Projects and Research
Working with partners to conserve plants and animals is the core of what we do. Our projects and biological research provides invaluable aid and scientific knowledge about protecting the numerous resident and migrant wildlife species. Learn more about some of our efforts, including Learn more about some of our efforts, including our Environmental Contaminants Program and Migratory Birds Program.
Just as environmental pollutants (contaminants) can harm people, they can also harm wildlife. Wildlife can be exposed to contaminants directly, for example when birds forage in contaminated sediments and pick up pollutants through “incidental ingestion” (ingestion of sediments attached to food); or they can be exposed indirectly by consuming prey that have accumulated contaminants. Where...
The Service administers the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), which states that it is illegal to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase, or barter, any migratory bird, or the parts, nests, or eggs of such a bird except under the terms of a valid permit issued pursuant to Federal regulations.
Birds protected by the MBTA...