©USFS

The U.S. Department of Interior announced in July it would no longer consider habitat destruction as direct harm to a species. This goes directly against the conclusions of conservationists who work to bring species back from the brink. “We cannot avoid extinction without protecting habitat,” said ​​Vicky Meretsky, a professor at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. “You can’t save a species that is becoming homeless without providing a home.” Meretsky worked for years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to revive numbers of the California condor, which had fallen to 22 birds in 1982. Habitat loss was among the factors that caused the species, which now numbers more than 600, to nearly go extinct. Meretsky said it is impossible to separate habitat protection from endangered species protection. …The red-cockaded woodpecker’s recovery struggles are, in part, because of how severe its habitat problems are.