A number of manatees with their calves swim Monday, Dec. 11, 2017, at Blue Spring run at Blue Spring State Park located in Orange City, Florida.

(Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

At a Glance

The Trump administration wants to change the way future endangered species are listed.A draft of the proposal notes that any species already on the list are not impacted by the removal of the blanket rule.

The Trump administration is proposing the end to a 40-year rule protecting threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, but it willnot impact the more than 300 plants and animals already listed.

Earlier this week, conservation groups raised the alarm after learning of the proposal to review and possibly end the Fish and Wildlife Service , which is a blanket set of protections for threatened plants and animals, including the spotted owl and manatees, under the Endangered Species Act.

According to adraft of the proposal obtained by CNN, the Trump administration wants to. In the past, threatened species were typically added to the list either with tailored protections specific to the species or under the set of protections under the blanket rule.

The administration now wants to remove the blanket set of rules for any future threatened species and impose tailored species-specific protections.

"Species listed as a threatened species after the effective date of this rule, if finalized, would have protective regulations only if the (Fish and Wildlife) Service promulgates a species-specific rule," the proposal obtained by CNN reads.

The draft proposal also notes that any species already on the list are not impacted by the removal of the blanket rule.

"The protective regulations that currently apply to threatened species would not change, unless the Service adopts a species-specific rule in the future," the proposal says.

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Conservation groups fear the removal of the blanket rule will slow down even further an already painfully slow process of naming a threatened species to the list. Today, it can take up to a decade for a species to make the list.

“I am shocked by the . I can’t understand why anyone would want to target this long-standing policy of the Endangered Species Act, which has been in place since 1978," Eric Holst of the Environmental Defense Fund said in a statement.

Holst said the removal of the long-standing blanket rule could backfire in several ways.

“First, eliminating the 4(d) rule would create more work for agency staff, who without default protections would have to address each species uniquely. This is unworkable at current funding and staffing levels," Holst said.

“Second, removing the blanket rule will exacerbate uncertainty for stakeholders, because each threatened species would need its own, unique rule – exactly the opposite of the clarifications that stakeholders, including the Western Governors’ Association, have requested," headded.