Features
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Current Conditions
As a public health precaution, the administrative office of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Office is temporarily closed for the safety of staff and visitors. Please follow public health guidelines and avoid congregating. For more information visit FWS Coronavirus Response page. Last updated 08/04/20.
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Mazama pocket gopher screening protocol
The Service is announcing a Mazama pocket gopher screening protocol for local jurisdictions in the range of the listed subspecies in Pierce and Thurston Counties.
MPG Dear Interested Party letter and screening protocol checklist
MPG Consultant List -
Videos Highlight Partner Efforts to Protect Oregon Spotted Frog
Check out these amazing videos about Oregon spotted frog, a federally threatened species, and how biologists and partners are working to protect its habitats in Washington and Oregon's Deschutes River Basin.
Video link: Protecting the Oregon Spotted Frog in Washington and Protecting Oregon Spotted Frog in the Deschutes River Basin
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Environmental Contaminants Program in WA Story Maps
Do you want to learn about the work being done to plan and respond to pollution? Click on one of the following Story Map links to learn more about where we work, the work that we do, and our shared consequences with the environment.
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Pre-spawn Mortality Research Progresses
Ken King, biological science technician with USFWS, and partners continue to explore pre-spawn mortality in western Washington. To learn more about stormwater impacts and potential solutions to Coho Pre-Spawn Mortality, please watch The Nature Conservancy video made in partnership with the Puget Sound Stormwater Science Team.
News Room
Water Howellia Delisted from Endangered Species Act Due to Recovery: FR Notice and News Release (6/15/21)
Proposal to List Mount Rainier White-tailed Ptarmigan as Threatened:
The Service is seeking public comment on a proposed rule to list the bird as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. FR Notice and News Release. (6/14/21)
USFWS Seeks Public Comment for Streaked Horned Lark ESA Listing Status: News Release and FR Notice (4/12/21)
Documents for Review
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Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan for Single-family Residence in Thurston County, Washington Habitat Conservation Plan and Environmental Action Statement available. See Federal Register (FR) notice. (4/27/21)
Issuance of an Incidental Harassment Authorization for the Marine Geophysical Survey of the Cascadia Subduction Zone Environmental Assessment (4/14/21) and IHA (4/20/21)
The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Sentinel Landscape
Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) supports military training while also hosting 90% of the remaining prairie habitat in the South Puget Sound. Through the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership, the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, and Defense work with a variety of partners to promote working lands, protect wildlife species and habitat, and ensure military readiness at the base.
The Hyporheic Zone
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Video Reveals Little Known World of Riverbeds
Not all that you see when you look at a river is above ground. There is a hidden world that exists beneath the bottom, in the vast network of interconnected spaces between the pebbles that make up the streambed. Scientists call this the hyporheic zone. The hyporheic zone is a place where water flowing in the stream channel percolates down into the streambed, mixes with groundwater, and reemerges to join the surface water somewhere downstream. The hyporheic zone is important because it helps to cool, filter, and cleanse the stream water, and also because strange, vital things are living there.
Watch “The Secret Life of Rivers,” a short video introduction to the world of the hyporheic zone.
- USFWS Newsletters USFWS Scientific Journals
