USFWS Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office

USFWS Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office Welcome to the USFWS Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office page! For official information about the Region, go to http://www.fws.gov/pacific/. The U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service works with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office is located in Portland, Oregon, with field offices throughout the state in Newport, Roseburg, Bend, and La Grande. We are part of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Ecological Services program

. This program works closely with our partners to conserve our nation's imperiled species and their habitats, ensuring that sustainable populations of fish, wildlife, and plants continue to thrive for future generations. As an Ecological Services Office, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office works collaboratively to:

--- Conserve coastal areas and wetlands
--- Restore natural resources injured by hazardous substances
--- Conduct environmental reviews of federal projects
--- Recover candidate, threatened, and endangered species
--- Review species status to determine if they should be listed under the ESA
--- Foster voluntary habitat conservation and restoration

It’s Pollinator Week and we are featuring four of Oregon’s rare butterflies and the host plants they depend on. The mona...
06/23/2026

It’s Pollinator Week and we are featuring four of Oregon’s rare butterflies and the host plants they depend on. The monarch butterfly, famous for its long-distance, three country spanning migration, is perhaps the most widely recognized butterfly in the United States. Monarch populations across the nation have declined significantly in recent decades, and the Service proposed to list the species under the Endangered Species Act in 2024.

Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed species. Although adult monarchs visit a variety of nectar-rich flowers, their populations cannot persist without milkweed. In Oregon, four native milkweed species grow in a variety of habitat types from the western valleys east to the sagebrush sea. They include heartleaf milkweed (Asclepias cordifolia), Davis’ milkweed (Asclepias cryptoceras ssp. Davisii), narrowleaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis), and showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). All four milkweed species are critical to sustaining local breeding populations during the summer months and supporting the monarch’s migration.

Learn more about Oregon’s rare butterflies and their host plants: https://outlook.cloud.microsoft/mail/inbox/id/AAkALgAAAAAAHYQDEapmEc2byACqAC%2FEWg0AQIvNm%2Bz7PUyZY7sDyz7LJAAJoE9IeQAA



Photo 1: Monarch butterfly on milkweed – Credit: NRCS/Tracy Robillard
Photo 2 Monarch caterpillar on milkweed – Credit: Jim Hudgins/USFWS

🐝It’s Pollinator Week! - June 22nd through the 28th🌼🦋🌸 All week long we will be celebrating the importance of the many d...
06/22/2026

🐝It’s Pollinator Week! - June 22nd through the 28th🌼🦋🌸 All week long we will be celebrating the importance of the many different types of pollinators that:

🌸 Bring color and beauty to our world 🦋🌻🌷🌼🌸🌺
🦋 Support thriving ecosystems: https://www.fws.gov/story/highlighting-importance-pollinators
🌼 Make our yards and gardens flourish: https://www.fws.gov/media/pollinator-garden-handbook
🐝 Provide us with delicious fruits, vegetables, beverages, fibers, spices and medicines we use daily: https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/pollinators-benefit-agriculture
🌻 Benefit our economies and save us money: https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/pollinators-benefit-economies

Throughout the week we’ll be featuring four of Oregon’s rare butterflies we are working to recover and the host plants they depend on.

Please help us get the week started by sharing photos of your favorite pollinators! We’ve attached some of our favorite shots for a little inspiration.

Photos include: Western tiger swallowtail Credit: USFWS, Rufus Hummingbird Credit: Tom Koerner/USFWS, Goldrenrod solider beetle on purple coneflower Credit: Mara Koenig/USFWS

We’re celebrating Pacific lamprey all week by exploring some of their amazing features! Lampreys have a third “eye.” Oka...
06/20/2026

We’re celebrating Pacific lamprey all week by exploring some of their amazing features! Lampreys have a third “eye.”

Okay, it’s not really an eye, but that white-ish spot on their forehead allows them to see light and dark. This helps them throughout their life, but it is particularly important when they are in their larval stage. They are not born with their characteristic blue eyes. These develop later in life, during the metamorphosis stage. While they are in their larval stage, that light spot on their foreheads helps them know which way is up and down, so they can bury themselves down into the stream or river substrate and begin their life as a worm-like filter feeder. We can thank them for helping to clean our streams!



Photo Credit: Jose Vazquez/USFWS

We’re recognizing Pacific lamprey all week! When it comes to this unique fish, there’s a lot to celebrate.Pacific lampre...
06/19/2026

We’re recognizing Pacific lamprey all week! When it comes to this unique fish, there’s a lot to celebrate.

Pacific lamprey have amazing features that tell us a lot about how long their ancestors have been on the planet:
🌊 They are jawless: they appeared even before jawed animals showed up on the planet, over 450 million years ago.
🌊 Smooth, scaleless skin: Like several other pre-historic species, Pacific lamprey don’t have scales, just smooth skin.
🌊 Lacking paired fins: The evolution of paired fins in other species allowed paired appendages, like legs, to evolve. Therefore, lamprey’s lack of paired fins is another sign that they have been on earth a long time!



Photo Credit: Freshwaters Illustrated, David Herasimtschuk

Calling out everyone who loves Pacific lamprey during a week-long celebration of this amazing fish: The Annual Yakama Na...
06/18/2026

Calling out everyone who loves Pacific lamprey during a week-long celebration of this amazing fish: The Annual Yakama Nation Willamette Falls Lamprey Celebration is on June 25th

This event shouldn’t be missed! It features inspiring speakers, educational tables and displays, hands-on activities, and culture dances, all aimed at bringing awareness to the importance of this ancient, remarkable fish. Our Education Lead for the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office will be joining staff from the US Fish and Wildlife Service Fisheries Program to engage visitors in hands-on, educational activities and programming.

Please mark your calendars, join us and help spread the word!

Learn more about our efforts to protect Pacific lamprey: https://www.fws.gov/story/2023-10/protecting-pacific-lamprey

It is Pacific Lamprey Week and we are celebrating! Did You Know? Lampreys are one of the oldest known creatures on the p...
06/17/2026

It is Pacific Lamprey Week and we are celebrating! Did You Know? Lampreys are one of the oldest known creatures on the planet!

They began swimming in our oceans over 450 million years ago, which is 200 million years before dinosaurs made an appearance. They are even older than trees which made their appearance on earth 385 million years ago! 🌳 Lamprey’s jawless, suction mouth is one of many features that tells us they are extremely ancient – meaning, they showed up on the planet even before animals evolved to have jaws.



Photo Credit: Wild Fish Conservancy, CGowell-20220726-00357

We’re celebrating Pacific lamprey all week by exploring some of their amazing features! Lamprey have seven gills. Unlike...
06/16/2026

We’re celebrating Pacific lamprey all week by exploring some of their amazing features! Lamprey have seven gills.

Unlike most modern fish that have a single gill covering, lamprey have seven simple structures, called gill pores. Most cartilaginous fish, like lamprey and sharks, have multiple gill slits (vs. a single operculum, or gill covering, which is found on fish with bones, like salmon and trout). These seven gills are a sign that lamprey have been on the planet for a VERY long time!

Their gills work in both fresh and salt water and serve different roles during different stages of their life cycle:
🌊 During their larval, river stage – Gills allow them to breathe, as well as act as filter feeders, pulling water in through their open, jawless mouth and out through their gills.
🌊 During their Juvenile and Adult Stages – Gills are used to breathe in fresh and salt water. When their mouth is sealed on a host, they switch to what is called tidal ventilation. This involves muscular contractions which compress and expand, drawing water in and expelling it back out through the same external gill slits in a back-and-forth, or tidal-like, motion. This allows them to stay attached to their host while still breathing.



Photo Credit: Wild Fish Conservancy, CGowell-20220718-08309

We’re celebrating Pacific Lamprey All Week! Did you know? Sharks and lamprey are distant “cousins.” Even though Pacific ...
06/15/2026

We’re celebrating Pacific Lamprey All Week! Did you know? Sharks and lamprey are distant “cousins.” Even though Pacific lamprey are often called “freshwater eels” they actually have more in common with sharks than with eels.

Can you see the family resemblance? Okay it’s a bit distant but it may surprise you to know that lampreys are actually closer related to sharks than eels! Incredibly, both sharks and lampreys have been around for over 450 million years. This makes them some of the oldest creatures on Earth, even older than dinosaurs and trees!

Their shared, unique features tell the story of genetic connection:
🦈 Multiple Gills Slits: Both sharks and lamprey have multiple gill slits. Like the Pacific lamprey, the broad nose seven gill shark has seven gill openings. Most sharks have five.
🦈Cartilage Skeletons: Both have skeletons made of cartilage (eels have bone).
🦈 No Swim Bladder: Both lack swim bladders, which help other fish float easily. Sharks and lamprey sink to the bottom if they don’t swim.
🦈 Sharp Teeth: Both have sharp teeth. Lamprey use those sharp teeth to drill into and parasitize their host; whereas, sharks are fierce predators and use their teeth to chomp their prey.

Despite this family history, Pacific lamprey don’t have jaws, meaning they appeared even before jawed animals, like sharks. This makes them the oldest “cousin” in the family – talk about ancient!

Learn more about Pacific lamprey: https://www.fws.gov/species/pacific-lamprey-entosphenus-tridentatus



Lamprey Photo Credit: Freshwaters Illustrated, David Herasimtschuk
Shark Photo Credit: Laura M. Beauregard, USFWS

06/15/2026

We’re celebrating Pacific lamprey all week by exploring some of their amazing features. “Whoa, check out that mouth!!” says almost everyone. We agree, it really is something!

That jawless mouth is a sign that lamprey have been on the planet a VERY long time – they showed up on earth over 450 million years ago, before trees appeared and before animals evolved to have jaws.

Their characteristic gaping open, jawless, suction mouth serves many purposes during different stages of their life:
🌊 Suctioning onto rocks and navigating strong currents while migrating upriver.
🌊 Building their redd (a.k.a., lamprey nest) by picking up rocks with their mouth.
🌊 Catching rides as a parasitic hitchhiker all across the Pacific Rim.
🌊 Cleaning our streams and rivers during their larval stage by sucking in water through their open mouth and filtering it through their seven gills.
🌊 Scaling waterfalls by suctioning their way up, inch by inch.

Despite the versatile ways they use their mouths, unfortunately, they cannot jump up fish ladders and culverts, and they cannot navigate past human made structures with 90 degree angles, which is a major cause for their population decline.

Learn more about collaborative conservation efforts to protect Pacific lamprey: https://www.pacificlamprey.org/



Video Credit: USFWS

Address

2600 SE 98th Avenue
Portland, OR
97266

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Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

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+15032316179

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