Check out our latest stories! A Dream Fulfilled and New Delta Smelt Survey Numbers

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. Check out these stories! Dream Fulfilled: A Sacramento Biologist's Love of the Delta Became Her Life's Calling FWS biologist Heather Swinney conducting a tour of the San Joaquin River in August 2016. Swinney's passion for helping restore the Delta has driven her to become an important team member in the Service's environmental review efforts with California WaterFix and the Central Valley Project. Credit: Steve Martarano/USFWS By Steve Martarano November 18, 2016 Heather Swinney still remembers when it clicked that the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta she had enjoyed her entire life might become a career. It was during high school, and she was out on one of her adventures on the estuary she loved when it resonated to her that combining passion for science and water could be her life's calling. "I loved the Delta, wanted to be a part of preserving it, and that seemed like something I could enjoy doing for a long, long time," the California Central Valley native says now. Continue to full story...   Biologists See Slight Rise in 2016 Juvenile Delta Smelt Numbers, Though Still Below 2012 Estimates An adult Delta smelt. Service biologists and researchers are, for the first time, able to estimate the number of juvenile smelt throughout the estuary using California Department of Fish and Wildlife surveys along with new mathematical modeling. Credit: Steve Martarano/USFWS By Steve Martarano November 18, 2016 Using the State of California's June Delta smelt surveys, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates there were nearly 114,000 juvenile smelt in the estuary this past summer. This is up from an estimate of 63,000 juveniles in 2015, but still considerably down from 2012 estimates of 5.2 million. However, surveys did not detect smelt this September and October, and November numbers have not been confirmed. For the first time, Service scientists are able to estimate the number – or abundance – of juvenile smelt throughout the estuary using the State's surveys and new mathematical modeling. Not only are the scientists estimating current numbers, but they are also able to go back in time and estimate past population sizes. For example, they now estimate that there were 16.4 million juvenile Delta smelt in the estuary in 1996. Continue to full story...           Stay Connected with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region     SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe All  |  Help   This email was sent to mantiskhiralla@gmail.com using GovDelivery, on behalf of: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region · 2800 Cottage Way · Suite W-2606 · Sacramento, CA 95825