Conserving Georgia Wildlife 2012 FISCAL YEAR REPORT More than 1,000 plant and animal species in Georgia are species of conservation concern. Nearly 320 of those, from bald eagles to hellbenders, are protected by state or federal law. Big numbers. But for the Nongame Conservation Section, the big issue is what those numbers represent: Georgia’s wildlife diversity. It’s our job to make sure that rich diversity is conserved for generations to come. This mission covers all of Georgia’s native nongame wildlife, or species not legally fished for or hunted. Yes, it is a challenge. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, our work took us from prescribed fires in the Piedmont to beach patrols for nesting loggerhead sea turtles, gentle giants showing signs of significant recovery. We set up a volunteer network to monitor bats, teamed with partners to survey for state-endangered blackbanded sunfish and protect a Turner County pitcherplant bog, and searched mountain streams for the eastern hellbender, a massive salamander proposed for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. These are only examples of the work needed to assess Georgia’s nongame wildlife populations, restore their habitats and raise awareness about the importance of conserving them. It is work that is strategic – guided by the State Wildlife Action Plan – and far-reaching, benefiting native species and the people who appreciate them. In 2011, wildlife-watching activities in our state involved an estimated 2.2 million Georgians and more than $1.8 billion in spending. More big numbers. Conserving the wildlife that make all of our lives richer is a big job. And it doesn’t happen without you. Although part of the Georgia DNR, the Nongame Conservation Section does not receive state appropriations for nongame work. Instead, we depend on direct donations, fundraising and grants. That means we need you – to buy nongame wildlife license plates, contribute to the Wildlife Conservation Fund income tax checkoff, attend Weekend for Wildlife or make direct donations to the Wildlife Fund. This report offers a glimpse of what we do and how you can help. Download copies of this report, as well as a summary version, at : www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport. Let me know what you think at [email protected]. And, as always, thank you for your support. Mike Harris | Chief, Nongame Conservation Section Georgia Department of NaturalFISCAL Resources | Wildlife YEAR Resources Division 2012 | Nongame RConservationEPORT Section 1 CONSERVATION EDUCATION AND OUTREACH n BIRDS n FRESHWATER n Waterbird Conservation Initiative AQUATIC SPECIES n Regional Education Centers n n Red-cockaded Woodpecker Recovery n Aquatic Conservation Initiative Youth Birding Competition n n Partners in Flight n Robust Redhorse Conservation Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest n Bird Surveys n Social Media Wood Stork Nests n PLANTS AND Bald Eagle Nests Swallow-tailed Kite Nests and Roosts NATURAL HABITATS Henslow’s Sparrows LAND ACQUISITION n Secretive Marshbirds Sandhills Conservation n Rare Plant Surveys on Public and AND CONSERVATION n REPTILES AND Private Lands AMPHIBIANS n Coastal Habitat Assessment and PLANNING conservation n Sea Turtle Conservation and Research n Restoration of Mountain and Coastal n Sheffield Forest WMA – Howell Tract n Sea Turtle Stranding Network and Plain Bogs n Conservation Planning At-sea Recovery n Habitat Improvements on State Lands n Bog Turtle Conservation and the Interagency Burn Team n Gopher Tortoise and Eastern Indigo n Biotics Database Development FINANCIAL AND Snake Surveys n Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance n Gopher Frog Restoration ADMINISTRATION n Ginseng Management Program n Eastern Hellbender Conservation n Weekend for Wildlife Surveys n PRIVATE LanDS n State Income Tax Checkoff n Private Land Activities n MAMMALS n Nongame License Plates n Forestry for Wildlife Partnership n n North Atlantic Right Whale TERN n Army Compatible Use Buffer Conservation n Federal and Other Funding Conservation n Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding n How You Can Help n Community Wildlife Projects Network n Florida Manatee Conservation n NONGAME LAW n Bottlenose Dolphin Contaminants Project ENFORCEMENT n Bat Conservation n INVASIVE SPECIES ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT Cover photos: Cloudless sulphur on rare Radford’s mint (Dicerandra radfordiana) (James Holland) Loggerhead sea turtle nesting Swabbing bat (Jerry Wallace) Hellbender survey (Brant Sanderlin/The Atlanta Journal and Constitution) Growing season burn at Moody Forest (Philip Juras) Southeastern American kestrel (Charlie Muise/Georgia Important Bird Areas Program) All photos without credits are by Georgia DNR. 2 CONSERVING GEORGIA’s NONGAME WILDLIFE Waterbird created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2007 and owned by the state continued as an Conservation Initiative important nesting site for waterbirds. In 2012, 674 royal tern nests were documented on the island, Georgia’s barrier island beaches, coastal salt along with 93 sandwich terns, 65 black skimmers marshes and freshwater wetlands support 86 and 65 laughing gull nests. The Nongame species of seabirds, shorebirds and wading birds, Conservation Section is working with the corps collectively known as waterbirds. The Waterbird to maintain this site in an unvegetated state to Conservation Initiative includes: promote beach-nesting seabirds and discourage • protecting important colonial waterbird nesting gull nesting. habitats. In other updates: • Conducting surveys to determine the status and habitat needs of resident, migratory and • A Georgia Ornithological Society grant allowed wintering waterbirds. the Nongame Conservation Section to provide electric fencing to Little St Simons Island and • Creating partnerships for long-term Island chick on Little Tybee feeding tern Least support a University of Georgia graduate student conservation of wetland-dependent bird working with least terns. Fences were established species. But these birds are resilient. Beryl washed over a at Little Saint Simons, Cumberland and Andrew’s Conservation efforts include protecting and managing brown pelican colony with 538 nests on Little Egg islands, significantly improving nesting success five sand islands specifically for beach-nesting Island Bar, leading to abandonment of the colony. of least terns and black skimmers by reducing and migratory birds. While this effort is especially Yet a smaller pelican colony of 228 nests was mammalian predation rates. established in a new site behind Little Cumberland valuable for seabirds, resident and migratory • Ongoing surveys of migrant and wintering Island. While this colony suffered some flooding, shorebirds also benefit from the protection of shorebirds highlighted the variability of it was not abandoned, and at one point biologists critical nesting and resting areas that are free from available resources at key feeding areas. counted 49 large chicks. Also, after several years of disturbances. One of the areas, Little Egg Island Heading into fall 2012, forage for migrant inactivity, St. Catherines Island Bar had one Bar, supports one of the largest colonies of nesting shorebirds appeared low, leading to fewer of the summer’s largest seabird colonies, seabirds on the south Atlantic Coast. migrating shorebirds at several sites. with nests from 230 black skimmers, 65 For beach-nesting birds, the summer of 2012 proved gull-billed terns and 46 least terns. • Researchers documented 107 pairs of tough. A series of very high tide events flooded many American oystercatchers on the Georgia nests along the coast. One event in early May and A dredge-spoil island near the coast. DNR and its partners banded 17 another associated with Tropical Storm Beryl later Brunswick shipping channel chicks, most of which fledged. that month proved particularly destructive. In late June, Tropical Storm Debby brought significant rains and flooded some nests, including at least 50 least tern nests at one site. A number of sites also suffered high depredation rates. Predators varied from fish crows and great- horned owls to coyotes, raccoons, mink and ghost crab. Between flooding and predators, the productivity of many shorebirds and seabirds was relatively low on Georgia’s coast in 2012. Birds Wilson’s plover Wilson’s FISCAL YEAR 2012 REPORT 3 over the past 200 years has been the primary cause first state-owned property to feature red-cockaded of this species’ decline. Suitable habitat now occurs woodpeckers. This state property has extensive primarily on some military bases, national forests stands of mature longleaf pine habitat. and other public lands, although there are still red-cockaded woodpecker populations on a number To supplement the red-cockaded woodpecker of private properties. population, Nongame Conservation Section staff translocated six woodpeckers from Apalachicola In 1999, Georgia DNR developed the nation’s first National Forest, Fla., to Silver Lake in fiscal 2012. statewide red-cockaded woodpecker Habitat The WMA now has 25 family groups, one more Conservation Plan to provide management options than the previous year. Also in 2012, 29 young for private landowners. The plan includes options for woodpeckers were banded at Silver Lake. mitigated take and Safe Harbor. American oystercatcher chick American oystercatcher Safe Harbor targets landowners in southwest Georgia, where plantations managed for the northern • Two graduate students worked with Wilson’s bobwhite also support a significant population plover during summer 2012, studying