Welcome to the Louisiana Ecological Services Field Office

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.

Eastern Diamondback Credit: USFWS

New - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Initiates Status Review of the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today announced a 90-day finding on a petition to list the eastern diamondback rattlesnake as threatened and designate critical habitat for the species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
  
  This finding stems from a petition submitted last summer by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Coastal Plains Institute Inc., Protecting all Living Species, and One More Generation. The decision, known as a 90-day finding finds that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing the eastern diamondback rattlesnake may be warranted. The Service will undertake a more comprehensive review of the snake's status throughout the species' range to determine whether listing is warranted under the ESA. Click here to read more

Whooping Cranes In LA Credit: Martine Angel

New - Whooping Cranes Back from the Brink of Extinction

• In the early morning hours of February 16, 2011, 10 juvenile whooping cranes (Grus americana) were loaded into wooden crates and onto a plane in Maryland. Their destination: White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area. The arrival of these birds to the marshes of southwestern Louisiana later that day marked the end of a 60-year absence from the state and the beginning of the latest chapter in a long history of cooperative efforts to recover the endangered bird. Click here to read more

Mississippi Gopher Frog Credit: USFWS

The Service Seeks Comment on the Revised Proposed Critical Habitat Designation and Associated Draft Economic Analysis for the Mississippi Gopher Frog

• A total of 7,015 acres have been proposed as critical habitat within one parish in Louisiana and four southern Mississippi counties. Twelve units (three of which are divided into two subunits each) are proposed as critical habitat including ones in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana; and Forrest, Harrison, Jackson, and Perry counties, Mississippi. These units include a total of 3,746 acres in federal ownership, 287 acres in state ownership, and 2,983 acres in private ownership. Occupied habitat and currently unoccupied habitat have been determined to be essential for the conservation of the Mississippi gopher frog and, as such, both are being proposed as critical habitat. Click here to read full news release

Black Rail. Credit: USGS

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Finds 374 Aquatic-dependent Species May Warrant Endangered Species Act Protection

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will conduct an in-depth status review of 374 rare southeastern aquatic, riparian and wetland animal and plant species to determine if any or all of them warrant federal protection as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Click here to read full news release

Loggerhead. Credit: USFWS

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Revise Loggerhead Sea Turtle: Changes Will Guide Conservation Efforts

• NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule today changing the listing of loggerhead sea turtles under the Endangered Species Act from a single threatened species to nine distinct population segments listed as either threatened or endangered. Click here to read full news release

American Eel. Credit: USFWS

American Eel May Warrant Protection Under the Endangered Species Act

• The American eel may need federal protection as a threatened or endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced today, following an initial review of a petition seeking to protect the species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Click here to read full news release

2011 Pollinator Bees Poster. Credit: USFWS

In Celebration of Pollinators

• What do raspberries, chocolate, and almonds have in common? Besides being best-selling ice cream sundae toppings, they are also foods from plants that require pollinators. Raspberries are typically pollinated by bees, as are almonds. Chocolate is pollinated by a small fly called a midge.
• Pollinators are critically important to both the ecosystem and the U.S. economy. More than 75 percent of the flowering plants rely on pollinators, and honey bees alone are responsible for an estimated $15 billion worth of pollinator services to agriculture in the U.S. Many of our fruits, vegetables, and nuts, as well as other food products rely on pollinators. Pollinators include endangered and threatened species, such as the long-nosed bat, and migratory birds, such as the ruby-throated hummingbird. Click here to read more about Pollinators
• Pollinator Partnership Website - Your Source for Pollinator Action and Information: A World of Pollinators

Gopher Tortoise. Credit: Randy Brown/USFWS

Protection of Gopher Tortoise in the Eastern Portion of Its Range Warranted but Precluded Under the Endangered Species Act

• Gopher tortoises east of Mobile Bay will be added to the list of candidate species eligible for Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. While candidate species receive no statutory protection under the ESA, inclusion on the candidate list promotes cooperative conservation efforts for these species. Click here to read full news release

Save Vanishing Species Postal Stamp. Credit: USPS

Stamp Out Extinction

• The U.S. Postal Service has issued a special semipostal stamp to benefit elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, great apes, and marine turtles under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Wildlife Without Borders Multinational Species Conservation Funds (MSCF). Click here to read more