Stories from the Home Page
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More than 2,000 organizations from around the world highlight the importance of open rivers and migratory fish conservation. Credit: Jason Ching / World Fish Migration Foundation
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Service Joins More Than 2000 Organizations Celebrating World Fish Migration DayApril 20, 2018A global initiative highlighting the importance of conserving migratory fish species and aquatic ecosystems, World Fish Migration Day 2018 will be celebrated April 21. More than 520 worldwide events will be held in 62 countries, including nearly 100 events in the United States ranging from global inaugurations of "fishways" that help migratory fish bypass water infrastructure, dam removal to family educational events, kayak tours and river cleanup activities??. |
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More than 2,000 organizations from around the world highlight the importance of open rivers and migratory fish conservation. Credit: Jason Ching / World Fish Migration Foundation
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The winning 2018 Junior Duck Stamp art, an acrylic painting of an emperor goose by Rayen Kang. Credit: USFWS
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Interior and Service Announce Winner of National Junior Duck Stamp Art ContestApril 20, 2018Rayen Kang, an 18-year-old from Johns Creek, Georgia, took top honors at the National Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest with her acrylic rendition of an emperor goose. Her artwork will grace the 2018-2019 Junior Duck Stamp, which will go on sale June 29 and supports conservation education for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. |
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The winning 2018 Junior Duck Stamp art, an acrylic painting of an emperor goose by Rayen Kang. Credit: USFWS
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Migratory birds take to the skies after being uncaged at Everglades National Park. The birds had been seized as part of Operation Ornery Birds. Credit: Dan Chapman/USFWS
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Birds Seized in Operation Ornery Birds Released into the EvergladesApril 18, 2018After a long-running, undercover investigation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials and partners released about 130 birds, including painted buntings and northern cardinals, into Florida’s River of Grass last week. The birds had been bought by undercover agents from illegal trappers and traffickers, and seized in a series of arrests in the days leading up to the release. |
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Migratory birds take to the skies after being uncaged at Everglades National Park. The birds had been seized as part of Operation Ornery Birds. Credit: Dan Chapman/USFWS
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Chuda Dhaurali holds a buckling at Pine Island Community Farm in Colchester, Vermont. Credit: Paul E. Richardson/Vermont Land Trust
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Nature's Good Neighbors: A New American DreamApril 18, 2018A Vermont farm gives back to the local community and the land, and proves that it's possible to make a living on the land while looking after it, such as protecting local wetlands. |
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Chuda Dhaurali holds a buckling at Pine Island Community Farm in Colchester, Vermont. Credit: Paul E. Richardson/Vermont Land Trust
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Volunteer Jim Montgomery collects waterbird data. Credit: USFWS
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Volunteers Keep Things RunningApril 18, 2018The Service has some stellar volunteers -- the 40,000-plus people who contribute more than 1.5 million hours of work each year to help achieve the agency's mission and many of our staffers, who give back to their local communities in some amazing ways. |
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Volunteer Jim Montgomery collects waterbird data. Credit: USFWS
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Southern Arizona citizens installed bat feeders in their back yards to help recover lesser long-nosed bats and share scientific data. Credit: Courtesy of Richard Spitzer.
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Good News for Agave: Plant Pollinating Bat No Longer EndangeredApril 17, 2018Thanks to three decades of partnerships between the Service and diverse stakeholders on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, the lesser long-nosed bat has rebounded from near-extinction and no longer requires Endangered Species Act protection. Agave growers, tequila producers, private landowners, wildlife agencies and citizen scientists all pitched in to conserve and restore this unique pollinator. |
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Southern Arizona citizens installed bat feeders in their back yards to help recover lesser long-nosed bats and share scientific data. Credit: Courtesy of Richard Spitzer.
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Sporting a namesake black cap and white face mask, the black-capped vireo is the smallest member of the vireo family. This bird occurs regularly in the United States and winters exclusively in Mexico along the Pacific Coast. Credit: Gil Eckrich
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Black-Capped Vireo Soars to Recovery Thanks to Conservation Partnerships; Service Delists the Songbird from ESAApril 13, 2018Not so long ago the black-capped vireo nearly went extinct. Goats ate their way through this songbird’s habitat and brown-headed cowbirds commandeered their nests. In the late 1980s there were only about 350 birds known to exist, but thanks to robust conservation efforts, the vireo is being removed from the list of endangered and threatened species. |
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Sporting a namesake black cap and white face mask, the black-capped vireo is the smallest member of the vireo family. This bird occurs regularly in the United States and winters exclusively in Mexico along the Pacific Coast. Credit: Gil Eckrich
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Male Kirtland's Warbler from Adams county, Wisconsin. Credit: Joel Trick/USFWS
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Service and Partners Celebrate Remarkable Conservation Victory of Once Critically Imperiled SongbirdApril 11, 2018In the early 1970s, the Kirtland's warbler seemed to be rapidly heading towards extinction. But after decades of partnership efforts among federal and state agencies, industry and conservation groups, the population of this songbird has rebounded, and the Service is now proposing to remove it from the list of endangered and threatened species. |
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Male Kirtland's Warbler from Adams county, Wisconsin. Credit: Joel Trick/USFWS
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Dave Murphy plants a native tree on his farm. Credit: Kelly O'Mara/Ozark Regional Land Trust
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Nature's Good Neighbors: For this Missouri Bat Ambassador, Conservation Begins at HomeApril 11, 2018The commissioner of the Missouri Department of Conservation manages his farm in a way that both enhances its economic value and provides a quality home for the endangered Indiana bat and other wildlife. |
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Dave Murphy plants a native tree on his farm. Credit: Kelly O'Mara/Ozark Regional Land Trust
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Jane Koger inspects her ranch in her Polaris Ranger. Credit: Greg Kramos/USFWS
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Nature's Good Neighbors: All About the TallgrassApril 6, 2018Rancher Jane Koger makes her living running a cow-calf operation in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Through experimentation, education and relationships, she has learned that improving habitat for wildlife also helps her bottom line. |
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Jane Koger inspects her ranch in her Polaris Ranger. Credit: Greg Kramos/USFWS
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Thousands of invasive silver carp were removed from Creve Coeur Lake. Credit: Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Conservation.
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Herding Asian carp in St. Louis, MissouriApril 4, 2018We've heard of herding cats, but fish? In a recent fishing exercise at Creve Coeur Lake, our biologists worked with the Missouri Department of Conservation, U.S. Geological Survey and the St. Louis County Parks Department to remove 47,000 Asian carp from the lake. Partners used a Chinese "fish herding" technique to capture thousands of these unwanted fish. |
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Thousands of invasive silver carp were removed from Creve Coeur Lake. Credit: Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Conservation.
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Two adult Hawaiian Geese (Nenes) with chick. Credit: Kathleen Misajon/NPS
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Hawaiian Goose is One Step Closer to RecoveryMarch 30, 2018After 60 years of collaborative conservation efforts among federal, state, NGOs and local partners, the Hawaiian Goose, or nene, is one step closer to recovery. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to downlist the Hawaiian goose from endangered to threatened. By the mid-20th century, fewer than 30 nene remained in the wild. Today more than 2,800 individuals survive. |
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Two adult Hawaiian Geese (Nenes) with chick. Credit: Kathleen Misajon/NPS
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The black rhinoceros is critically endangered. Credit: Karl Stromayer/USFWS
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Wildlife Trafficker Sentenced to 27 Months in PrisonMarch 27, 2018After selling two black rhinoceros horns to an undercover agent with the Fish and Wildlife Service, a California man was convicted of crimes against the Lacey and Endangered Species acts. His 27-month sentence is another success for the Service’s Operation Crash, an ongoing nationwide effort to investigate and prosecute those involved in the black market trade of rhinoceros horns. |
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The black rhinoceros is critically endangered. Credit: Karl Stromayer/USFWS
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A bee visits a flowering butterfly milkweed plant at Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Courtney Celley/USFWS
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Timing Is EverythingMarch 27, 2018Tracking the timing of events in nature gives refuge biologists information they need to manage refuge lands wisely – for example, suppressing invasive species, curbing wildfire risk, assessing the vulnerability of an at-risk species. Some national wildlife refuges are inviting citizens to help turbo-charge their data collection on the USFWS Phenology Network, a joint project of the Service and the USA-National Phenology Network. |
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A bee visits a flowering butterfly milkweed plant at Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Courtney Celley/USFWS
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Red-cockaded woodpecker in flight. Credit: Martjan Lammertink/U.S. Forest Service
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At Camp Lejeune, Endangered Woodpecker Thrives Amid Simulated BattlesMarch 26, 2018Under a new and far-reaching state-federal partnership, the health and well-being of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker is tied to the U.S. Marine Corps mission at Lejeune. An agreement between the military, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the state of North Carolina allows Lejeune to expand training through prime woodpecker territory. In return, the so-called Recovery and Sustainment Program, or RASP, should boost the woodpecker population across eastern North Carolina. |
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Red-cockaded woodpecker in flight. Credit: Martjan Lammertink/U.S. Forest Service
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