The Louisiana Ecological Services field station was established in 1972. We strive for ecosystem sustainability through preservation, conservation, enhancement, and restoration of habitats essential for the long-term viability of the fish, wildlife, and plants in Louisiana. The 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 fish and wildlife.
Project Review and Threatened & Endangered Species Parish List

Endangered Species Act (ESA) project review and guidance for other federal trust resources at  https://ecos.fws.gov/ipac. Read more about project review resources.

Louisiana's Threatened & Endangered Species by Parish. Read more about species in Louisiana.

About Us

The 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 fish and wildlife.

What We Do

Our team will utilize all available resources and opportunities to multiply our successes on species recovery and strategic habitat conservation. We will seek out and create new opportunities to engage our key partners and private landowners in strategic conservation efforts with a goal of de listing, down listing, and preventing the listing of species in Louisiana.

Our Organization

As a field office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we are charged with implementing certain Service's programs. Below you'll find a list, with links to more information about the programs we carryout in the State of Louisiana.

More Information About Our National Programs

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...
Close up of a California condor. Its pink featherless head contrasts with its black feathers.
We provide national leadership in the recovery and conservation of our nation's imperiled plant and animal species, working with experts in the scientific community to identify species on the verge of extinction and to build the road to recovery to bring them back. We work with a range of public...
Partners for Fish and Wildlife: Nevada Coordinator Susan Abele Meets with Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Member to Conduct a Site Visit at Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation
The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program provides free technical and financial assistance to landowners, managers, tribes, corporations, schools and nonprofits interested in improving wildlife habitat on their land. Since 1987, we have helped more than 30,000 landowners to complete more than 50,...
A large bird with brown feathers, white head, and yellow beak flies against a pale blue sky
The Migratory Bird Program works with partners to protect, restore and conserve bird populations and their habitats for the benefit of future generations by: ensuring long-term ecological sustainability of all migratory bird populations, increasing socioeconomic benefits derived from birds,...
Gathering of Puffins on brown rock
The Coastal Program is one of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s most effective resources for restoring and protecting fish and wildlife habitat on public and privately-owned lands. We play an important role in promoting the Service’s mission and priorities, delivering landscape-scale...
Aerial view of an undeveloped coastal freshwater pond.
We administer the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA), which encourages the conservation of storm-prone and dynamic coastal barriers by withdrawing the availability of federal funding and financial assistance within a designated set of units known as the Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS)....
A duck flies over a tundra pond.
We use the best scientific information available to determine whether to add a species to (list) or remove from (delist) the federal lists of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants. We also determine whether already listed species should be reclassified from threatened to endangered (uplist...
Condor soars over mountain ridge.
We work with partners to conserve the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend, developing and maintaining conservation programs for these species to improve their status to the point that Endangered Species Act protection is no longer necessary for survival. This...
Butterfly with orange, brown, and white wings perched perched on a flower head gathering nectar with another butterfly on the backside of the flower head.
We assess the conservation status of species, using the best scientific information available, and identify those that warrant listing as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. A species that we find warrants a proposal to list as endangered or threatened, but listing is...
large flock of snow geese
The National Wildlife Refuge System is the nation’s largest collection of public lands and waters conserved for fish and wildlife. Planning is essential to ensure that the Refuge System meets this conservation commitment.
Birds surround two herring fishing boats
The purpose of Migratory Bird Permits is to promote long-term conservation of migratory birds and their habitats and encourage joint stewardship with others.

Our Species

We work to protect federal threatened and endangered species that are present in Louisiana. 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
Rufa red knot feeding along with other shorebirds

Red Knots are large, bulky sandpipers. They are relatively short, with a straight bill tapering to the tip. The bill, as well as wings, is slightly longer in females. Female breeding plumage has light-colored feathers amongst the belly and less distinct eyeline. However, sexes appear similar in...

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
California least tern flying. A plain, dark blue sky in the background.

Least terns are the smallest member of the gull and tern family. They are approximately 9" in length. Unlike gulls, terns will dive into the water for small fish. The body of least terns is predominately gray and white, with black streaking on the head. Least terns have a forked tail and narrow...

Mr. Snake, a Louisiana pinesnake that helps the U.S. Forest Service with education and outreach, laying in pine straw July 11, 2022.

Louisiana pinesnakes are egg-laying, non-venomous constrictors with small heads and pointed snouts, and are good burrowers. Reaching up to about five feet long, Louisiana pinesnakes are black, brown and russet. They have a buff to yellowish background color marked with 28 to 38 dark blotches...

FWS Focus
A baby tortoise perches in grass and looks at the camera.

The gopher tortoise is a large, (shell 15 to 37 centimeters or 5.9 to 14.6 inches long) dark-brown to grayish-black terrestrial turtle with elephantine hind feet, shovel-like forefeet, and a gular projection beneath the head on the yellowish, hingeless plastron or undershell (Ernst and Barbour...

FWS Focus
A turtle with a yellow and black pattern on it's neck basking on a rock

The ringed sawback turtle is small. Each shield of its upper shell (carapace) has a yellow ring bordered inside and outside with dark olive-brown: its undershell (plastron) is yellow. The head has a large yellow spot behind the eye, two yellow stripes from the orbit backwards, and a...

FWS Focus
Two Inflated Heelspliter mussels being held in the palm of a hand. The one on the left is larger and more weathered than the one on the right.

The inflated heelsplitter has an oval, compressed to moderately inflated, thin shell. The valves may gape anteriorly. The umbos are low, and there is a prominent posterior wing that may extend anterior to the beak in young individuals. The shell is brown to black and may have green rays in young...

FWS Focus
The Louisiana pearlshell mussel is oblong and kidney shaped. Umbos (the inflated dorsal part of the shell) are even with or slightly extended past the hinge line. The anterior end, typically buried in the substrate, is rounded; whereas, the exposed posterior end of the shell is pointed and may have...
FWS Focus
Geocarpon MacKenzie was a monotypic genus originally described by K.K. MacKenzie (1914). It was placed in the family Caryophyllaceae. However, recent phylogenetic work suggests that it should be placed in the genus Mononeuria and it is now known as Mononeuria minima. This new scientific...
FWS Focus
Louisiana quillwort is a small, semi-aquatic, facultative evergreen plant with spirally-arranged leaves (sporophylls) arising from a globose, two-lobed corm. The pliant, hollow leaves are transversely septate and measure 2-3 mm (0.12 in.) wide and up to 40 cm (16.0 in.) long. Spore-containing...
FWS Focus
A green sea turtle swims along the bottom of the reef.

The green sea turtle grows to a maximum size of about 4 feet and a weight of 440 pounds. It has a heart-shaped shell, small head, and single-clawed flippers. Color is variable. Hatchlings generally have a black carapace, white plastron, and white margins on the shell and limbs. The adult...

FWS Focus
A hawksbill sea turtle, showing its distinctive tortoiseshell pattern across head, flippers, and carapace, swims above coral through bright blue water.

The endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle is one of seven species of sea turtles found throughout the world. One of the smaller sea turtles, it has overlapping scutes (plates) that are thicker than those of other sea turtles. This protects them from being battered against sharp coral and rocks during...

FWS Focus
A greenish brown sea turtle laying on the beach

The Kemp's ridley turtle is the smallest of the sea turtles, with adults reaching about 2 feet in length and weighing up to 100 pounds. The adult Kemp's ridley has an oval carapace that is almost as wide as it is long and is usually olive-gray in color. The carapace has five pairs of costal...

FWS Focus
A scaly, dark-grey reptile hatchling, partially covered in sand on a beach

The leatherback is the largest, deepest diving, and most migratory and wide ranging of all sea turtles. The adult leatherback can reach 4 to 8 feet in length and 500 to 2000 pounds in weight. Its shell is composed of a mosaic of small bones covered by firm, rubbery skin with seven longitudinal...

FWS Focus
A large sea turtle swimming along a reef

Loggerheads were named for their relatively large heads, which support powerful jaws and enable them to feed on hard-shelled prey, such as whelks and conch. The carapace (top shell) is slightly heart-shaped and reddish-brown in adults and sub-adults, while the plastron (bottom shell) is...

FWS Focus
Side view of a red wolf, showing head and shoulders

As their name suggests, red wolves are known for the characteristic reddish color of their fur most apparent behind the ears and along the neck and legs, but are mostly brown and buff colored with some black along their backs. Intermediate in size to gray wolves and coyotes, the average adult...

FWS Focus
Two red cockaded woodpeckers face each other on a tree limb with pine needles and blue sky visible in the background

22 cm. Rather small black-and-white woodpecker with longish bill. Above black barred white. Below white with black spots on flanks. Black crown, nape and moustachial stripe border white cheeks and side of neck. Male has small red mark on the side of nape. Juvenile browner with variable extent of...

FWS Focus

Projects and Research

Our team utilize all available resources and opportunities to multiply our successes on species recovery and strategic habitat conservation. We will seek out and create new opportunities to engage our key partners and private landowners in strategic conservation efforts with a goal of de listing, down listing, and preventing the listing of species in Louisiana.

Our Library

Louisiana Ecological Services Document Library

SLOPES Louisiana
Standard Local Operating Procedures for Endangered Species in Louisiana

Location and Contact Information