Pacific Southwest Region Features

The weather was perfect on August 26 when representatives from the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office joined with its partners from the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy (PVPLC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Wildlife Conservation Board, City of Rancho Palos Verdes (...

When scientists proposed moving endangered winter-run Chinook salmon into historical habitat upstream of Shasta Dam this summer, they expected some people would doubt the seemingly new idea could work. But it wasn’t a new idea at all, and it had been proven long ago.

San Diego County has more than 70 miles of coastline, home to hundreds of thousands of people as well as many wildlife species. The highly urban area is also congested, and conservation planning can be complicated.

People traveling on California’s newly built Highway 1 in 1937 saw something astonishing. Far below their vantage point at the edge of the rugged Big Sur cliffs, tossed on rough waters, was a cluster of buoyant, dark forms. On June 20, 1938, Life magazine published a photo of what it called “one of...

Until the mid-1800’s California’s Central Valley was a vast network of wetlands, rivers, and streams, all eventually feeding into the Pacific Ocean. The San Joaquin River ran through the southern third of the Central Valley and created an expansive floodplain, including in the area now known as the...

A few hundred meters from the start of a trailhead on the western edge of the Santa Monica Mountains, Ken Niessen and Mark Elvin stop in their tracks. They are surveying areas impacted by wildfires in Southern California, and checking on rare plant species that live there. While they expect to see...

Snorkeling for a living may sound like a lot of fun, but when it comes to Chinook salmon survey counts for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Bluff office, the work is actually quite demanding yet very important for persistence of the species and restoration of their habitats.

“’Listen to the land’ is my mantra,” said Susan Sorrells, a 4th generation resident and owner of Shoshone, California. Sorrells grew up in Shoshone, a small desert town located on the edge of Death Valley in Inyo County, and always had a close connection with the natural world.

Whether it is on a national wildlife refuge or a warehouse at an international airport, “man’s best friend,” is making a difference for the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.

Imagine taking a kayak out on the water all day as a full-time job. Well, that’s exactly what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees from the Red Bluff office do for a portion of the year.