Northeast Region
Management Programs and Divisions

Northeast Region Ecological Services Program
The Northeast Region, with its diverse habitats and burgeoning human population, offers tremendous challenges for the Ecological Services biologists in our 15 field offices. Biologists work to reduce or eliminate threats from oil spills, habitat degradation , invasive species, barrier dams and other factors that work against our fish and wildlife resources. They accomplish their work by restoring habitat, recovering endangered species, identifying wetland habitats, assessing and eliminating the impacts of environmental contaminants, minimizing construction impacts, removing dams and improving fish passage.

• Endangered Species Division. The biologists of the Northeast Region Endangered Species Division work with many partners to protect and conserve listed and candidate species. Much of their efforts are conducted under cooperative management agreements with all 13 states in the region as well as collaboration with other federal agencies .
• Environmental Contaminants Program. Under this program, biologists work to prevent pollution from harming fish and wildlife and the places they live, including lands that are managed as national wildlife refuges.
• Coastal Program. The four coastal programs in the Northeast Region protect the area's high-priority coastal ecosystems through conservation projects in coastal watersheds that provide habitat for migratory birds, searun fish and federally threatened and endangered species. The coastal programs protect the watersheds of the Gulf of Maine, the Southern New England - New York Bight, and the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.
• National Wetlands Inventory. The National Wetlands Inventory program in the Northeast Region works to meet the current needs of wetland and watershed resource managers for wetland and related aquatic resource data by producing information on potential wetland restoration sites, stream corridors, wetland buffer zones and overall extent of natural habitat for selected areas.
• Partners for Fish and Wildlife. The Partners program protects, enhances and restores important fish and wildlife habitats on private lands through partnerships. This voluntary cost-share program builds on the strength and interest of committed individuals and organizations to accomplish shared conservation goals in all of the region's thirteen states.
• Federal Activities. The Federal Activities program provides support and coordination to Service field offices throughout the thirteen states in the Northeast Region during their involvement in natural resources project planning, permitting and licensing. The coordination may include projects constructed by federal agencies, those permitted under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's Regulatory Program, and projects licensed for non-federal hydropower projects as well as various federal actions on and off federal lands.

Division of Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region Division of Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration works closely with state fish and wildlife agencies to restore and manage fish and wildlife resources to effectively meet the consumptive and non-consumptive needs of the public.

To accomplish this, specialists:
— Work with the governments of the13 Northeastern states and the District of Columbia,
— Manage over 800 grants, and
— Currently distribute approximately $116,000,000 in grant aid to 31 state fish and wildlife agencies.

Fisheries Program
The Service's Fisheries Program maintains healthy populations of coastal and anadromous fish (fish that spend part of their lives in fresh water and part in the ocean), fish species that cross state or national boundaries, and endangered aquatic animals and their habitats.

In the Northeast Region, 25 fishery management offices and national fish hatcheries work with states and other partners to restore and protect a variety of fish and other aquatic species. Examples include Atlantic salmon, striped bass, American shad, river herring, sturgeon, horeshoe crab, American eel, and lake trout. Stable fish populations are important because they indicate healthy river systems that can sustain fishing and other water-based recreation.

Division of Law Enforcement
The Service's special agents and wildlife inspectors in 21 field offices in the Northeast Region enforce federal wildlife laws and international treaty obligations that protect threatened and endangered species, migratory birds, and certain marine mammals.

Agents investigate wildlife-related crimes. Wildlife inspectors work at airports, seaports, border ports and international passenger and mail facilities such as Baltimore, Boston and Newark/New York. Inspectors check shipments of wildlife and wildlife products, checking documents and permits to ensure that protected species are transported legally.

Division of Migratory Birds
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency charged with protecting and enhancing the populations and habitat of more than 800 species of migratory birds that spend all or part of their lives in the United States.

• Through its Populations Branch, the Division of Migratory Birds works with partners to monitor bird populations in the Northeast to ensure that declines and threats are discovered early in order to implement necessary management actions that address any issues. The Populations Branch also plays a key role in various regulatory actions, including working closely with the state governments within theNortheast Region and other partners as the Service develops regulations necessary for the hunting of migratory game species in the U.S. and the use of migratory birds through permitting.
• The Habitat Branch focuses on the conservation of habitats for migratory birds throughout the region and beyond. The planning, implementation and evaluation of habitat conservation takes place through the regional partnership known as the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture.
• The Permits Branch issues various permits authorizing otherwise prohibited activities to meet special needs. Permits are issued for scientific collecting, falconry, education, and bird damage management.

National Wildlife Refuge System Program
Seventy refuges in the Service's Northeast Region protect more than 400,000 acres of wildlife habitat. These refuges annually host increasing numbers of visitors who enjoy wildlife-dependent recreation opportunities such as hunting, fishing, hiking, wildlife observation and photography. Refuges in the Northeast Region range in size from 3.8 acres at the Susquehanna National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay to the 107,009 acre Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia and North Carolina.

Other notable activities

External Affairs Division Native American Liaison
The federal government has a unique and distinctive political relationship with federally recognized Indian tribes. It is defined by treaties, statutes, executive orders, judicial decisions and agreements and differs from relationships with state and local governments or other entities. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as a bureau of the Department of the Interior, has a mandated obligation to ensure that the federal Indian trust responsibility is fulfilled.

The Native American Liaison:
— Serves as the lead point-of-contact or intermediary between the Service and the 17 federally recognized Indian tribes in the Northeast.
— Ensures that, as a federal government agency, the Service fulfills its federal Indian trust responsibility to federally recognized tribes in the Northeast.
— Ensures that the Service operates within a government-to-government relationship with the federally recognized tribes. Leads the Tribal Wildlife Grant Program.
— Develops and prepares agreements relating to mutual activities involving natural resources, fish and wildlife, or law enforcement.
— Coordinates Service natural resource and fish and wildlife activities with local tribes as they affect their interests or concerns.
— Informs tribes about Service policies and laws that may affect tribal governments or their resources.

Cartography and Spatial Data Services Branch
The Cartography and Spatial Data Services Branch provides mapping and GIS support to the Realty and Refuges Divisions of the Northeast Region.

The branch maintains and distributes boundary files and maps as well as land ownership information for all national wildlife refuges in the Northeast Region. They generate products, including maps, graphics, statistics, and geographic analyses from digital geospatial data. They provide technical support in the areas of cartography, GIS, and GPS for data users in the Northeast Regional Office and on the region's refuges.

The branch maintains expertise in processing U.S. Geological Survey, National Wetlands Inventory, and national refuge boundary datasets. They use ArcGIS, ArcView, and AutoCadMap software on Windows computer platforms and maintain a web server.

They share data and expertise with colleagues in federal, state, local agencies as well as individuals in academia, private firms, and the public.

The Fish and Wildlife Journal
View reports on accomplishments of the Northeast Region's may field stations and programs through the online Fish and Wildlife Journal

 Information Quality and Peer Review
The Northeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is committed to using sound science in its decisionmaking and to providing the American public with information of the highest quality possible. We adhere to the goal of strengthening the Service's tradition of scientific excellence and information quality in the conservation of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitat.

The region publishes information regarding influential and highly influential scientific information and our plans to manage it. We provide links to the Service's guidelines for ensuring the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information that we use and disseminate. We also link to mechanisms that support the peer review of scientific information and help the public seek correction of that information.