1.1 Official Name. The bureau's official name is the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The official name should be used on all legal documents and in other formal situations where an official name is required or appropriate. The use of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a little less formal, but acceptable for official or formal purposes.
1.2 Informal Name. The bureau's informal name is the Fish and Wildlife Service. The informal name should be used in correspondence and other written or oral communications, unless a distinction is needed to clarify the bureau's national or Federal status in international or intergovernmental situations.
1.3 Short Name. The term Service may be used in subsequent references to the bureau after the official or informal name has been used. A parenthetical reference (Service) is discouraged, unless it is needed to distinguish the Service from other Services mentioned in the same document, or in cases where the first use of the short name occurs several pages after the use of the official or informal name.
1.4 Abbreviations. The standard abbreviation for the Service's name is FWS. The use of USFWS may be appropriate where formal, international, or intergovernmental distinctions are needed or appropriate. The use of parenthetical references is discouraged, except as noted in 1.3 above.
1.5 Regions. The official name of each Region is the word Region followed by the appropriate arabic numeral, e.g. Region 1; and the standard abbreviation is R1. Some Regions have adopted unofficial or informal names referencing their geographic locations. These names will not be used in legal or formal documents.
1.6 Headquarters. The Service's headquarters element will usually be referred to as Headquarters, and the standard abbreviation is HQ. Do not use the term Region 9 in correspondence. (Reference to Region 9 or R9 will be limited to tabular data or computer information systems.)