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Proposed Rule Change Threatens Federal Science Funding

June 26, 2026

Written by Rose Snyder, Director of Community Engagement
Our Antarctica Program is almost entirely funded by Federal dollars through the National Science Foundation.

As Point Blue’s Director of Community Engagement, I collaborate closely with program staff across the organization to pursue government grants and grow our relationships with institutional funders to help support and sustain the conservation science we do at Point Blue. I also work on policy engagement and community science/volunteer engagement to help grow the impact of our work. A recent development has me very concerned.

For over six decades, Point Blue Conservation Science has partnered closely with federal agencies, often in the role of science and monitoring partner, providing scientific data and expertise to ensure limited federal natural resource conservation dollars are effectively and efficiently distributed.

But new regulations proposed by the federal government at the end of May threaten not only the conservation-related scientific research that Point Blue engages in, but all scientific research across the country. These broad-sweeping new rules would alter how federal grants are awarded and managed across all federal agencies, fundamentally changing the future of federal science funding in the United States.

What is being proposed?

The most alarming provisions would:

  • Give political appointees final say over grant awards, with explicit instructions not to defer to peer review, overriding the well-established process that has long ensured federal science funding goes to the most qualified researchers based on an objective expert review process.
  • Require that funded research align with the President’s policy priorities, meaning scientific merit alone would no longer be sufficient to secure or maintain a federal award.
  • Allow grants to be terminated at any time, with no binding protections for funded work already underway.
  • Restrict researchers’ ability to publish findings, attend scientific conferences, and participate in professional societies without case-by-case federal agency approval.
  • Require case-by-case approvals that could effectively prohibit communication of scientific results that don’t align with current administration positions, putting at risk the kind of transparent, evidence-based science communication that Point Blue was built on.

What does this mean for Point Blue?

Federal grants support a wide range of Point Blue’s conservation science research, including:

  • The Avian Knowledge Network, a leading biodiversity data partnership and platform that manages and aggregates tens of millions of standardized bird observations from more than 100 agency and nonprofit partners and serves over 10,000 users annually.
  • Partner biologists, who work out of U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service offices across California, assist farmers and ranchers to plan and implement conservation practices on private agricultural landscapes, delivering millions of Farm Bill conservation dollars directly to producers.
  • Scientists studying Adélie penguin colonies in Antarctica’s Ross Sea, whose long-term field research has produced hundreds of peer-reviewed publications, informed the establishment of one of the world’s largest marine protected areas, and annually connects 4,000–6,000 students to the importance of polar ecosystem science.
Our Partner Biologists, like Tiffany Russell in NE California, and the farmers and ranchers she supports, depend on federal dollars to keep working lands viable for wildlife and farmer/rancher communities.

Under these proposed rules, our ability to conduct and communicate about these programs–and many others–will be subject to political review and oversight that has nothing to do with the scientific merit of the work.

How can you help?

Point Blue is deeply concerned about the proposed rules and believe they will isolate federally funded science from the broader scientific community in ways that will degrade research quality and U.S. scientific competitiveness. If you agree that these proposed rules are alarming, consider submitting a public comment before the comment period closes on July 13, 2026.

You don’t need to be a scientist or a policy expert to submit a comment. A brief, personal statement about why rigorous, independent science matters to you — and what you believe is at stake if political considerations override scientific merit in federal funding decisions — is valuable.

To submit a comment, visit Regulations.gov and search for docket OMB-2026-0034-0001.

Point Blue is preparing a formal comment letter opposing these proposed rules, and we will share more in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the most impactful thing you can do if you’re also concerned about these rules is to add your voice to the public record.

Thank you for standing with science.

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