Endangered Species Coalition

The Endangered Species Coalition advances its objectives through lobbying and public educational programs. ³ The Endangered Species Coalition has opposed the use of zero-carbon nuclear energy. ⁴

In May 2025, the Endangered Species Coalition was one of 600 nonprofits that signed an open letter opposing a Congressional request for information from over 200 U.S-based nonprofit organizations regarding allegations of the groups helping facilitate illegal immigration into the United States. ⁵

Funding

As of 2018, the Endangered Species Coalition has received funding from several organizations including the Woodtiger Fund,  ⁶ the Firedoll Foundation,  ⁷ Patagonia org,  ⁶ the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, ⁷ the Horne Family Foundation, ⁷ the Morgan Stanley Global Impact Fund,  ⁶ the Orange County Community Foundation, ⁶ and the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment.  ⁶

Activist Training Lab

The Activist Training Lab is a year-long program designed by the Endangered Species Coalition to instruct its participants on environmentalism and animal liberation. ⁸ The program’s list of educational objectives includes leadership development, developing recruitment skills to spread the message of the organization, media literacy, and lobbying. ⁸

As of 2018, the Activist Training Lab was headed by Sarah Starman, ⁸ a recipient of the Green Corps Environmental Organizing Fellowship. The fellowship trains college graduates in environmentalist activism and assists with finding permanent employment within the environmentalist nonprofit network. ⁹

Advocacy Campaigns

Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Coalition supports the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which regulates or prohibits human activity that may damage endangered species. The group criticized the First Trump administration for making changes to ESA enforcement that permitted easier development and fewer restrictions towards human activity in regards to the habitats of endangered species. The Endangered Species Coalition supported the Protect America’s Wildlife and Fish Act, which would roll back the new rules, but the U.S. Congressional action was defeated. ¹⁰

The Endangered Species Coalition opposed the 2025 ESA Amendments Act, a proposal by U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) that would further limit ESA power and increased the speed of federal development permitting. In a statement, then-Endangered Species Coalition national policy director Jewel Tomasula said that if the Act passed, “Earth Day will become Extinction Day.” ¹¹

In 2024, the Endangered Species Coalition mobilized over 220 of its member groups as part of an effort to advocate the passage of policy that would increase funding for ESA enforcement by $338.2 million; the measure failed. In addition, the group supported a Congressional initiative to earmark $125 million in federal funding for a Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program in 16 states which was approved. ¹²

The group celebrates Endangered Species Day annually on May 15. In 2026, the group held 22 celebrations across the United States with its member groups. ¹³

Pesticide Report

The Endangered Species Coalition compiles an anti-pesticide list of 10 species that have been affected by pesticides. ¹⁴

One of the species listed is the Salado Salamander (Eurycea chisholmensis)—a salamander species that, according to the report, scientists know little about, being unaware of the salamander’s existence until the year 2000. Only 100 such salamanders have been identified over the past five years. ¹⁵

Southern Resident Orcas

The Southern Resident Orcas project seeks to destroy four dams placed along Snake River, a major river in the Pacific Northwest. ¹⁶

The Endangered Species Coalition seeks to remove these dams to increase the number of chinook salmon in Snake River, which would increase the amount of food available for Southern Resident Orcas. ¹⁶

In 2024, the Endangered Species Coalition supported a successful legislative effort to secure $8 million in funding for the removal of one Snake River dam. ¹²

Western Slope Connectivity Project

The Western Slope Connectivity Project opposes population growth and business development in Colorado, arguing that such expansion threatens the wildlife habitat of animals. The Endangered Species Coalition supports this position by arguing that Colorado’s $62.5 billion tourism industry is dependent upon its wildlife. ¹⁷

Wildlife Corridors – Pennsylvania

The Wildlife Corridors – Pennsylvania project seeks to create and maintain wildlife corridors, which connect otherwise separate habitats, to increase the survival rate of threatened and endangered species in the connected habitats. ¹⁸

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

See also Opposition to Nuclear Energy

The Endangered Species Coalition was one of more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.” ⁴

Wolf Restoration

In April 2026, the group announced it was opposing efforts by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allegedly undermine a local initiative to reintroduce grey wolves by establishing a framework for groups that may be negatively affected by wolves, like livestock companies, to make complaints and receive compensation for damages. ^{19 20}

In 2024, the Endangered Species Coalition helped generate 23,947 public comments and 46,312 emails to support Colorado’s wolf restoration initiative. ¹²

Pollinator Protectors

The Endangered Species Coalition’s Pollinator Protectors campaign funds programs that support bees and butterflies by financially supporting groups in 26 states that plant local flora. ²¹

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)

The Endangered Species Coalition states that it is supports justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), a form of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In its foundational JEDI statement, the group stated that there is “systemic exclusivity” in the environmentalist movement, that environmental problems “disproportionately affect women, youth and people of color,” and that millions of acres of American land have been stolen from Indigenous and racial minority groups, including for conservation purposes. ²²

In 2020, the Endangered Species Coalition issued a “baseline assessment” on JEDI for all employees within its organization. Subsequently, all employees were required to make a pledge that they would commit to examining their own “subconscious biases,” participate in JEDI group discussions, and “actively address JEDI issues in… campaign and work.” The group then committed to factoring JEDI into its hiring practices, including by prioritizing the hiring of racial minorities. As of May 2026, the last publicly available JEDI report issued by the Endangered Species Coalition was released in December 2021. ²³

Leadership

Susan Holmes is the executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition, holding the role since 2023. Prior to this, Holmes worked for Environment America in 2023 as a wildlife campaigns director for less than a year. Between 2014 to 2023, she worked as a federal policy director at the Wildlands Network. From 2011 to 2013, Holmes was the Washington D.C. representative at Save Our Wild Salmon. From 2001 to 2011, she was a senior legislative at Earthjustice. From 1998 to 2001, Holmes served as a senior regional representative at the Sierra Club. ²⁴ In 2024, Holmes earned a salary of $118,468 from the Endangered Species Coalition. ²⁵

Leda Huta was the former executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition. She was a co-founder of EcoWomen, a social group and brainstorming organization for women in the environmentalist movement. As of May 2026, Huta was the executive director of Waterkeeper Chesapeake. ^{26 27}

As of 2026, Jewel Tomasula was serving as the national policy director of the Endangered Species Coalition, a position they had held since February 2024. Tomasula previously worked as a staffer for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) and as a researcher at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ²⁸

As of May 2026, the advisory board of the Endangered Species Coalition included employees and leaders from the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, the U.S. Humane Society, the National Wildlife Federation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Defenders of Wildlife. ²⁹