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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service


Private Lands Conservation Helps Put New England Cottontail on Road to Recovery

September 11, 2015 Jason Weller, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Chief

Wildlife and working lands go hand in hand. Today, thanks to the hard work of private landowners and land managers, the New England cottontail will not need protection under the Endangered Species Act. Widespread habitat loss since the 1960s impacted New England cottontail numbers. But people like...

Conservation

Conserving Water, Soil and Habitat on Private Lands

September 10, 2015 Justin Fritscher, Natural Resources Conservation Service

For 80 years, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has worked with agricultural producers to make conservation improvements to their farms, ranches and forests. These improvements help clean and conserve water, boost soil quality and restore habitat, and also make their agricultural...

Conservation

New Data Show Efforts to Restore Habitat for Sage Grouse Benefits Songbirds, Too

September 09, 2015 Tim Griffiths, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

The Natural Resources Conservation Service works with ranchers and partners to improve habitat for sage grouse with funding through the Sage Grouse Initiative. Focusing on privately-owned lands, the initiative covers the 11 Western state range of the bird. About 40 percent of the sage grouse dwell...

Conservation

New Sage Grouse Conservation Strategy Good for Cattle Ranches, Good for Birds

August 27, 2015 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

Today, USDA released its new long-term investment strategy for sage grouse conservation— Sage Grouse Initiative 2.0 (SGI 2.0). USDA’s planned investments will complement the great conservation work already happening throughout the West and build on the work of the Sage Grouse Initiative, a...

Conservation

Student Climate and Conservation Congress: Bright Young Minds

August 25, 2015 Joanna Mounce Stancil, Senior Advisor for State and Private Forestry

This year, for the first time, the Forest Service partnered with the Green School Alliance and their principle partner the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in support of the Student Climate and Conservation Congress (Sc3). Held June 21-27 on the beautiful campus of the FWS’s National Conservation...

Forestry

Greater Sage-Grouse Population on the Rise

August 17, 2015 Lori Valadez, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Montana

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) designated greater sage-grouse in 2010 as a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Later this year, the FWS will determine whether to list the species or remove it from consideration based on the conservation actions implemented to...

Conservation

Connecticut's Efforts to Protect a True New England Native is No Illusion!

August 14, 2015 Carolyn Miller, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Connecticut

Pull a rabbit out of a hat. If only it were that simple! For thousands of years, New England has been home to its own unique rabbit – the New England cottontail. The at-risk bunny once lived in a territory that extended from southeastern New York and northward into Vermont and southern Maine. Over...

Conservation

Working with Beavers to Restore Watersheds

July 15, 2015 Cathy Dowd, Research and Development, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest

The Methow Beaver Project is a bit uncommon as far as forest health restoration projects go, because it relies on one of nature’s greatest engineers – the beaver. Beavers build dams on rivers and streams, and build homes (“lodges”) in the resulting bodies of still, deep water to protect against...

Forestry

Cultivating Native Leaders in Conservation

July 14, 2015 Leslie Wheelock, Director, Office of Tribal Relations

Recently, ninety Alaska Native, American Indian, and Native Hawaiian high school students came together at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia for a week of intensive education and peer-to-peer training about the impact of climate change on tribal communities...

Conservation Forestry

Through Partnerships, Golden-Winged Warbler Thrives

July 14, 2015 Stacy Ouellette, Natural Resources Conservation Service, West Virginia

One species that enjoys the West Virginia Appalachian environment for breeding is the golden-winged warbler, but habitat has been hard to find. There was great excitement when Idun Guenther, a wildlife biologist with the state’s Department of Natural Resources, spotted two golden-winged warbler...

Conservation
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