Partnerships help prevent extinction and promote recovery
From the South Pacific to the high desert of Idaho, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists in the Pacific Region and their partners are working to recover threatened and endangered species, some of which teeter on the brink of extinction.
A new report highlights a select group of the more than on-the-ground projects pacific region funded in at cost million. is available http://www.fws.gov/pacific/ecoservices/endangered/recovery/documents/2009_FWS_R1_Recovery_2010.pdfa>
Recovery of threatened, endangered and other at-risk species lies at the very heart of our mission,” said Pacific Regional Director Robyn Thorson. “These projects emphasize the richness of the resources we hold in trust, as well as the diversity of approaches we take to ensure their survival and recovery.”
The report comes in time for Endangered Species Day, celebrated this year on May 21. Started in 2006 by the U.S. Congress, Endangered Species Day honors our national commitment to recovering endangered species and their habitats and provides opportunities to learn about what efforts are being made to conserve them.
The Service works with other federal agencies, state, local and tribal governments, environmental organizations, industry groups, academia, the scientific community and members of the public to help conserve our nation’s threatened and endangered fish, wildlife, and plants.
In the Pacific Region, these efforts include:
• Working with schools throughout the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and on Guam to raise awareness of the ecological and cultural importance of the threatened Mariana fruit bat;
• Collaborating with the Volcano Rare Plan Facility on the of Hawaii to collect, propagate and reintroduce six endangered species of plants, all of which have fewer than 50 individuals remaining in the wild;
• Partnering with state and federal agencies to remove fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.
Learn more about fish passage barriers throughout the Pacific Northwest, restoring habitat access to bull trout and salmon;
• Cooperating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage dredge spoil islands in the lower Columbia River to enhance nesting habitat for streaked horned lark;
• Working with private landowners in Idaho to conserve the Columbia spotted frog.
The Pacific Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service includes the states of Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon and Washington and Pacific territories and U.S.-affiliated states. These states and territories encompass over 158 million acres of land, 4.9 million square miles of ocean and span five time zones and the International Date Line. There are more than 400 listed threatened and endangered species in the region.
“The species and ecosystems in the Pacific Region are confronted with multiple threats and diverse conservation needs,” Regional Director Thorson said. “By matching recovery actions to specific threats we are able to accomplish our conservation mission more efficiently and effectively.”
To learn more about these efforts, please visit http://www.fws.gov/pacific/ecoservices/endangered/recovery/index.html
