U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFWS)

Just over a year after President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act into law, a flood of money is already being put to work to restore aquatic ecosystems in the Mountain West.

Two different populations of a prairie bird that lives in parts of the Mountain West were listed under the Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

White-nose syndrome is a fungus that develops in the cave-dwellers during winter hibernation. It invades their skin and can be deadly. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, it’s caused estimated population declines of more than 90% in affected colonies.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a regulation change under the Endangered Species Act that would allow some species to be introduced outside their historical ranges. With more flexibility some endangered and threatened species could be moved to other suitable habitats.

U.S. wildlife officials have agreed to craft a new habitat plan for the snow-loving Canada lynx that could include more land in Colorado and other western states where the rare animals would be protected, according to a legal agreement made public Tuesday.

Once extirpated, there are now close to 200 wild Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to let the population grow beyond the current cap of 325.

The U.S. Interior Department is expanding access to hunting and fishing on about 2.1 million acres of Fish and Wildlife Service land. That’s nearly the size of Yellowstone National Park. While hunters and anglers applaud the efforts, other conservation groups believe that refuges shouldn’t have hunting or angling at all.

The Colorado River is one of the most engineered river systems in the world. Over millions of years, the living creatures that call the river home have adapted to its natural variability, of seasonal highs and lows. But for the last century, they have struggled to keep up with rapid change in the river’s flows and ecology.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed protections Thursday for the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act in the lower 48 states.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has greenlighted the expansion of hunting and fishing access to more than 2.3 million acres and 147 wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries across the nation.