Pacific Southwest

Pacific Southwest
About Us

Overview of the Region

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8 is headquartered in Sacramento, California, and has federal fish and wildlife management responsibilities in California, Nevada, and the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon. The Region includes one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the United States, ranging from the arid sand dunes in the Mojave Desert to the snow-capped crags in the high Sierras; from rich farmland in the Central Valley to rain-soaked redwood forests along the Pacific coast. This highly diverse geography provides habitats for a vast array of wildlife. More than 42 million people live within the Region, and expanding population centers such as San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Reno, San Diego, and Las Vegas are increasing demands on natural resources, presenting unique challenges to the Region’s conservation mission.

The Service is responsible for managing the National Wildlife Refuge System, operating fish hatcheries and fishery resource offices, enforcing federal wildlife laws, managing migratory bird populations, conserving and restoring habitats, and overseeing a federal aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars to state, fish and wildlife agencies.

Regional and Field Offices

Our Pacific Southwest Regional Office is in Sacramento, California. Our region consists of 11 fish and wildlife offices; ArcataCarlsbadKlamath FallsLodiSan Francisco Bay-DeltaRed BluffRenoSouthern NevadaSacramentoVentura and Yreka, 130 Federally-recognized Native American Tribes, 45 national wildlife refuges, 5 wildlife management areas, four national fish hatcheries; Coleman, Klamath Falls, Lahontan and Livingston Stone, and the California-Nevada Fish Health Center.

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In This Region
California
Nevada
Oregon

Leadership

Regional Highlights

Through partnerships and funding opportunities from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Service is working to mitigate the significant water crisis in the Klamath Basin and ensure that the Klamath Basin’s unique natural resources are protected so they may be...
On February 27, 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reopened a 30-day public comment period on its October 2022 proposal to list the San Francisco Bay-Delta longfin smelt. The reopening allows the Service to hold a public hearing as requested by partners for new comments and information to be...
With recent funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, there’s now potential to provide habitat for almost every native species in the Lake Tahoe Basin The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service remains committed to working with the Washoe Tribe, state, and federal partners to combat aquatic invasive...
After seven years of robust discussion and collaboration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized the Klamath Basin Integrated Fisheries Restoration and Management Plan, which will serve as a living roadmap describing the highest priority watershed restoration and monitoring actions to help...
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it is proposing to list the California spotted owl under the ESA. The Service is proposing to list the Coastal-Southern California DPS as endangered and the Sierra Nevada DPS as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. As part of this proposed...
Decades of collaborative conservation efforts on U.S. Navy-owned San Clemente Island resulted in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s announcement today that five species – San Clemente Island paintbrush, lotus, larkspur and bush-mallow plants and San Clemente Bell’s sparrow have fully recovered...
Malibu, California— Found exclusively in California, the endangered tidewater goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi) is a tiny grey-brown fish rarely exceeding two inches in length and whose brief lifespan provides no shortage of challenges and threats to its survival. The fish has been listed as...