House Natural Resources Committee

Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee

Impacts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Proposed BIDEH Rule

1324 Longworth
Wed, 10 Apr 2024 18:00:00 GMT

On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, at 2:00 p.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold an oversight hearing titled “The National Wildlife Refuge System at Risk: Impacts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Proposed BIDEH Rule.”

On February 1, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to both revise the existing Biological Integrity, Diversity, and Environmental Health (BIDEH) policy and implement a new rule that will guide management of national wildlife refuges.

The Service did not anticipate the extent of climate change impacts on refuge species and habitats or the need to clarify in regulations our interpretation of and authority to implement the BIDEH mandate. However, in the nearly 25 years since enactment of the Improvement Act, refuges have begun to experience the effects of climate change while continuing to contend with the myriad of other anthropogenic stressors affecting fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats. Climate change is transforming historical species composition and ecological function of habitats, creating new challenges to traditional wildlife management strategies that were based on stable, stationary baseline conditions. As the Refuge System becomes increasingly vital to addressing the dual threats of biodiversity loss and climate change, the Service recognizes the need to codify both existing and new practices for maintaining BIDEH to assist refuges in responding to these contemporary conservation challenges. Therefore, the Service has identified the need to propose new BIDEH regulations and updates to the existing BIDEH policy to accomplish these goals.

Language in the proposed rule includes:
Within the Refuge System, we will manage species and habitats affected by climate change and other anthropogenic change by using climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies when necessary to meet statutory requirements, fulfill refuge purposes, and ensure biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health.