Biological Inventories of Schoodic and Corea Peninsulas, Coastal Maine, 1996," for Transmission to the National Park Service, New England I System Support Office
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FINAL REPORT I 'I Biological Inventories of Schoodic and Corea Peninsulas, Coastal Maine, 1996 I . I 'I I - ! June 30, 1999 I By: William E. Glanz, Biological Sciences Department, University of Maine and Bruce Connery, Acadia National Park, Co- Principal Investigators, With Chapters Contributed by Norman Famous, Glen Mittelhauser, Melissa Perera, Marcia Spencer-Famous, and Guthrie Zimmerman UNIVERSITY OF MAINE Department of Biological Sciences o 5751 Murray Hall o 5722 Deering Hall Orono. ME 04469-5751 Orono, ME 04469-5722 207/581-2540 207/581-2970 II FA-,{ 207/581-2537 FAX 207/581-2969 I·J 12 July 1999 Dr. Allan O'Connell Cooperative Park Studies Unit II South Annex A I I University of Maine II Orono, ME 04469 Dear Allan: Enclosed are three copies of the Final Report on "Biological Inventories of Schoodic and Corea Peninsulas, Coastal Maine, 1996," for transmission to the National Park Service, New England I System Support Office. I am delivering two additional copies to Bruce Connery, one for him as ! co-principal investigator and the other to be taken to James Miller at the US Navy base in Winter Harbor. This report is the final report for Amendment # 27 to the Cooperative Agreement between NPS and University of Maine (CA 1600-1-9016). The final version of this report incorporates most of the comments, editing, and suggestions from the reviews submitted to me. Bruce Connery revised the amphibian chapter to include all of Droege's suggestions; his recommendations for monitoring are outlined in the Discussion and Management Recommendations. Hadidian provided detailed editing suggestions, almost all of which were included in the amphibian, mammal and bird chapters. The several "missing" references are now included or corrected in the Literature Cited. The two detailed reviews of the bird chapter by Ralph and PeteIjohn (?) suggested many changes to that chapter. Where more methodological detail was requested, I have questioned Norm Famous (who did not send me any written revisions in response to the reviews) and have included responses to each request. An appendix of scientific and common names of bird species has been added, as urged by PeteIjohn. The first reference to each fruiting plant species now includes a scientific name. Additional references are cited for MAPS banding and species of special monitoring concern. In tables where subjective criteria were used for including bird species, I have imposed objective criteria based on quantitative changes in data on those species. Where the reviewers questioned Famous' proposed causes of population changes, I have chosen to retain those tables, but have omitted the purported causal agents from the tables, focusing them only on numerical changes in counts per species. In the Discussion I have rewritten the text to note factors (such as fruit production) that correlate with these changes and present Famous' 1 THE LAND GRANT UNIVERSITY AND SEA GRANT COLLEGE OF MAINE Printed on [{ecycled Paper evidence for them, but stress that they have not been tested adequately yet. The two reviewers gave conflicting recommendations for future work and techniques to use. I have been selective in incorporating their recommendations, and the final section includes most of Famous' ideas from [I previous drafts, with additional suggestions offered by both reviewers. In the bryophyte vegetation chapter, the editing comments by Hadidian have been followed. The chapter introduction has been extensively rewritten in response to comments by Steve Hubner (Navy), to differentiate bryophytes from other plants and to highlight their importance. More details on transect methodology have been added, as requested by ANP reviewers. The draft sent to ANP was missing a page on cover types. The missing text should clarify certain vegetation or site characteristics that were misinterpreted as site names. In response to the Navy review by Steve Hubner, author contact data have been added following the Acknowledgements on page ix. A summary of all listed species has been added to the Executive Summary, with page references to later text. Listed species are noted in bold type in each chapter, but the location of these may be in either Results or Discussion, depending on the author's presentation; refer to the Executive Summary for page numbers. Both federal and state designations are considered for each taxon. Missing pages and inconsistent table designations have been rectified. I was unable to fully accomodate the final two requests by Hubner. The file for the massive list of 335 vascular plant species in the 1994 inventory was not loaned to me and could not be scanned from its table format into an intelligible format on my computer. That list was compiled by previous investigators on a separate, previous contract, and was included in that project's final report. We or ANP personnel can add our 62 new site records and 9 new species to that list when the file becomes available. In response to Hubner's statement that "there are no management recommendations," I have found them in most chapters, and have added some and strengthened others in each chapter. These recommendations will not satisfy his requirements, as none advocate large-scale environmental manipulations by humans. Many involve limiting disturbance to rare or locally important habitats such as open water sites or certain wetland types; hence, if disturbance to a natural site is necessary, we recommend planning and management of that disturbance so that it affects more widespread or less important habitats. Another specifically addresses the spread of , alien plants, most of which become established at sites with direct disturbance of the vegetation by humans (see Chapter 7). The authors here have not outlined massive environmental manipulations to maintain diversity or certain species, largely because no such species or diversity relationships were identified. The status ofjack pine woodlands (noted by Hubner) was reviewed in the 1994 study, and monitoring, not burning, was recommended. I admit that their finding of no recent regeneration by jack pine in these stands suggests that burning may eventually be needed, but fire ecology was outside the scope of our 1996 inventory, and the timing of such a bum should be based on a more intensive study. Forest community dynamics was not part of the proposed work in 1996, and it is unfair to expect it be included here. Many other 2 recommendations (e.g. amphibians) also outline monitoring that would be necessary before management intervention is employed. I must stress that this study was a biological inventory, and with the 1994 data it provides the first inventory for this region. Inventories are the first step in management, to be followed by monitoring, which in tum will indicate whether manipulative interventions are needed. All three steps are part of management; for the Schoodic region, we are just completing step one for most taxa. Finally, as the Big Moose Navy site is small and embedded in a national park, and the Corea site is a designated Maine Critical Area, large-scale environmental interventions by humans would be difficult to undertake and of questionable legality. So I ask that you please accept the "management recomendations" offered here as sufficient for the scope of this study and as a useful first step toward more advanced forms of management. I will provide Bruce Connery with computer files for the text of this report. If others are needed, I will be happy to provide them. Contact me if you have any questions. Thank you. Sincerely, '\SJ--< ~ William Glanz Associate Professor, Biological Sciences (207) 581-2545 [email protected] 3 Table of Contents Executive Summary................................................................................................. v Acknowledgements and Addresses of Authors.......................................................... IX Chapter 1: Introduction... .. ....... .. ....... .... ...... .. .... ......... ............ ... .......... .................. 1 Chapter 2: Amphibian Inventory .............................................................................. 5 Chapter 3: Terrestrial Mammal Inventory................................................................. 14 Chapter 4: Inventory of Bats................................................ .................................... 22 [1 II Chapter 5: Inventories of Birds ................................................................................ 28 ! l Chapter 6: Bryophyte Vegetation Inventory............................................................. 48 Chapter 7: Additions to the Vascular Plant Flora of the Schoodic Region.................. 72 Chapter 8: General Recommendations for Management and Conservation................. 76 Literature Cited......................................................................................................... 79 Appendix 1. Amphibian Sampling Locations: Maps and UTM Coordinates ............... 87 Appendix 2. Amphibian Species Collected in the Schoodic Peninsula Study Areas, 1996 95 Appendix 3. Maps and UTM Coordinates of Bat Sampling Locations .................... 97 Appendix 4. Maps and UTM Coordinates of Small Mammal Sampling Locations, 1996 103 Appendix 5. Mammal Specimens Collected, Schoodic Region Study Areas, 1996 ..... 108 Appendix 6. Land Mammal Species Recorded from the Schoodic Region .................. 120 Appendix 7. Maps and UTM Coordinates for Bird Survey Sites ................................ 122 Appendix 8. Corea Heath and Schoodic Point