TWS wildlife brief on Big Beautiful Bill

A new TWS policy brief on The Big Beautiful Bill’s impacts on wildlife conservation is now available. This resource distills this complex and far-reaching piece of legislation into an accessible format for wildlife professionals to determine potential impacts to their areas of work.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1; BBB) represents a major shift in funding for federal conservation programs, with wide-reaching implications for wildlife professionals. The bill rescinds significant Inflation Reduction Act funding that supported habitat conservation, climate adaptation, and environmental review capacity across multiple federal agencies, while also accelerating timelines for National Environmental Policy Reviews (NEPA) analyses in a manner that may compromise wildlife impact assessments. Additionally, expanded energy development and mandated increases in timber and mineral extraction raise concerns about habitat loss and fragmentation. The bill authorizes continued, and in some cases increased, support for Farm Bill conservation programs, presenting potential opportunities for new private-public conservation partnerships.

TWS chapters, sections and working groups have identified conservation funding as the most important policy priority for The Wildlife Society. This resource advances TWS’s conservation funding policy priority by equipping members to advocate for stable science funding, defend critical research programs, and push for policies that sustain the future of wildlife conservation.