Brian Nesvik, a former director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, has been nominated to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Editor's note: This updates with additional reaction to the nomination.

President Trump's choice of a former director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is generating controversy, with the National Wildlife Federation calling Brian Nesvik a solid choice while the Center For Biological Diversity views him as a threat to the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Coalition called the nomination a declaration of "war on wildlife."

The nomination, however, gained praise from Wyoming politicians and even the Wyoming Wildlife Federation.

Nesvik, who retired in 2024, must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

“Trump is declaring war on wolves, grizzly bears and imperiled wildlife across America by picking Brian Nesvik to run the Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Stephanie Kurose, the Center for Biological Diversity’s deputy director of government affairs. “In Wyoming Nesvik led one of the most anti-conservation wildlife agencies in the country, and it’s glaringly obvious that he wants to destroy the Endangered Species Act and with it our best chance of fighting the extinction crisis. You only put a guy like this in charge of protecting endangered animals if you want to see them wiped out.”

At the National Wildlife Federation, Mike Leahy, senior director of wildlife, hunting, and fishing policy, said the nominee "has a great deal of experience managing wildlife and people as well as enforcing the law as a wildlife manager, game warden, and leader of the wildlife agency and national guard in Wyoming. He has been a particularly strong proponent for conserving big game migration corridors and expanding hunting and fishing in Wyoming."

Nesvik, who graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1994 with a bachelor of science degree in wildlife and fisheries biology and management, currently sits on the board of the Wyldlife Fund, a nonprofit group that raises money for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. As director, he testified before Congress in support of removing Endangered Species Act protections for the grizzly bear.

In March 2023, Nesvik told the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries that "[T]he recovery of the GYE grizzly bear population is one of the most remarkable conservation success stories in the history of wildlife conservation. This population is one of the world’s most studied populations of wildlife. Despite all science-based information affirming the population’s biological recovery and successful conservation, we continue to be hobbled by the species’ status, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act."

"The GYE grizzly bear population is fully recovered as measured by all federally developed recovery criteria," he added. "Quantifying and measuring recovery has been challenging to say the least. This challenge has not resulted from difficulty with the biology and science, but rather the ever-changing goal posts established by the Service and conclusions developed in court decisions by federal judges. Despite these challenges, I can state unequivocally that for two decades this population has been biologically recovered, and is healthy and viable."

Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for the Trump administration, calls for the president to rescind President Biden's reversal of a rule approved by the first Trump administration to allow for economic considerations to be factored into whether a species is protected by the Endangered Species Act. 

"Meaningful reform of the Endangered Species Act requires that Congress take action to restore its original purpose and end its use to seize private property, prevent economic development, and interfere with the rights of states over their wildlife populations," reads Project 2025's section on the ESA. 

The narrative also calls for delisting of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone and North Continental Divide ecosystems, and delisting the gray wolf in the Lower 48.

The grizzly bear issue, at least, will immediately greet Nesvik if he is confirmed as director. Just last month the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that grizzlies would not lose their ESA protections, though the agency also proposed to clarify exactly where the bears enjoy those protections.

In its decision, the Service said grizzly populations in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems still need ESA protections to recover. At the same time, the agency proposed to create a single "distinct population segment (DPS)" area, the smallest area where a species is protected under the ESA, that encompasses bear populations in those two ecosystems along with those in the North Cascades, Cabinet-Yaak,  Selkirk, and Bitterroot ecoystems.

As for gray wolves, a year ago the Service declined to list the animals as endangered under the ESA in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and parts of Oregon, Washington, and Utah. Instead the agency called for work on a national recovery plan for wolves.

At the Endangered Species Coalition, Executive Director Susan Holmes said Nesvik's nomination signals the administration's "war on wildlife."

“Nesvik’s nomination is devastating news for wildlife and endangered species. During his time as director of Wyoming Fish and Game, he repeatedly called for weakening the Endangered Species Act, oversaw a 50 percent increase in hunting tags for mountain lions and black bears, and testified before the U.S. Congress that grizzly bears should lose endangered species protections, 'by whatever means is necessary',” she said.

"Last year, his commission received global condemnation for imposing only a minimal fine when a Wyoming man used a snowmobile to run down and brutally torture a young female wolf. There is no doubt that if confirmed as director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he will do the Trump administration’s bidding to advance unchecked drilling, mining, and logging of fragile wildlife habitats," Holmes continued. "He will sacrifice our precious endangered species for industry profits at every turn. It will be a war on wildlife that will wreak havoc on the protection and recovery of species from grizzlies to sea turtles to monarch butterflies.”

But U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, called Nesvik a good choice for the job.

"Brian has spent his entire career serving the people of Wyoming and working alongside outfitters, hunters, landowners, fishermen, and anyone else who loves the great outdoors," she said. "That attitude and passion for balancing wildlife conservation and recreational access will serve him well in this important role. I look forward to working to get Brian confirmed as soon as possible.”

Praise also came from Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, who said he was "delighted that my friend – who was looking forward to more pack trips, fishing and hunting – answered the call to serve his country again in this important capacity. Brian could not be more qualified and suited to serve in this significant role. He has had a long career in wildlife conservation and boasts extensive experience and leadership dealing with the complexities of endangered species issues."

Joy Bannon, executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, told Wyoming Public Radio that, “[W]orking together is the Wyoming way. And Nesvik knows that. It takes that will and takes that grit to be able to have the tough conversations and work across the table, eye-to-eye so that we can have those lasting solutions.”