News
Fish and Wildlife Service proposes threatened status for declining mussel
October 10, 2018 | 5 minute readThe Atlantic pigtoe, a freshwater mussel native to waters from Virginia to Georgia, has lost more than half of its historical range, and remaining populations may not be sustainable over time. To help this species and its habitat, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to extend protection for it as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service also has identified areas that are essential for conservation of this freshwater mussel and proposes to designate 539 river miles in 16 units as critical habitat. Read the full story...
Atlantic pigtoes ready for release. Photo by USFWS.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Reopens Comment Period and Holds Public Meetings on Proposed Critical Habitat for the Black Pinesnake
October 10, 2018 | 4 minute readThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is reopening the public comment period on a proposal to designate critical habitat for the black pinesnake. Anyone interested in this proposal and the recovery of the black pinesnake is invited to comment for 30 days beginning October 11, 2018 and ending on November 13, 2018. The black pinesnake, a non-venomous constrictor, was federally listed as threatened in November 2015. It is currently found only in Mississippi and Alabama. Read the full story...
Black pinesnake. Photo by Jim Lee, The Nature Conservancy.
Service proposes to list rare freshwater crayfish, designate Critical Habitat
October 5, 2018 | 4 minute readThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the slenderclaw crayfish as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). At the same time, it also is proposing to designate critical habitat and a 4(d) rule describing management activities that would continue to be permitted because of the benefit to the crayfish and landowners. With two known populations, the slenderclaw crayfish is disappearing throughout its range. Historically, the crayfish was known to live in four small streams or tributaries within the Short Creek and Town Creek watersheds, both in the Tennessee River Basin in Dekalb and Marshall counties, Alabama. Read the full story...
Slenderclaw crayfish (Cambarus cracens). Photo © Guenter Schuster.
Service proposes to list the eastern black rail as threatened under the Endangered Species Act
October 5, 2018 | 5 minute readThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners are working to protect a small, secretive marsh bird that is in steep decline. Some populations of the eastern black rail along the Atlantic coast have dropped by as much as 90 percent, and with a relatively small total population remaining across the eastern United States, the Service is proposing to list the subspecies as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Read the full story...
Eastern black rail. Photo © Tom Johnson, used with permission, The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes Endangered Species Act protection for “little devil” Caribbean seabird
October 5, 2018 | 4 minute readThe future is uncertain for the black-capped petrel, a seabird that breeds in remote mountains on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and forages in open ocean waters up the U.S. Eastern Seaboard as far north as off the coast of Virginia. After reviewing the best available scientific and commercial data in a peer-reviewed species status assessment (SSA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined the petrel is a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), meaning it is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Read the full story...
Black-capped petrel off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC. Photo © Brian Patteson, seabirding.com, used with permission.
El Servicio Federal de Pesca y Vida Silvestre anuncia la disponibilidad del borrador de la Evaluación Ambiental para la remoción parcial y/o modificación de la represa Cambalache ubicada en el Río Grande de Arecibo, Puerto Rico
September 27, 2018 | 4 minute readEl Servicio Federal de Pesca y Vida Silvestre del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos (USFWS, por sus siglas en inglés) anuncia la disponibilidad del borrador de la Evaluación Ambiental (EA) para la remoción parcial y/o modificación de la represa Cambalache ubicada dentro de la cuenca del Río Grande de Arecibo (RGA) en el municipio de Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Este borrador de la EA se preparó como un requisito de la Ley de Política Ambiental Nacional (NEPA, por sus siglas en inglés) e incluye información de la acción propuesta para la remoción parcial/modificación de la represa existente. Read the full story...
Represa Cambalache. Photo © William Hernández.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Assessment for the Cambalache dam partial removal and/or modification located within the Río Grande de Arecibo in Puerto Rico
September 27, 2018 | 3 minute readThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announces the availability for public comments of the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Cambalache dam partial removal and/or modification located within the Río Grande de Arecibo (RGA) watershed in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. This draft EA has been prepared as a requisite of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and includes information of the proposed action for the partial removal/modification of the existing low-head dam. Read the full story...
Cambalache dam. Photo © William Hernández.