Cultural and Natural Resources: Conflicts and Opportunities for Cooperation The Challenge of Managing and Interpreting Avifauna on Cultural Sites within the Timucuan Preserve

Daniel R. Tardona, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, 13165 Mount Pleasant Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32225-1227; [email protected] Roger Clark, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, 13165 Mount Pleasant Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32225-1227 Paul W.Sykes,U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 12100 Beech Forest Road, Suite 4039, Laurel, Maryland 20708-4039 Jill Howard-Wilson, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, 13165 Mount Pleasant Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32225-1227

Introduction Many National Park Service (NPS) units face the challenge of balancing the management of natural and cultural resources. The present paper explores the challenges faced when managing birds on significant cultural sites within the Timucuan Preserve, located on the northeastern coast of Florida near Jacksonville. Resource education is a key aspect of preserve management and protection. Effective management of resources must include the diverse expectations and values of the visiting public. Timucuan Preserve was authorized as an It is readily apparent that birds comprise a NPS unit in 1988. Other land owners include major segment of the vertebrate fauna of the state and city parks, as well as over 300 private 46,000-acre preserve, and as such, the birds land and home owners. The multi-ownership likely interact at many levels with the estuarine nature of the preserve requires a management ecosystem and the on-going management approach that relies greatly on outreach and activities within the preserve. The preserve is partnerships. within the lower breeding limit of many north- The preserve contains diverse biological ern bird species and offers habitats for winter- systems consisting primarily of estuarine ing and migrating birds. The preserve pro- ecosystems, including salt marshes, coastal vides refuge for many birds that are increas- dunes, and upland hardwood hammocks, as ingly threatened by land development and well as salt, fresh, and brackish waters that recreation along coastal areas. It is a challenge provide habitat to a variety of life, including to communicate this and other important nat- resident and migratory birds. Within the ural resource issues to visitors at the Kingsley boundaries are over 200 recorded archeologi- Plantation and Fort Caroline, two important cal sites providing evidence of over 6,000 cultural sites with the preserve. years of human habitation. There are numer- ous historic structures and sites, including The Role of Education those at Kingsley Plantation and Fort Caroline The resource education division of the National Memorial. These are important cul- preserve provides opportunities for visitors to tural sites that focus on issues such as slavery, form their own intellectual and emotional con- indigenous culture, land use, early American nections with the cultural and natural history, and cultural conflict. The prehistoric resources that include birds and their habitat. and historic events and associated issues are Visitors to Kingsley Plantation and Fort intimately linked with the natural environ- Caroline come with diverse expectations. ment. There are many natural resource man- Often, expectations are immediately modified agement challenges within this context, but by the cultural landscape or by the striking this paper will specifically focus on the man- natural beauty before there is any contact with agement of birds and their habitats. any literature, waysides, rangers, or any other 75 Cultural and Natural Resources: Conflicts and Opportunities for Cooperation interpretive media. This creates both chal- efforts provides enjoyment, understanding, lenges and opportunities for integrating many and appreciation of bird natural history. As a interpretive stories, including historical ele- result, however, visitors assist park manage- ments and natural history. One important goal ment in communicating both natural and cul- of interpretation is resource protection. The tural resource protection needs. An important apparent conflict between the cultural and bird species that is being monitored in the natural resource meanings becomes an oppor- preserve is the painted bunting. The preserve tunity to provide relevance and multiple per- contains habitats for breeding and migratory spectives on important resource issues and painted buntings. protection. This bird is a species at special risk in the A goal of interpretation is to provide southeastern United States and has been opportunities for visitors to form their own declining at approximately 4% annually since connections with meanings inherent in the 1966 based upon Breeding Bird Survey data resources of a site. It is hoped that if visitors (Hunter, Pashley et. al. 1993; Sauer et al. make connections, they will be more likely to 1997). The cause or causes of this decline are find value and develop a caring attitude about not known but may be associated with frag- the resources, resulting in active participation mentation of eastern forest habitat into isolat- in resource protection. It follows that integrat- ed patches (Robbins et. al. 1989), loss or sig- ed and meaningful interpretation serves the nificant alteration of optimum breeding habi- visitor and the resource. tat (Askins et. al. 1990; Askins 1993), or During their contacts with the public, brood parasitism by the brown-headed cow- rangers are able to share information and bird (Molothurus ater) (Brittingham and interpretation about bird resources and Temple 1983; Trail and Baptista 1993). Other answer questions from visitors concerning the possibilities include increased predation by preserve’s large bird population. Resource domestic cats, problems on wintering grounds education staff obtain information from pre- (related to the cage bird trade in Cuba and liminary inventory and monitoring projects possibly in southern Florida), or other unde- being conducted in the preserve (Eakes 1996; termined causes. Survival rate of the south- Tardona et. al. 1997; Tardona et. al. 1999). In eastern coastal population of the painted addition to the benefit gained from the data bunting is unknown. gathered during the surveys, involvement of A six-year study of annual survival of the people from the local community strengthens southeastern population of the painted and expands support for park goals. A pre- bunting is currently in its fourth year, covering serve bird list (presently over 325 species) is an area from near Wilmington, North provided to visitors along with other bird Carolina, and extending along the immediate information guides. Information about birds is coast to the St. Johns River in northern integrated into formal public programs. The Florida. The object of this study is to deter- preserve has been participating in a research mine annual survival by age and sex using project that has not only provided data about trapping/retrapping and sightings of banded an important bird species, but also is provid- painted buntings throughout the Atlantic ing opportunities to facilitate connections Coast breeding range. Study sites are located between the natural environment and cultural along the coast from North Carolina to resources. Florida. Timucuan Preserve participates by providing four study sites with two temporary The Painted Bunting Project baiting stations at each site (a total of eight Monitoring of bird species has implica- baiting stations). Two baiting stations are tions not only for the preserve, but also broad- located south of the St. Johns River at Fort ly aids in data collection on migratory species Caroline National Memorial (one near the for other agencies and bird observatories. Fort Caroline fort exhibit and the other Involving visitors through resource education approximately 0.6 miles away at the Ribault 76 Cultural and Natural Resources: Conflicts and Opportunities for Cooperation

Monument). Six other baiting stations are only one-half of the site to its “historic” land- located north of the St. Johns (two at Cedar scape condition, while leaving the other half to Point, two on Fort George Island near the demonstrate the reclaimed area by nature and grounds of the Kingsley Plantation, and two thereby minimizing potential habitat loss for on the grounds of Little Talbot Island, part of painted buntings. Perhaps such a decision the Little Talbot Islands State Parks). This would offer greater opportunities for inter- study is providing information for resource preting the challenges of managing natural managers and is an essential vehicle for inter- and cultural resources. It would clearly preting many critical cultural and natural demonstrate that history, including land- resource management issues in the preserve. scapes, is not static, and thereby would pres- ent multiple perspectives about the resources Resource Integration in of the site. At the same time, opportunities Management and Interpretation may arise for interpreting natural resource Among the many factors to be considered conditions. Deciding how best to manage this in decisions regarding natural and cultural area is not easy, and many other factors will resources are interpretive opportunities. If need to be considered. interpretation is viewed as a valuable tool of While the painted bunting study is being resource management, then interpretive carried out, a temporary demonstration bait opportunities created or lost by management station has been set up on the grounds of the decisions must be considered. For example, Kingsley Plantation, next to the interpretive one challenge the preserve faces is at Kingsley garden. During the times when data are being Plantation. During the plantation period, collected at the research bait stations, visitors much of the island was cleared for the planting have the opportunity to observe the collection of cash crops such as Sea Island cotton, sugar process at many of these stations. During data cane, and indigo. One of the significant cul- collection, mist nets are erected in succession tural resources at the site are the Kingsley fam- surrounding the bait stations and monitored ily structures, tabby slave cabins, and the his- at each site in the early morning hours for half toric landscape. Much of the Kingsley family a day at each station. The study areas are sys- structures have been modified since the tematically sampled to try to prevent any effect Kingsley era and the landscape has changed of time of year. Buntings captured in the mist dramatically. One unresolved management nets are quickly leg-banded with uniquely col- question has been to what degree and at what ored bands. Birds are released at the net sites time period should the landscape be “recreat- after data on banding, age, and sex are record- ed.” Much of the landscape has been ed. (For more details on project methodology reclaimed by nature since the Kingsley era. see Sykes, Kendall, and Meyers 2002). Annual Clearing of the landscape to a closer approxi- survival rates are calculated based on recap- mation of that era’s landscape will require sac- tures the following year and on re-sightings. rificing some important natural habitat of the Visitors are afforded the opportunity to painted bunting and other bird species. observe from a distance and are provided with Considering the declining population of a short interpretive program at the site. buntings and the still unclear reasons for their Preliminary results of this study show a decline, how much of an impact would the decreasing trend in captures of buntings in the landscape restoration have upon bunting preserve for the past four years. habitat and overall population? Data collected from the research project, One possible scenario that may have inter- though preliminary,are easily and clearly com- pretive value, but would compromise some of municated where and when appropriate to the “historic scene,” is clearing a small piece of visitors to Kingsley Plantation and Fort land between the slave cabins and the main Caroline. This information is integrated into house. One alternative for discussion is the resource education programs. For example, interpretive value of clearing and maintaining birds were important for the native people 77 Cultural and Natural Resources: Conflicts and Opportunities for Cooperation occupying the region before European con- mation about the daily life of enslaved people tact. Birds were a resource for food and mate- and how they may have interacted with birds. rials such as feathers, and perhaps even assist- Interpretive themes include concepts of ed native people in fishing, hunting, and other freedom reflected in some of the folktales cre- activities as they observed their natural behav- ated by enslaved African people. Interpretive ior. Birds have served in native spiritual and programs explore how enslaved people com- social endeavors. The bait station located near bined memories and tales of their homeland in the Fort Caroline fort exhibit is interpreted to Africa with their experiences in the environ- interested visitors by a roving ranger. The ment of their new world, including those asso- resource education staff is considering an ciated with birds. Discussions revolve around unobtrusive temporary interpretive sign at the not only plantation life, but if, or how, birds location. Birds are integrated into historical were viewed by planter and slaves. Some visi- resource education programs. For example, tors even speculate whether the owners or one of the items presented to the French slaves ever maintained any kind of bird feeder explorers at first contact with the Timucua to attract birds (there is no historical record of (the native people who occupied the area at this). The research project becomes a topic of the time of European contact) were bird feath- discussion, as it relates to the natural resource ers. A brief discussion about birds and elements of the historic site. In discussions Timucua life is introduced and contrasted as about land use on the island, birds are inter- part of a clash of cultures. This provides woven into the stories about how the land- opportunities for interpretation of birds in the scape changed from the native Timucua preserve today, including the painted bunting through the plantation era, when much of the project. In addition, birds have been effective island was cleared for planting crops. These as a vehicle for interpreting many critical examples provide opportunities to integrate resource issues during orientation and infor- meanings inherent in specific cultural and nat- mational programs. ural resources at the site. For example, during At Kingsley Plantation on Fort George the country club era on the island, a 1930s Island, birds are integrated into interpretive brochure for the Fort George Club advertised programs, as several species are readily appar- “a bowling green, putting green, canoeing ... ent and sometimes “distracting” from the cul- and walks through the bird sanctuary, where tural theme of a program (e.g., the call of a over eighty species have been seen, some of pileated woodpecker or wood stork sailing them rare.” During the 1940s, students and overhead). These “distractions” are not faculty from Rollins College used 150 acres ignored, but incorporated into the particular on the south end of the island for scientific program theme. For example, birds and their studies (Florida Times-Union 1950). Today, habitat are employed as a tool in creating an that same area is still known as the Rollins image of everyday life of both owner and Bird and Plant Sanctuary.These are just a few enslaved people during the plantation era. examples of how an important natural Ideas about birds and the slaves are presented resource can be integrated into the cultural as speculation and not as historical fact (there themes within the preserve. are few, if any, written records from the slaves themselves who lived at the Kingsley Conclusion Plantation). For example, rhetorical questions When two resources come into direct con- are posed to visitors such as “Might the birds flict, it is often difficult to make resource man- observed by slaves remind them of their agement and interpretive decisions about homeland in Africa?” “Might the painted which takes priority. There are many exam- bunting have reminded them of a similar bird ples beyond the scope of this paper that could in parts of Africa and the folklore associated be cited. Despite many guidelines, such as a with it?” In many plantation sites, zooarcheo- park’s enabling legislation, the National logical remains include birds and yield infor- Environmental Policy Act, the National 78 Cultural and Natural Resources: Conflicts and Opportunities for Cooperation

Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Species Act, and others, there still exists no Station, 109–119. definitive equation to help resource managers Hunter, W.C., D.N. Pashley, R.E.F. Escano, decide what or what part of a specific resource and E.F. Ronald. 1993. Neotropical takes priority. Many factors have to be migratory landbird species and their habi- weighed, including cumulative effects on a tat of special concern within the Southeast resource, impact of adjacent land manage- region. In Status and Management of ment, local and national significance, sociopo- Neotropical Migratory Birds. D.M. Finch litical factors, public sentiment, and interpre- and P.W. Stangel, eds. General Technical tive value. This paper has been an attempt to Report RM-229. Fort Collins, Colo.: U.S. present important resource management and Department of Agriculture–Forest Service, interpretive issues facing an NPS site when a Rocky Mountain Forest and Range manager needs to balance cultural and natural Experiment Station, 159–169. resource values. Sauer, J.R., J.E. Hines, G. Gough, I. Thomas, and B. G. Peterjohn. 1997. The North References American Breeding Bird Survey Results Askins, R.A. 1993. Population trends in grass- and Analysis.(Version 96.4). Laurel, Md.: land, shrubland and forest birds in eastern U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife North America. In Current Ornithology Research Center. (vol. II). D.M. Power, ed. New York: Sykes, P.W., W.L. Kendall, and J.M. Meyers. Plenum Press, 1–34. 2002. Annual survival in the southeastern Askins, R.A., J.F. Lynch, and R. Greenberg. Atlantic coastal breeding population of the 1990. Population declines in migratory painted bunting. Annual Report 2002, birds in eastern North America. Current Project Number 3438.01, Preliminary Ornithology 7, 1–57. findings. Laurel, Md.: U.S. Geological Brittingham, M.C., and S.A. Temple. 1983. Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Have cowbirds caused forest songbirds to Center. decline? Biological Science 33, 31–35. Tardona, D.R., J. Tinsman, and R. Clark. Eakes, C. 1996. Timucuan Ecological and 1999. Avian monitoring project of the Historic Preserve: rare species survey. Timucuan Ecological & Historic Final report to National Park Service from Preserve: A progress report. Jacksonville, Southeast Conservation Science Fla.: National Park Service, Timucuan Department, The Nature Conservancy. Ecological & Historic Preserve. Florida Times-Union. 1950. Bird refuge Tardona, D.R., R.H. Clark, A.E. Hanigan, accepted by Gov. Warren. 8 May, 15, 21. and I. Hanigan. 1997. Survey and moni- Hunter, W.C., M.F. Carter, D.N. Pashley, and toring of birds on the Timucuan Preserve. K. Barker. 1993. The Partners in Flight Park Science 17:2, 16–17. species prioritization scheme. In Status Trail, P.W., and L.F. Baptista. 1993. The and Management of Neotropical Migratory impact of brown-headed cowbird para- Birds. D.M. Finch and P.W. Stangel, eds. sitism on populations of Nuttall’s white- General Technical Report RM-229. Fort crowned sparrow. Conservation Biology 7, Collins, Colo.: U.S. Department of 309–315. Agriculture–Forest Service, Rocky ✥

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