News Stories
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Collaboration Results in Success for a Small Butterfly
Mardon skipper butterfly.
Tom Kogut / USFWS
July 16, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we learn about a conservation partnership to safeguard the mardon skipper, a small, non-descript butterfly found inWashington grasslands. The efforts of various state and federal agencies have helped prevent the need to list the species as endangered or threatened under the ESA.
Get to Know Your Species
ESA 40th Anniversary
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Extends Listing Determination and Designation of Critical Habitat for Gunnison Sage-Grouse
Gunnison sage-grouse
© Mike Danzenberger
July 15, 2013
The Service has extended for six months a final decision on a proposed rule to list the Gunnison sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act and a proposed rule to designate areas in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah as critical habitat for the bird. The agency is taking this action to consider additional scientific information recently received. Publication of the announcement reopens the comment period on the proposed rules for 45 days.
News Release
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Boosts State Endangered Species Conservation Efforts with $32 Million in Grants
The threatened bull trout is just one of many species to benefit from this year’s Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund grants
National Geographic Society
July 9, 2013
The Service today announced nearly $32 million in grants to 20 states to help advance their collaborative efforts to conserve America’s rarest species. The Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund grants will provide vital support to efforts by partnering state wildlife agencies and conservation organizations to improve the health of the land and water that supports these species and scores of communities across the nation.
Read the Release
See the full list of grants
Learn more about the grant program
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Steller's Eider May Nest Again on the Delta
A male and female Steller’s eider at the Alaska SeaLife Center, where captive breeding efforts are helping recover populations of this threatened species.
USFWS
July 9, 2013
As part of the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week we feature a different state and its unique story to highlight our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we learn about the efforts to restore the Steller's eider, a rare sea duck, in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Since 2005, the Service has partnered with the Alaska SeaLife Center to breed Steller's eiders in captivity. Their facility now houses 10 breeding pairs and sets the stage for reintroducing eiders into their historic range.
ESA 40th Anniversary
Get to Know Your Species
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Community Support for Red Knots
Migrating red knots stop over in Delaware Bay each spring to refuel for their final push to their arctic breeding grounds.
USFWS
July 2, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we learn about the local community efforts to conserve red knots visiting the Delaware Bay along their migration.
ESA 40th Anniversary
Get to Know Your Species
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Awards Grants to 28 States for Work on Deadly Bat Disease
Little brown bat with white-nose syndrome.
Marvin Moriarty/USFWS
June 27, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced grant awards totaling $950,694 to twenty-eight states for white-nose syndrome (WNS) projects. State natural resource agencies will use the funds to support research, monitor bat populations and detect and respond to white-nose syndrome, a disease that afflicts bats. Best estimates indicate that WNS has killed more than 5.7 million bats. First discovered in New York in the winter of 2006-2007, the disease has spread rapidly through the eastern U.S. and parts of Canada, and continues to move westward.
News Release
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Out Now: Latest Issue of the Endangered Species Bulletin
This online exclusive publication is updated quarterly. Check out the spring edition today!
USFWS
June 27, 2013
The spring issue of the Endangered Species Bulletin is now available online, with articles on how we define success under the Endangered Species Act; watersnakes in Lake Erie’s Western Basin; efforts to protect a giant salamander, the eastern hellbender; the recovery of Oregon chub in the Willamette River Valley of western Oregon; partnership conservation to safeguard bog turtle habitat in Pennsylvania; and keeping common species common so they never need the help of the Endangered Species Act.
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Six Rare Wolf Pups Born in Mexico
Mexican wolf pup from the U.S. Mexican Wolf Recovery Program
USFWS
June 26, 2013
Six Mexican wolf pups have been spotted on a nature reserve in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, the survivors of a litter of nine born sometime in May. These pups and their parents are part of the bi-national Mexican wolf captive breeding population under the Species Survival Plan. The Mexican wolf is a rare subspecies of the gray wolf that was recently categorized by the Mexican government as "probably extinct in the wild." However, a small U.S. population exists in portions of Arizona and New Mexico.
Read More
Mexican wolf recovery program
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Endangered Millerbird Population on Laysan Island Doubles to Hit 100
Millerbird peering up from the edge of a Naupaka bush.
Megan Dalton
June 26, 2013
The latest count of endangered Millerbirds on Hawai‘i’s Laysan Island has found that the bird’s population has doubled and reached the landmark 100 birds. Starting in 2011, an historic effort led by the Service and American Bird Conservancy saw 50 birds moved from Nihoa Island, where the last 400 or so Millerbirds hung on, and brought to Laysan. The establishment of this second population returned the Millerbird to Laysan after a century-long absence and provides a buffer against the species’ extinction.
News Release
Promoting Global Wildlife Conservation
Argentina's Broad-Snouted Caiman Population Reclassified Due to Conservation Efforts
Broad-snouted caiman.
Alba Imhof
June 25, 2013
The Service announced today a final rulemaking that reclassifies the Argentinian population of the broad-snouted caiman from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Argentina's longstanding and successful management efforts have made it possible to reduce the restrictions on the Argentinian population (called a “distinct population segment” (DPS) under the ESA), and include it in a special rule which allows carefully monitored and regulated trade.
News Release
Federal Register
Flickr
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Preventing the Extinction of a Species
One of ten female purple cat's paw mussels collected during a survey in summer 2012 in Killbuck Creek, Ohio.
USFWS
June 25, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we learn about the efforts to protect one of the rarest freshwater mussels in North America, the purple cat's paw mussel, in Ohio. First listed under ESA protection in 1990, it was believed to be functionally extinct. But a discovery of a population in 1994 spurred future monitoring and sampling efforts that found only a handful of mussels left in the wild, most of which have been brought into captivity in the hopes that captive breeding can save the species.
ESA 40th Anniversary
Get to Know Your Species
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Tiny Catfish Hangs On
Neosho madtom.
USFWS
June 18, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we learn about the efforts to restore the extremely rare, Neosho madtom in Kansas. Biologists are working with others to balance the development of the Neosho River and the protect the health of the river ecosystem for this small and scarce fish.
ESA 40th Anniversary
Get to Know Your Species
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Successful Recovery Efforts Prompt Service Proposal to Delist Gray Wolf
After rebounding from near extinction to a population of more than 6,100 in the lower 48, the gray wolf is ready to be removed from the Endangered Species List.
Gary Kramer/USFWS
June 13, 2013
Four decades of work by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners to protect and recover the gray wolf have brought the species back from the brink of extinction in the lower 48 states. In recognition of this success, the Service proposed today to remove the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List throughout its range, but to maintain protection for the Mexican wolf in the Southwest.
News Release
How to Comment
More Information
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes Protection for All Chimpanzees – Captive and Wild – as Endangered
Glitter watches her sister Gaia fish for termites at Gombe National Park.
© the Jane Goodall Institute
June 11, 2013
Following additional legal determinations about the application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced a proposal to classify both wild and captive chimpanzees as endangered. The decision reflects growing threats to the species and aligns the chimpanzee's status with existing legal requirements as well as protections for other species. Currently, only wild chimpanzees are listed as endangered while captive chimpanzees are listed as threatened
News Release
More Information
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Speeding up Nature in Georgia
Biologists planting mat-forming quilwort in a man-made depression.
USFWS
June 10, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we learn about the efforts to restore Georgia's rare plants. By using jackhammers and diamond-cutting saws, Service biologists in Georgia are taking creative measures to restore and create habitat to increase populations of endangered quillworts in the suburbs of Atlanta.
ESA 40th Anniversary
Get to Know Your Species
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Successful Recovery Efforts Prompt Service Proposal to Delist Gray Wolf
After rebounding from near extinction to a population of more than 6,100 in the lower 48, the gray wolf is ready to be removed from the Endangered Species List.
Gary Kramer/USFWS
June 7, 2013
Four decades of work by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners to protect and recover the gray wolf have brought the species back from the brink of extinction in the lower 48 states. In recognition of this success, the Service proposed today to remove the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List throughout its range, but to maintain protection for the Mexican wolf in the Southwest.
News Release
How to Comment
More Information
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Millerbirds Return After 100-Year Absence
First fledgling Millerbird produced on Laysan in March 2012.
Credit: (C) R. Kohley, American Bird Conservancy.
June 4, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we learn about the remarkable efforts to restore Hawaii's Millerbirds. Historically, there were two populations of Millerbirds, one on Laysan Island and one on Nihoa Island. The Laysan Millerbird went extinct in the early 20th Century when the island was degraded by non-native rabbits and livestock. After years of careful planning, a team of dedicated scientists and volunteers undertook a monumental task of capturing and translocating Millerbirds to Laysan and have already seen success.
ESA 40th Anniversary
Get to Know Your Species
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Invites Submissions for Wolf-Livestock Demonstration Project Grants
A gray wolf peers out from its snow-covered shelter.
Tracy Brooks, USFWS
June 3, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is inviting eligible states and Native American tribes to apply for demonstration projects intended to reduce and address the impact of wolves on livestock operations. The agency will award approximately $850,000 in two categories: Prevention Grants that assist livestock producers in undertaking proactive, non-lethal activities to reduce the risk of livestock loss due to predation by wolves, and Compensation Grants that reimburse livestock producers for livestock losses caused by wolves.
News Release
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Three African Antelope Species Receive ESA Protection in Captivity
Scimitar-Horned Oryx.
Wikimedia Commons
May 31, 2013
U.S. captive-bred specimens of three endangered African antelope species – the scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazelle, and addax – continue to warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today. In findings made in response to two petitions seeking the removal of U.S. captive populations of these endangered species from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, the Service has determined that providing separate legal status to captive specimens of protected species is not permissible under the ESA.
Fact Sheet
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Rare Beetles Protected in Kentucky
Greater Adams cave beetle.
M. McGregor, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
May 28, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we learn about the efforts to protect several rare cave beetles in Kentucky. Famous for horseracing and music, the "Bluegrass State" is also known for its extensive cave systems, home to four unique beetle species found nowhere else in the world.
Learn More
ESA 40th Anniversary
Get to Know Your Species
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Snail Wins the Race – Service Announces First Invertebrate Recovered under the ESA
Magazine Mountain Shagreen.
Trey Reid / Arkansas Game & Fish Commission
May 21, 2013
In the highest parts of Arkansas' Ozarks, the slow-moving Magazine Mountain shagreen snail has won the race to become the first invertebrate to be recovered and removed from Endangered Species Act protection. Photo Caption: Magazine Mountain Shagreen.
News Release
Video
ESA 40th Anniversary
Get to Know Your Species
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Congratulates 2012 Endangered Species Recovery Champions
Margaret R. Petersen, Ph.D., one of 61 2012 Recovery Champions honored today by the Service for their contributions to endangered species conservation.
USFWS
May 16, 2013
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized 61 conservation heroes for their outstanding efforts to protect our most threatened fish, wildlife and plants by designating them 2012 Recovery Champions. These individuals exemplify the dedication and determination that has helped save countless animals and plants from extinction, and that continues to raise the bar in the field of endangered species conservation.
See all of the 2012 Recovery Champions
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Partners Across the U.S. Celebrate Annual Endangered Species Day!
An endangered Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel during a population survey on Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.
USFWS
May 14, 2013
The 8th annual national Endangered Species Day will be celebrated on May 17, 2013, with special events and other programs throughout the country to recognize conservation efforts underway across the nation aimed at helping America's imperiled species. For 40 years, the Endangered Species Act has helped our nation protect the wild things and wild places, ensuring that our children's children and future generations can see species such as the bald eagle, the black-footed ferret and the American alligator.
New Release
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Mussels Gain Ground in Twin Cities
Higgin's eye pearlymussel.
USFWS
May 14, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week, we learn about the recovery efforts to conserve four endangered mussels in Minnesota. Between pollution in the mighty Mississippi River and competition with non-native zebra mussels, federally protected mussels have been swimming an upstream battle, but are making some headway with help from Service biologists and our partners.
State Stories
ESA 40th Anniversary
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Living Dinosaur Survives with Hatchery's Help
A record number of juvenile pallid sturgeon produced at Garrison Dam and other state and federal fish hatcheries from 2007 through 2009, have succeeded in re-establishing a viable population in a major portion of the species' native range.
Rob Holm / USFWS
May 7, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week, we learn about the recovery efforts for North Dakota's pallid sturgeon. Thanks to the efforts of Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery and others, this ancient fish is getting a second chance at drifting in their historic currents in the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
State Stories
ESA 40th Anniversary
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
New Jersey's Bald Eagle Success Story
Bald eagle chicks.
Dave Menke / USFWS
May 2, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week, we celebrate the comeback of the nation's symbol, the bald eagle, in New Jersey. Decimated by the pesticide DDT, bald eagle populations nationwide plummeted. New Jersey was no exception. But today, decades after the banning of DDT, a collaboration of concerted habitat conservation programs, and years of intense reintroduction programs, the future for the bald eagle in New Jersey looks bright.
State Stories
ESA 40th Anniversary
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Grizzlies on the Road to Recovery
Grizzly bear at Glacier National Park.
Erwin and Peggy Bauer / USFWS
April 23, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week, we celebrate the comeback of the mighty grizzly bear in Montana. There are five populations of grizzlies, and the Northern Continental Divide population in northwest Montana has slowly and steadily re-populated their historic range after they were nearly extirpated from the U.S. just 35 years ago.
State Stories
ESA 40th Anniversary
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
National Endangered Species Day Youth Art Contest Winners Chosen!
American Burying Beetle, created by Ava Bribiesco from Missouri, was selected as the grand prize winner of the 2013 Endangered Species Day Youth Art Contest.
Endangered Species Coalition.
April 22, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Endangered Species Coalition, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the International Child Art Foundation proudly announce the winners of the 2013 Endangered Species Day Youth Art Contest. The art contest is an integral part of the 8th annual national Endangered Species Day on May 17, 2013. More than 2,000 young artists from throughout the country entered the annual contest, which is an ideal opportunity to learn about and promote the conservation of threatened and endangered species through art.
News Release
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Managing Water for People and Wildlife
The San Marcos National Fish Hatchery and Technology Center maintains refugium for the Texas blind salamander, and other listed species including Texas wild rice, the fountain darter and the Comal Springs riffle beetle.
Photo courtesy of the Edwards Aquifer Authority.
April 17, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we celebrate the diversity of endangered species in Texas. The Edwards Aquifer is like an underground river, flowing for 180 miles to supply water to over 2 million people and maintaining the diverse and healthy ecosystems that make south-central Texas so unique.
ESA 40th Anniversary
Get to Know Your Species
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
A Glimpse of What's Possible: Reflecting on the Endangered Species Act
ESA 40th Anniversary
Jennifer Hennessey / USFWS
April 15, 2013
The Spring edition of the Wildlife Society's publication The Wildlife Professional is dedicated to the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, giving an in-depth look at this powerful conservation law, the triumphs of some species and the challenges of others. Service Director Dan Ashe wrote the leadership letter and provides some insight into his thoughts on the ESA and the possibilities that lie ahead.
Dan Ashe's Editorial
ESA 40th Anniversary
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
California: A Hotspot for Rare Species
Unique to California, the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander was one of the first species to gain federal protection under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1967, a precursor to the Endangered Species Act.
David Pereksta
April 12, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week we feature a different state and its unique story to highlight our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week, we highlight the diversity of endangered species in California. Home to the most federally protected species in the lower 48 states, California is a leader in innovative techniques for conservation, and proudly works to help many small, but vital creatures that help the Golden State remain healthy for people and wildlife.
State Stories
ESA 40th Anniversary
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Birds Benefit from Beach Restoration
Part of restored Long Beach area in Connecticut.
Jerry and Marcy Monkman / EcoPhotography
April 2, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week we celebrate the restoration of Long Beach West in Connecticut. The site faced damage with the loss of a bridge connecting the beach to Bridgeport, but find out how the restoration of the site created habitat for wildlife and plants, as well as recreational opportunities for people to fish, hike and enjoy the beach.
State Stories
ESA 40th Anniversary
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Releases Report to Help Guide Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation
Male sage-grouse on a lek in Butte County, South Dakota.
Steve Fairbairn / USFWS
March 28, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is making available a final report that is designed to help guide the efforts of the States and other partners to conserve the Greater sage-grouse with a landscape level strategy that will benefit the species while maintaining a robust economy in the West. The report, prepared by state and federal scientists and sage-grouse experts, identifies the conservation status of the Greater sage-grouse, the nature of the threats facing the species, and objectives to ensure its long-term conservation.
News Release
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Identifies Coastal Beach Habitat Important for Recovery of Northwest Atlantic Population of Loggerhead Sea Turtles
A loggerhead hatchling at Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia makes its way to sea.
Becky Skiba / USFWS
March 25, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has begun the process of identifying coastal beach habitat important for the recovery of the threatened Northwest Atlantic Ocean population of loggerhead sea turtles, as directed by the Endangered Species Act. The agency has preliminarily identified portions of island and mainland coastal beaches in six states to propose as critical habitat, and is seeking public comment on the proposed rule. Designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, reserve, preserve or other conservation area. The proposed areas incorporate about 740 beach shoreline miles and account for approximately 84 percent of the documented nesting (numbers of nests) located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.
News Release
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Putting Mussels on the Path to Recovery in North Carolina
The Tar River spinymussel is one of only three freshwater spined mussels in the U.S. and only found in North Carolina.
Chris Eads
March 14, 2013
As part the Service's commemoration of the Endangered Species Act's 40th Anniversary, each week a different state and their unique story features our continued success in recovering threatened and endangered species. This week, learn about a team of partners in this video who are working to recover some of North Carolina's rarest native freshwater mussels, including the endangered Appalachian elktoe mussel and Tar River spinymussel.
State Stories
ESA 40th Anniversary
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Protects Jamaican Parrot under the ESA
Yellow-billed parrot.
ARKive ? Wayne Sutherland.
March 11, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today the yellow-billed parrot is now protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This bird species is only found in Jamaica and is one of only two Amazona species endemic to the country. The impact of ongoing deforestation and fragmentation, including loss of suitable nesting trees, has led to a decline in the yellow-billed parrot's range and population.
Bulletin
FAQs
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Endangered Species Day Art Contest Deadline Approaching!
Semifinalist Claire Lee chose the endangered harpy eagle for her artwork: "The best part about making the eagle was cutting and gluing the magazine pieces to make the eagle's feathers."
Amy Lee
March 11, 2013
"It was a fun experience, and I look forward to participating again this year," says 2012 semifinalist Claire Lee of Centreville, Va. "I hope my participation can help save and protect the animals." Lee is among the elementary, middle school and high school students that participate in the annual Endangered Species Day Youth Art Contest. The contest provides young people with an opportunity to learn about endangered species an express their knowledge and support through artwork. A prestigious panel of artists, photographers and conservationists judges the artwork. Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2013.
Bulletin
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Survey Shows Whooping Crane Numbers Up in Texas
Whooping cranes with chicks at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, Wisconsin.
Richard Urbanek / USFWS
February 26, 2013
The Service's Winter Whooping Crane Survey estimates there's a total of 279 whooping cranes, including 257 found within the primary wintering grounds and 22 beyond that area. Service personnel conducted seven surveys of the primary wintering grounds of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock, the last remaining wild flock of whooping cranes. With the help of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Texas Whooper Watch and other observers, additional sightings suggest at least 22 additional whooping outside the primary wintering grounds. Last year, the count was 267 birds. The birds begin arriving at their Texas wintering areas in mid-October and leave for their summer homes the end of March.
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Reopens Comment Period for 3 Macaw Species
Military macaw.
? ARKive. All Rights Reserved.
February 21, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reopening the comment period on proposals to protect the hyacinth macaw, great green macaw and military macaw as endangered under the Endangered Species Act to allow the public adequate time to provide additional comments on the status of these birds. These species occur in nearly 15 countries throughout Central America, South America and Mexico, and face significant threats, particularly due to habitat loss and degradation and poaching.
Bulletin
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Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Announces Annual Endangered Species Day Youth Art Contest!
Woodland Caribou, painted by Sky Waters from Minnesota, was selected as the grand prize winner of the 2012 Endangered Species Day Youth Art Contest.
Endangered Species Coalition
February 11, 2013
Parents, teachers, and scout leaders tell your kids to start the drawing engines and participate in the annual Endangered Species Day Youth Art Contest! Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2013. The Youth Art Contest provides students from kindergarten to high school with an opportunity to learn about threatened and endangered species and express their knowledge and support through artwork. Organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Endangered Species Coalition, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and the International Child Art Foundation, the art contest is an integral part of the eighth annual national Endangered Species Day on May 17, 2013.
Bulletin
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Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
2012 Mexican Wolf Population Survey Shows Numbers Rising from 2011
Mexican wolf being brought to processing facility during 2012 population count.
Elizabeth Jozwiak / USFWS
February 6, 2013
During its annual year-end surveys, the Mexican wolf Interagency Field Team counted at least 75 Mexican wolves in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico at the end of 2012. Compared to the 2011 minimum population count of 58 wolves, this number demonstrates an increase in the known population in the wild.
News Release
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Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Endangered Species Bulletin Commences 40th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act
Bull trout have been observed spawning in the Clackamas River and its tributaries in Oregon as part of ongoing efforts to recover the species.
Joel Sartore with Wade Fredenberg, National Geographic Stock
February 5, 2013
As we enter the ruby anniversary year of the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service honors its accomplishments in preventing species extinction and steadily improving the habitats and conservation prospects for many others. This edition of the Endangered Species Bulletin highlights the recent successes in recovery under the ESA.
Bulletin
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Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Begins Commemoration of 40th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act
ESA 40th Anniversary.
Jennifer Hennessey / USFWS
January 14, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will honor the 40th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act with a year-long commemoration of the Act that has been so successful in stabilizing populations of species at risk, preventing the extinction of many others and conserving the habitats upon which they depend. A new dedicated web site spotlights the history and accomplishments of efforts to protect and recover America's threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.
Bulletin
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Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Proposes Protection for Bolivian Parrot
Blue-throated macaw.
? World Parrot Trust
January 14, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today a proposal to protect the blue-throated macaw as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This vividly colored species is only found in a small area of remaining tropical savanna in north-central Bolivia, and there are estimated to be fewer than 200 individuals left in the wild.
News Release
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Proposes Protection for Rare Hummingbird
Honduran emerald hummingbird.
Jennifer Hennessey / USFWS
January 4, 2013
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces a proposal to protect the Honduran emerald hummingbird as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This colorful species is restricted to arid thorn forest and scrub habitats of Honduras and is the only known bird species endemic to this country. As a result of habitat loss and fragmentation, its population continues to decline, and these hummingbirds must expend more energy to travel between and find suitable habitat that provides substrates for breeding, feeding and nesting.
News Release
Learn More
Threatened and Endangered Species: Achieving Recovery and Preventing Extinction
Service Identifies Important Habitat for Recovery of Southwestern Willow Flycatcher
Southwestern willow flycatcher.
Jim Rorabaugh / USFWS
January 3, 2013
As part of its ongoing efforts to conserve our nation's most imperiled species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has identified riparian lands that are important for the recovery of the southwestern willow flycatcher. This small songbird, which nests in vegetation along rivers and streams or other wetlands, is known to occur only in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah, and has been listed as endangered since 1995 under the Endangered Species Act.
News Release
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