U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Fall 2009 Volume 34, No. 3 IN THIS ISSUE 4 Oases for Endangered Species 6 Bringing a Butterfly Back From the Brink Telephone: 703-358-2171 Contributors Fax: 703-358-1735 Greg Siekaniec 8 Ocelots and the Heritage of Texas E-mail: [email protected] Susan Morse Karen Leggett Web site: Kendall Slee www.fws.gov/endangered/bulletin.html Len Deibert Editor Ken Foote Mike Bender 10 New Disease Threatens Bat Art Director Jennifer A. Hennessey Conservation 13 Biologists Track Sea Otter Decline Cover: At Great Swamp NWR in New Jersey, Indiana bats roost during summer under loose tree bark. (See 16 Mississippi’s Sandhill Cranes story on page 10.) ©Merlin D. Tuttle/Bat Conservation International Opposite page: Sunrise at Okefenokee NWR in Georgia, a refuge for a variety of wildlife, including 18 The Life of a Piping Plover endangered species such as red- cockaded woodpeckers. 20 Bringing Life to a Poisoned River 22 A Challenging Future for the Steller’s Eider The Endangered Species Bulletin is an on-line publication. Three electronic 24 Replanting a Tallgrass Prairie editions are posted each year at www.fws.gov/endangered/bulletin.html, and one highlights edition is published each year. To be notified when a new on-line edi- tion has been posted, sign up for our list-serv by clicking on “E-Mail List” on the Bulletin Web page. The Bulletin welcomes manuscripts on a wide range of topics related to endangered species. We are particularly interested in news about recovery actions and conservation 26 Restoring Habitat at Pearl Harbor partnerships. Please send us your comments and ideas! E-mail them to us at [email protected]. Fall 2009 Endangered Species Bulletin Oases for Endangered Species by Greg Siekaniec It’s no exaggeration to say that controlling water levels and salt content the National Wildlife Refuge System, in sensitive estuaries, replanting native the country’s premier land stewardship vegetation, clearing invasives, restoring system, is vital to many endangered spe- wetlands, and staging controlled burns. cies. More than 280 of the country’s 1,320 But the contribution of national wildlife endangered or threatened species make refuges to vulnerable plants and animals these 550 oases of natural habitat their goes beyond habitat conservation. home. Fifty-nine of these refuges were Working in tandem with other gov- created specifically to protect species at ernment agencies and wildlife groups, risk. refuge biologists study plant life cycles Refuges actively manage the envi- and animal nesting and foraging habits, ronment for these and other creatures, monitoring vulnerable populations by Endangered wood storks nest in the upper branches of trees at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. John and Karen Hollingsworth Endangered Species Bulletin Fall 2009 Fall 2009 Endangered Species Bulletin methods as low-tech as visual inspection and as high-tech as radio and satellite A Safe Harbor for Beach Wildlife telemetry. They take part in captive breeding The Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge on Alabama’s programs, help guard against diseases, Gulf Coast was established in 1980 to preserve more than five and go to great lengths (and depths, in miles (eight kilometers) of intact coastal strand, one of the the case of endangered Ohio River mus- most imperiled and dynamic habitats in the country. These sels) to aid in species recovery programs. dynamic dunes provide habitat for the endangered Alabama Visitor services staff meanwhile incorpo- beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus ammobates) and three rate the emerging science into outreach listed species of nesting sea turtles. programs, educating the public about the creatures they are protecting and the Bon Secour, translated from French as “safe harbor,” also need for conservation measures large and provides habitat for more than 370 species of birds. Many small. of these are migratory species that complete their arduous Thanks in part to refuge-based efforts, journey from South and Central America to North America 21 species (including, famously, the to breed each year. Bon Secour is the first land these long- bald eagle and, less famously, Eggert’s distance migrants encounter after flying across the Gulf of sunflower) have recovered enough to Mexico. The diverse habitats of the refuge, from coastal be removed from Endangered Species strand to pine flatwoods and mixed hardwoods, provide food, Act protection, and 17 others have been cover, shelter, and resting areas for these weary travelers. upgraded in status from endangered to threatened. New threats loom, however, Bon Secour hosts thousands of visitors each year. It pro- from development pressure, climate vides excellent opportunities for nature study and environ- change, and habitat fragmentation. And mental stewardship to everyone from elementary students to even in the absence of such threats, senior “snowbird” visitors. The refuge benefits from a grow- species recovery can be a long and tricky ing network of volunteers and the support of an established business, given some creatures’ low birth Friends organization. Because one of the purposes of the rates and slow maturation cycles. refuge is to serve as a living laboratory, Bon Secour also hosts A collaborative effort of the Fish university groups, interns, graduate students, and scientists and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife throughout the year. All are invited to take part. Refuge System and the Endangered Species program, this special issue of the Endangered Species Bulletin looks at Refuge System activities on behalf of several endangered species, from Indiana bats to ocelots in Texas. The stories illus- trate some of the formidable challenges involved in wildlife protection. They also show the dedication and zeal with which refuge staffers face those challenges − and the fascination they have with the creatures they are striving to help. See if you agree. Greg Siekaniec is the Chief of the Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System. George Gentry Rare beach dune habitat supports the endangered Alabama beach mouse at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. Endangered Species Bulletin Fall 2009 Fall 2009 Endangered Species Bulletin Bringing a Butterfly Back by Susan Morse From the Brink As refuges go, it’s not much to look Metalmark butterflies – fragile and at: a sandy patch of scrub land in urban brightly colored – are named for their central California, wedged between a grey, or metallic-tinged, wing tips. Unlike row of industrial complexes and the San many other butterflies that can produce Joaquin River. But unassuming Antioch several generations of offspring each Dunes National Wildlife Refuge is the year, the Lange’s metalmark breeds only world’s last holdout of a finicky spe- once annually. For reasons that are not cies: the Lange’s metalmark butterfly well understood, it sticks close to home. (Apodemia mormo langei). It’s also a fussy customer. It will take Whether the species will survive is not nectar from various plant species, but for yet clear. But human intervention may, at its host plant it prefers a single variety long last, be improving its odds. of buckwheat – naked stem buckwheat (Eriogonum nudum ssp. auriculatum) – found on the refuge. Such habits have helped put the but- A Lange’s metalmark butterfly perches on naked stem buckwheat, its preferred host plant. terfly in a precarious spot. Steady declines in the metalmark’s numbers led to its federal listing in 1976, when it was one of the first insects to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. But the species seemed headed for extinction when, in 2006, the total popula- tion dropped to 158, down from 5,976 in 1997. Even more alarming was the peak count – a key measure butterfly experts, or lepidopterists, use to assess and compare the reproductive health of a species from year to year. Once a week in August through September, they count the number of butterflies that emerge as adults from the chrysalis, the enclosure in which the caterpillar transforms into an adult butterfly. The number of butterflies counted builds weekly and then crests and falls, forming a bell curve. The peak count is the highest of the weekly emergence counts. Louis Terrazas/FWS Endangered Species Bulletin Fall 2009 Fall 2009 Endangered Species Bulletin In 2006, the peak count was just 45. weed trimmers. “It’s really labor inten- head of cattle. “There are lots of native Fish and Wildlife Service staff decided sive,” says Terrazas. “Plus, it’s difficult seeds out there,” says Euing. “They just there was no more time to lose. because you have the two endangered have trouble competing with grasses and plants plus buckwheat out there, which invasives. So if we could take off the top Biologists to the Rescue could have butterflies on it. So you’ve got layer of invasives by grazing, it may allow During the next year’s breeding sea- to be careful where you step, where you native plants to come up on their own.” son, biologists captured nine egg-bearing set equipment, be careful not to pull the The refuge has also had some success females and placed them in two breeding wrong thing.” Using herbicides would be managing for fire. Wildfires over the last facilities – one at Moorpark College, problematic. “If we spray, there might decade have destroyed acres of butterfly the other at University of California- be drift that kills endangered plants habitat, but there’s been no fire on the Riverside. In August 2008 scientists or butterflies,” says Terrazas. “It’s a refuge for almost three years. released 30 adults, 25 larvae, and five predicament.” The metalmark’s future is uncertain, pupae (cocoons) produced from that but Terrazas prefers to look on the bright initial stock onto the refuge. It marked Wanted: More Sand side. “The population has come back up the first successful breed-and-release This past fall and winter, staff and − not in a spectacular fashion, but it’s program for this species.