U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Hudson River—New York Bight Ecosystem Team

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southern New England - New York Bight Coastal Ecosystems Program 50 Bend Road Charlestown, RI 02813 Phone: (401) 364-9124 FAX: (401) 364-0170 http://www.fws.gov/r5snep/index.htm email to: [email protected] Conservation in a Region Filled with

June 2005 Ecological Challenges

Above: Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge looking out toward Great Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Atlantic City skyline on Absecon Island.

Left: Focus area of the Hudson River-New York Bight Ecosystem Team. The Bight is the bend in the Atlantic Ocean coastline and the water body enclosed within it.

Below: Population density of the eastern United States. New York, with a population of approximately 17 million, is the sixth largest city in the world and is the most populated coastal region of the United States. Fifty percent of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of the coast; about 80% within 200 miles. Photos Gene Nieminen / USFWS, NJFO Bight Piping plover (Charadrius melodus)

Piping Plover Recovery USFWS/SNEP The piping plover (Charadrius melodus) From the Adirondacks and rural Vermont to is listed as Threatened under the federal Cape May, New Jersey, the Hudson River— Endangered Species Act. Its recovery New York Bight (HR-NYB) ecosystem is presents a classic conflict between people incredibly diverse. Today tens of millions and wildlife. More than 50% of our of residents live in the watershed, using it nation’s population lives along the coasts; NOAA for recreation, commerce, housing, and our coastal development and recreation can American lifestyle. have devastating effects on piping plover survival. Tire tracks from off-road vehicle Despite dense human population, valuable The HR-NYB Ecosystem Team travel become canyons to a young plover. fish and wildlife habitats exist in the and How It Works Human food litter attracts plover predators ecosystem. The area is vital to migratory such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and birds, anadromous fish, and several The Team’s geographic focus is the domestic pets. Crows and gulls join the species protected by the federal and State watershed of the HR-NYB. Identifying gang of opportunists hoping to gobble up endangered species laws. The watershed priority fish and wildlife issues (e.g., plover chicks. includes streams and rivers, estuarine recovery of an endangered species, invasive and freshwater wetlands, upland forests, plant management, fish passage) the team In 2003, the Team made piping plover grasslands, and barrier beach habitats. shares ideas and encourages coordination. recovery its top priority. The Team's Law Several U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The Team is committed to using its Enforcement Offices play an important role offices within the ecosystem work to protect regulatory, technical, and management in plover protection. Grant partnerships are these resources. These offices comprise the tools to conserve fish and wildlife resources also paying off: combined nesting pairs in Hudson River—New York Bight Ecosystem under our public trust in collaboration with New York and New Jersey have increased Team (Team). Service, private, local, and State partners. from 401 in 2000 to more than 500 in 2004. Bog Turtle Recovery The Team continues to support bog turtle The secretive bog turtle (Clemmys recovery as one of its top priorities. The muhlenbergii) has been listed as a federally Team has supported a number of projects threatened species since 1997. Subject over the years including baseline surveys, to illegal collection, bog turtles are also radio-telemetry data of habitat use, blood extremely sensitive to habitat changes and sample collection for genetics studies, and have suffered greatly from habitat loss and habitat restoration. Bog turtle habitat degradation. Wetland filling, fragmentation restoration efforts have included selective and drainage, invasion of plant species such grazing by cattle and goats, removal of as common reed (Phragmites australis) woody vegetation, and invasive plant and purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), management to create and restore bog natural succession, and alteration of natural / USFWS Jr. Photo R.G. Tucker turtle habitat. drainage patterns are impacting the Bog turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergii). species. Photo Gene Nieminen / USFWS, NJFO In the Hackensack Meadowlands viewing the Sawmill Creek Wildlife Management Area (From left to right ) Clifford Day Supervisor New Jersey Field Office, Marty McHugh Director New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, and Marvin Moriarty Director of the Northeast Region of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,

Invasive Species Hackensack Meadowlands, The Hudson River—New York New Jersey Bight Ecosystem Team One of the significant challenges for natural resource managers everywhere The Hackensack Meadowlands, an 8,450- The HR-NYB Ecosystem Team member is the increasing number and variety of acre wetland and upland complex just offices are listed below. For office invasive species. These plants, animals, and seven miles from Manhattan, supports fact sheets, office locations, and other other organisms degrade native habitats. an estuarine system valuable to fish and information visit the website of the Managing them diverts precious resources wildlife resources and vital for birds Service’s Northeast Region at from other tasks. migrating from the Hudson River Valley, http://northeast.fws.gov/ New England, and coastal Long Island and The New York— New Jersey. The Team supported a staff Service Offices Contributing to the New Jersey Harbor position that developed a vision HR-NYB Ecosystem Team has been a huge plan with goals for achieving doorway for the and maintaining a healthy Cape May National Wildlife Refuge introduction of ecosystem. This vision is being invasive plant and applied to partnerships working Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge animal species. Team to conserve and restore members share area habitats. Congress has Great Swamp—Wallkill River—Shawangunk resources to make designated additional funds to the National Wildlife Refuge Complex control of species U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service such as non-native to be spent on restoration in the Law Enforcement—Elizabeth, New Jersey Phragmites and Hackensack Meadowlands. purple loosestrife as Law Enforcement—Valley Stream, New York effective as possible. By evaluating and supporting Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex techniques such as prescribed burning, Long Island Ecological Services Field Office mowing, herbicides, and biological control, the Team New Jersey Ecological Services Field Office provides resource managers New York Ecological Services Field Office with a better toolbox for control. Northeast Regional Office

Common reed Southern New England—New York Bight (Phragmites australis) USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A. Chase). 1950. Manual of the A.S. (rev. grasses of the United States. USDA Misc. Publ. No. DC. 200. Washington, Coastal Ecosystem Program