Through a series of laws created over the last century, Americans have declared that we need to collectively protect landscapes, fish, wildlife, and plants. Several agencies in the federal government put our country's conservation laws into action, and the Ecological Services Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helps lead the way.

About Us

Our Ecological Services Field Office is comprised of talented staff working to conserve, protect, enhance, and restore the fish, wildlife, and plant resources within New York State. Our staff are highly trained and experts at working with at risk and endangered species, providing technical assistance related to conservation planning and renewable energy, environmental contaminants and natural resource damage remediation, as well as conducting cutting edge aquatic research, environmental restoration, and community outreach and education. 

New York is an incredibly environmentally diverse state: the dynamic Atlantic and Great Lakes coastlines, the mountains of the Adirondack and Catskill regions, the rolling hills, valleys, and lakes of the Finger Lakes region, the lake plains of the western region, forest and rivers of the Allegheny highlands, and the great rivers. With such a unique variety of habitat comes great biodiversity and the need to protect it. For such a large undertaking, our staff work closely with individual landowners as well as local, state, Tribal, and other federal organizations to achieve mutually agreeable conservation outcomes. 

What We Do

We administer the Endangered Species Act, 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 our partners in federal and state agencies, tribes, local governments, the business community, and private citizens to help protect important habitat, and help increase species' populations and reduce the threats to their survival so that they can be removed from federal protection.

We provide guidance and expertise to avoid and minimize impacts to wildlife for projects such as wind farms and large scale transportation developments meeting our society's growing energy and transportation needs. Our environmental contaminant specialists review project plans, licenses, and even proposed laws and regulations, to avoid or minimize harmful effects on wildlife and habitats. In cases of significant releases of hazardous waste, they work in the field to pinpoint sources of pollution and investigate effects, using this data to secure compensation for lost or damaged wildlife and habitat.



When we protect species and habitats, we conserve the natural resources on which we all depend. We ensure that wetlands persist to protect us from storms and filter our water. We conserve for future generations a continued source of land. Wild things and wild places are part of our shared history. They are part of the natural foundation of the lands we call home.

Our Organization

The New York Field Office is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Ecological Services Program. We implement reviews of Federal construction projects, endangered species planning and recovery efforts, environmental contaminants research and remediation, habitat restoration, fisheries enhancement and research, conservation planning assistance, through a variety of conservation partnerships and administration of grants. Below are the national program pages for programs conducted by our office - for New York specific information on these programs (and others), please visit the "More About What We Do" section, above. 

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,...
Pronghorn running through sagebrush with natural gas field facility in background.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works collaboratively with other federal agencies, industries, and other stakeholders to achieve infrastructure development goals in ways that are sustainable and compatible with the conservation of fish, wildlife, and their habitats.

Our Species

Federally threatened and endangered species within New York State receive focused research, protection, and consideration from our biologists. 

Leedy's roseroot is a cliffside wildflower, found today in only seven locations in three states. Four populations are found in Fillmore and Olmsted Counties, Minnesota. Two are in upstate New York, a large population on the shores of Seneca Lake and a single plant at Watkins Glen. In South Dakota...
FWS Focus

Northeastern bulrush, first described as a new species by A.E. Schuyler in 1962, is a leafy, perennial herb approximately 80-120 centimeters in height. The lowermost leaves are up to 8 millimeters (mm) wide and 40-60 times as long as wide, while the uppermost leaves are 3-5 mm wide and 30-50...

FWS Focus
A bright orange stem, with five leaves and a flower emerging from the leaf-covered forest floor

The small whorled pogonia is a member of the orchid family. The plant is named for the whorl of five or six leaves near the top of the stem and beneath the flower. The species is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. 

FWS Focus
This plant is 8 to 40 inches tall and has an upright leafy stem with a flower cluster called an inflorescence. The 3 to 8 inch lance-shaped leaves sheath the stem. Each plant has one single flower spike composed of 5 to 40 white flowers. Each flower has a three-part fringed lip less than 1 inch...
FWS Focus
Swamp Pink

Swamp pink has smooth, oblong, dark green leaves that form an evergreen rosette. In spring, some rosettes produce a flowering stalk that can grow over 3 feet tall. The stalk is topped by a 1 to 3-inch-long cluster of 30 to 50 small, fragrant, pink flowers dotted with pale blue anthers. The...

FWS Focus

The bog buck moth occurs in groundwater-fed wetlands in Oswego County, New York, and Ontario, Canada, with large amounts of bog buckbean (a plant that is a key food source, or “host plant” for bog buck moth larvae, much as milkweed is a host plant for monarch butterfly larvae).

Silvery brown butterfly perched on a stem

The frosted elfin was originally described as Polyommatus irus by Jean-Baptiste Godart in 1824, (Johnson 1991, p. 153). The current name is Callophrys irus, and it was previously assigned to the genus Incisalia (Scudder). The similar looking Henry’s elfin (C. henrici) was not described until...

FWS Focus
Small butterfly rests on flower stalk with wings open.

The Karner blue butterfly was first described more than a century ago in Karner, New York. It is a small butterfly, with a wingspan of about one inch. The male's wings are distinctively marked with a silvery or dark blue color. The female is grayish brown, especially on the outer portions of the...

FWS Focus
A monarch butterfly on a yellow flower

Adult monarch butterflies are large and conspicuous, with bright orange wings surrounded by a black border and covered with black veins. The black border has a double row of white spots, present on the upper side of the wings. Adult monarchs are sexually dimorphic, with males having narrower...

FWS Focus
A rusty patched bumble bee visits a wild bergamot flower

Historically, the rusty patched bumble bee was broadly distributed across the eastern United States, Upper Midwest, and southern Quebec and Ontario in Canada. Since 2000, this bumble bee has been reported from only 13 states and 1 Canadian province: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland,...

FWS Focus
A clubshell mussel in the water

The clubshell is a small to medium size (up to 3 inches long) freshwater mussel that was listed as endangered, without critical habitat, in 1993 (58 FR 5638-5642). Its shell exterior is yellow to brown with bright green blotchy rays and shell interior is typically white. The shell is wedge...

FWS Focus
Mussel resting on gravel

In 1831, Isaac Lea described the longsolid, a medium-sized mussel, up to five inches long, which potentially live up to 50 years.  It is found in small streams to large rivers, and prefers a mixture of sand, gravel, and cobble substrates.

The mussel is found in Alabama, Kentucky,...

FWS Focus
The rayed bean is a small mussel, usually less than 1.5 inches (in) (3.8 centimeters (cm)) in length (Cummings and Mayer 1992, p. 142; Parmalee and Bogan 1998, p. 244; West et al. 2000, p. 248). The shell outline is elongate or ovate in males and elliptical in females, and moderately inflated in...
FWS Focus
A group of about ten mussels being held partially out of the water by a pair of cupped hands

The northern riffleshell is a small to medium size (up to 3 inches long) freshwater mussel that was listed as endangered, without critical habitat, in 1993 (58 FR 5638-5642). Its shell exterior is brownish yellow to yellowish green with fine green rays. The shell interior is typically white. The...

The round hickorynut mussel is a wide-ranging species, historically known from 12 states, though now occurs in nine, as well as the Canadaian Province of Ontario.  It is currently found in five major basins: Great Lakes, Ohio (where it is most prevalent), Cumberland, Tennessee, and Lower...

FWS Focus
Bald eagle up close with wing raised

A large raptor, the bald eagle has a wingspread of about seven feet. Adults have a dark brown body and wings, white head and tail, and a yellow beak. Juveniles are mostly brown with white mottling on the body, tail, and undersides of wings. Adult plumage usually is obtained by the sixth year. In...

FWS Focus
Adult Black Rails are small blackish marshbirds with a black bill which are difficult to see. Juveniles are similar to adults, but are duller and have less distinct spotting and streaking.

References cited in Species Profile

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2015. Black Rail. All...
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
A group of juvenile and adult red knot forage along the shoreline.

Length: 25-28 cm. Adults in spring: Above finely mottled with grays, black and light ochre, running into stripes on crown; throat, breast and sides of head cinnamon-brown; dark gray line through eye; abdomen and undertail coverts white; uppertail coverts white, barred with black. Adults in...

FWS Focus
A small white bird with light grey wings, orange legs and a black cap

The roseate tern is about 40 centimeters in length, with light-gray wings and back. Its first three or four primaries are black and so is its cap. The rest of the body is white, with a rosy tinge on the chest and belly during the breeding season. The tail is deeply forked, and the outermost...

FWS Focus
Eastern massasauga rattlesnake

Massasaugas are small snakes with thick bodies, heart-shaped heads and vertical pupils. The average length of an adult is about 2 feet. Adult massasaugas are gray or light brown with large, light-edged chocolate brown blotches on the back and smaller blotches on the sides. The snake's belly is...

FWS Focus
Cluster of roosting bats.

The Indiana bat is a medium-sized Myotis, closely resembling the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) but differing in coloration. Its fur is a dull grayish chestnut rather than bronze, with the basal portion of the hairs on the back a dull-lead color. This bat's underparts are pinkish to...

FWS Focus
Brown and gray rabbit hides in the grass

The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis) is a medium-large sized cottontail rabbit that may reach 1,000 grams (2.2 pounds) in weight. Sometimes called the gray rabbit, brush rabbit, wood hare or cooney, it can usually be distinguished from the sympatric eastern cottontail and...

FWS Focus

Our Library

Explore documents pertaining to past and on-going research and projects within our office, as well as helpful resources that may be of use to individuals or local landowners. 

A view over a portion of a river surrounded by lush greenery with a blue sky in the background
Since 1995, the New York Field Office has participated in over 20 separate settlement negotiations amounting to over $62 million for past costs and restoration of ecological, cultural, and recreational resources within the state of New York. In addition to implementing restoration, resulting from...

Location and Contact Information