SEATTLE— A legal filing today by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies challenges a Trump administration directive that aims to strip endangered species across the country of protections against most activities that kill or injure them.

The Sept. 14 memo from the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Brian Nesvik, limits the prohibition on “take” under the Endangered Species Act solely to actions where a person knowingly and intentionally kills an endangered species. A similar memo has been issued by NOAA Fisheries.

“This despicable effort to legalize most killings of endangered wildlife would essentially mean open season on species already on the brink of annihilation,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species codirector at the Center. “It’s the most serious attack on imperiled animals since the Endangered Species Act was passed more than 50 years ago. Without protection against the daily assaults of our modern world, Florida manatees, spotted owls, snowy plovers and so many other animals that bring color to our world won’t stand a chance.”

For decades, when a logger cut down a tree with a spotted owl in it, a cruise ship plowed into an endangered fin whale, or a developer buried a desert tortoise in its burrow, these actions were considered violations of law. Under Nesvik’s memo, such “incidental” killing of wildlife will now be fair game.

The groups were already in court over the Trump administration’s rule rescinding the definition of harm, which argued that habitat destruction isn’t covered under the prohibition on take. Nesvik’s new memo takes this already disastrous policy considerably further, now allowing nearly all actions that kill wildlife. Today’s supplemental complaint filed in the case adds claims that the memo is unlawful.

“Habitat destruction is the single biggest cause of species endangerment and extinction in the United States and around the world,” said Greenwald. “With this destruction, the perils faced by plants and animals have grown exponentially. Such peril doesn’t come down the barrel of a gun, but it’s still a deadly threat and the Endangered Species Act can and must protect our imperiled wildlife from this kind of careless killing.”

Besides the Center, the litigation includes Columbia Riverkeeper, Conservation Law Foundation, Conservation Northwest, Friends of the Wild Swan, Oregon Wild, Sierra Club, Swan View Coalition and WildEarth Guardians. All groups are represented by Earthjustice.