If you’re looking for the best pizza near Atlantic City, Ron Popowski is your man. The supervisory fish and wildlife biologist at the Service’s New Jersey Field Office is a self-proclaimed pizza critic and loves debating the merits of local pies.

In fact, given his work history, he likely can recommend a good slice in many parts of the country. In addition to more than 20 years with the Fish and Wildlife Service, he’s had positions with the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. …

What does the ideal dam removal and river restoration look like? There’s no such thing as perfect, but the Saccarappa Falls project in Westbrook, Maine, comes close. Not that it was easy…or quick.

“This project has gone on for so long it’s become a way of life for me,” said Michael Shaughnessy, president and co-founder of Friends of the Presumpscot River, who has been advocating for fish passage on the waterway for more than 20 years. “For the last year, I was concerned it wouldn’t happen — right up until the headwall was broken.”

Over the last two decades, a coalition of public and private entities, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has worked tirelessly to restore the river to free-flowing, re-opening habitat to migratory fish and expanding opportunities for recreation. Thanks to this latest project, nearly complete, migratory fish have access to five more miles of the Presumpscot River…and the community benefits as well. …

The last line of Chris Lowie’s email signature is personal: carry on the legacy. . . . . what ever you want it to be. It’s a motto inspired by his father, who lived to 90 and is never far from his thoughts.

Growing up in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Lowie and his seven siblings spent a lot of time outdoors.

“It all happened at the lake cottage,” he recalled fondly. “We learned to hunt and fish and to live with integrity.”

As manager of Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, and with nearly 30 years as a Service employee, Lowie is building his own legacy of principled conservation while maintaining connections to the past. …

It’s #LatinoConservationWeek, July 18–26! Today, we’re profiling Keith Ramos, manager of the Northern Maine National Wildlife Refuge Complex and pickleball ambassador. Together, we can break down barriers to our nation’s public lands and waters and inspire tomorrow’s stewards. Find an event (virtual too!) near you.

If not for a trip to South Africa following freshman year in college, Keith Ramos may have become a pediatrician. Instead, a visit to Kruger National Park opened his eyes to the possibility of making a living working with — and for — wildlife. The kids’ loss is the critters’ gain.

Now manager of three national wildlife refuges in northern Maine — Moosehorn, Sunkhaze Meadows, and Aroostook — Ramos grew up in Puerto Rico watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom on Telemundo on Saturday mornings. He recalls being thrilled to see a white-tailed deer and experience fishing for the first time while visiting family in Connecticut. …

The last time a common loon hatched in southern Massachusetts, there were only 37 states in the U.S.; Ulysses S. Grant was President; and there was no such thing as a telephone. Yeah, it’s been a while.

So imagine the excitement one charcoal ball-of-fluff bobbing between its protective parents near Fall River has caused among those who have been working to bring this bird back for years.

“Seeing the first loon chick in over a century in southern Massachusetts creates hope that, with persistence, other systems can be made whole again,” said David C. Evers, Ph.D., …

Albert Spells tells a story about a small stream in Barnwell, South Carolina, that flows through a culvert under Route 278. His brother Carnell and friend Thomas dubbed it The Little Stream. The Little Stream was their favorite fishing hole as young teenagers.

“It wasn’t much of a stream, but it was ‘our stream,’” he said. “We could always catch fish at The Little Stream, and we thoroughly enjoyed fishing there.”

During spring break of his freshman year at South Carolina State College, they went to fish at The Little Stream. …

One of the features people look for when buying a home is a safe neighborhood — the proverbial “great place to raise kids.”

Wildlife parents are no different; they search for a spot that has everything their offspring need…and as few predators as possible. For certain species, vernal pools are dream properties, even though they offer only seasonal occupancy.

Desirable digs

Vernal pools are small woodland wetlands that form from snow melt and rainfall in late winter or early spring, and sometimes again in fall. Also called ephemeral pools, they dry out at some point in the year, so fish cannot live in them. …

If you’re of a certain age, you might remember watching a singing cartoon frog as you ate breakfast in front of the TV on Saturday mornings. Michigan J. Frog gave a rousing rendition of “Hello My Baby” for the man who discovered him but clammed up in front of an audience, dashing the man’s dreams of striking it rich.

If you’re slightly younger, Kermit the Frog’s “Rainbow Connection” is probably etched in your memory. He recently re-recorded it with social distancing in mind.

This time of year, the evening air is filled with simpler, but no less entertaining, frog song, as amphibians throughout the Northeast woo mates and defend territories with full-throated calls. Nothing says, “Goodbye winter!” …