FWS Submissions

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is using airborne remote sensing technologies to enhance migratory bird surveys to 1) ensure safety of aircrews conducting surveys by allowing flight at higher altitudes, 2) improve the quality of collected population and habitat data by quantifying and minimizing error rates, and 3) increase bird survey efficiency and utility by creating consistent automated processes.

In large river ecosystems the timing, extent, duration, and frequency of floodplain inundation greatly affect the quality of fish and wildlife habitat and the supply of important ecosystem goods and services. Seasonal high flows provide connectivity from the river to the floodplain, and seasonal inundation of the floodplain governs ecosystem structure and function.

National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) in Texas and Oklahoma manage forested habitats to support priority bird populations in the West Gulf Coastal Plain and Ouachitas Bird Conservation Regions. Airborne laser altimetry, or light detection and ranging (lidar), captures detail on vertical and horizonal forest structure helpful for determining bird species diversity, density, and distribution.

The potential implications of climate change on Pacific salmon are a concern to resource managers in Alaska as warming trends continue in high-latitude streams. Temperature monitoring is needed to assess the potential ecological changes to salmon spawning habitat in coldwater refugia streams. The Funny River and Moose River are two coldwater streams on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge that support a variety of salmon species.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are over 2.3 million onshore abandoned oil and gas wells. A well is considered abandoned by State and Federal agencies if there has not been recent oil or gas production, the well head is not properly capped, or there is no responsible operating company. Many oil and gas wells are concentrated in the southwestern United States.