National Wetlands Inventory

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency tasked with providing information to the public on the extent and status of the nation’s wetland and deepwater habitats, as well as changes to these habitats over time.

What We Do

Our Services

We produce and distribute maps and other geospatial data on American wetland and deepwater habitats, as well as monitor changes in these habitats through time. This information is available to the public through two primary datasets: the wetlands geospatial dataset and wetlands status and trends reports. These provide complementary information on wetland and deepwater habitat type, location, and trends to support research, land management planning and analyses, policy development, and modeling activities.

Wetlands Mapper

The Wetlands Mapper is the primary public interface to the wetlands geospatial dataset and it delivers easy-to-use, map-like views of the nation’s wetland and deepwater resources. It spatially integrates National Wetland Inventory data with additional natural resource information and political boundaries to produce a robust decision support tool.

Status and Trends

Our Status and Trends reports provide estimates of U.S. wetland extent, type, and change specific to different time periods, ranging from the 1700s to 2009. Produced on a decadal basis, these reports inform policy-makers and the public on the status of the nation's wetlands and potential causes of wetland change..."
Wetlands 

The Endangered Species Act and Climate Change: Selected Legal Issues

"For more than a decade, federal agencies have grappled with how to address climate change effects when implementing the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). The ESA aims to protect threatened and endangered fish, wildlife, and plants from extinction. As set forth by Congress, one of the main purposes of the ESA is to “provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the Services) have acknowledged that the changing climate may threaten the survival of and habitat for some species. As noted by courts and legal scholars, the ESA does not expressly require the Services to consider the effect of climate change in their ESA decisions. However, the ESA and its implementing regulations (1) direct the Services to consider “natural or manmade factors affecting [a species’] continued existence” when determining whether a species should be protected under the ESA; and (2) require the Services to analyze cumulative effects on a species’ survival when analyzing whether federal actions jeopardize a species protected under the Act. The courts and the Services have interpreted these provisions as requiring the Services to consider climate change effects in the ESA decisionmaking process. Various lawsuits have challenged the Services’ interpretation of complex scientific data or models that predict short- and long-term effects from a changing global climate on specific species and their habitats..."
Endangered Species Act

National Wildlife Refugee System
Planning a vacation, consider one of the National Wildlife Refugees.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Releases Annual List of Candidates for Endangered Species Act
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today released its Candidate Notice of Review, a yearly appraisal of the current status of plants and animals considered candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). One species has been removed from candidate status, five have been added, and four have a change in priority from the last review conducted in November of 2009. There are now 251 species recognized by the Service as candidates for ESA protection.

“The candidate list offers the Service and our partners a unique opportunity to address the threats to these species through voluntary conservation efforts on public and private lands,” said Acting Service Director Rowan Gould. “We will continue working to reduce the number of candidate species by developing conservation agreements that reduce or eliminate the threats they face, and by listing species that warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act as soon as possible.”

Candidate species are plants and animals for which the Service has enough information on their status and the threats they face to propose them as threatened or endangered, but developing a proposed listing rule is precluded by higher priority listing actions. Candidate species do not receive protection under the ESA, although the Service works to conserve them. The annual review and identification of candidate species provides landowners and resource managers notice of species in need of conservation, allowing them to address threats and work to preclude the need to list the species. The Service is currently working with landowners and partners to implement voluntary conservation agreements covering 5 million acres of habitat for more than 130 candidate species..."
View complete list

Federal Duck Stamp Program
"Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, commonly known as “Duck Stamps,” are pictorial stamps produced by the U.S. Postal Service for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. They are not valid for postage. Originally created in 1934 as the federal licenses required for hunting migratory waterfowl, Federal Duck Stamps have a much larger purpose today...

Federal Duck Stamps are a vital tool for wetland conservation. Ninety-eightEarly Duck Stamp Contest) cents out of every dollar generated by the sales of Federal Duck Stamps goes directly to purchase or lease wetland habitat for protection in the National Wildlife Refuge System. Understandably, the Federal Duck Stamp Program has been called one of the most successful conservation programs ever initiated and is a highly effective way to conserve America’s natural resources..."