Concerned Citizen, Partnerships Help Service Dismantle International Turtle Smuggling Operation
After a hotel housekeeper tipped off authorities when she found hundreds of box turtles in a guest’s room, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement agents and partners arrested an Oklahoma man and charged him with offenses under the Lacey Act. A federal judge has now sentenced the man to two years of probation and $350,000 in restitution and fines.
A rare hairy rattleweed plant. Credit: Daniel Chapman/USFWS
Learning to Love a Hairy Rattleweed
It sounds like the name of a punk rocker. It lurks under power lines, along roadsides and between rows of commercial pine trees. It's covered in tiny, cobwebby hairs. It's got a shape only a botanist could love. Pity the endangered hairy rattleweed, one of the nation's rarest plants. But a consortium of government and nonprofit agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announced recently that a 1,666-acre tract of timber company pinelands in rural Wayne and Brantley counties had been bought and preserved. More than 3,000 rattleweeds survive on a former Rayonier pine plantation alongside longleaf pines, saw palmettos and gallberry bushes.
Misty Marsh. Credit: Lamar Gore/USFWS
Why I Took These Shots
National wildlife refuges are great places for nature photography – for visitors and employees. Manager Lamar Gore makes a point of taking photos at Pennsylvania’s John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum. Of this photo, he says: “Lighting makes or breaks a photo. In this scene, the sun is casting perfect beams and shadows in the light fog and on the waterfowl. I'm always looking for the perfect lighting conditions when my camera is in hand.” See more of his favorite photos and why he took them in our story.
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Fish and Wildlife Service Federal Register Notices
 Final Rule  Proposed Rule  Notice
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02/26/2020. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of Critical Habitat for Black Pinesnake | |
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02/26/2020. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Recovery Plan for the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake | |
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02/25/2020. Migratory Bird Permits; Regulations for Managing Resident Canada Goose Populations; Agricultural Facilities in the Atlantic Flyway | |
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02/24/2020. Civil Penalties; 2020 Inflation Adjustments for Civil Monetary Penalties | |
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02/24/2020. Civil Penalties; 2020 Inflation Adjustments for Civil Monetary Penalties | |
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02/24/2020. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of Critical Habitat for Florida Bristle Fern | |
