A Trip to the Field with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Species Lead
Fish and Wildlife biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Ecological Services Program serve in a variety of roles to help protect federally threatened and endangered species and the habitats they depend upon.
One important title a biologist can hold in listing and recovery is known as the “species lead,” who serves as the Service’s point-person for a listed, proposed or candidate species. This includes planning and conducting Species Status Assessments (SSA), which serves as the single source for species’ biological information needed for all Endangered Species Act (ESA) decisions, and drafting and implementing Recovery Plans to help improve the status of listed species.
But being a species lead isn’t just an office job. Just ask Dr. Jade Florence, a fish and wildlife biologist with the Service’s Austin Ecological Services Field Office.
Florence serves as the species lead for the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat and the candidate Chisos coral-root, which are found in remote and hard-to-access locations in the rugged Southwest.
https://www.fws.gov/story/2022-08/seeking-elusive-bats-and-rare-desert-orchids-southwest
Fish and Wildlife biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Ecological Services Program serve in a variety of roles to help protect federally threatened and endangered species and the habitats they depend upon.
One important title a biologist can hold in listing and recovery is known as the “species lead,” who serves as the Service’s point-person for a listed, proposed or candidate species. This includes planning and conducting Species Status Assessments (SSA), which serves as the single source for species’ biological information needed for all Endangered Species Act (ESA) decisions, and drafting and implementing Recovery Plans to help improve the status of listed species.
But being a species lead isn’t just an office job. Just ask Dr. Jade Florence, a fish and wildlife biologist with the Service’s Austin Ecological Services Field Office.
Florence serves as the species lead for the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat and the candidate Chisos coral-root, which are found in remote and hard-to-access locations in the rugged Southwest.
https://www.fws.gov/story/2022-08/seeking-elusive-bats-and-rare-desert-orchids-southwest