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Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. Our latest stories: Home free: A recently released desert tortoise takes in its new surroundings as the translocation team looks on. Credit: USFWS 'Homebuilders of the desert' Desert tortoises are an essential part of their desert habitat — their burrows provide homes for lizards, snakes, owls and other creatures Multiple agencies are currently collaborating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to raise the number of Mojave desert tortoises in areas where the populations are too low to be sustainable. The tortoises are brought in from areas where they have been displaced by human interference to protected areas with lower populations. There are many conservation efforts in place to protect the Mojave desert and its inhabitants. However, even with these programs, sometimes more assistance is needed. Tortoise populations are naturally slow to increase when their population has dwindled. One of the ways that conservation experts are helping is to make use of translocation, a method of moving an animal from one place to another. See the full story...   The tidal marshes that meet the edge of Silicon Valley community of Alviso, California are part of a major salt pond restoration effort that began in 2003 when the salt ponds were added to the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. The Service, in partnership with the California State Coastal Conservancy and California Department of Fish and Wildlife, among many other private and non-profit groups, committed to restore up to 90 percent of these salt ponds to tidal marsh as habitat for migratory waterfowl. Credit: USFWS   Tidal marsh restoration helps build coastal resiliency in Silicon Valley By Meghan Snow March 23, 2018 Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, serves as a natural buffer between the corporate headquarters of high-tech companies in Silicon Valley, like Google and Facebook, and the open waters of San Francisco Bay. The Service, along with dozens of partner organizations, is working to restore former commercial salt ponds lining the bay to tidal marsh that will provide habitat for fish and wildlife, enhance recreational opportunities, and help protect businesses and nearly four million people who live in nearby communities from coastal flooding. Throughout the refuge, a series of levees separate the edges of the bay into ponds. These non-engineered, earthen berms were originally built by Cargill Salt and its predecessors beginning in the early 1900s to create the ponds for commercial salt production. Salt production required the shallow edges of the bay to be dredged, creating mud piles that formed earthen berms. Over the years, the berms have earned the title of levee as they breakup large waves from the open bay, and trap water that crests the tops into the salt pond "reservoirs." The levees, however, were not designed to serve as flood protection barriers. See the 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