Welcome to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service North Dakota Ecological Services Field Office

About Us

The North Dakota Ecological Services Field Office is responsible for implementing the Endangered Species Act throughout North Dakota.  Our office works in partnership with federal and state agencies and Tribes to conserve and recover species and habitats.

What We Do

For consultation information, click the box below.

Our Organization

The North Dakota Field Office is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Ecological Services Program.  We implement reviews of Federal construction projects, endangered species planning and recovery efforts, environmental contaminants research and remediation, habitat restoration and conservation planning assistance, through a variety of conservation partnerships and administration of grants.  Below is the national program pages for Ecological Services - for North Dakota specific information for consultations, please visit the "What We Do" tab, above. 

A rocky shoreline of a river. The water is calm. Mist and green branches line the river.
The Ecological Services Program works to restore and protect healthy populations of fish, wildlife, and plants and the environments upon which they depend. Using the best available science, we work with federal, state, Tribal, local, and non-profit stakeholders, as well as private land owners, to...

Our Species

 The North Dakota Ecological Services Field Office's priority is the protection, conservation, and recovery of our nation's most imperiled species and the habitats they depend upon.  North Dakota has ten species listed under the Endangered Species Act. Listed species are either "threatened" - likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future, or "endangered" - in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Our office works in partnership with others to protect and recover threatened and endangered species and their habitats to ensure their continued existence.  We also work to conserve species "at-risk" of becoming threatened or endangered by promoting conservation efforts so that protection under the Endangered Species Act is not needed.  Additionally, several bird and eagle species, both migratory and resident populations found in North Dakota, warrant federal protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.  We prioritize our efforts on the protection, conservation, and recovery of all these species.

Learn more about the species that are the focus of our conservation efforts:

Two large white birds with spindly legs and black tips on their wings coming in for a landing in a wetland

The whooping crane occurs only in North America and is North America’s tallest bird, with males approaching 1.5 m (5 ft) when standing erect. The whooping crane adult plumage is snowy white except for black primaries, black or grayish alula (specialized feathers attached to the upper leading end...

FWS Focus
Grey, white and black bird on sand in the foreground

Size: 18 cm (7.25 in) in length. Color: Breeding season: Pale brown above, lighter below; black band across forehead; bill orange with black tip; legs orange; white rump. Male: Complete or incomplete black band encircles the body at the breast. Female: Paler head band; incomplete breast band....

FWS Focus
A pallid sturgeon swims along a rocky stream bed. The fish is long and slender, with whiskers and small ridges along its back and sides.

The pallid sturgeon was first recognized as a species different from shovelnose sturgeon by S. A. Forbes and R. E. Richardson in 1905 based on a study of nine specimens collected from the Mississippi River near Grafton, Illinois (Forbes and Richardson 1905). They named this new species...

FWS Focus
A western prairie fringed orchid in bloom

The western prairie fringed orchid is a terrestrial member of the orchid family. This smooth, erect, perennial herb grows to 1.2 meters [4 feet (ft)] tall. Plants have two to five fairly thick, elongate, hairless leaves each. The open, spike-like flowering stalk bears up to 24 showy, 2.5...

FWS Focus
Two curious animals with long necks and what looks like black masks around their eyes peek out from a burrow in the ground.

The black-footed ferret is 18 to 24 inches long, including a 5 to 6 inch tail. It weighs only one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half pounds, with males slightly larger than females. The black-footed ferret is well adapted to its prairie environment. Its color and markings blend so well with grassland...

FWS Focus
A rusty patched bumble bee visits a wild bergamot flower

Historically, the rusty patched bumble bee was broadly distributed across the eastern United States, Upper Midwest, and southern Quebec and Ontario in Canada. Since 2000, this bumble bee has been reported from only 13 states and 1 Canadian province: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland,...

FWS Focus
A group of juvenile and adult red knot forage along the shoreline.

Length: 25-28 cm. Adults in spring: Above finely mottled with grays, black and light ochre, running into stripes on crown; throat, breast and sides of head cinnamon-brown; dark gray line through eye; abdomen and undertail coverts white; uppertail coverts white, barred with black. Adults in...

FWS Focus

Get Involved

Grassland pollinators need your help.  In 2022, North Dakota, South Dakota and Kansas will be starting bumblebee atlas work hosted by the Xerces Society.  For more information on how you can join in the effort, please click the box below.  

Location and Contact Information