Species Successes - National Wildlife Federation


Endangered Species Successes

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Endangered Species Day
May 16, 2008

A Representative List of Showcase Species

California/Nevada:
	Least Bell’s vireo: The least Bell’s vireo is a small, olive-gray, migratory songbird that nests and forages almost exclusively in river-related (riparian) woodlands. Least Bell’s vireos are sensitive to human disturbance, including night lighting and persistent human presence. Excessive noise can cause vireos to abandon an area.	View more about this species.
	Smith's blue butterfly: A subspecies of the Pacific blue-dotted butterfly, the Smith’s blue is tiny, its wingspan less than an inch across. The species’ life cycle is amazingly compressed. Males emerge first, starting in early June. Overall adult activity runs into September, but individual butterflies live only about a week, during which time they mate.	View more about this species.
	Pacific Coast Western Snowy Plover: The western snowy plover is a small shorebird that forages for invertebrates in intertidal zones, in dry sandy areas above the high tide line, in salt pans and along the edges of salt marshes. Many birds from the interior of the continent winter on the central and southern coast of California.	View more about this species.
	Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle: This medium-sized beetle grows to about an inch long and is found only in California’s Central Valley, from southern Shasta County south to Fresno County in the San Joaquin Valley. There it is dependent for survival on elderberry shrubs. The main threat to the species’ survival is loss of river-related (riparian) habitat.	View more about this species.

Missouri:
	Upper Missouri Interior Least Tern: The smallest tern species in North America, the least tern grows to about 9 inches from beak tip to tail tip. Grayish back and wings contrast sharply with a black crown on the head and a snow-white underside and forehead. The bill is yellow with a black tip. Least terns are among a handful of species that serve as indicators of habitat health.	View more about this species.
	Upper Missouri Pallid Sturgeon: This fish ranges throughout the Missouri and Mississippi rivers (some 3,550 river miles) and their larger tributaries, but only portions of this range serve as suitable habitat. The pallid sturgeon grows to 80 pounds and more then 6 feet long, making it one of the largest fish species in the Upper Missouri.	View more about this species.
	Upper Missouri Piping Plover: Typical shorebirds, piping plovers have sand-colored backs and crowns contrasting with white underbellies. The piping plover ranges along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Great Lakes and the Northern Great Plains. Piping plovers, along with least terns, are among a handful of species that serve as indicators of habitat health.	View more about this species.

Northeast:
	Indiana Bat: Measuring about 3 inches long from nose to tail tip and weighing less than half an ounce, the dark-gray to grayish-brown Indiana bat is one of 45 bat species in the United States and one of nine in New York and Vermont. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state agencies put management emphasis on protecting the bat’s hibernacula.	View more about this species.
	Karner Blue Butterfly: The Karner blue butterfly depends for survival on wild lupine plants, which once thrived in pine barrens and oak savannahs in 12 northern states from New England to Minnesota and in Ontario, Canada. Loss of this habitat to development and fire suppression has driven the butterfly almost to extinction.	View more about this species.
	Lynx in Maine: Lynx are associated with boreal environments (northern forests) and are common in Canada and Alaska. Maine lies on the edge of lynx range in a region where the forest changes from boreal spruce-fir forest to the northern hardwood forest more typical of New England. As many as 1,000 lynx may now live in Maine, probably more lynx than ever before in state history.	View more about this species.

Northwest:
	Columbian White-Tailed Deer: The Columbian white-tailed deer ranks as the westernmost of 38 subspecies of the Virginia white-tailed deer. Unrestricted hunting and clearing of its habitat for farming reduced the deer to only 200 to 400 animals by the early 1900s.	View more about this species.
	Snowy Plover of the Pacific Northwest: Beach restoration and control of human and predator activities on beaches are helping recovery of the western snowy plover along the Pacific Northwest coast. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cooperates on western snowy plover recovery as part of an interagency working group.	View more about this species.

Southeast:
	Eggerts Sunflower: This sunflower can grow to more than seven feet tall. In August and September the plants produce bright yellow flowers which are really composite heads composed of myriad small flowers that can reach about 3.5 inches across. Threats to the species include land development, fire suppression and continued invasion of habitat by nonnative plants.	View more about this species.
	Piping Plover in the Southeast: In the United States, the bird breeds in three distinct areas — the Northern Great Plains, the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Coast. The Atlantic Coast population nests on sandy beaches from Canada south to North Carolina. Habitat loss and human disturbance of nesting adults and chicks are key threats to these birds.	View more about this species.
	Wood stork: Degradation of the wood stork’s primary habitat, the extensive wetlands of south Florida, forced the birds to nest further north in Florida and into Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Restoration efforts in south Florida habitat and favorable environmental conditions are bringing back the birds, with record nesting numbers in recent years.	View more about this species.

West:
	Canada Lynx in Colorado: The lynx resembles the bobcat, though the lynx is generally larger, with gray rather than the more typically reddish fur of the bobcat. Its large, furry feet adapt it to walking or running on snow. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has led the campaign to restore lynx to the state, with encouragement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.	View more about this species.
	Uncompahgre Fritillary Butterfly: The Uncompahgre fritillary butterfly lives in moist tundra with dwarf willows above 13,000 feet in south-western Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. The current population is likely a remnant that retreated up mountainsides as the Earth warmed during the current interglacial period.	View more about this species.
	Whooping Crane: Whooping cranes, found only in North America, have not been numerous since the end of the last ice age, when weather shifts dried much of their wet meadow habitat. Standing four to five feet tall, with a seven-and-a-half-foot wingspan, it is the tallest and largest wading bird in North America.	View more about this species.

Fair Funding for Wildlife (PDF/2MB)- This full report goes into greater detail about the need for fair funding concerning endangered species recovery.

Where Would They Be Now? - This National Wildlife® magazine article profiles nine species helped by the Endangered Species Act.

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