Zinke leads the stewardship of America’s most vulnerable wildlife and plants. The Fish and Wildlife Service is one of two agencies that administers the Endangered Species Act, the strongest and most important federal law protecting threatened species. About 700 native animals and more than 900 native plants are currently listed as threatened or endangered.

Under the Obama administration, 23 species recovered enough to be removed from the protected list. “In the Act’s 43-year history, more recoveries have been declared under the [Obama] Administration’s watch than all past Administrations combined,” Fish and Wildlife announced this past August.

It was a piece of good news amidst an extinction crisis of tragic proportions. According to a World Wildlife Fund report published last year, humans could kill off two-thirds of the world’s wildlife by 2020.

Conservationists have expressed concern that Zinke’s nomination could halt the positive trend for America’s threatened species. Although his supporters note that he is a defender of public lands and one of the more conservation-minded GOP lawmakers, the League of Conservation Voters gave Zinke a rock-bottom 3 percent lifetime voting record on issues such as air and water, climate change, drilling, forests and wildlife.