Welcome to Lafayette Ecological Services Field Office

Credit: USFWS

Established in 1972. To accomplish the Service's mission, we strive to achieve ecosystem sustainability through preservation, conservation, enhancement, and restoration of those habitats essential for the long-term viability of the fish, wildlife, and plant resources in Louisiana (LA) which we are entrusted to conserve and protect. The Louisiana Field Office emphasizes an ecosystem approach incorporating Strategic Habitat Conservation to address and prioritize habitat issues through partnerships with other Federal and State agencies, conservation organizations, private landowners, and citizens to achieve the greatest possible benefits to Federal trust fish and wildlife resources.

Activity Highlights

• Represents Department of the Interior (DOI) on Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Task Force; plans and builds wetlands restoration projects funded by Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA).
• Assisted Corps of Engineers in developing the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Near-term Ecosystem Restoration Plan If authorized, we will participate extensively in implementing the $1.9 billion LCA which would complement CWPPRA with several large-scale, critically needed restoration projects over 10 years.
• Assists Corps of Engineers and State agencies in implementing the Atchafalaya Basin Multipurpose Plan for flood control, water management and habitat protection.
• Works with Corps of Engineers to plan flood control, navigation, hurricane protection, and freshwater introduction projects in coastal Louisiana and Atchafalaya Basin. Recommends ways to mitigate habitat impacts and increase habitat benefits.
• Coordinates Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program in Louisiana by providing technical and financial assistance to landowners and other agencies to restore wetlands and increase habitat benefits.
• Helps develop habitat conservation plans and “Safe Harbor” agreements to allow logging on lands inhabited by red-cockaded woodpeckers. Works with Black Bear Conservation Committee (BBCC) to restore the threatened Louisiana black bear by collaborative partnerships.
• Assesses known or suspected contaminant problems affecting fish and wildlife resources, and recommends ways to resolve them.

Pine snake. Credit: USFWS