Now more than ever, it is important that we take time to focus on the things that bring us joy, whether that’s cooking our favorite dish, spending time outdoors, or channeling our inner-artist! Join us as staff from the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office share their passions in a new video series called “What’s Your Passion?” We hope that these videos will inspire you to explore your own passions and share them with us!

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with land managers and fire response agencies across California to monitor potential impacts of wildland fires on rare wildlife and plants.

Every year, we honor the instrumental contributions of remarkable women to our ultimate mission: the conservation and protection of rare fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. In this video series, you’ll hear what inspired these women to pursue careers in conservation, and what advice they have for young women today.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California Coastal Commission and the community of Lompoc came together this year to amend a closure policy to provide increased beach access to their closest beach, Surf Beach in Santa Barbara County.

The rolling hills of the Santa Barbara backcountry offer a pristine backdrop of undeveloped, contiguous lands that provide safe haven for wildlife and a way of life for generations of Californians. From orchards and vineyards to cattle ranches and preserved open spaces, these lands make Santa Barbara County one of the most picturesque and serene places on Earth.

The Ohlone tiger beetle, while small in size, is a ferocious predator “with jaws like the fangs of a saber tooth tiger” that is fighting to survive in the last remaining grassland habitats of Santa Cruz County.

The Ohlone tiger beetle, while small in size, is a ferocious predator “with jaws like the fangs of a saber tooth tiger” that is fighting to survive in the last remaining grassland habitats of Santa Cruz County.

Conservation success stories from the people of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who work to protect fish, wildlife, plants, and natural habitats of the central and Southern California coast.

“It’s a very secretive salt marsh bird. You could be 20 feet away from them, but you'll never see them.” The light-footed Ridgway’s rail once inhabited the wetlands that occupied California’s coast. The last sighting of the rail in Santa Barbara County’s Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve was in 2004.

In December 2017, the largest wildfire in modern California history threatened the city of Ojai. Miraculously, Ojai remained mostly unscathed, thanks to firefighters from across the West. Just outside of town though, 1,500 out of 2,300 acres of Ojai Valley Land Conservancy’s open space was burned by the fire.

Despite channelized or leveed waterways that resemble concrete canals more than Instagram-worthy landscapes, only the Santa Clara River remains untouched by development in Southern California

California’s ‘liveforevers’ face new threat: poachers engaged in lucrative, illegal succulent trade

The San Fernando Valley spineflower, once believed extinct, is now flourishing in the hills above the Santa Clarita Valley in Los Angeles County.

Meet the women of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Ventura, California.

Amid an ashy creek bed in the Simi Hills, rare frogs are fighting for survival following the Woolsey Fire, which swept across Ventura and Los Angeles Counties this November, prompting mass evacuations.

Sixty-five miles northwest of Los Angeles, Naval Base Ventura County houses a diverse array of tactical aircraft from E-2 Hawkeyes to MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft Systems. But did you know that this Naval Base is also home to other rare aerial wonders from the secretive light-footed clapper rail to the California least tern?

Less than a minute’s drive from the outskirts of Watsonville, California, is a hidden gem: a small coastal farming community alive with flora and fauna known as Watsonville Slough Farm. It's 500-acres lies in the heart of one of California’s largest coastal wetlands.

It’s a serene morning at Elkhorn Slough, one of the largest wetlands in the state of California. It’s 20 miles north of Monterey in the town of Moss Landing, population 204. Gena Bentall raises her binoculars to get a closer look at kayakers near a group of sea otters resting in the water. She likes what she sees.

Can a committed conservationist find happiness with a guy whose living focuses on the search for oil? Absolutely, provided the two share a core belief: that conservation and industry can go hand-in-hand — yes, just as they do. The Faiths — Nadya and Luke — can show you how it’s done.

Santa Cruz cypress, Lane Mountain milk-vetch, and Island bedstraw. Few people know them by name, but we can attribute their continued existence on Earth, in part, to one woman’s passion and commitment to their recovery. We delve into the life and career of Service botanist Connie Rutherford, and the plants she helped save from near extinction.

The San Fernando Valley spineflower, a tiny plant once believed extinct, has a promising future thanks to support from a Southern California developer.