Articles
Celebrating the season with nature crafts
December 20, 2018 | 1 minute readWolf Creek National Fish Hatchery and the Friends of Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery hosted a Holiday Open House that drew more than 200 people to the hatchery on a chilly December day. Learn more...
A snowman ornament made from recycled bottle caps. Photo by Moria Painter, USFWS.
West Tennessee refuges host first Wounded Warrior deer hunt
December 13, 2018 | 1 minute readHatchie National Wildlife Refuge in Brownsville, Tennessee, hosted 10 warriors for the refuge’s first annual Wounded Warrior hunt on Saturday, November 17. On hand to greet them were Tennessee State Senator Dolores Gresham, Brownsville Mayor Bill Rawls, and Haywood County Mayor David Livingston. Community sponsors, Insouth Bank of Brownsville and Brownsville Exchange Club, provided a dinner on Friday night and lunch on Saturday. Refuge employees put up 10 blinds and tree stands and assisted the hunters. Learn more...
Hunting for a cause
December 12, 2018 | 3 minute readFor many Americans hunting is a vehicle for connecting with nature and the great outdoors. Just look at the numbers: a five-year report found that 101.6 million Americans participated in hunting, fishing and wildlife activities in 2016. Learn more...
Stephen Scott, longtime Hunters for the Hungry participant. Photo by Katherine Taylor, USFWS.
North Carolina dam removal helps Rocky River and the endangered fish that lives there
December 6, 2018 | 4 minute readThe Cape Fear shiner, a federally protected North American minnow found only in central North Carolina, battles to survive with only one stronghold remaining in the lower reaches of the Rocky and Deep Rivers of North Carolina’s Upper Cape Fear River Basin. Many issues have piled up against this little fish, but a massive dam of reinforced concrete, averaging 25 feet tall and 235 feet across stood out, until recently, as a monumental obstacle to the species’ recovery. Learn more...
Hoosier Dam stood 25 feet tall and 235 feet across the Rocky River in Chatham County. It blocked the endangered Cape Fear shiner from reaching habitat upstream from 1922 until October 2018. Photo by Emily Wells, USFWS.
Florida Service staff helps Food Bank distribute goods to families
December 3, 2018 | 2 minute readOn Nov. 14, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff members volunteered to help the Treasure Coast Food Bank distribute food, toiletries, toys and other items to about 400 needy families in Fellsmere, Florida. This was done in conjunction with the food bank’s monthly mobile pantry distribution program, where they deliver and distribute donated goods to needy families in the communities where they live. Lindsay Nester (left) and Shana DiPalma prepare bags of toiletries. Learn more...
Jennifer Gilchrist, John Tupy and Heather Hitt get bags of sweet potatoes ready for distribution. Photo by Ken Warren, USFWS.
“Journey of the Whooping Crane” follows efforts to save a rare, endangered bird
November 30, 2018 | 2 minute readIn 1940, only about 20 whooping cranes were known to exist. Today, thanks to the diligence of many partners working together in the United States and Canada, there are more than 850 cranes in North America and the population continues to increase slowly and steadily. The iconic bird is one of the success stories of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). But it remains one of the rarest animals in the world. Learn more...
Two endangered whooping cranes coming in for a landing. Photo by Greg Pope.
After Hurricane Michael
November 29, 2018 | 6 minute readCamilla, Georgia — Hurricane Michael barreled across prime Southern timber territory, damaging five million acres of pines and hardwoods and destroying nearly $1.7 billion worth of marketable trees. Habitat for many of the region’s at-risk species — red-cockaded woodpeckers, gopher tortoises, eastern indigo snakes — was sundered. Red-cockaded woodpecker in flight. Photo by Martjan Lammertink, U.S. Forest Service. Now, six weeks after Michael killed more than 45 people in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, forest owners salvage timber, clear stands and pray for a market rebound. Learn more...
Tyndall Air Force Base pine forests were scissored by Hurricane Michael. Photo by Dan Chapman, USFWS.