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Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. Here are some of our latest stories! 'Got one!' 'Frog Week': After 22 years, collaborative efforts help recover Columbia spotted frog, removing it as a federal endangered species list candidate Voluntary, collaborative efforts help the Columbia spotted frog population.  Each year, public volunteers join biologists from federal and state agencies, as well as from the Nevada National Heritage Program, to spend four nights camping to help protect these native frogs. Credit: Kristin Szabo/Nevada National Heritage Program By Joe Barker August 11, 2017 "Got one!" A voice calls out across a field of waist-high sedge. Nets dip and splash into the tiny, yet deceptively deep pond in search of elusive prey while feet make sucking sounds as they are pulled from knee-deep mud. These are the sounds of Frog Week. For the past 14 years, scientists and volunteers have descended on the remote, but picturesque Indian Valley in central Nevada's Toiyabe Mountains. They make the long trek on unmarked dirt roads, past a long forgotten ghost town, to survey and tag Columbia spotted frogs. Continue to full story... Walking the beach in the name of science For twenty years, citizen scientists, and state and federal biologists have been conducting surveys of seabirds along California's coastline In 1997, the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, along with other state and research institutions, began the Beach Coastal Ocean Mammal/Bird Education and Research Surveys (COMBERS) program. The program enlists the help of trained volunteers who comb the beach in search of deceased marine mammals or birds. Above, Kendra Chan, a fish and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveys Hollywood Beach in Oxnard, California. Credit: Robyn Gerstenslager/USFWS By Robyn Gerstenslager August 18, 2017 Type the word "beachcomber" into any web browser and a variety of information appears: quaint bed and breakfasts along the California coast, a pub in Oregon, or even the 1954 movie, "The Beachcomber," about a mismatched group of Europeans living on remote islands in the Indian Ocean. You will also find the definition of the word according to dictionary.com, which, somewhat surprisingly, is "a person who lives by gathering salable articles of jetsam, refuse, etc., from beaches." In 1997 the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary offered up a new definition of beachcomber when, along with other state and research institutions, they began the Beach Coastal Ocean Mammal/Bird Education and Research Surveys (COMBERS) program. The program enlists the help of trained volunteers who comb the beach not in search of seashells or other trinkets, but instead look for deceased marine mammals or birds. Continue to full story...  Traffic leads to conservation in southern California A mountain lion is seen roaming OCTA's Ferber Ranch property in Orange County, California. The county's Measure M2 ensures protection of wildlife and habitat for generations. Photo courtesy of Orange County Transportation Authority By Joanna Gilkeson August 22, 2017 What do real housewives, rare mountain lions, congested roadways and responsible conservation have in common? You can find them all in Orange County. Southern California's popularity attracts vacationers and full-time residents alike. By the 1980s, Orange County's transportation infrastructure could not meet the demand of its booming population. As state and federal transportation budgets fell short, local leaders and residents began to consider a new solution: a ballot measure proposing a half-cent sales tax increase to fund countywide road improvements. In 1990, Orange County voted in favor of this solution, fondly referred to as Measure M. Continue to full story...   Stay Connected with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region     This email was sent using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region · 2800 Cottage Way · Suite W-2606 · Sacramento, CA 95825