Law enforcement is essential to virtually every aspect of wildlife conservation. The Office of Law Enforcement contributes to U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service efforts to manage ecosystems, save endangered species, conserve migratory birds, preserve wildlife habitat, restore fisheries, combat invasive species, and promote international wildlife conservation.

Service law enforcement today focuses on potentially devastating threats to wildlife resources, including illegal trade, unlawful commercial exploitation, habitat destruction, and environmental contaminants. The Office of Law Enforcement investigates wildlife crimes, regulates wildlife trade, helps Americans understand and obey wildlife protections laws, and works in partnership with international, state, and tribal counterparts to conserve wildlife resources.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast Region encompasses 13 states from Maine to Virginia. More than 66 million people, about a quarter of the nation's population, live within this area. The headquarters for the Northeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in Hadley, Massachusetts.

Service special agents, distributed among the Region's 13 states, conduct investigations relating to major illegal commercial activity involving trade in protected wildlife. Special agents are charged with enforcing 11 domestic wildlife protection laws and 5 international treaties, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Wildlife inspectors work at airports, seaports, border ports and international passenger and mail facilities such as Baltimore, Boston, Newark and New York. Uniformed inspectors monitor legal wildlife trade and intercept illegal importations and exportations of federally protected fish and wildlife.