Conserving Georgia's Nongame Wildlife
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Conserving Georgia’s Nongame Wildlife 2008-2009 REPORT Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division Nongame Conservation Section CONSERVING G E O R G I A ’ S N ONGAME WILDLIFE The Nongame Conservation strategy for conserving Georgia’s Section of Georgia DNR’s Wildlife biological diversity, guides all of Resources Division is charged our conservation actions. with conserving nongame wildlife. Nongame means animals That plan shows there are not legally hunted, fished for or many conservation priorities. trapped, as well as rare plants More than 1,000 of Georgia’s and natural habitats. plant and animal species are considered species of Our work at NCS is wide- conservation concern; 318 ranging. It varies from studying are listed as rare, unusual, southeastern American kestrels threatened or endangered, and in the Fall Line sandhills to protected by law. You – contributors to nongame conservation in Georgia – are critical to achieving those priorities. The Nongame Our Mission Conservation Section receives no state general funds. We monitoring sea turtle nesting on depend on your financial barrier islands, from surveying support, particularly through the Toccoa River for rare fish nongame license plate sales and to restoring habitat for a mint the Give Wildlife a Chance state Contents found worldwide only in south income tax checkoff. Georgia, and from encouraging Conservation ............................. 3 appreciation of wildlife through Those contributions are the annual Youth Birding leveraged with federal and other Competition to spreading news Education, Outreach grants. For the period covered by Twitter of successful efforts & Recreation .............................13 in this report, the ratio of to disentangle North Atlantic Nongame Wildlife Conservation right whales from fishing gear. Land Acquisition Fund expenditures used to match grants was 1-to-4, or 25 & Conservation Planning ....15 I hope through this report you cents for every $1 in grants. gain a better understanding of that effort and the value of Financial ......................................18 You can find out more in conserving our state’s nongame these pages, through our Web wildlife. Outlook .......................................19 sites and e-newsletter, or by During fiscal 2008 and 2009, the contacting us directly. The Web Nongame Conservation Section links are below. Contact details are on the back. PHOTO CREDITS mapped coastal and sandhills habitats in regional projects, Cover main Thank you for your support of Silver Lake WMA/John M. Hall documented data on native animals from bats to bottlenose Georgia’s nongame wildlife and Cover snapshots rich natural heritage. Diamondback terrapin/Andrew Grosse dolphins to improve species Fringed campion management, helped acquire Shineyrayed pocketbook more than 17,000 acres of priority Bald eagle/Curtis Compton /Atlanta Journal & Constitution habitat, and funded regional MIKE HARRIS education centers that reached Chief • Nongame Conservation Section This Page Wilson’s plover about 100,000 students. Eastern indigo snake/Dirk J. Stevenson www.facebook.com Brimley’s chorus frog www.youtube.com/user/GeorgiaWildlife Dragonfly These are only some of the www.twitter.com/GeorgiaWild highlights. The State Wildlife www.flickr.com/photos/wildliferesourcesdivision All photos are from Georgia DNR unless noted Action Plan, a comprehensive www.georgiawildlife.com/news/e-newsletters 2 expanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com C O N S E R V A T I O N The loggerhead sea turtle This work has provided a is found in Georgia’s coastal genetic “fingerprint” of the waters year-round and nests turtles, revealing – among on barrier island beaches other things – that at least 20 during spring and summer. mother/daughter pairs nest on In accordance with the U.S. our barrier beaches. Because Fish and Wildlife Service it takes at least 30 years for a and NOAA Marine Fisheries loggerhead to begin nesting, Service recovery plan, DNR that means at least 20 of Adult loggerhead sea turtle focuses on surveying and these turtles are 60 years or protecting loggerhead nests older, nesting alongside their and managing nesting beach 30-year-old daughters. habitat. The agency also coordinates the Georgia Sea Strandings: Green, Kemp’s Turtle Cooperative, made up ridley, leatherback and of volunteers, researchers and hawksbill turtles — all federally government employees who endangered or threatened — help monitor and manage are also found in Georgia’s nests. Strategies include coastal waters. With NOAA’s relocating nests, installing support, DNR monitors marine protective screens and turtle mortality through the Sea removing predators. Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network. Strandings are the primary index for threats to turtles in coastal waters. Barrier island beaches are patrolled, aerial surveys are flown to help determine distribution Sea Turtle and abundance of marine turtles during migration, and, Conservation and Research when possible, necropsies of Since comprehensive surveys stranded turtles are done to began in 1989, loggerhead evaluate the cause of death. nesting has varied widely. The average is about 1,000 nests The network documented 87 a year. Cooperators found dead or injured turtles in 2008 997 nests on Georgia beaches and 132 in 2009. Strandings in 2009 and a record 1,646 averaged 107 from 2007 to in 2008. According to the 2009, the lowest three-year recovery plan, loggerheads may average since surveys began be considered recovered if the in 1989. The most likely causes population increases 2 percent of the decline are increased Taking geneticTaking samples from nesting turtle Loggerhead Nesting annually for 50 years, resulting enforcement of turtle excluder in Georgia Loggerhead hatchling in a state total of 2,800 nests devices, or TEDs, and a decline 2000 - a year. in shrimp fishing. 1800 - 1.646 1600 - 1.504 1.400 1.406 Genetics: To develop a 1400 - 1.360 1200 - 1.207 comprehensive understanding 1.101 1.096 1.060 1.048 1.055 1.028 1.022 1.031 1000 - 997 of the number and 852 800 - 789 relatedness of loggerheads 688 675 600 - nesting in Georgia, DNR 470 400 - 368 and the University of Georgia 200 - developed a genetic profile of 0 - 91 01 97 93 92 89 95 98 96 99 07 03 02 94 05 08 90 06 09 04 00 nesting female turtles. expanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com 3 CONSERVING G E O R G I A ’ S N ONGAME WILDLIFE The North Atlantic right whale whales. Management actions is one of the world’s most focus on reducing human- endangered marine mammals. related mortality and protecting Also… The population is estimated at habitat. From December through about 400 whales. Commercial March each year, the Nongame Bottlenose Dolphin whaling in the late 1800s Conservation Section and Contaminants decimated the whales. Since Wildlife Trust conduct extensive Project whaling was banned in 1935, aerial surveys to document Research involving NCS, NOAA mortality from ship collisions calf production and warn ships Fisheries, the National Ocean and entanglement in commercial about whale locations. NCS Service and others found PCB fishing gear has limited the also takes part in management concentrations 10 times higher population’s recovery. and research efforts, including in Brunswick-area bottlenose whale disentanglement, genetic dolphins than those documented Each winter, right whales sampling, whale tagging at other sites. A 2008-2009 migrate from waters off the studies and injury/mortality photo-identification study off northeastern U.S. and Canada to investigations. Brunswick and Sapelo Island calving grounds along Georgia indicated many dolphins in this and northeastern Florida. An Since 2004, staff have helped area are year-round residents. average of 24 calves has been disentangle eight right whales In summer 2009, the project documented each year since and participated in five injury/ culminated in the two-week capture and health assessment 2001, compared with 11 calves a mortality investigations. The of 29 dolphins. Contaminants, year from 1980-2000. A record 2008-2009 season proved abundance and VHF tracking 39 calves were documented in particularly busy with five right analyses are due in 2010. winter 2008-2009. While the whales migrating to Georgia increase is encouraging, the wrapped in line consistent with Georgia Marine Mammal number of breeding females in that used in fixed-gear fisheries Stranding Network the population is less than 100. in north Atlantic waters. NCS coordinates this network, which monitors the numbers For more than two decades, DNR NCS also works to protect and species of animals that has collaborated with federal, right whales and their habitat strand on Georgia beaches, state and private organizations through the Right Whale with help from NOAA Fisheries and others. Strandings from to conserve North Atlantic right Southeast Implementation 1999-2008 totaled 270 (13 to 46 per year). The most common species stranded in Georgia: bottlenose dolphins, followed by pygmy and dwarf North Atlantic sperm whales. Florida Manatee Conservation Georgia DNR works Breaching right whale Right Whale with the Fish and Wildlife Service, Conservation the Navy and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Team and the North Atlantic Commission to reduce human- Right Whale Consortium. related deaths of Florida The section receives strong manatees and protect habitat support from the DNR Coastal for this endangered species. 2007-08 aerial surveys of Resources Division and the manatee abundance and habitat Wildlife Resources Division’s use in Cumberland Sound and Law Enforcement Section in Kings Bay Naval Submarine education and outreach, policy Base indicated peaks of 15-30 efforts, and enforcement of manatees during spring and federal right whale protections. early summer. 4 expanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com C O N S E R V A T I O N Georgia’s barrier island Little Egg Island Bar has beaches, coastal salt marshes supported one of the largest and freshwater wetlands colonies of nesting seabirds on support 86 species of seabirds, the South Atlantic coast. shorebirds and wading birds, collectively known as A new dredge-spoil island near waterbirds.