November 2025

The forest understory, or what grows beneath taller trees, is a crucial part of the forest ecosystem. From providing food and cover for many kinds of wildlife to cycling nutrients, the understory plays many essential roles in a healthy forest.

The 1990 Listings That Proved Collaboration Beats Conflict

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 stands as one of the United States' most influential pieces of environmental legislation, designed to conserve the ecosystems where threatened and endangered species occur and to recover these imperiled species through science-based decisions and recovery planning. Central to the ESA is Section 4, which governs the listing process and allows for tailored regulations under Section 4(d) for threatened species. This provision enables the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to customize protections, exempting certain activities that do not hinder recovery while prohibiting those that do. In simple terms, for every newly listed threatened species, the Service will determine what protections are appropriate for that species based on science and the specific threats to the species.