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Eastern Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis Sauritus), Great Lakes Population, in Canada

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Eastern Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis Sauritus), Great Lakes Population, in Canada PROPOSED Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series Management Plan for the Eastern Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis sauritus), Great Lakes population, in Canada Eastern Ribbonsnake 2014 Recommended citation: Environment Canada. 2014. Management Plan for the Eastern Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis sauritus), Great Lakes population, in Canada [Proposed]. Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series. Environment Canada, Ottawa. iv + 23 pp. For copies of the management plan, or for additional information on species at risk, including the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) Status Reports, residence descriptions, action plans, and other related recovery documents, please visit the Species at Risk (SAR) Public Registry. Cover illustration: © Gary Allen Également disponible en français sous le titre « Plan de gestion de la couleuvre mince (Thamnophis sauritus), population des Grands Lacs, au Canada [Proposition] » © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of the Environment, 2014. All rights reserved. ISBN Catalogue no. Content (excluding the illustrations) may be used without permission, with appropriate credit to the source. Management Plan for the Eastern Ribbonsnake, Great Lakes population 2014 Preface The federal, provincial, and territorial government signatories under the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk (1996) agreed to establish complementary legislation and programs that provide for effective protection of species at risk throughout Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act (S.C. 2002, c.29) (SARA), the federal competent ministers are responsible for the preparation of management plans for listed species of special concern and are required to report on progress five years after the publication of the final document on the SAR Public Registry. The Minister of the Environment and the Minister responsible for the Parks Canada Agency are the competent ministers under SARA for the Eastern Ribbonsnake, Great Lakes population and have prepared this management plan as per section 65 of SARA. To the extent possible it has been prepared in cooperation with the Parks Canada Agency and with the Government of Ontario. Success in the conservation of this species depends on the commitment and cooperation of many different constituencies that will be involved in implementing the directions set out in this plan and will not be achieved by Environment Canada or any other jurisdiction alone. All Canadians are invited to join in supporting and implementing this plan for the benefit of the Eastern Ribbonsnake, Great Lakes population, and Canadian society as a whole. Implementation of this management plan is subject to appropriations, priorities, and budgetary constraints of the participating jurisdictions and organizations. i Management Plan for the Eastern Ribbonsnake, Great Lakes population 2014 Acknowledgments Earlier drafts of this management plan were prepared by David Seburn of Seburn Ecological Services. Input from Mike Oldham, Robert Craig and Nicole Tuyten, (Natural Heritage Information Centre, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources) on the status and distribution of the Eastern Ribbonsnake is greatly appreciated. Bob Farmer (Dalhousie University), Scott Gillingwater (Upper Thames River Conservation Authority), Tara Imlay (Wildlife Preservation Canada), Fred Schueler (Bishops Mills Natural History Centre) and Adam Wilson (Long Point World Biosphere Reserve) all graciously answered questions regarding their research and/or knowledge on the Eastern Ribbonsnake. Brad Steinberg of Algonquin Provincial Park (Ontario Parks) provided current information regarding ribbonsnakes in the Park and Brenda van Sleeuwen provided information on Nature Conservancy of Canada sites. Development of this management plan was facilitated by Angela McConnell, Christina Rohe, Lee Voisin, Madeline Austen, Lesley Dunn, and Elizabeth Rezek (Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service – Ontario) along with Sylvain Giguere, Mark Dionne and Karine Picard (Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service – Quebec). Contributions from Rhonda Donley, Susan Humphrey, Louis Gagnon and Tianna Burke (formerly with Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service – Ontario) as well as assistance from conservation data centers and herpetofunal atlas projects are also greatly appreciated. Acknowledgement and thanks is given to all other parties that provided advice and input used to help inform the development of this management plan including various Aboriginal organizations and individuals, individual citizens, and stakeholders who provided input and/or participated in consultation meetings. ii Management Plan for the Eastern Ribbonsnake, Great Lakes population 2014 Executive Summary The Eastern Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis sauritus), Great Lakes population, is listed as Special Concern on both Schedule 1 of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) and under the Ontario Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA 2007). The Eastern Ribbonsnake is a slender, striped snake, with a long tail that generally accounts for one- third of its total body length. It has an extensive range in eastern North America. In Canada, the species is separated into two populations. One population is limited to Ontario and a small area of Quebec (Great Lakes population), while the other is a disjunct population in Nova Scotia (Atlantic population). This document focuses on the management of the Great Lakes population. The Eastern Ribbonsnake is a semi-aquatic snake, and is most commonly associated with wetlands, streams, rivers and adjacent upland habitat. Its primary food source is frogs, although salamanders and small fish are also preyed upon. Females likely mature in their second or third summer and produce five to twelve live young in each breeding year. Although it is largely unknown how frequently female ribbonsnakes reproduce, based on observations of related species in Canada it seems likely that they reproduce every second year. Identified limiting factors include insufficient understanding of the species’ distribution and abundance, and threats to the species include habitat loss or degradation, road construction and associated mortality, persecution, reduced prey abundance and introduction of predatory fish. The management objectives are: to conserve the Eastern Ribbonsnake (Great Lakes population) and the habitat where it is known to occur; to gain a sufficient understanding of the distribution and abundance of the Eastern Ribbonsnake (Great Lakes population) to better inform conservation efforts; and to mitigate known threats to this population in Canada. Broad strategies to help achieve these management objectives are outlined in Section 6.2 of this document. A number of conservation measures to achieve the management objectives of this plan are proposed, none of which are expected to have any significant negative effect on the environment or other species. iii Management Plan for the Eastern Ribbonsnake, Great Lakes population 2014 Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ii Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ iii 1. COSEWIC* Species Assessment Information ........................................................ 1 2. Species Status Information ..................................................................................... 1 3. Species Information ................................................................................................ 2 3.1. Species Description ........................................................................................... 2 3.2. Population and Distribution ................................................................................ 3 3.3. Needs of the Eastern Ribbonsnake – Great Lakes population ........................... 5 3.4 Limiting Factors .................................................................................................. 7 4. Threats .................................................................................................................... 8 4.1. Threat Assessment ............................................................................................ 8 4.2. Description of Threats ........................................................................................ 9 5. Management Objective ......................................................................................... 11 6. Broad Strategies and Conservation Measures ..................................................... 11 6.1. Actions Already Completed or Currently Underway ......................................... 11 6.2. Broad Strategies .............................................................................................. 14 6.3. Conservation Measures ................................................................................... 14 7. Measuring Progress .............................................................................................. 17 8. References ........................................................................................................... 18 Appendix A: Effects on the Environment and Other Species ........................................ 21 Appendix B: Sub-national conservation ranks of the Eastern Ribbonsnake in the United States ................................................................................................................
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