201d in the Endangered Species Act earlier this month. \r\n<p><\/p>\r\nNow, <a href=\"https:\/\/stateline.org\/2026\/07\/20\/the-feds-no-longer-protect-endangered-species-habitat-states-say-they-cant-pick-up-the-slack\/\">destruction of habitat is no longer considered \u201charm\u201d to endangered wildlife<\/a>. Supporters of the move say it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2026\/07\/14\/2026-14195\/rescinding-the-definition-of-harm-under-the-endangered-species-act\">lifts burdensome restrictions to land management and development<\/a>. \r\n<p><\/p>\r\nEnvironmental groups and tribes like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swinomish-nsn.gov\">Swinomish Indian Tribal Community<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/squaxinisland.org\">Squaxin Island Tribe<\/a> say it puts endangered species, like <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chinook_salmon\">Chinook salmon<\/a>, and the environment they depend on in even greater danger.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-pdfemb-pdf-embedder-viewer\"><a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20\/swinomish071426.pdf\" class=\"pdfemb-viewer\" style=\"\" data-width=\"max\" data-height=\"max\" data-toolbar=\"both\" data-toolbar-fixed=\"on\">Swinomish and Squaxin Island Tribes File Lawsuit Challenging Recission of ESA Harm Rule<\/a><\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/07\/20\/native-america-calling-tribes-sue-after-feds-redefine-harm-in-endangered-species-act-upend-decades-of-land-conservation\/chinooksalmon\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-703163\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" data-attachment-id=\"703163\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/07\/20\/native-america-calling-tribes-sue-after-feds-redefine-harm-in-endangered-species-act-upend-decades-of-land-conservation\/chinooksalmon\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20\/chinooksalmon.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2048,1365\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-title=\"Chinook Salmon\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Chinook Salmon&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Chinook salmon range from San Francisco Bay in California to north of the Bering Strait in Alaska, and the waters of Canada and Russia. According to the federal government, nine populations of Chinook salmon are listed under the Endangered Species Act as either threatened or endangered. Photo: &lt;a href=https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/usfws_pacificsw\/5456984378\/&gt;Dan Cox \/ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20\/chinooksalmon.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20\/chinooksalmon.jpg\" alt=\"Chinook Salmon\"  class=\"size-full wp-image-703163\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"figure-caption\"> Chinook salmon range from San Francisco Bay in California to north of the Bering Strait in Alaska, and the waters of Canada and Russia. According to the federal government, nine populations of Chinook salmon are listed under the Endangered Species Act as either threatened or endangered. Photo: <a href=https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/usfws_pacificsw\/5456984378\/>Dan Cox \/ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">Guests on Native America Calling<\/div>\r\nCheyenne Skye Branscum (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), Sierra Club president of the board of directors\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nDr. Victoria Sutton (Lumbee), distinguished Horn Professor at Texas Tech University school of Law\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nBrenna Yellowthunder (Ho-Chunk and Din\u00e9), Keep It In the Ground coordinator for the Indigenous Environmental Network\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nWyatt Golding, attorney at Ziontz Chestnut for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nKristin Boyles, managing attorney with Earthjustice\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/show\/4RE6juPYr7cl2Zsmb2zjq7?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"232\" frameBorder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">All Episodes on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4RE6juPYr7cl2Zsmb2zjq7?si=2a56e59533534bf9\">Spotify<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeamericacalling.com\/subscribe-to-podcast\/\">More Options<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<img src=https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/nativeamericacalling.jpg width=0 height=0 class=invisible>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two tribes in Washington state are suing the federal government for changes that they say put endangered species like salmon in danger.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":703163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,20,13,1,14],"tags":[7608,7607,631,3792,916,7610,410,243,133,134,1852,3688,483,3514,27,154,5084,314,7609],"class_list":["post-703104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-indian-trust","category-law","category-national","category-politics","tag-brenna-yellowthunder","tag-cheyenne-skye-branscum","tag-esa","tag-fish","tag-ien","tag-kristin-boyles","tag-law-firms","tag-media","tag-native-america-calling","tag-radio","tag-salmon","tag-squaxin-island","tag-subsistence","tag-swinomish","tag-texas","tag-treaties","tag-victoria-sutton","tag-washington","tag-wyatt-golding","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-2WUo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20\/chinooksalmon.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703104"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":703166,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703104\/revisions\/703166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}