New Guidance to Prevent Bird Electrocutions on Power Lines

Birds can become ensnared and killed when they fly into electric power lines. Credit: Bob Hines / USFWS

Conservation and industry leaders today announced updated guidelines aimed at helping electric utility industries prevent bird electrocutions and ensure reliable power delivery.

The Avian Power Line Interaction Committee — comprised of members from the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Edison Electric Institute and nearly twenty electric utilities — released 2006 Suggested Practices for Avian Protection on Power Lines. The publication contains state-of-the-art guidance to help electric utilities protect birds from electrocution on power lines.

News Release

Avian Power Line Interaction Committee

California Condor Chick Takes Flight in Southern California

California condor "412" practices flight November 11 at Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Mike Wallace/Zoological Society of San Diego

The second California condor chick to fledge in the wild in California in more than 14 years has left its nest at the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today.   The six-month old chick, "Number 412," left its nest for the first time October 22, flying approximately 15 feet and is continuing to make short flights near the nest site.

News Release

Hurricane Rita Clean Up Making Great Progress at Sabine National Wildlife Refuge

Sling load of debris ready to load onto airboat for transport. Credit: Kelly Turk/USFWS

When Hurricane Rita trashed Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, this wildlife haven was literally covered with tons of debris carried into refuge marshes by Rita’s storm surge. Almost one fourth of this125-acre wetland refuge was covered with remnant homes, businesses, and industries from along Louisiana ’s coast. The approximately seven million cubic meters of debris (250,000 dump truck loads) contains everything from teddy bears to oil tanks the size of large 18-wheelers. A post hurricane assessment identified 1,400 potential hazardous material items containing an estimated 115,000 to 350,000 gallons of hazardous liquids and gases blown and submerged throughout refuge wetlands. But the Service and contractors have been working hard to make the refuge once again safe for wildlife and visitors.

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Montana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy Receives USFWS Federal Land Protection Award

Montana's Centennial Valley is the site of a major land protection and stewardship program. Shown here are wetlands on a ranch just purchased by the Conservancy, which will eventually be re-sold to the Service to become part of the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Nathan Korb/TNC

The Montana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy has received the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's annual National Land Protection Award for significant contributions to land-protection partnerships with the Service.

Eric Alvarez, chief of the Service's Division of Realty, recently presented the award for the Montana Chapter's work with the Service on projects in the Centennial and Blackfoot Valleys and in the Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Area.

News Release

Threatened Seabird Benefits from Oil Spill Settlement

Skimmer clears oil after Tenyo Maru spill. Credit: Dick Logan, Washington Department of Ecology

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington Department of Ecology and the Makah Indian Tribe, all Trustees for the Tenyo Maru oil spill restoration, joined in announcing the obligation of $5.2 million for the protection of 900 acres of coastal forest habitat critical to the survival of the Federally protected seabird, the marbled murrelet.

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Tenyo Maru Restoration Plan

Division of Environmental Quality Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program

Texas Landowners and Lesser Prairie Chicken to Benefit from FWS and TPWD Agreement

Robert L. Cook, Executive Director of TPWD, and Deputy Secretary of the Interior, P. Lynn Scarlett, execute signing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken Cooperative Conservation Agreement, Austin, Texas. Credit: Chase Fountain/TPWD

A new agreement between the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to help private landowners conserve the lesser prairie chicken, a rare bird whose fate is tied to the health of grassland ecosystems that sustain many other wildlife species.

News Release

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department