In July 2026 the federal government removed the definition that let habitat destruction count as "harm" under the Endangered Species Act. I wanted to know what that change actually means for the species the law protects.
I researched the rule and reviewed agency and legal sources, combined species data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries with habitat-loss and recovery figures from public sources, and built the argument from what the numbers showed.
The result is habitatfiles.org, an interactive publication that makes the policy change visible through data, comparison, and plain language. I researched, wrote, designed, and built it.