Second Year Report Director Jamie Rappaport Clark

              Second Year Report
Director Jamie Rappaport Clark
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Conserving the Nature of America
The mission of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service is working with others to conserve,
protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants
and their habitats for the continuing
benefit of the American people.
Front Cover Photos
Top left: Oconee bells.
J.D. Pittillo
Top right: Brown bears.
Larry Aumiller, AK Fish and Game
Bottom left: Alaska salmon.
USFWS
Bottom right: Mallard drake.
E&P Bauer
A year ago, I issued my First Year
Report, challenging the Fish and Wildlife
Service to move forward in four priority
areas: strengthening our National
Wildlife Refuge System; lifting
migratory bird conservation to a new
level; leading the charge against invasive
species; and promoting an ecosystem
approach to conservation. In this Second
Year Report, I invite all employees to
take a look back on 1999, and be proud of
how far we’ve come.
As we begin a new millennium, the four
priorities are keeping us focused and on
track to meet our goals under the
Government Performance and Results
Act. For instance, with our new Urban
Treaties partnerships and the North
American Bird Conservation Initiative,
we are making real progress in our effort
to sustain migratory bird populations. In
1999, our accomplishments on our
National Wildlife Refuges, in our habitat
conservation programs, and in our
ecosystem team activities all contributed
to the greatest effort by any nation in the
history of the world to conserve
ecologically healthy and diverse habitats
for fish and wildlife. And our efforts to
improve public use and enjoyment of fish
and wildlife paid off with increases in the
numbers of Friends groups pitching in at
National Wildlife Refuges and greater
voluntary efforts by industry to help
keep wildlife safe. Throughout America,
ranchers, farmers, and other private
landowners are joining hunters and
anglers in our efforts to protect the
habitat our fish and wildlife need to
survive.
Certainly no single report can ever
adequately represent all the great things
our employees do in a year. The activities
highlighted here are just some of the
success stories brought about by the
hard work and dedication of Service
employees. And with the invaluable
support of Secretary Bruce Babbitt and
Assistant Secretary Don Barry, Service
employees have been given the greatest
gift of all — the opportunity and
encouragement to succeed.
With our momentum and the support of
the Interior Department’s leadership, we
have a chance in this administration’s
final year to make the turn of the
millennium a meaningful moment in the
history of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Now is the time to make a concerted
push in the four priority areas and also to
address some long term needs. Fisheries,
Law Enforcement, Federal Aid — these
are crucial programs that need to be
strengthened and adapted in order for us
to achieve our conservation mission. I
intend to dedicate a good deal of my time
to help prepare these programs for the
challenges ahead.
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Introduction
Partnership with private landowners.
USFWS
Sturgeon research.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
Director Jamie Rappaport Clark
Tami Heilemann/DOI
To make the most of the opportunities
before us, we have some new faces in key
leadership roles. In the Washington
Office, Cathy Short has taken the helm as
the new Assistant Director for our
Fisheries Program. Heading the
Ecological Services Division, we have
Gary Frazer. Former employee Lori
Williams has rejoined the Service, this
time as Special Assistant to the Director,
and Paul Chang from our Law
Enforcement Division is the Deputy
Director’s new Special Assistant. In the
Regional Offices, there are some new
Deputy Directors: Mamie Parker for
Region Five and Gary Edwards for
Region Seven.
This is an exciting
time to be part of
the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
Let us use the
occasion of the new
millennium to
renew our
commitment to
wildlife
conservation. In
doing so, let us not
forget those we lost last year: Kathy
Cheap and James “Mike” Callow of
Washington’s Columbia River National
Wildlife Refuge, and Eric Cox of
Minnesota’s Red LakeWildlife
Management Area — all of whom
perished in tragic airplane accidents; Paul
Starkey, an enrollee in our Career
Awareness Institute who passed away
suddenly of a heart seizure; one of our
former and greatest directors, John
Gottschalk, who lost his life to cancer; and
Senator John Chafee, a personal, dear
friend of mine and also of the Service,
whose leadership on the Hill gave us
much to prepare us for the new century.
Let us draw inspiration from their
memory and commit ourselves to
carrying on the mission to which they
dedicated their lives.
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Cathy Short Gary Frazer Kathy Cheap
Lori Williams Paul Chang
Mamie Parker Gary Edwards
Senator
John Chafee
John Gottschalk
Illegal wildlife trade products.
Carl Zitsman/USFWS
Archeological training.
Dave Menke/USFWS
Americans have a special fondness for
places that are wild and for all that lives
there. Our job is to safeguard those wild
places and to pass them on to new
generations. During the past year, the
Service has made great strides in
ensuring that our national wildlife
refuges are places where Americans can
go to learn how wildlife conservation
happens, as well as marketplaces of ideas
for people who want to help us achieve
our conservation goals.
Fulfilling the Promise
The October 1998 Keystone Conference
had to be among the most energizing,
exhilarating and inspiring events in the
history of the National Wildlife Refuge
System (NWRS). The 700 delegates to
the conference addressed a diverse set of
subjects that resulted in a strengthened
and reaffirmed vision for the Refuge
System. The document which conference
delegates produced, “Fulfilling the
Promise,” provides a detailed road map
for the future, giving us the necessary
direction for improving the National
Wildlife Refuge System well into the next
century. Refuge leaders across the
country already are making significant
progress in implementing the report’s
recommendations, so the Refuge System
can fulfill its promises on behalf of
wildlife, habitat and people.
Putting wildlife first
As required by the 1997 National Wildlife
Refuge System Improvement Act, the
Service issued a draft compatibility
policy and regulation that will help us
ensure that wildlife comes first when it
comes to managing the National Wildlife
Refuge System. The draft policy outlines
a standard process for reviewing the
impacts of proposed and existing public
use to ensure that they “do not materially
interfere with or detract from” the
System’s conservation goals. Under this
draft policy, refuge managers would be
encouraged to offer hunting, fishing,
wildlife observation and photography,
and environmental education and
interpretation opportunities where
compatible with wildlife conservation. In
addition to recreation, the policy would
also apply to activities conducted as part
of a wildlife or habitat management
program, such as cooperative farming of
grain crops that provide feed for
migrating birds.
To meet additional requirements of this
landmark conservation law, we published
the draft Comprehensive Conservation
Planning Policy for public comment. The
draft policy directs all refuges to seek
public involvement as they prepare plans
that will guide decisions on all aspects of
refuge operations over 15-year cycles.
Under the policy, every refuge or refuge
complex must complete a Comprehensive
Conservation Plan (CCP) by 2012, and
revise each plan every 15 years
thereafter, or sooner as necessary. Each
CCP will guide management decisions,
outline how the refuge will achieve both
unit and system wildlife conservation
goals, and comply with other
requirements such as those for
occupational health and safety and access
for Americans with disabilities. Each
refuge will provide an opportunity for
active public involvement during the
preparation and revision of CCPs,
including coordination with other Federal
agencies, State fish and wildlife and other
State agencies, Tribal and local
governments, adjacent landowners, and
interested members of the public. Sixty-two
CCPs, representing 121 stations, are
underway, with 27 plans scheduled for
completion in FY 1999.
Saving dirt — The role of habitat
As former Director Lynn Greenwalt so
eloquently reminded us during the
Keystone Conference, the National
Wildlife Refuge System is all about
“saving dirt.” Fortunately, this year we’ve
been able to save some quite important
dirt that will help us fulfill our wildlife
conservation mission even more
effectively in the future. For example, the
Service purchased nearly 26,000 acres in
northern Vermont from Champion
International Corporation as a part of an
innovative tri-state land protection
partnership created by The Conservation
Fund. The Nulhegan Basin was identified
as a special focus area in the original
plans for the Silvio O. Conte National Fish
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Setting the Course for the
Future of the Refuge System
Environmental education.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
andWildlife Refuge. The biologically-rich
area contains significant wetland and
extensive areas of uninterrupted forest.
It is home to migratory birds, rare,
threatened and endangered species
protected by the State of Vermont, and
resident wildlife, such as deer, bear and
moose. Pristine streams flowing through
the basin support naturally reproducing
native trout populations.
New refuges
The Service added four new refuges to
the NationalWildlife Refuge System in
fiscal year 1999: Aroostook National
Wildlife Refuge in Maine; Colorado River
Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in
Utah; Lost Trail NationalWildlife Refuge
in Montana; and Navassa Island National
Wildlife Refuge, Navassa Island.
Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge is
the former Loring Air Force Base, which
the Defense Base Closure and
Realignment Commission recommended
for closure in 1991. Through the Base
Closure process and our authority to
request no-cost transfers from other
Federal agencies, the Service received
4,458 acres of upland forested areas,
wetland areas, brooks, beaver ponds, and
associated riparian habitat and forested
bog systems. This varied habitat
supports many species of mammals,
amphibians, reptiles, and fish.
The Colorado RiverWildlife
Management Area has an approved
boundary that includes 10,000 acres on
the combined river reaches of the Upper
Colorado, Gunnison, and Green River
systems. It extends into Colorado and
Utah. This unit of the NationalWildlife
Refuge System is the result of a
cooperative effort with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation called the Upper Colorado
River Basin Recovery Implementation
Program. Our goal and program purpose
are to accept conservation easement
transfers from BOR for the protection of
endangered fishes and fish and wildlife
habitat by holding and managing
easements as a part of the NWRS. Target
fish include the Colorado River pike
minnow, razorback sucker, humpback
chub, and bonytail. Though most
acquisitions for the Colorado River WMA
will be through conservation easements,
the Service may also protect habitat
through cooperative agreements and fee
title acquisitions.We established this
refuge with the acquisition of 24
easement acres in Utah.
In the nation’s heartland, we acquired
9,325 acres in Flathead County, Montana,
to create Lost Trail National Wildlife
Refuge. The refuge was established as
part of an approved settlement between
Interior, Montana Power Company, and
the Confederated Salish and Kootenai
Tribes as partial mitigation for habitat
and wildlife losses associated with Kerr
Dam. This area is part of Lost Trail
Ranch, which lies in a geographic
drainage known as Pleasant Valley,
through which Pleasant Valley Creek
runs. Wetland habitats abound here, as
the Ranch also encompasses the 160-acre
Dahl Lake. Upland areas are a mosaic of
prairie grasses, wildflowers, and
coniferous and deciduous timbered areas.
These habitats attract a wide variety of
wildlife, ranging from the tiny redside
shiner to grizzly bears and gray wolves.
Eagles have an active nest next to Dahl
Lake.
Navassa Island National Wildlife Refuge
is an overlay refuge (meaning we have a
secondary interest in the island) through
a Memorandum of Understanding with
the Office of Insular Affairs, which holds
primary jurisdiction. The island lies
between Haiti and Jamaica. Two of the
island’s many plant and animal species
that are of particular interest are the
white-necked crow and the peregrine
falcon. Its waters contain some of the
most pristine and healthy coral reefs
under United States jurisdiction.
Other acquisitions
On the west coast, the Service worked
with the Department of Energy to
transfer management of the 60,000-acre
Wahluke Slope area of the Hanford
Nuclear Reservation in Washington State
to the Service, with intent to eventually
add the area to the adjacent Saddle
Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. We
also successfully negotiated for 2000
acres of current and potential
endangered shorebird and wetlands
habitat for the San Diego Bay National
Wildlife Refuge in exchange for 24 acres
of endangered shorebird habitat near the
San Diego Airport.
After two years of planning and
coordinating among a diverse group of
conservation partners in southwest
Indiana, the Service also received title to
more than 463 acres of wetlands in the
Wabash River Bottoms as a unit of the
Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge
and Management Area. Restoration of
this Globally Important Bird Area will
include 140 acres of moist soil
management units, 50 acres of nesting
sites for the federally-endangered
interior least tern and over 200 acres of
bottomland hardwood plantings. The
Service also issued a record of decision in
May authorizing the expansion of the Big
Muddy National Fish and Wildlife
Refuge in Missouri from 16,628 acres to
60,000 acres. The Service will work
cooperatively with State and Federal
agencies, and other willing sellers to
acquire land along the Missouri River
floodplain. Restoring this floodplain land
should help insure the long-term health
of the Missouri River ecosystem.
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Colorado pike minnow.
Hans Stuart/USFWS
Gray wolf.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
Bald eagle.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
Refuges in “the Great Land” also made
major gains. Through the efforts of the
Conservation Fund, the Service received
a land donation of 8,500 acres from the
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. This
donation protects habitat for a wide
variety of waterbirds and land mammals
on the Izembek and Alaska Peninsula
National Wildlife Refuges. We also
completed a transaction with the Kenai
Native Association that had been in
negotiations for nearly 20 years. When
the deal was finally done, we’d added
3,245 acres of high value habitat within
the Kenai Wilderness Area of the Kenai
National Wildlife Refuge.
Connecting people with their
wildlife heritage
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
opened several new hunting and fishing
programs in America’s National Wildlife
Refuge System over the last year. We
proposed 15 new hunting and fishing
programs on 11 refuges this August. With
these proposed additions, the National
Wildlife Refuge System would offer more
than 290 public hunting programs and
more than 260 public fishing programs.
Many of these refuges celebrate National
Fishing Week, National Wildlife Refuge
Week, and National Hunting and Fishing
Day with fishing derbies and other events
that expose the next generation of
conservationists to the sport. Our efforts
to open refuges to recreational fishing
are clearly having an effect. In 1994,
there were just over 5 million fishing
visits to National Wildlife Refuges each
year. By 1998, those numbers surged to
almost 6 million fishing visits.
As we opened new refuge hunting and
fishing programs, we also took important
steps to conserve loons, which spend part
of their lives on our refuges. We
established 13 refuge “lead-free fishing
areas” to protect common loons which
are at risk of lead poisoning after
swallowing lost or discarded lead tackle.
Following a two-year phase-in period, the
Service will require anglers to use
nontoxic sinkers and jigs in these areas.
This action stemmed from work which
began in our New England Field Office in
1994. We’ve worked together with the
North American Loon Fund developing
“Let’s Get the Lead Out,“ a brochure
encouraging anglers to switch to nontoxic
fishing tackle. Recognizing that a number
of outreach efforts on the lead issue are
ongoing throughout New England, the
Service hosted a Lead Sinker Outreach
Meeting and brought together
representatives from seven states,
Canada, and the fishing industry
The National Wild Turkey Federation
joined us in a new partnership to expand
cooperation in the protection,
conservation, and management of habitat
for wild turkeys and other upland game
birds. The Memorandum of Agreement
provides a framework for communicating
and invites chapters and refuge
managers to work together so this
partnership can make things happen on
the ground.
The Federation became the most recent
addition to the host of citizens who are
volunteering their time, energy and
experience to help the National Wildlife
Refuge System. President Clinton signed
the National Wildlife Refuge System
Volunteer and Partnership Enhancement
Act in October 1998, enabling the Service
to expand a volunteer network that
already accounts for 20 percent of all
work performed on refuges and is worth
$14 million. The legislation also calls for
creation of a Senior Volunteer Corps and
provides more flexibility for Refuge staff
to work with community partners. This
legislation has allowed the Service to
take giant steps in three very important
areas: the recruitment and use of
volunteers, the expansion and use of
partnerships, and the simplification of
rules governing financial donations to
specific refuges.
As always, volunteer and community
groups — which provide invaluable local
support for individual refuges —
continued to display their commitment in
a variety of tangible ways. One of the
most notable examples of this happened
shortly after the Keystone Conference,
when the J.N. “Ding” Darling National
Wildlife Refuge opened the doors to its
new 11,000 square foot visitor center. The
visitor center was built by the refuge’s
cooperating association, the Ding Darling
Wildlife Society. Another refuge
benefactor, the Sanibel Lions Club,
donated a gazebo for placement along the
refuge’s public bike path, and the Lee
Island Coast Tourist Development
Council provided funds for the
construction of the Shell Mound Trail
boardwalk. Similar tangible
demonstrations of community support
were repeated at refuge after refuge
across the nation throughout the year.
Working with our community partners
allowed us to host a number of science
and cultural camps for rural children,
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Environmental education.
Dave Menke/USFWS
Wild turkey.
Gary M. Stolz/USFWS
mostly Native Alaskans, from the
Pribilofs to the Brooks Range. These
camps helped refuge neighbors develop
knowledge and respect for the
ecosystem, cultural resources and the
skills required to make informed
decisions about local natural and cultural
resources.
To inform even more citizens of the
wildlife-dependent recreational
opportunities available on the Refuge
System, the Service prepared a series of
six theater slides that began appearing
on screens at more than 1,000 movie
theaters nationwide, thanks to public
service time generously donated by an
on-screen advertising company, Century
Media Network. In addition to
photographs displaying the natural
beauty of the System itself, the slides
encourage viewers to call the Service’s
toll-free phone number or visit an online
website to learn more about the Refuges.
The “Virtual Visitors Center” website
was developed for use as a Refuge
homepage to encourage online viewers to
visit a Refuge. The site also gives viewers
an opportunity to experience what they
may see and learn at individual refuges,
so they too can share our excitement
about these irreplaceable wonderlands.
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Volunteer workshop.
Debbie McCrensky/USFWS
Enviromental tour.
LaVonda Walton/USFWS
National fishing week.
LaVonda Walton/USFWS
Waterfowl populations at record highs
Certainly, a strong focus on habitat has
helped our nation’s waterfowl
populations. The 1999 annual survey of
breeding duck nesting areas showed an
11 percent increase in population, directly
tied to improved habitat conditions
throughout much of their breeding
range. While favorable weather
conditions had much to do with the
improvement, wetland restoration efforts
deserve a good share of the credit. Even
though we’ve registered record duck
populations for four of the last five years,
the need for continued habitat
conservation has not diminished. The
best way to ensure continued hunting
opportunities is to conserve populations
by doing everything we can to protect,
restore and even rebuild waterfowl
habitat.
Building on the successes we’ve
experienced working with America’s
industries, we’ve taken significant strides
in making the world of modern
technologies a safer place for our
migratory birds.
For example, last April, I announced
plans to improve Service and industry
cooperation in reducing avian
electrocutions nationwide. Addressing
the Edison Electric Institute in
Williamsburg, Virginia, I called for
expanded training and education to
promote voluntary compliance with
measures designed to prevent bird
deaths; the sharing of the Service’s
knowledge of bird behavior with
manufacturers working on the design of
“bird-friendly” power poles; and public
outreach to help utility customers
understand the problem.
The Service recently stepped up its
proactive efforts to prevent
electrocutions of migratory birds in the
Rocky Mountain region, where urban
sprawl and industrial growth have
introduced powerlines and poles into
areas long inhabited by eagles and other
raptors. These large birds of prey are
particularly vulnerable to electrocution
hazards because utility poles offer them a
place to rest, hunt, or nest. Their large
wingspans increase the possibility that
they will make fatal contact with exposed
conductors.
Building partnerships with industry
Over the past two years, Service special
agents working on this effort have
identified areas where birds are dying,
alerted the utility industry or the land
management agencies that are
responsible for the hazardous poles, and
worked with these groups to find
remedies. Avian electrocutions can
usually be prevented by adopting
available bird protection measures. This
year, U.S. District Judge Lewis T.
Babcock issued a landmark legal opinion
that concluded that both the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act and Eagle Protection
Act provide a basis for prosecuting utility
companies and other businesses whose
activities harm protected birds. His
findings came in a case that involved
ignored warnings and repeated violations
by one western power company. Babcock
placed the company on probation for
three years, ordered it to retrofit utility
lines and to pay $100,000 in fines and
restitution for the electrocution of eagles
and other raptors that landed on its
powerlines.
On a related front, we began working
with the telecommunications industry to
identify the reasons why an estimated
four million birds are currently being
killed every year in North America in
collisions with communications towers.
As demand for new towers grows, and
technological changes require even taller
towers, bird deaths at these sites are an
increasing problem that could threaten
7
Lifting Migratory Bird Conservation
to a Higher Level
Mallard with brood.
USFWS
Rough legged hawk.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
the health of some migratory bird
populations. The Service co-hosted a
groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind
workshop this August at Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY, to examine the
growing problem of fatal bird collisions
with communications towers. The
workshop brought together experts from
across the country to discuss the problem
and begin forging a course of action in
partnership with industry.
Our collaborative efforts with American
industry don’t end there. The Migratory
Bird Management Office and Champion
International are conducting a field test
of species-habitat models in the spruce-hardwood
forest that covers northern
New England and the Canadian
Maritime Provinces. Large private and
public landholders make daily decisions
concerning management of large
landscapes with little understanding
about the consequences to wildlife
management. Species-habitat models
provide a scientific basis for predicting
the outcome of alternative management
actions on all wildlife, not just migratory
birds. Species-habitat models were
developed by a joint Service — USDA
Forest Service project for 330 species of
birds, amphibians, mammals, and reptiles
natural history data. Predictions are
based on these models and GIS data for
wetlands, soils, topography, and
vegetative structure. Comparisons will
be made between model predictions and
field data collected by refuge biologists
on Moosehorn, Nulhegan, Sunkhaze
Meadows, Petit Manan, Aroostock, and
Lake Umbagog refuges, and private
biologists on Champion lands. Validated
and refined models will allow biodiversity
maps to be estimated for various
landscape management scenarios for the
present and 25, 50, and 100 years after
management.
Seabird conservation
Acting in the international arena, the
Service has also helped to ensure a better
future for seabirds. The first global plan
of action specifically designed to reduce
the bycatch of seabirds in commercial
fishing gear, which was negotiated in part
by representatives of the Service, sets an
extremely important precedent for
international bird conservation this year.
Member countries of the United Nation’s
Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) established concrete and specific
steps to improve the conservation of 61
species of seabirds known to be killed by
taking bait from commercial longline
fishing gear. The steps approved by the
FAO have the potential to reduce the
bycatch of seabirds by up to 80 percent
or more at national, regional, and global
levels.
A collaborative effort by the Chesapeake
Bay/Susquehanna River Ecosystem and
the Delaware River/Delmarva Coastal
Ecosystem Teams in cooperation with the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission’s Shad and River Herring
Management Board indicated that the
bycatch of migratory birds in gillnets
may be a significant conservation issue.
Through the work of these ecosystem
teams, the Service was alerted to the
need for a nationwide approach to deal
with the bycatch of migratory birds in
gillnets and other similar types of gear.
The Service already is taking cooperative
actions to address bycatch on longline
fishing vessels in Alaska, which are
responsible for killing thousands of
seabirds each year. Through a
cooperative effort with the University of
Washington Seagrant Program, we are
evaluating the use of paired tori lines —
colorful streamers mounted on the back
of a fishing vessel — as a cost-effective
visual seabird deterrent device. The
Endangered Species Act’s Landowner
Incentive Program provided funding to
test paired tori lines in FY 1999.
Beginning early in FY 2000, we will be
offering free streamer kits to vessel
owners who request them, hopefully
reaching all of the 2,000-3,000 vessels in
the fleet.
Urban bird conservation
Urban birds provide the only day-to-day
contact with nature that many city
dwellers enjoy. To help cities focus their
bird conservation efforts, the Service and
the City of New Orleans joined forces to
sign the first Urban Treaty for Bird
Conservation. The Urban Treaty
program will provide a framework to
support education programs, habitat
restoration and enhancement, and other
initiatives mutually agreed upon by the
Urban Treaty city and the Service, in
consultation with State wildlife agencies.
Cities that sign an Urban Treaty for Bird
Conservation with the Service may be
eligible for matching grants, technical
and educational assistance and other
support. The Service will also work with
the city to find other conservation
partners for Urban Treaty initiatives.
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Backyard bird feeder.
Nan Rollison/USFWS
Thick-billed murres.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
Overabundant species
Unfortunately, the type of habitat that
attracts birds in urban areas — such as
parks, golf courses and lakes — can be
too attractive to some species of birds.
The Service is faced with management
issues posed by rapidly expanding
populations of urban and resident
Canada geese.
This June, the Service provided States
struggling to cope with growing resident
populations of Canada geese in urban
and suburban communities with greater
flexibility to implement population
management actions. This new rule
streamlined the Service’s existing permit
process to give State wildlife agencies the
opportunity to design their own
management programs and to take
actions to control specific populations
without having to seek a separate permit
from the Service for each action. The
permits provided under this new rule will
allow states to act as soon as it becomes
apparent that resident Canada geese are
a problem. As long as States satisfy the
terms and conditions of their State-specific
permits, they can implement
management actions without seeking
separate permits from the Service every
time a problem arises.
In Anchorage, where a growing
population of migratory urban geese
poses increasing safety threats, the
Service led the formation of the
Anchorage Waterfowl Working Group, a
coalition of agencies and NGOs tasked
with developing a strategy for goose
population management. The annual
growth rate of geese has dropped from 15
percent to 6 percent as a result of
collecting eggs and donating them to
Alaska Native elders as traditional food,
relocating goslings to refuges outside of
Anchorage, and lethal control of problem
geese at airports. An extensive outreach
campaign has accompanied the
management activities and is producing
results.
Most goose-human conflicts in the United
States, however, stem from growing
populations of resident Canada goose
populations which no longer migrate. The
Service has begun the process of
developing a nationwide management
strategy, holding public meetings and
preparing to compile a comprehensive
environmental impact statement that
explores a variety of management
options. We must find ways to control and
manage populations of these resident
Canada geese that also protect migratory
populations.
Snow geese continue to threaten
breeding grounds
Exploding populations of migratory
“white” geese are threatening to
overwhelm the arctic breeding grounds
on which dozens of migratory bird
species depend.
Changes in agricultural practices and the
development of refuges along migration
routes have resulted in exploding
populations of greater and lesser snow
geese, as well as Ross’ geese. In
February, the Service took action to
protect fragile arctic breeding grounds in
danger of being destroyed by
overgrazing from these populations.
Populations have more than sextupled
since the 1960s, resulting in far more
geese than the fragile arctic tundra, with
its short growing season, can support.
Many bird species that nest in the same
areas as the geese show signs of decline
or have otherwise been affected,
including semi-palmated sandpipers,
red-necked phalaropes, dowitchers,
Hudsonian godwits, whimbrels, stilt
sandpipers, yellow rails, American
wigeons, northern shovelers, oldsquaws,
red-breasted mergansers, parasitic
jaegers, and Lapland longspurs, among
others. In addition, the southern James
Bay population of Canada geese is
declining, presumably because of habitat
degradation caused by light geese.
After extensive consultation with the
Canadian government and a rulemaking
process that generated hundreds of
public comments, the Service published
two rules that allowed 24 Midwestern
and southern states to take conservation
measures aimed at reducing the
population of mid-continent light geese.
Although the scientific community, State
and Federal agencies and most major
conservation groups agreed that “letting
nature take its course” was an ill-advised
response, the Humane Society of the
United States sued the Service. Although
a Federal District Court judge ruled in
favor of the Service and denied a request
for an injunction blocking the rules, the
court’s ruling led the Service to withdraw
the rules and begin a full-scale
environmental impact statement
evaluating long-term options for
managing mid-continent light goose
populations. Scoping meetings were held
this fall, and we hope to publish a draft
EIS this spring, with a final EIS
scheduled for completion in late summer
of 2000.
Concerned that the time required to
complete the EIS would permit further
habitat degradation, Congress approved
legislation directing the Service to
reinstate the rules pending completion of
the EIS. The legislation was signed by
President Clinton in November,
permitting states to again take
conservation measures in the winter and
spring of 2000.
Cormorant management
Responding to increasing concerns about
the impact of double-crested cormorant
populations on commercial and
recreational fishing, habitat and other
migratory birds, we are beginning to
develop a comprehensive national
cormorant management strategy.
The population resurgence of double-crested
cormorants has led to increasing
concern about the birds’ impact on fish
resources. Cormorants and certain other
waterbirds can have adverse impacts on
fish populations at fish farms, hatcheries,
and sites where hatchery-reared fish are
released — situations in which fish are
concentrated in artificially high densities.
9
Snow and white fronted geese.
Robert Fields/USFWS
Canada geese.
LaVonda Walton/USFWS
The effect of cormorants on fish
populations in open waters is somewhat
less clear than at aquaculture facilities.
While cormorants can, and often do, take
fish species that are valued by
commercial and sport anglers, these
species usually make up a very small
proportion of the birds’ diet.
The Service’s priority is to maintain
healthy cormorant populations across the
nation. Our goal is to determine the true
impact of cormorants on fish and other
resources, and to use the best science
available to direct future management.
Caspian terns
Working with the Army Corps of
Engineers, Columbia River Intertribal
Fish Commission and the National
Marine Fisheries Service, the Service
also developed a management plan to
tackle a very different overpopulation
problem. These joint efforts paid off in a
successful strategy to relocate a
population of Caspian terns and reduce
its depredation on salmon in the
Columbia River.
North American Waterfowl Plan
For the past 13 years, North American
Waterfowl Management Plan joint
venture partners throughout the
continent have been working diligently to
conserve waterfowl and other migratory
bird populations and their habitats. To
date, Federal, State, and local
governments, private organizations, and
individuals in the United States alone
have contributed more than $1.3 billion
toward on-the-ground conservation
projects. Their efforts have protected,
restored, or enhanced nearly five million
acres of habitat. I ampleased to say that
two new joint ventures will be joining the
Plan’s family of 13 habitat and two species
joint ventures. The Plan Committee has
endorsed the formation of an
international Sea Duck Joint Venture and
expects to officially recognize the San
Francisco Bay Joint Venture in
November. All of the joint ventures are
taking actions to support the visions of the
recently updated Plan, which was signed
by Secretary Babbitt and the Canadian
and Mexican Ministers earlier this year.
The Plan calls for a strengthened
biological foundation, a landscape
approach to conservation which also
considers social and economic factors, and
a broadening of partnerships to include
other bird conservation initiatives and
various other community interests.
This year marked the 10th anniversary of
the North American Wetlands
Conservation Act and its multimillion-dollar
Standard Grants Program,
managed by the North American
Wetlands Conservation Council. In 1999,
the Council approved 72 wetlands
conservation projects that protected,
restored, or enhanced more than 4.6
million acres of wetland and associated
upland habitats in North America.
Project partners received more than $68
million in grants this year, which they
matched with more than $220 million. I
have had the opportunity to visit many of
the projects funded by the Act, including
one in Mexico at the end of last year. At
our Council retreat, held in May at the
Service’s National Conservation Training
Center, we took steps to improve the
efficiency of the Act’s grants program
and to expand its scope to the extent
allowable by law. The Act also has a
Small Grants Program for conservation
projects requiring $50,000 or less. In
1999, the Council approved 21 projects
for a total of $732,000 in grants. Project
partners matched that with $3.9 million
to protect, restore, or enhance 5,400
acres of habitat.
Cooperative efforts with our
counterparts in other agencies, and other
nations, are providing many successful
venues for migratory bird conservation.
The North American Waterfowl
Management Plan has provided us with
an effective framework to work across
borders on migratory bird conservation.
This year, the North American Office
established the Sonoran Desert Joint
Venture, the nation’s first joint venture
with the role of delivering habitat
conservation for all North American
birds under national/international bird
conservation plans. Based on the
Western States Partners in Flight Plan,
the new joint venture will operate to
conserve threatened habitats in the
Sonoran Desert region of the United
States and Mexico.
10
Harlequin duck.
Glen Smart/USFWS
Double-crested cormorant.
Rodney Krey/USFWS
Caspian tern.
Donald White/USFWS
In the international arena, we have taken
steps to ensure that migratory birds
return to the United States year after
year. Winged Ambassadors, a bird
conservation initiative here in the
Western Hemisphere, helps local
Caribbean resource managers conserve
key bird habitat and provides training in
bird conservation techniques. The
program also promotes environmental
education programs that help
communities recognize the tremendous
cultural, biological, and economic value of
their native bird populations. This year, I
was pleased to co-chair an event with the
Ambassador of Jamaica, which
announced an expanded partnership with
the Jamaican government to produce
educational materials vividly
documenting the value-added benefits
their native birds provide. Jamaica has
more endemic bird species than any
other island in the Caribbean. And from
September to May, almost two-fifths of
the songbirds in Jamaica are migrants
from North America.
Law enforcement
The Division of Law Enforcement
improved protections for migratory birds
through proactive partnerships,
traditional investigative efforts, and
regulatory change. Service special agents
investigated high-profile crimes involving
the large-scale slaughter of protected
birds, completing prosecutions and plea
agreements that yielded significant fines
and restitution. Solved cases included the
July 1998 shootings of more than 850
double-crested cormorants on Little
Galloo Island in New York. A joint
investigation by the Service and the New
York Department of Environmental
Conservation resulted in the conviction of
10 defendants, who pleaded guilty to
their involvement in the killings and were
sentenced in United States District
Court in Syracuse.
In a move that will promote migratory
bird habitat restoration efforts and make
it easier for hunters to comply with
Federal and State regulations, the U.S.
Fish andWildlife Service announced
revised regulations governing migratory
game bird baiting for the first time in more
than 25 years. The rule gives landowners
the flexibility to maintain, develop,
manage, and hunt wetland habitat
essential for migratory birds without fear
of violating Federal regulations that
prohibit hunting over areas where seed or
other feed has been exposed or scattered.
Wetland conservation on private lands is
essential to the long-termsurvival and
growth of waterfowl and other migratory
bird populations in North America. This
change will provide additional habitat for
birds and increase opportunities for
hunting over restored and enhanced
wetlands, a crucial incentive for
landowners that benefits a wide range of
species.
Reducing threats from environmental
contaminants
The Division of Environmental
Contaminants completed a review of
chlorfenapyr (Pirate) registration under
the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act, by providing
information on impacts to endangered
species, migratory birds and aquatic
resources. Due to the Service’s
participation, EPA is carefully
reconsidering full registration. Pirate
was found to be one of the most
reproductively toxic pesticides to birds
that the EPA has ever considered for
registration. This information provided
by the Service to EPA strengthened use
restrictions and reduced the potential
impact to Service trust species and
habitats.
Service biologists, chemists, and law
enforcement agents, working with the
State of Florida and other Federal
agencies, identified organochlorine
pesticides as the cause of migratory bird
mortality in an area north of Lake
Apopka. The quick response to this
emergency situation resulted in the
reduction of further mortality to
endangered wood storks, great blue
herons, white pelicans, and other fish-eating
birds. Remediation of the site
continues in order to provide future
habitat for these, and other, migratory
birds.
11
Hunting.
USFWS
Wood storks.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
Sunset in Sabino Canyon.
Gary M. Stolz/USFWS
Many scientists believe the spread of
invasive exotic species is one of the most
serious threats to biodiversity. Invasive
animal and plant species have caused
billions of dollars worth of damage to
crops and rangeland and have caused
other problems, such as the clogging of
water pipes by zebra mussels in the
Great Lakes region. These are America’s
“least-wanted” species. They threaten
our food, our water and potentially, our
health.
Since the passage of the Nonindigenous
Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and
Control Act of 1990, the Service has been
a leader in the war on aquatic invasive
species. The Service played a guiding
role in the development of the Executive
Order, signed in February 1999, which
will enhance the coordination of all
agencies to address invasive species and
link to the existing efforts within the
Service. Announced by Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of
Agriculture Dan Glickman, and Under
Secretary of Commerce James Baker,
this coordinated effort should help curtail
the growing environmental and economic
threat posed by invasive plants and
animals non-native to the ecosystems in
the United States.
Shortly after that announcement, the
Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) Task
Force met to discuss strategies for
preventing the spread of the zebra
mussel into the western United States
and a wide range of other invasive
species issues. The committee’s
discussions also addressed the Chinese
mitten crab, an aggressive Asian species
that was first discovered in California;
the round goby, a bottom-feeding
European fish that rapidly replaces other
native species; and the management of
discharges of ballast water used by
freighters, a major source for invasive
species introduction.
Through recent budget initiatives, the
Service is expanding its leadership role
to include terrestrial invaders, a focus on
preventing spread through international
borders and an increased focus on the
numerous aquatic invasives. This cross-programmatic
focus has allowed the
Service to enhance leadership, take
direct action to prevent and control
invasives, and raise awareness of invasive
species impacts to all Service audiences.
Zebra mussels
The Service developed its “100th
Meridian Initiative: A Strategic Approach
to Prevent theWestward Spread of Zebra
Mussels and Other Aquatic Nuisance
Species,” which was approved by the
ANS Task Force in 1999. This is the first
comprehensive and strategically focused
effort to prevent the spread of zebra
mussels and other invasive species into
the west involving Federal, State, Tribal,
and Provincial entities. The multi-component
initiative will be implemented
over a 5-year period and includes such
strategies as voluntary boat inspections
and boater surveys, inspections of
commercially hauled boats, and
evaluation of impacts.
In 1999, the Service began to implement
many of the Initiative’s components.
Posters, brochures, and stickers were
produced as part of a larger information
and education campaign which targets
recreational boaters, those who use
personal watercraft, and anglers by
informing them about ANS issues and
how they can help prevent their spread.
Voluntary boat inspections and boater
surveys were conducted in the 100th
Meridian states, which encompass North
and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas,
Oklahoma, and Texas, and in Manitoba.
The program completed its second year,
staffed by State resource agencies. Boat
education stations were located at
strategic locations on western highways
and lakes from Manitoba south to Texas.
To date, zebra mussels have not been
successful in breaching the 100th
Meridian.
Building partnerships
The Service is building partnerships
throughout the United States to combat
the economic and ecological impact of
aquatic and terrestrial invasive nuisance
species. For the first time, the Service
has loaned a senior manager to the
Western Governor’s Association. Our
loaned employee is working to create and
implement a comprehensive invasive
species management strategy pursuant
to the Western Governor’s l998
resolution on terrestrial and aquatic
invasive species.
Working through the ANS Task Force,
the Service also provided funding for five
State ANS Management Plans and is
assisting and encouraging the
development of at least five more. The
Fisheries Regional Invasive Species
Coordinators provide technical assistance
to the States and Interstate entities in
developing and submitting these plans to
the ANS Task Force for approval.
12
Leading Efforts to Combat
Invasive Species
Chinese mitten crabs.
Jon Gilstrom/USFWS
Zebra mussels on native mussel.
Ashville Field Office/USFWS
The Service, working on behalf of the
ANS Task Force, has been leading the
effort to develop national survey methods
to ensure consistency and comparability
among aquatic invasive species surveys
throughout the U.S. The Service has also
funded surveys in San Francisco Bay,
Florida, and the Chesapeake Bay to
identify whether aquatic invasive species
threaten the ecological characteristics
and economic uses of these areas. This
information will be critical to assist in the
identification of “hot spots” where
invasive species threaten aquatic
biodiversity.
To enlist the support of a broader
segment of the American public in
assisting us with these control measures,
the Service is developing a public
education campaign centered around the
theme of “America’s Least Wanted” with
a poster and press kit featuring TV
personality John Walsh from the
“America’s Most Wanted” TV series.
Efforts in the Great Lakes region
I’m pleased to note that the Service is
leading by example in addressing the
biological threats posed by invasive
species. For example, we’re keeping tabs
on the round goby, a native of central
Asia, in an attempt to keep it from
moving out of the Great Lakes and into
the Mississippi River navigation system.
Along with a host of partners, we’re
planning to install an electrical fish
barrier in the Chicago Ship and Sanitary
Canal next year to help limit the spread
of the goby and other nonindigenous fish
between the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi River Basin. Even then, we’ll
need to keep our eye on round goby
distribution in the Chicago-area
waterways to evaluate the effectiveness
of the electrical fish barrier and the need
for additional control measures.
Also on the Great Lakes, we’re looking
into the possibility that male sea
lampreys from the Atlantic could be used
to build the supply of sterile males in the
Great Lakes. Using sterile males has
helped control the invasive sea lamprey
population in the past. Right now, we’re
using all of the reasonably available male
sea lampreys in the Great Lakes area.
The study begun this year should help us
determine if we can safety and effectively
use Atlantic lampreys to continue this
successful approach to controlling
invasives.
Florida projects
Refuges in Florida, including Egmont
Key and Chassahowitzka, are making
concerted efforts to remove Brazilian
pepper, which forms a thick cover that
chokes native vegetation. In addition to
attacking the Brazilian pepper, Florida
Panther NWR also held an invasive plant
species workshop. More than 110 persons
representing government agencies and
private industry attended to discuss
more effective methods to control
invasive species.
In cooperation with the City of Sanibel,
Florida’s J.N. “Ding” Darling refuge,
established an invasive non-native plant
disposal site. This site is used by
permitted contractors to dispose of exotic
vegetation removed from private
property on the island. There is no
charge for using this site. City and
Refuge employees work together to
maintain the site. On the west coast, the
Service completed an Integrated Pest
Management Plan for Leased Land
Agriculture at Lower Klamath and Tule
Lake refuges. We worked closely with
the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture on this
plan, leading to significant achievements
in the biological control of saltcedar and
integrated weed management, and
received the first permit issued for the
release of the saltcedar leaf beetle into
field cages.
Law enforcement
Service wildlife inspectors and special
agents prevented the importation and
introduction of invasive species through
rigorous enforcement of the injurious
wildlife provisions of the Lacey Act. Law
enforcement staff helped the South
Pacific Regional Environmental Program
forge an international partnership to
tackle invasive species issues in Oceania,
and contributed to protocols to keep
Hawaii’s new Kahului airport from
becoming a conduit for unwanted wildlife
and plants. Law Enforcement proposed a
framework for new U.S. legislation that
would allow emergency listings and
increase fines and penalties for
importers. A planned expansion of the
Service’s canine inspection program
promises improved interdiction of
invasive species at the Nation’s ports and
border crossings. Outreach to educate
other regulatory agencies, such as the
Food and Drug Administration, about the
dangers of invasive species laid the
groundwork for a united Federal effort to
close U.S. borders to injurious animals
and plants.
Coastal Program
In Puget Sound, the Coastal Program is
involved in many invasive species
activities. The program is working with
Washington State on plans for
monitoring and control of the European
green crab, including a volunteer effort
to monitor the occurrence of the crab in
Puget Sound and the strait of Juan de
Fuca. The Service is also a member of the
education committee of the British
Columbia/Washington Exotic Species
Work Group and is assisting in the design
and funding of outreach materials. In
addition, the Service is contributing to an
13
Brazilian pepper plant.
George Gentry/USFWS
Round goby.
David Jude/USFWS
Sea lamprey on apache trout.
USFWS
inter-agency effort to implement spartina
control measures in northern Puget
Sound.
In Southern California, the Coastal
Program granted $15,000 to the Baquitos
Lagoon Conservancy to remove exotic
plants from the lagoon, located in
northern San Diego County. A suite of
non-native plants, including pampas
grass, salt cedars, giant reeds and castor
bean plants, had invaded the higher salt
marsh intertidal zone, displacing
significant areas of valuable habitat. The
non-governmental organizations brought
their own “in-kind” contribution to match
the Coastal Program funds, and in
partnership with the State land manager,
implemented a more effective project to
benefit sensitive resources.
In Delaware, the Coastal program has
been involved in many activities to
educate the public on the importance of
using native plants in habitat restoration
projects. On Bombay Hook NWR, the
Coastal program has developed a display
garden to showcase common native
plants on the refuge and present them in
landscape setting suitable for residential
uses. The program has also worked with
several partners in Pennsylvania to
develop a “Gardening with the Natives”
workshop, as well as a training session at
the national meeting of the American
Institute of Architects called
“Conservation Landscaping with Native
Plants.”
The Coastal Program in Maine is also
doing its part to address invasive species
issues. In addition to salt marsh and
wetland restoration projects involving
control of common reed and purple
loosestrife, they are also working to
restore native fish populations. Through
river restoration projects, native fish like
alewives and the Atlantic salmon are
being reestablished and are able to
compete better with non-native fish
species.
Partners for Fish and Wildlife
In Hawaii, which confronts the most
pervasive invasion of non-native species
in the nation, half of the biota is not
native. The Partners for Fish and
Wildlife Program has worked with
private landowners to restore many
Hawaiian habitats degraded by invasive
species. Activities include constructing
exclusion fences, implementing animal
control measures and growing and
planting native plant species. These
activities benefit a host of endangered
plants and animals which reside in
Hawaii’s delicate island habitats.
The Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Program has also been active in Florida,
another place where invasive species
are causing severe problems. The
Service recently completed five projects
in South Florida involving projects to
eradicate and control invasive species
on 216 acres and 1.1 miles of riparian
habitat. Collectively, these projects
benefit many threatened and
endangered species including the wood
stork, snail kite, bald eagle, and eastern
indigo snake. These activities also
contribute to the South Florida
Ecosystem Team’s Ecosystem Plan.
In Montana, the Partners for Fish and
Wildlife Program continued work in its
Blackfoot Ecosystem Demonstration
Weed Management Area. In the
Blackfoot River watershed, the Service
continues to bring together a diverse
group of land management agencies,
county weed control officials, State
agencies, and private landowners to
develop and implement a cooperative,
integrated approach to vegetation
management. The program has helped
sponsor a number of workshops and
tours to promote integrated weed
management and has also contributed
funds for the release of biological weed
agents.
14
Bald eagle.
Dave Menke/USFWS
Restored Blackfoot Valley wetland.
Rick Dornfeld/USFWS
Oregon coast.
Tom Nebel/USFWS
When I became Director, I promised that
I would visit all of the Service’s regions
as quickly as possible to gain a greater
appreciation of the issues you face and to
see the Service in action on the ground.
Even though I had spent most of my
career with the Service, I still came away
amazed and impressed by all of the good
work I had seen. My next goal was to
visit as many of the ecosystem teams as
possible. I am still working on that goal,
but one thing remains constant.
Regardless of whether I visit these teams
in the field or hear them brief the
directorate on what they have achieved, I
continue to be inspired by what these
teams have accomplished by building on
the strong foundations of ecosystem
management on which the Service was
built.
The scrub jay population monitoring and
habitat restoration at Merritt Island
National Wildlife Refuge is one
impressive example of what the
ecosystem approach can accomplish for
our wildlife resources. Staff and funding
constraints had prevented the Refuge
and the Jacksonville Ecological Services
(ES) Field Office from undertaking a
comprehensive monitoring program for
the threatened scrub jay. In addition,
more than a thousand acres of potential
scrub jay habitat on the refuge had
become overgrown and the refuge lacked
the funding, personnel and equipment to
aggressively pursue restoration of the
habitat. The North Florida Ecosystem
Team jointly identified scrub jay habitat
as one of their highest priorities. More
than 30 Service employees from Refuges,
Ecological Services and Fisheries
descended on Merritt Island NWR this
past spring to carry out the population
survey. By combining equipment and
personnel from several refuges with
Ecological Services funding to address
additional equipment needs, the
Ecosystem Team restored more than
1,000 acres of habitat.
In another impressive demonstration of
cross-program potential, the Roanoke/
Cape Fear/Tar/Neuse Ecosystem Team
took on the task of completing a multi-refuge
Comprehensive Conservation Plan
that goes beyond refuge boundaries to
include most of the drainage of the
Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, including
a portion of southeastern Virginia. The
effort includes 11 refuges, two states and
two Service regions. Through the
Ecosystem Team, the refuges combined
efforts to provide the staff needed to lead
the effort. In addition, Ecological Service
and Fisheries staff will provide significant
staff support. Here again ecosystem
teams are effectively meeting resource
needs.
Klamath River basin
The Klamath/Central Pacific Coast
Ecosystem Team has played a significant
role in efforts to improve water quality at
Agency Lake in Oregon’s Klamath River
Basin. In recent decades, the Agency
Lake has warmed and produced huge
algae blooms as the lake and its
tributaries were tapped for irrigation,
and as agriculture and timber harvest
intensified in the watershed. Those
problems came to a head in 1988, when
the Service listed the shortnose and Lost
River suckers as endangered, citing the
decline in water quality and quantity in
the basin as major reasons for the
decline.
15
Strengthening the
Ecosystem Approach
Klamath river, CA.
T.A. Blake/USFWS
Upper Klamath NWR.
Ed J. O’Neill/USFWS
An opportunity to improve the situation
occurred when Congress appropriated
funds for the Bureau of Land
Management to purchase the 3,200-acre
Wood River Ranch on the lake’s north
shore. Congress did not provide funds for
restoration, necessitating the creation of
a broad partnership of Federal, State and
Tribal agencies, conservation groups, and
private landowners. The project has
demonstrated that the Service doesn’t
have to be the lead agency on a project to
achieve ecosystem team goals.
Several facilities from the Service’s
Klamath/Central Pacific Coast
Ecosystem Team contributed to this
effort, anteing up people power,
expertise, and dollars from the Hatfield
Program, and the Partners for Fish and
Wildlife and Jobs-in-the-woods
programs. The BLM managed a public
timber sale for the Service’s Klamath
Basin Refuge Complex, allowing the
Service to plow the proceeds back into
the restoration effort. The partners
reflooded thousands of acres of heavily-grazed
former pasture, and are in the
process of reconstructing the banks of
the lower Wood River to restore wetlands
and provide more water to the lake.
Temperatures in the lake have already
dropped several degrees, and the
numbers of waterfowl using the lake have
expanded twentyfold.
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem Team
has also made a difference, creating the
lake sturgeon research Internet
homepage (http://www.fws.gov/r3pao/
sturgeon), which provides background
information, calendars, contact numbers
and extensive sturgeon-related links. The
homepage serves as a nexus for groups
working to conserve this prehistoric fish.
The Great Lakes team also served as a
resource for Congressional inquiries
during the reauthorization of the Great
Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act.
16
Waterfowl hunting.
Mike Hemming/USFWS
Fishing.
Tami Heilemann/DOI
I’d like to turn now to other programs
and initiatives that made significant
progress in 1999. The Fish and Wildlife
Service is made up of thousands of
dedicated professionals, each of whom
plays and important role in our success
as an agency and as a steward of our
natural heritage. My only regret is that
there are too many achievements to
review in this short document. We’ve
tried to touch on the most prominent
success stories, but I know there is much
we left out.
Saving Endangered Species
Late in 1998 we celebrated the 25th
anniversary of the Endangered Species
Act, one of the driving forces which leads
us toward the ecosystem approach to fish
and wildlife conservation. The law’s
purpose is to conserve “the ecosystems
upon which endangered and threatened
species depend” and to conserve and
recover listed species. It is a challenge
which encompasses not only familiar and
beloved mammals, birds, and fishes, but
also little-known plants, amphibians,
reptiles, insects, and crustaceans. But the
worthiness of the law’s broad purpose
has become more apparent over the
years, as scientists have found the value
of rare plants and animals as sources for
new medicines and genetic reservoirs for
new agricultural crops. We’ve also begun
to see more and more evidence that our
decades of hard work are improving the
lot of our nation’s wildlife.
One of the most remarkable events of
1999 was the announcement that the
peregrine falcon had graduated from the
list of endangered and threatened species.
The Peregrine Fund, the Raptor Center,
the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research
Group, states and many volunteers
worked with the Fish andWildlife Service
over the last two decades to successfully
breed and release peregrines into the
wild. Once near extinction, their numbers
have reached 1,593 breeding pairs,
inhabiting skyscrapers, bridges, and cliffs
in 40 states.
Many more species followed the
peregrine on the road to recovery over
the past year, including our national
symbol, the bald eagle, the Aleutian
Canada goose, and the Tinian monarch.
The proposal to delist the Tinian
monarch, a tiny flycatcher found only on
the island of Tinian in Commonwealth of
the Northern Marianas Islands, came as
non-native forests grew back on the
island. If the proposal is finalized, this will
be the fourth Pacific bird species removed
from the protection of the Endangered
Species Act due to its recovery.
The proposed delisting of the Aleutian
Canada Goose is an Endangered Species
success story unlike any other. The bird’s
recovery is a result not of a single action
or recovery effort, but of a suite of
recovery efforts by a network of
dedicated individuals. The eradication of
introduced foxes from nesting islands in
the Aleutians, implementation of hunting
restrictions and development of
sanctuaries on the geese’ wintering
grounds in California, Oregon and
Washington paved the way for recovery.
17
Leadership in Natural
Resources Conservation
Peregrine falcon.
Ted Swem/USFWS
Aleutian Canada goose.
Glen Smart/USFWS
Tinian monarch.
© Jaan K. Lepson
Preserving our nation’s symbol
On the eve of Independence Day
weekend, President Clinton marked the
culmination of a three-decade effort to
protect and recover the majestic bald
eagle by announcing a proposal to
remove it from the list of threatened and
endangered species. The bald eagle once
ranged throughout every State in the
Union except Hawaii. When America
adopted the bird as its national symbol in
1782, as many as 100,000 nesting bald
eagles lived in the continental United
States, excluding Alaska. By 1963, only
417 nesting pairs were found in the lower
48. Today, due to recovery efforts by the
Service in partnership with other Federal
agencies, Tribes, State and local
governments, conservation
organizations, universities, corporations
and thousands of individual Americans,
this number has risen to an estimated
5,748 nesting pairs.
Wolf Recovery
Continued successes in our recovery
program offer hope that many other
species will eventually graduate from the
list of endangered and threatened
species. The combined efforts of the
Service, the states and Tribal
conservation agencies have helped wolf
population numbers in the Upper
Midwest reach the recovery goals set
back in 1978. The Service is now engaged
in a careful evaluation of the wolf
management plans submitted by State
and Tribal governments to ensure they
support the long-term viability of wolves.
A decision by the Service to remove
wolves from the Endangered Species
List or change their status will be made
only after a complete review of all public
comments and wolf management plans,
including those related to the
management of wolves in the western
United States.
Despite repeated setbacks and the
shooting deaths of five of the Mexican
wolves originally reintroduced into
southern Arizona, this remarkable
recovery effort continues. Some of the
reintroduced packs are reproducing in
the wild, offering us hope that this
species too can return to playing its vital
role in the southwest’s ecosystem.
South Florida multi-species recovery
This May, Secretary Babbitt and the
Service’s Southeast Regional Director
Sam Hamilton presided over a landmark
signing ceremony implementing a Multi-species
Recovery Plan in Boca Raton
Florida. This event marked a major step
toward South Florida Ecosystem
restoration and the recovery of
threatened and endangered species in
South Florida. The Multi-species
Recovery Plan is one of the first and
most far reaching ecosystem plans
developed by the Service. It serves as a
blueprint to recover 68 threatened and
endangered species, and to restore and
maintain biodiversity of native plants and
animals in the 23 natural communities
throughout about 26,000 square miles of
the 19 southernmost counties in Florida.
Black-footed ferret
The State, Federal, Tribal and private
members of the Black-footed Ferret
Recovery Implementation Team
continued to make major strides in this
species’ recovery. Captive and on-the-ground
efforts have resulted in the
production of nearly 500 ferrets, the
highest number on record. There are now
more ferrets in the wild than in captivity.
A partnership effort with the City of Ft.
Collins, Colorado, is under development
for the construction of a new captive
breeding facility and a new partnership
with the Turner Endangered Species
Fund resulted in a new captive breeding
facility on the Turner Ranch in New
Mexico.
Making the Endangered Species Act
work better
To promote consistency, flexibility and
streamline processes in our dealings with
other Federal agencies, we issued the
final Endangered Species Consultation
Handbook: Procedures for Conducting
Consultation and Conference Activities
Under Section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act. The handbook provides
information and guidelines on the various
consultation processes outlined in
government regulations and is intended
to promote consistent implementation
within and between the Service and the
National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS).
Also in conjunction with NMFS, we
proposed guidelines to strengthen the
use of habitat conservation plans (HCPs)
as a conservation tool. The guidelines
incorporated the knowledge gained over
the last four years to improve the way
HCPs are developed and administered in
five areas: establishment of measurable
biological goals and objectives, use of
adaptive management, monitoring, public
participation, and determination of the
duration of the incidental take permits.
We have more than 240 HCPs in effect
and more than 200 under development.
In FY 1999, the Service completed 20
HCPs covering 14.2 million acres.
HCPs are a particularly popular
conservation tool in our nation’s rapidly
growing and changing west coast, where
eight HCPs had been approved during
the first nine months of this past year.
18
Bald eagle ceremony, proposal for
delisting.
Tami Heilemann/DOI
Gray wolf.
LuRay Parker/USFWS
Black footed ferret.
M.R. Matchett
Two forest HCPs and associated permits
were provided: one to the Pacific Lumber
Company, including the largest tract of
old-growth redwood forest remaining in
private ownership, and another to the
City of the Dalles, Oregon, which covered
more than 200,000 acres. The six non-forest
HCPs that were completed
covered 4,891 acres, and ranged in size
from 6 to 3,465 acres.
Safe Harbor
Because the majority of endangered and
threatened species occur on privately
owned land we published joint final
policies with NMFS for “Safe Harbor”
and “Candidate Conservation
Agreements with Assurances” to provide
incentives for non-Federal property
owners to work with us in species
conservation. The “Safe Harbor” policy
provides incentives for private and other
non-Federal property owners to restore,
enhance, or maintain habitats for listed
species. Under the policy, the agencies
provide participating landowners with
technical assistance and assurances that
additional land, water, and/or natural
resource use restrictions will not be
imposed as a result of voluntary
conservation actions that benefit or
attract listed species. At the end of a
“Safe Harbor” agreement, the landowner
would be allowed to return the property
to its original “baseline” condition.
The “Safe Harbor” policy is already
making a difference on the ground, and
has become an important tool in the
recovery of the Attwater’s prairie
chicken, one of North America’s most
endangered birds. The Attwater Prairie
Chicken National Wildlife Refuge and
Texas Nature Conservancy’s Galveston
Bay Coastal Prairie Preserve can only
support a limited number of prairie
chickens. Therefore, the success of the
Attwater’s recovery program depends
upon the cooperative efforts of private
landowners. The Sam Houston Resource
Conservation and Development Area,
Inc. and local Soil and Water
Conservation Districts instituted a
program directed at the restoration and
enhancement of coastal prairie habitat on
private lands. To ease landowner
concerns about habitat enhancement
leading to Endangered Species Act
liabilities, a habitat conservation plan
was prepared — including a “safe
harbor” provision — for the Attwater’s
prairie chicken. To date, cooperative
projects involving 8 willing landowners
have been implemented to restore 17,800
acres of coastal prairie habitat. An
additional 4 landowner agreements
totaling more than 22,000 acres are
pending. Interest in this program has
mushroomed to the point landowners are
put on a waiting list until additional funds
become available.
Landowner Incentive Program
Beginning in FY 1999, Congress
authorized $5 million for the Endangered
Species Landowner Incentive Program
to provide long-sought financial
assistance and incentives to private
landowners for voluntary conservation
agreements that benefit listed and
candidate species through Safe Harbor
Agreements and Candidate Conservation
Agreements with Assurances. An
overwhelming total of 145 proposals for
$21.1 million were submitted for funding
in FY 1999. Twenty-two projects were
selected for full or partial funding. The
selected projects involve a variety of
conservation actions and regulatory
assurance agreements for a number of
listed species.
Among the projects is the South Carolina
Red-cockaded Woodpecker Safe Harbor
Program, in which 21,802 acres will be
managed with fire, 260 acres of longleaf
pine will be planted, and 172 artificial
nesting cavities installed. Twenty-three
properties are included in this program.
In another example, Boise Cascade Corp.
is in the process of drafting an
agreement to manage property in
northern Idaho to conserve the northern
Idaho ground squirrel. Other landowners
throughout the area are interested in
developing similar agreements.
Candidate Conservation Agreements
with Assurances
The Service and NMFS also released
their final policy on “Candidate
Conservation Agreements with
Assurances” (CCAA) for species that are
not yet listed as endangered or
threatened, but are considered to be in
decline and could be listed in the future.
Through CCAAs, landowners commit to
take actions that conserve declining
species. These actions may include
habitat protection; management; or
restoration actions such as fencing,
stream rehabilitation, controlled burns,
or species reintroduction. Landowners
who participate in this program will
receive assurances from the agencies
that no additional conservation measures
above and beyond those contained in the
CCAA will be required and that no
additional land, water, or resource-use
restrictions will be imposed upon them
should the species become listed in the
future.
19
Red-cockaded Woodpecker Safe Harbor
Program.
Lori Duncan/USFWS
Attwater's prairie chicken project.
Nancy Moriaty/USFWS
Here too, the policy is already providing
measurable improvements in wildlife
habitat. The lesser prairie chicken has
been the focus of the High Plains
Partnership. With ESA Landowner
Incentive Program Funding, the Service
is working with landowners to develop
CCAAs. Voluntary conservation plans
adopted this year on private land will
restore 16,000 acres in New Mexico and
35,000 acres in Oklahoma. The declining
swift fox, mountain plover, long-billed
curlew, and burrowing owl, among
others, are expected to benefit from these
measures, as well as the black-tailed
prairie dog. More than thirty landowners
are currently on the waiting list to
participate.
Law enforcement
Although cooperative habitat
preservation efforts with industry and
landowners yielded many success stories,
the Service continued to seek sanctions
against developers who ignored
endangered species protections. In
California, for example, special agents
worked on investigations involving the
unlawful take of coastal California
gnatcatchers, Morro shoulderband snails,
California red-legged frogs, Tipton
kangaroo rats, and two federally
protected plants — all cases involving
construction or other activities that
destroyed or modified species habitat.
Designating Critical Habitat
Finally, we began taking steps to explore
methods of fully complying with the
ESA’s critical habitat requirements in a
way that will allow us to spend our
limited resources in a manner that will
provide the greatest conservation benefit
to as many species as possible. Protection
of habitat is paramount to successful
conservation and recovery of threatened
and endangered species. But the
designation of critical habitat under the
Act has provided little additional
protection to most listed species while
consuming significant amounts of
funding, staff time, and other resources.
By taking the initial steps to invite public
involvement in this process, we hope to
improve the process by which critical
habitat is designated.
Restoring Aquatic Species
and Habitat
The National Fish Hatchery system has
continued a vigorous effort to restore
native fish species that have wide
recreational value.
The American shad, once the most
common fish in the James River in
Virginia and found in abundance in
neighboring Maryland, dwindled over the
years as dams splintered its spawning
grounds. Thanks to a huge coalition of
private, Federal, State and civic
organizations, the shad’s habitat is being
restored and the Harrison Lake National
Fish Hatchery is lending a critical hand
in this species’ recovery, which looks
better today than it has in years.
The Gila trout, already an endangered
species, may well become a recreational
fish, thanks to the work of the Mescalero
and Mora National Fish Hatcheries and
the New Mexico Fishery Resources
Office. The Gila trout was reintroduced in
both Arizona and New Mexico this year
and biologists are optimistic for the
species’ future.
Paddlefish restoration
The paddlefish, a species in decline that
we were concerned might need the
protection of the ESA, is making a
comeback. This fish, found throughout
the Mississippi River drainage from the
Upper Missouri River to the Louisiana
Delta, is in far better shape today thanks
to the restoration work of the Garrison
Dam, Tishomingo and Private John Allen
National Fish Hatcheries. Their
populations are expanding, through
stocking, beyond dams that once
impeded spawning runs.
The Willow Beach NFH successfully
completed research studies and
propagated and cultured more than
200,000 razorback suckers, 50,000
bonytail chub, 100 humpback chub and
25,000 Colorado pikeminnow. Work at
San Marcos National Fish Hatchery
located the exotic snail and associated
20
Gila trout.
Kim Mello/USFWS
Mountain plover.
Fritz L. Knopf/USFWS
parasite that has been damaging the
endangered fountain darter in the Comal
River of West Texas. The San Marco
hatchery also maintained a Texas
wildrice refugium, began more native
aquatic plant culture and restoration
programs, and provided a refugium for
the recently listed Comal Springs riffle
beetle. The Texas blind salamander,
which has been held there since 1991,
released eggs for the first time on station
in January 1999. Further east, artificial
spawning efforts produced the first
successful spawning of the robust
redhorse in Georgia’s Savannah river.
The fertilized eggs were transported to
the Warm Springs NFH and to the
McDuffie State Fish Hatchery in
Georgia, and also provided to State
hatcheries in South Carolina.
Threats to aquatic species
As many of the accomplishments cited
earlier indicate, some of the most
remarkable achievements in habitat
restoration have been in aquatic habitats.
Freshwater habitats in the U.S. contain
some of the most threatened groups of
species. For example, more than one-third
of freshwater fishes and amphibians
dependent on aquatic or wetland habitats
are at risk; two-thirds of freshwater
mussels and crayfishes are rare and
imperiled; one in 10 mussels may become
extinct during this century; and 110
freshwater fish species are listed as
threatened or endangered. Although the
threats to aquatic species vary, we do see
consistent threads — intensive water
resource development, pollution, and
habitat loss. The Fisheries program is
conducting 38 aquatic habitat restoration
projects across the country involving 29
states. These on-the-ground projects
involve more than 100 partners and are
restoring 460 miles of riparian habitat
and 3,850 acres of in-stream and wetland
habitat.
Breaching Edwards Dam
One of the most dramatic improvements
in aquatic habitat came on July 1, 1999,
when Maine’s Edwards Dam, built in
1837, was breached without public
expense, opening 17 miles of the
Kennebec River to nine migratory fish
species. Secretary Babbitt, two
governors and the entire congressional
delegation of Maine took a personal
interest in securing the removal. Service
employees, through the Northeast Hydro
Program, played a decisive role in the
historic and precedent setting decision.
The Northeast Region was a strong
advocate of removal, participated in
negotiations with the owners, and
provided substantial evidence that
restoration goals could not be met by
installing fishways. The Service’s efforts
helped increase fish resources available
for people in the future.
For the first time in 160 years, nine
species of migratory fish will again have
free access to their historic habitat,
including Atlantic salmon, American
shad, American eel, endangered
shortnose sturgeon, Atlantic sturgeon,
alewife, blueback herring, striped bass,
and rainbow smelt. The river corridor
above the dam is undeveloped and offers
a secluded atmosphere. Since this free-flowing,
non-tidal, riverine ecosystem is
being restored within proximity of the
State capital, economic benefits to the
local and regional area are expected.
The decision was heralded on the front
page of leading newspapers across the
county and on National Public Radio.
This decision embodies the realization
that a dam is not necessarily a
permanent feature of the landscape, that
dams have sometimes degraded
watersheds, ecosystems, and fisheries,
and that dam removal is warranted in
certain instances.
Identifying fish barriers
The Service is actively developing an
inventory of National Fish Barriers that
will be useful in identifying dams for
either fish passage or removal. In the
Northeast Region alone, the Service
estimates that there are over a million
barriers in waters that either block or
severely impact movement of aquatic
species — barriers that often result in
significant population declines, and even
listing under the ESA. These barriers
not only affect migrant fish, but many
resident fish, freshwater mussels,
crayfish, insect, amphibian and reptile
species as well. When completed the
inventory of barriers will describe the
type of impacts and species and amount
of habitats affected.
Sometimes all we need to do is modify
existing passages. Changes to the
Cocheco River Fishway on the
Merrimack River in New Hampshire,
provided passage for anadromous fish
and a donor source of river herring for
extensive high priority restoration efforts
in the Merrimack River. This project will
significantly increase use of the fishway
and assist in the cooperative effort
between the Service and the New
Hampshire Fish and Game Department
to enhance runs of anadromous fish
species in the Cocheco and Merrimack
Rivers and other New Hampshire coastal
rivers.
In other cases, we must work with others
to modify the flows provided through
existing dams. The Service, as lead
agency, completed the Trinity River Flow
Study report, an 18 year cooperative
effort with Bureau of Reclamation,
Trinity County and the Hoopa Tribe that
outlines a scientifically based program of
modified flow regimes and mechanical
restoration to bring back one of
California’s premier anadromous fish
21
Paddlefish.
Galen Buterbaugh/USFWS
Edwards dam.
USFWS
Fish ladder.
USFWS
streams, and important trust assets of
the Hoopa Tribe. As one of the
Department’s lead agencies, the Service
continues to play a key role in the
CALFED negotiations, a critical
ecosystem approach to water use and
environmental restoration and
enhancement.
Sport Fishing and Boating
Partnership Council
In 1998, work by the Service’s Sport
Fishing and Boating Partnership Council
helped launch a congressionally
mandated national public outreach
campaign designed to encourage more
Americans to boat, fish and develop a
commitment to conserving our nation’s
aquatic resources. The 5-year, $36 million
campaign is being administered by the
Recreational Boating and Fishing
Foundation under a cooperative
agreement with the Service.
The Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act
of 1998 directed the Secretary of Interior
to develop, in cooperation with the
federally chartered council, a national
outreach plan to encourage greater
public interest and participation in
boating and fishing. The plan also aims to
provide more information about
recreational boating and angling
opportunities, reduce barriers to
participation in these activities, and
promote conservation and the
responsible use of aquatic resources.
During the spring and summer of 1998,
the council sponsored an extensive series
of regional and national public meetings
to identify issues that hamper boating
and fishing.
Following the stakeholder meetings, the
council named an outreach planning team
to distill the raw data and draft a plan.
The resulting Strategic Plan for the
National Outreach and Communication
Program was completed Sept. 15, 1998,
and approved by Interior Secretary
Babbitt Feb. 23, 1999. A cooperative
agreement establishing the framework
for Federal funding of the foundation was
signed March 28, 1999, during a
ceremony at the North American Wildlife
and Natural Resources Conference in
Burlingame, Calif.
Other habitat restoration activities
The Service has also focused on a variety
of habitat restoration activities in both
the Ecological Services and Fisheries
programs. For example, Partners for
Fish and Wildlife is working on native
trout restoration in the northern Rockies.
Partners in on-the-ground projects in
Montana’s Blackfoot Valley, Centennial
Valley, Graves Creek, and Yellowstone
River, and in Wyoming’s Wind River
basin are leveraging Service dollars at a
four to one ratio. All partners recognize
that targeting native trout for restoration
is in reality using an indicator species
approach to ecosystem management.
Instream, riparian, and upland
restoration measures for trout are
instrumental in also restoring habitat
and survivability of mammals, migratory
birds, imperiled amphibians, and plant
communities.
Similar efforts are underway on both
coasts to promote salmon recovery.
Through these partnerships, 71 miles of
stream were opened up to anadromous
fish in the Pacific Region. The Portland-
Vancouver Metro Area Greenspaces
Program successes involved restoration
of 5 acres of wetlands, 22 miles of
riparian and instream habitat and 27
acres of upland habitat associated with
other trust species. Fifty miles of stream
were opened to anadromous fish and 54
acres of off-channel rearing habitat were
restored for salmon. The Service is also
working with other Federal regional
executives to develop solutions to
Columbia River salmon problems,
including a 1999 decision on operating the
Federal dam system in compliance with
the Endangered Species and Clean
Water Act, and as a member of the
Interagency Salmon Science Team
charged with science-based salmonid
restoration.
22
Pink salmon.
G. Hahnel/USFWS
Fishing at Loxahatchee NWR.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
Partnership programs in Alaska also
focused on riparian habitat important for
spawning and rearing salmon. Alaskan
restoration partnerships were recognized
with two of only four national Coastal
America Partnership Awards in 1999: the
multi-agency/public effort to restore
Duck Creek, an impaired body of water
flowing through the City of Juneau; and
the Kenai River 50:50 Program, a multi-agency/
public effort to restore riparian
habitat on public and private lands along
the Kenai River.
Encouraging sustainable development
Aside from the Partners program, we’re
making significant progress in protecting
habitat for wildlife and encouraging
sustainable development. After nearly
five years of negotiations involving the
Service and Federal and State agencies
in Wisconsin, we signed a formal
interagency agreement with our partners
that will help protect wildlife habitat
from secondary land-use changes
spurred by a major upgrade of U.S.
Highway 12 in the Baraboo Hills region
of south central Wisconsin. Among the
Service’s concerns is the protection of
one of the largest contiguous blocks of
southern upland forest in the Midwest.
The area provides habitat for numerous
migratory birds and plant “Species of
Concern,” including the cerulean warbler,
prairie thistle, bog bluegrass and
Blandings turtle. The agreement created
a local advisory committee made up of all
of the partners. The committee will
review each phase of the highway project
to determine impacts on wildlife
resources and to decide on appropriate
mitigation.
The Fish and Wildlife Management
Assistance Program has had many 1999
successes with habitat restoration in
aquatic environments. Examples include
notching dikes on the Mississippi River
and stabilizing streambeds and wetlands
on the Ohio River in order to improve
both water quality and substrate habitat
for mussels. And in Florida, the program
is working with the Division of Refuges
to restore tidal flows and functions to 35
acres of coastal marsh at Merritt Island
NWR to benefit snook, red drum and
many wading birds and waterfowl.
In every case, these success stories were
born of cooperation from organizations
and individuals outside the Service. We
are taking continual steps to make sure
that this cooperation not only continues,
but increases.
Working with Tribes to
Protect Wildlife and Habitat
This fiscal year marked the first time in
the history of the service that all regions
had a dedicated Indian Desk, working
directly with Tribes to implement
initiatives and cooperative management
of wildlife and habitat across the country.
The results of this commitment by the
Service are evident in success stories in
every region of the country.
On a national level, four years of work on
a negotiated rulemaking resulted in
completion of the final Tribal Self-
Governance regulations. The Native
American Liaison acted as the non-BIA
lead in the negotiation and finalization of
the rule, editing the final version and
addressing all policy concerns identified
in public comments. The final rule has
been sent to the Tribal negotiation team
for their review, with publication
expected sometime in early winter of
2000.
The Native American Liaison also served
as the Service lead for the compilation of
a joint handbook on contracting with
Indian Tribes for the Department of the
Interior and Health and Human
Services’ Indian Health Service. The
handbook covers all matters for
contracting Indian programs to Tribes
under the Indian Self-Determination and
Education Assistance Act, including the
disposition of surplus property and the
due diligence required of personnel
assigned to oversee such contracts.
Salmon conservation
In the Pacific Region, the Native
American liaison held numerous
meetings throughout the year with the
Puget Sound Tribes, city and county
representatives, and the National Marine
Fisheries Service to review the
conservation strategy for salmonids. The
Service also participated in a joint
project with the Stillaguamish Tribe, the
Adopt-A-Stream Foundation, a private
landowner and local conservation
districts to restore four acres of wetlands
and 20 acres of juvenile salmon-rearing
habitat in Washington.
Native fish restoration
In the Southwest Region, the Native
American Liaison worked with the
Jicarilla Apache Tribe, the Service, the
Running Elk Corporation and the New
23
King salmon.
Mary Smith/USFWS
Flathead reservation fisheries work.
Ron Skates/USFWS
Mexico Department of Game and Fish to
draft a Memorandum of Agreement for
management and restoration of the Rio
Grande cutthroat trout.
In partnership with 10 other
organizations, including a grant from the
North American Wetlands Conservation
Act, the Liaison worked with the Fond
Du Lac band of Chippewa to restore over
1,200 acres of wetland and associated
open water habitat in the Great Lakes
Region suitable for the production of wild
rice. The Liaison also did Tribal surveys
and held informational meetings with
Tribal members throughout the region in
conjunction with the delisting of the gray
wolf, lynx, Karner blue butterfly and the
massasauga rattlesnake.
The Service’s Creston National Fish
Hatchery intensified work with the
Blackfeet Indian Reservation to restore
native Westslope cutthroat trout in
streams previously stocked with non-native
rainbow trout. The Service and the
Tribe continued to collaborate to identify
streams best suited for restoration and to
modify production programs and
schedules at Creston NFH to furnish
native Westslope cutthroat trout.
Hatcheries at Alchessay and Williams
Creek initiated cooperative discussions
with Tribes to pursue opportunities in
Tribal waters of Arizona, New Mexico
and Colorado to restore native trout
species to waters historically stocked
with non-native rainbow trout, brook
trout and cutthroat trout, while
simultaneously satisfying Tribal trust
responsibilities.
Tribal law enforcement assistance
In the Northeast Region, the Service
signed a Memorandum of Agreement in
April formalizing and broadening the
sharing of law enforcement expertise
with the Passamaquody Tribe of Maine.
The Service and the Tribe will utilize
certain officers to enforce Federal and
Tribal laws on lands belonging to the
Tribe. In September, the Law
Enforcement Division conducted training
for officers who will perform enforcement
duties outlined in the MOA. This is the
first such agreement in the region, and
should serve as a prototype for similar
agreements with other Tribes.
Also in Maine, the Craig Brook and
Green Lake National Fish Hatcheries
and the Maine Anadromous Fisheries
Coordinator coordinate extensively with
the Penobscot Indian Nation and the
Passamaquoddy Tribes on anadromous
fish restoration. Approximately 570,000
Atlantic salmon smolts, 300,000 Atlantic
salmon parr, and 1.5 million Atlantic
salmon fry were stocked in the Penobscot
River, along with 21,000 smolts stocked in
the St. Croix River.
Mountain-Prairie Region
In the Mountain-Prairie Region, the
Native American Liaison worked with
the Ute Mountain Ute Council on the
proposed listing of the sleeping Ute milk
vetch. The Service and the Tribe will
survey reservation lands for the plant in
the spring of 2000, with the Service
providing $3,000 to the Tribe for its
assistance in conducting the survey.
In the Alaska region, the Native Issues
Advisor helped develop a Memorandum
of Understanding among Federal
agencies in Alaska to coordinate
communication efforts with Alaska
Natives.
Law Enforcement
Sturgeon are in danger of extinction
because of over-harvesting to support a
rampant international illegal market in
caviar. Two years ago, the Service
spearheaded a proposal to give all species
of wild sturgeon protection under the
Convention on International Trade In
Endangered Species (CITES), a treaty
that protects globally traded animals and
plants from over-exploitation. This year,
the Service’s Law Enforcement Division
worked successfully to uphold these
protections and crack down on illegal
imports of caviar. Wildlife inspectors and
special agents at the nation’s major ports
of entry seized shipments entering the
country without the required export
permits and foiled numerous smuggling
attempts.
One New York-based case, for example,
resulted in the nation’s first Federal
felony prosecution of a caviar importer
for illegal trade. In October 1998, Service
Special Agents apprehended seven
individuals attempting to smuggle a total
of 16 suitcases containing 901 (500 gram)
tins of Beluga caviar.
24
Atlantic salmon.
William W. Hartley/USFWS
Salmon in “button up” stage.
USFWS
Rio Grand cutthroat trout.
Lloyde Hazzard/USFWS
The total weight of the caviar seized was
approximately 1,000 lbs, with an
estimated value ranging from $675,000 to
more than $1.1 million. Three individuals
were arrested and charged with violating
the ESA and CITES, and with felony
conspiracy and smuggling charges.
Service Special Agents later executed a
Federal search warrant at the
Connecticut home of one of the
smugglers and seized records and an
additional 1,000 lbs. of caviar. Indictments
charge that between April and November
of 1998, two of the individuals sold
approximately 19,000 lbs. of imported
caviar to American caviar retailers.
During the same period of time the
defendants received permission from the
Service to import only one shipment of 88
lbs. of caviar.
In November, a jury convicted one
smuggler of conspiracy, smuggling, and
violating the Lacey Act — a Federal
statute that makes it a crime to import
wildlife or wildlife products taken,
possessed, transported, or sold in
violation of any U.S. law or treaty. A
second defendant was convicted of one
felony violation of the Lacey Act, while a
third individual pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to smuggle wildlife.
Poaching operations
Service special agents and State
conservation officers closed out a major
multistate investigation of illegal
trafficking in freshwater mussels — a
threat to both clam species and
ecosystems in the Nation’s heartland.
The investigation, which broke up a
poaching operation spearheaded by the
country’s second largest shell exporter,
resulted in the conviction of the company,
its president and vice-president, and six
other individuals. Penalties assessed
included more than $400,000 in fines and
restitution (including a $250,000 payment
from the company) as well as significant
terms of imprisonment and probation.
Trophy big game hunters come to
Alaska from around the world, making
commercial big game guiding — much of
it occurring on refuge lands — the
State’s seventh largest industry. While
most guides act professionally and obey
wildlife laws, Law Enforcement in
Region 7 has continued to monitor
hunting on refuges to ensure adequate
wildlife protection. Lacey Act
investigations in the past year have
resulted in eight convictions for
violations of the Act, with charges
pending against seven other individuals.
Fines and penalties of nearly $100,000
have been assessed. One guide was
sentenced to a year in Federal prison,
and seven airplanes and numerous
wildlife trophies have been seized.
Protecting manatees
Regional law enforcement special agents
coordinated six law enforcement task
force operations in Florida during FY
1999. The operations were to enforce
manatee speed zone laws designed to
protect endangered manatees from
injury or death by boat strikes. Death by
boat strike is the cause of 25 percent of
total manatee mortality. Some 46 Special
Agents and 12 Refuge Officers took part
in these operations that resulted in the
issuance of 732 Federal notices of
violation (tickets). Each notice carries a
$100 fine.
The Service and the Environmental
Protection Agency jointly investigated
the illegal dumping of nearly 150 tons of
mercury chemicals into Georgia coastal
marshes. The case resulted in the
convictions of 6 individuals and a
corporation for violations of
environmental laws and the Endangered
Species Act. The Federal court imposed
sentences totaling: 21 years, 7 months of
active jail time, 10 months of home
detention, $50,745 in fines, 13 years of
probation and 1,390 hours of community
service.
Saving the world’s coral reefs
The Division of Law Enforcement
contributed to U.S. and global efforts to
protect coral reefs, nearly 60 percent of
which are imperiled by human activity.
Enforcement staff chaired the trade
subgroup of the Presidentially created
U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, directing an
25
Inspecting caviar.
USFWS
Freshwater mussel.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
Manatees.
Jim P. Reid/USGS
interagency effort to analyze U.S. trade
data for corals, sea horses, and live reef
fish and propose improved trade controls.
Service wildlife inspectors took the lead
in planning, coordinating, and conducting
a marine invertebrate identification
workshop for North American wildlife
law enforcement officers; this well-received
training promises improved
enforcement of existing trade laws that
protect corals and other marine species
at U.S., Canadian, and Mexican ports of
entry. Service law enforcement also
secured the first Federal felony
conviction for coral smuggling in a
Florida case that involved illegal
trafficking in corals plundered from reefs
in the Philippines.
New frontiers in forensic science
Wildlife forensics gained global
recognition as a new field of science at
the triennial meeting of the International
Association of Forensic Sciences, thanks
largely to the pioneering research of the
National Fish and Wildlife Forensics
Laboratory. An unprecedented Service-chaired
wildlife forensics section
meeting, which included research,
casework, and poster presentations from
all 14 laboratory scientists, attracted
some 100 of the U.S. and international
experts in attendance. The laboratory’s
latest research accomplishments include
the discovery that hemoglobin provides a
quick and accurate way to identify
species, a vital step in analyzing evidence
from wildlife crimes. The fast-track
development of a DNA method to detect
the sturgeon species represented in a tin
of caviar proved crucial to Service efforts
to protect these endangered fish.
Demand for case assistance from
Federal, State, and foreign investigative
agencies remained high, reflecting the
Laboratory’s position as the world’s first
and only full-service crime lab devoted to
wildlife law enforcement as well as its
accreditation by the American Society of
Crime Lab Directors — a professional
status attained by only half of the crime
labs in the United States.
Training the world’s “Thin Green Line”
In addition to investigating cases, Law
Enforcement worked proactively with
Ecological Services, Montana State
University, Wyoming Outfitter and Guide
Association, and the Professional Guide
Institute to conduct a bear safety course
for guides and outfitters. The course,
titled “Safety for People, Safety for
Bears: Avoiding and Mitigating Bear
Encounters in Grizzly Country” has been
well received. Special Agents continued
their outreach efforts with landowners
and hunters in drainage areas where
wolves are present, in an effort to
generate support for the release
program. As a result of these efforts, wolf
mortalities have been significantly
reduced in the region.
Region 6 Law Enforcement continues to
take the lead on providing law
enforcement and forensics training to
Native Americans from all across the
country. This year training was
conducted at the Navajo Law
Enforcement Training Center in Toyei-
Ganado, Arizona. Thirty-five
Conservation Officers completed the 40-
hour certified course. The success of this
course was attributed to the cooperative
efforts of the Navajo Nation, Native
American Fish and Wildlife Society and
the Service. The second training course
was conducted at the Mashanfucket
Pequot Nation during the National
Conference of the Native American Fish
and Wildlife Society. This training
focused on Forensics/Evidence Gathering
Techniques, and was again well attended
by a variety of Tribal resource managers/
conservation officers. To date, the
Service has trained over 300 Native
Americans across the country.
Service special agents and wildlife
inspectors proved the instructors of
choice for countries seeking to upgrade
their wildlife law enforcement capability.
The Division conducted hands-on anti-poaching
training for national park
rangers in Tanzania in cooperation with
the U.S. Agency for International
Development and teamed with the Global
Survival Network, Wildlife Conservation
Society, and Thai Royal Forestry
Department to launch an anti-poaching
and community outreach campaign in
that Asian nation’s most famous national
park. Service enforcement and
international affairs staff joined the U.S.
Department of Justice to promote
wildlife conservation and improved trade
monitoring in Madagascar — an island
nation where wildlife resources are
increasingly being plundered for the
global black market. Wildlife inspectors
and Office of Management Authority
staff conducted CITES enforcement
training for customs officers and wildlife
protection officials in China.
International enforcement partnerships
also included investigative assistance in
Kenya, where Service special agents
helped probe an organized wildlife crime
syndicate preying on elephants, rhinos,
and other endangered African animals.
26
Training in Thailand.
USFWS
Fish survey.
Jerry Ludwig/USFWS
International Affairs
Currently more than 100 nations,
including the United States, embrace the
Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance, better known as the Ramsar
Convention. Because many wetland
habitats span international boundaries
and many wetland species are migratory,
Ramsar countries preserve wetlands
within their own borders while working
together to ensure the health of wetlands
around the world. The United States
recently demonstrated the importance it
places on this convention by nominating
its 16th and 17th sites — Sand Lake
National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota,
and the Bolinas Lagoon, California. Sand
Lake is the only Wetlands Convention
site within the Prairie Pothole Joint
Venture Area, a subdivision of the North
American Waterfowl Management Plan.
Bolinas Lagoon, managed by the Marin
County Open Space District, is a 1,100
acre tidal embayment located as the
south end of the Point Reyes peninsula in
California — the first wetland to be
nominated on the Pacific Flyway in the
lower 48 states.
The Service also headed the U.S.
delegation to the 7th Ramsar Conference
of Parties in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Working with the other 116 nations that
are parties to the Convention, the U.S.
delegation led efforts to improve
conservation of wetlands, waterfowl and
other wetland species around the world.
CITES
Also, as an international partner in the
Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES), we hosted
and chaired an international working
group, which drafted the first CITES 5-
year strategic plan. Representatives
from Zimbabwe, Australia, Colombia,
and elsewhere joined us this spring for
an intensive four days of negotiations
that resulted in the draft document. The
strategic plan will be one of many topics
discussed at the CITES conference in
Kenya in April 2000. The final version
will outline the vision and actions that
will carry CITES into the next
millennium.
Reptiles and amphibians received a
helping hand when we hosted the CITES
Animals Committee Transport Working
Group in Washington. This meeting
provided an opportunity for stakeholders
to work together to improve humane
transport for reptiles and amphibians in
international trade. Thanks to this
groundbreaking work, the International
Air Transport Association announced
new transport standards for reptiles and
amphibians. These went into effect
globally on October 1.
Changes in scientific permits
To make it easier for our partners in the
conservation community to participate in
the process of collecting essential data on
federally regulated species, we have
initiated a top-to-bottom reform of our
scientific permits process. Our goal is to
make the process for obtaining scientific
permits for endangered species,
migratory birds, marine mammals, and
CITES-listed species serve as an
incentive, rather than a disincentive, for
contributions to their conservation.
There has been an enthusiastic response
from the scientific and conservation
communities to the reforms, including
positive reviews from many respected
scientific institutions and the Society for
Conservation Biology.
This year, discussions with State and
Federal partners, as well as thorough
analysis of available biological and trade
information convinced us that immediate
action was need to help conserve wild
American ginseng, the most valuable wild
export from the U.S. To prevent
overharvesting, we decided to issue
export permits only for wild ginseng
older than five years of age. Many states
and the Forest Service have adopted
similar restrictions on harvest, reflecting
a true partnership with the Service to
protect this valuable and vulnerable
species.
Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act
Imperiled wild rhinoceros and tigers now
have a brighter future thanks to
innovative legislation enacted by the U.S.
Congress and signed into law by
President Clinton on October 30, 1998.
The Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation
Act of 1998 includes an important new
product labeling provision that states “A
person shall not sell, import, or export, or
27
Red-eyed treefrog.
Gary M. Stolz/USFWS
Siberian tiger.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
Black rhinoceros.
Maslowski Productions/USFWS
attempt to sell, import, or export, any
product, item, or substance intended for
human consumption containing, or
labeled or advertised as containing, any
substance derived from any species of
rhinoceros or tiger.”
Strengthening Our
Workforce
Training
In FY 1999, the National Conservation
Training Center conducted over 250
training courses for more than 5000
participants. NCTC has continued to
expand its curriculum with 140 different
courses, 42 of which were new courses
developed this year. Participants range
from every State in the Nation, more
than 100 organizations and 20
international countries. 12,497 people
attended events hosted by NCTC,
including 1,500 for the open house in
October 1998. Of those, 3,881 stayed
onsite. Several high profile events were
held during the year, including the DOI
EEO Conference, the Jefferson County
West Virginia Science Olympiad, and the
DOI Health and Safety Seminar. Former
President Jimmy Carter also visited the
site. NCTC also hosted the Fire and Grit
Millennium Conference, hosted by the
Orion Society and attended by more than
500 participants. The Aldo Leopold
Conference, discussing Leopold’s
conservation legacy, was held during
May.
Distance learning
NCTC has increased its emphasis on
distance learning, with the development
and distribution of correspondence
courses, web-based training, CD-ROM
courses, video training tapes, satellite
conferencing and interactive television
broadcasts. The Service has
demonstrated its commitment to distance
learning by establishing twelve distance
learning classrooms across the nation
which enables employees to participate in
interactive television training broadcasts
close to their workstations. Thirty
distance learning events were conducted
this year reaching approximately 10,000
students.
Diversifying our work force
We have continued our efforts in
strengthening and diversifying the work
force. This year we took a more holistic
approach by looking at barriers that
have impeded our progress and to
address each specific issue on a
Servicewide basis. Our efforts began
with the dissemination of our Diversity
vision that articulated the objective of a
Service work force that is reflective of
the diversity of the citizenry it serves
and the commitment by the entire
Directorate through the signed Charter.
We have shown results in recruitment,
retention and accountability.
Redoubling our pro-active recruitment
programs targeting women and minorities
Women and minorities have accounted
for 63 percent of our outside hires in the
past year. As a result of this emphasis,
the total number of minorities within our
workforce has increased by 12 percent
from last year, with a net gain in our
overall representation. Our increased use
of the student employment program has
been an asset to this effort.
Providing more attention to our career
development and retention efforts
Women and minorities receive more than
50 percent of all promotions within the
Service, demonstrating our commitment
to diversity. But retaining quality female
and minority employees is equally
important as promoting them. A Career
Development and Retention Work group
has reviewed separation data and results
of exit interviews and developed
recommendations that include specific
action steps to address retention and
work environment/work place issues.
Holding every manager in the
Service accountable
Through specific action items, managers
are involved throughout the recruitment,
selection and career development
process, and progress is monitored
regularly.
In the Service’s ongoing effort to
increase its work force diversity and
outreach, several Memoranda of
Understanding (MOUs)were signed with
various minority organizations, including
the National Hispanic Environmental
28
Distance learning broadcast.
USFWS
Partnership signing ceremony for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Historically
Black Colleges and Universities.
LaVonda Walton/USFWS
Council, the Hispanic Association of
Colleges and Universities, and five
Historically Black Colleges and
Universities.
The rewards of these agreements are far-reaching
for all parties involved. They
will provide the Service with the
opportunity to increase minority
participation in the Service’s activities
and enhance recruitment efforts. We still
have much work to do, but I am pleased
that we have shown significant progress
this year.
Employee pocket guide
The ecosystem teams are starting to
create opportunities for cross-collaboration,
and to make this easier for
everyone, our National Outreach Team
has prepared a Fish and Wildlife Service
pocket guide for every employee. Within
its pages, Service employees will be able
to find information on all programs of the
Service and how they can help meet
specific needs. This will be an invaluable
tool for us all as we create innovative
approaches to species and habitat
conservation.
29
Regulation enforcement.
USFWS
Hunter safety course.
George Andejko/AZ Game and Fish Dept.
30
In closing, I’d like to thank every
Service employee for the dedication
you demonstrated over the past year,
dedication that is visible in the
measurable successes we’ve achieved.
I look forward to working with you
over the next year to realize more of
our vision for wildlife.
We are on the cusp of a new millennium.
This is a symbolic time to renew our
commitment to wildlife conservation.
But it is also an ideal time for us to
take advantage of our good fortune in
having support from on high in the
administration. The clock is ticking.
We have come so far. Now let us finish
strong, with powerful, determined
strides into a new era.
In Conclusion
Fishing.
Carl Zitzman/USFWS
Bird watching.
John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
http://www.fws.gov
February 2000