Stories from the Field
Citizen Science Supports Shorebird Recovery at Delaware Bay
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Red knots search for horseshoe crab eggs at Mispillion Harbor, Delaware.
Photo credit: Gregory Breese/USFWS
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December 12, 2016
Delaware Bay is home to the largest spawning population of horseshoe crabs in the world. It also hosts the second largest population of migrating shorebirds in North America. This is no coincidence—each spring, thousands of shorebirds flock to these shores to refuel on protein-packed horseshoe crab eggs before continuing their northbound migration.
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Island Restoration Supports Conservation of Two Pacific Seabird Species
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Guadalupe Murrelets spend most of the year at sea.
Photo credit: David Pereksta/USFWS
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October 24, 2016
Two Pacific seabird species, the Scripps's murrelet and Guadalupe murrelet, no longer warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), due to the efforts of diverse stakeholders in addressing primary threats to the species. As a result, the two species are no longer at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future and will be removed from the ESA Candidate List.
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Restoring the Santa Clara River
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The Least Bell's Vireo is one species benefiting from the riparian restoration projects along the Santa Clara River.
Photo credit: Steve Maslowski, USFWS
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September 14, 2016
Oil spills permeate every aspect of the environment, contaminating water, destroying land, and threatening wildlife. To clean up, we must work on many levels to restore the impacted area—unfortunately there isn't a simple solution to this.
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Crawfish or Crayfish?
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Leopard frog.
Photo credit: USFWS
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August 22, 2016
Crawfish vs Crayfish: What's the difference anyway? An expert once said you study crayfish, and you eat crawfish. So we'll refer to them as crayfish in this story.
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Keeping the Great Lakes Great
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Leopard frog.
Photo credit: USFWS
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August 8, 2016
The quantity and quality of wetlands have been in a long decline in the coastal areas of the Great Lakes due to a combination of factors, including water level regulation and development. Since 2010, the New York Field Office and partners have been hard at work improving habitat at the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern.
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Mission Possible: Fish and Wildlife Service Partners with Local Austin Preserve
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Monarch butterfly.
Photo credit: Chris Best / USFWS
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August 1, 2016
With conservation missions aligned, the USFWS Austin Ecological Services Field Office and Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center and Preserve (Westcave) are working together to ensure that open spaces are available for both critters and people into the future.
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Big Thinking in Texas: How to Make the Endangered Species Act Work for All
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Houston toad.
Photo credit: USFWS
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July 25, 2016
Deep in the heart of central Texas are many of the nation's fastest growing cities and counties. This rapidly growing region is also considered a national biodiversity hotspot. It is home to numerous rare wildlife species found only in Texas, some of which are protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (
Figure 1).
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The Toads Are Back in Town
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The Wyoming toad, listed as an endangered species in 1984, occurs only in Albany County, Wyoming. Extinct in the wild, the Wyoming toad is the most endangered amphibian in North America.
Photo credit: Sara Armstrong / USFWS
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June 27, 2016
Biologists in Wyoming made history this month by releasing 900 adult Wyoming toads into the wild in the largest toad release ever and the largest amphibian release in the National Fish Hatchery System.
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Returning River Herring to the Saugatucket River
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Main Street fishway and weirs.
Photo credit: NOAA
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June 13, 2016
For many people, spring is the time to pump up the bike tires, dust off the lawn chairs, and head to the beach. For volunteers in Wakefield, Rhode Island, however, spring is the time to roll up their sleeves and carry fish over dams!
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Recovering Endangered Plants through Strategic Habitat Conservation in Tennessee's Limestone Glades
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Tennessee coneflower.
Photo credit: USFWS
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May 31, 2016
When one imagines Tennessee, iconic images such as the cloud-shrouded peaks of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the harnessed energy of the Tennessee River, and the contrasting musical roots of Nashville and Memphis likely come to mind. The varying geology that lies beneath these places has provided a pallet from which diverse ecosystems have formed, not the least of which are the limestone glades, barrens, and woodlands of Tennessee's Nashville Basin, in the state's center.
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The New Carissa oil spill: From environmental disaster to restoration
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Shorebirds return to Nilestun Unit.
Photo credit: USFWS
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May 16, 2016
Although the New Carissa oil spill was a natural resource disaster, it left a legacy of restoration in its wake. In February 1999, during a major winter storm, the freighter New Carissa ran aground on a beach near Coos Bay, Oregon. The vessel subsequently broke in two, spilling 140,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil and creating one of the worst ecological disasters in Oregon’s history.
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New Technology Helps Conserve Vital Wetland Habitats in the Last Frontier
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Sockeye salmon access a spawning stream in the Karluk River watershed. Vast wetlands play vital roles in sustaining productive salmon habitat in the watershed.
Photo credit: Caroline Cheung/USFWS
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May 9, 2016
Half of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service) 150 million acres in the National Wildlife Refuge System are in Alaska. These lands contain vast areas of intact wetlands that support migratory waterfowl, endangered species, and salmon, which are of great economic, cultural, and biological value.
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Racing the Clock to Save the Golden Riffleshell
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A biologist searches for golden riffleshell in Indian Creek near Cedar Bluff, Virginia.
Photo credit: Roberta Hylton/USFWS
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April 18, 2016
Loud cheers rang out in southwestern Virginia in March 2016 when biologists discovered three golden riffleshell (Epioblasma florentina aureola). The species – which remains federally listed endangered as the tan riffleshell (E. f. walkeri), despite a recent change in its scientific name – is now likely one of the rarest freshwater mussels on Earth,
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A Road to Meaningful Conservation
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Young eastern hellbender.
Photo credit: Lori Pruitt/USFWS
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April 4, 2016
Restoring and replacing habitat to offset impacts of development projects can help conserve federally endangered and threatened species. This is a desired outcome of consultations required under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) in every state. But avoiding habitat degradation or fragmentation and proactively improving habitat quality for these plants and animals is more efficient and effective.
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The Louisiana Black Bear: A Recovery Success Story
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Louisiana black bear. Photo credit: ? Pam McIlhenny
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March 28, 2016
The Louisiana black bear is recovered.
The species became a symbol of the nation's fledgling conservation efforts in 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear that was trapped and tied to a tree by members of his hunting party. The episode was featured in a cartoon in The Washington Post, sparking the idea for a Brooklyn candy-store owner to create the "Teddy" bear. ..
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Big Bend Habitat Restoration Project: A Natural Work of Heart
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American beaver on a Jordan River wetland pond.
Photo credit: Karri Smith, Jordan RIver Migratory Bird Reserve
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March 21, 2016
Great expanses of desert marked by multi-colored canyons set within a snow-topped Rocky Mountain horizon and a famous salty lake, these are the geographical features that characterize the western state of Utah. Perhaps one of the best benefits of natural icons like these is the allure they carry that draws people out the door and into nature. Nature provides the priceless service of contributing to our frame-of-mind, physical health, and general well-being, as well as sustaining natural resources such as the air and water we all rely on. This is why one of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service) priorities is connecting growing urban populations with nearby nature escapes. In fact, this is the heart behind the start of a new project in the City of West Jordan, Utah, dubbed the "Big Bend" Habitat Restoration Project...
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Climbers Run Wildlife Habitat and Stream Restoration Project
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Partners construct a log vane to reduce future erosion along the streambank.
Photo courtesy of the Lancaster County Conservancy
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February 29, 2016
Nestled in the deep ravines of the River Hills in southeastern Pennsylvania, Climbers Run cascades through pristine forests to lowlands and meanders to the Pequea Creek. A stroll along the rushing water tempts the senses of visitors, evoking a feeling of Lancaster County long before development and deforestation. Climbers Run holds a rare treasure, wild brook trout—found only where forested buffers provide clean, cold water essential to this species' survival...
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Transforming an Asbestos Waste Site into a Wildlife Haven
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A crane fills geocells resembling a honeycomb over geotextile on a steep embankment of the Wissahickon. Soil was later placed over the geotextile and geocells and seeded.
Photo credit: EPA, Region 3
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February 22, 2016
A former asbestos waste dump in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, is on its way to becoming an urban haven for wildlife and wildlife viewers. With fields strewn with native grasses and wildflowers and an 11-acre pond, the BoRit Asbestos Superfund Site now welcomes migratory birds and other wildlife thanks to the cooperative efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), Wissahickon Waterfowl Preserve, and Whitpain Township.
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Understanding Contaminants of Emerging Concern
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Service biologists collect samples on the St. Louis River in northeastern Minnesota.
Photo credit: USFWS
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January 25, 2016
Contaminants in the environment have posed challenges for decades, but in the past several years, emerging contaminants like pharmaceuticals, fire retardants and others have prompted concern about their impact on fish and wildlife. Some impacts include feminization of male fish, irregular courtship and nest-guarding behavior, decrease in predator-escape response, and declines in prey species and sport fish populations.
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If You Build It, They Will Come: A Field of Dreams for Endangered Bats
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Indiana bat.
Photo credit: USFWS
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January 11, 2016
The Indiana bat was first listed as endangered in 1967, under the precursor to the Endangered Species Act due to population declines associated with disturbance during hibernation and changes to the hibernacula. However, protection of hibernacula (caves and mines) solely did not lead to species recovery. Consequently, bat biologists began to focus on other habitat needs, including summer maternity habitat. During the summer months, Indiana bat maternity colonies roost under the exfoliating bark of large dead and/or dying trees.
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Lead Exposure and the Effects on Scavenging Birds
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Turkey vultures.
Photo credit: J.N. Stuart, Creative Commons |
January 4, 2016
There are multiple sources of lead in the environment. However, scientific evidence points to spent lead ammunition as the most frequent cause of lead exposure and poisoning in scavenging birds, including eagles, condors and vultures, in the United States.
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Last updated:
December 12, 2016
