NOAA and California Officials Agree to Remove Large Concrete Dam to Eliminate Safety Hazard and Restore Steelhead Habitat

NOAA joined state and local officials today in a pledge to remove the San Clemente Dam to eliminate a threat to the lives and property of those along California’s lower Carmel River, and help restore the watershed for federally protected steelhead trout....

NOAA Director and UCSB Chancellor Break Ground on New Ocean Science Education Building

NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco and the University of California, Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry T. Yang broke ground today on the new 15,000-square foot Ocean Science Education Building on the east side of the UCSB campus. The project brings together the university’s Marine Science Institute and NOAA’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary....

NOAA Ranks December Snowstorm a Category 3 on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale

To the surprise of no one affected by the Dec. 18-20, 2009 system that dumped heavy snow from the mid-Atlantic to southern New England, NOAA has rated the storm a Category 3 or "Major" winter storm on NOAA’s Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale, also known as NESIS....

NOAA Considers Listing Atlantic Sturgeon as Endangered or Threatened

NOAA’s Fisheries Service today announced that it will consider listing Atlantic sturgeon as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. The agency received a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council in October 2009, requesting that the species be listed throughout its range....

NOAA Proposes Critical Habitat Revisions for Leatherback Sea Turtles

NOAA’s Fisheries Service is seeking public comment on a proposed rule to expand critical habitat for the endangered leatherback sea turtle by designating more than 70,000 square miles in three areas in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington....