Author Archives: MadelineBodin

5 State Biologists Are USFWS Recovery Champions

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Christine Kelly

Every year the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) singles out its employees and partners who have made a difference in the recovery of endangered and threatened species of plants and animals. Yesterday the service recognized 17 individuals and organizations as 2011 Recovery Champions. Among that group were five state biologists who either were recognized as individuals or as part of a team.

The state wildlife biologists who were recognized as Recovery Champions for 2011 are:

David Lincicome, Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation

David Lincicome

Jeff Boechler, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, as part of the Clackamas River Basin Bull Trout Team, Oregon
David Lincicome,Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Nashville, Tennessee, for leading the Tennessee Natural Heritage and Natural Areas Programs in restoring endangered and threatened plants such as Eggert’s sunflower and the Tennessee purple coneflower
Christine Kelly, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, for aiding the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel with launch poles to help the animals cross a road
Brian Kurzel, Colorado Natural Areas Program and Susan Spackman-Panjabi, Colorado Natural Heritage Program as part of the Colorado Rare Plant Conservation Initiative

Read more about their accomplishments in the USFWS press release announcing the awards, here.

Photo credits. The photo of Chris Kelly is by G Peeples. The photo of David Lincicome is by R. McCoy. Both used courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

March Wildlife Disease Roundup

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Things have actually been pretty quiet over the past month when it comes to wildlife diseases. The big news, of course, is white nose syndrome in Alabama, but there have been a few other stories worth noting.

Rabbits can get prion diseases. Once it looked like they were immune to diseases in the family of mad cow and chronic wasting disease, but the latest research shows they can get it. (See the original paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.)

At least one frog species, the Pacific chorus frog, is a carrier of chytrid fungus, a recent study found. Read the LiveScience story via MSNBC. The study was published recently in PLoS ONE, read it here. Or read the San Francisco State University press release, here.

A wolf suffering from parvovirus was discovered in Idaho. Parovirus effects all canids, including domestic dogs. There is a vaccine for the disease available for dogs. Read the Idaho Department of Fish and Game press release here.

Also, there has been an outbreak of canine distemper in gray foxes in Michigan.

For birds:
The red tides on the Gulf coast of Texas have caused the deaths of redhead ducks.
The death of eider ducks on Cape Cod (Massachusetts) has been pinned on a virus, named Wellfleet Bay virus.
Ten wild turkeys were found dead from avian pox, a virus, in southeast Montana.

Finally, back in late February, brucellosis, a cattle disease, was found in elk in Montana.

Photo: A Pacific chorus frog. Credit: Joyce Gross

Minn. Nongame Supervisor Wins National Bird Award

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Carroll Henderson, who has been supervisor of the Nongame Wildlife Program at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) since 1977, was awarded the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) Gary T. Myers Bird Conservation Award at the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Atlanta, Georgia last week.

A US Fish and Wildlife Service press release says that the award recognized Henderson for, “successful bird conservation initiatives involving research, endangered species protection and restoration, habitat preservation, collaboration with state and federal wildlife agencies, promotion of nature tourism, and educational efforts including more than 1,000 public presentations.”

Henderson has also written 11 books and has lead 49 international bird watching tours.

Read the US Fish and Wildlife Service press release about the award (and several other bird conservation awards), here.

Read the Minnesota DNR press release announcing the award, here.

To learn more about Henderson, and his experiences as a nongame program supervisor, read a Q&A with him on the Minnesota Trails website.

New Research on Avoiding Bear Attacks

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Bear researcher Tom Smith of BYU“If you act appropriately and you carry bear spray, you are much better off than just blundering into bear country with a large firearm,” said Brigham Young University researcher Tom Smith in a university press release.

Smith has a paper out in early view in the Journal of Wildlife Management that details the findings of his research into bear attacks in Alaska. He believes his findings apply to bear attacks elsewhere too.

The research confirms some old tips (such as “hike in a large group”), but also has some findings that may be controversial regarding guns versus bear spray — a particularly important topic now that guns are allowed in national parks.

As reported in the Jackson Hole News & Guide, people carrying firearms were more likely to be injured by a charging bear than were people carrying bear spray. The amount of bluff charges against both people carrying either firearms and bear spray is reportedly equal. Apparantly, what happens during the bluff charge is key. And firing a gun seems to drive the bear into a real attack.

Smith says in two different newspaper interviews that when it comes to avoiding injury in bear attacks, it’s not which firearm you carry, but how you carry yourself.

Read one BYU press release with lots of tips through EurekAlert, here.
Read a BYU EurekAlert press release that focuses on debunking bear spray myths, here.
Read the Jackson Hole News & Guide article on the study here.
Read the article in the Billings Gazette, here.
Journal of Wildlife Management article here (fee or subscription required)

Photo: BYU bear biologist Thomas S. Smith published a study on the effectiveness of bear spray for deterring aggressive bears. Here he is pictured with an unconscious “mother” polar bear – “If she were conscious, she’d be holding me,” Smith said.  Credit: Thomas S. Smith

White Nose Syndrome in Alabama

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Alabama white nose syndromeWhite nose syndrome was discovered in the Russell Cave complex in Jackson County, Alabama on March 1 by a team of surveyors from Alabama A&M University and the National Park Service and has just been confirmed by Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study unit at the University of Georgia, according to an Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources press release.

The finding was both disappointing and a bit of a surprise because scientists had thought that the South’s shorter winters would curtail the spread of the cold-loving fungus.

According to the Washington Post, no bats were found dead of white nose syndrome in the cave. This suggests a situation similar to the suspected case in Oklahoma (which was not confirmed), where white nose syndrome was found, but did not kill bats.

Alabama has many caves and is home to millions of bats, including the federally endangered gray bat.

The Washington Post article says: “[Alabama] State wildlife biologist Keith Hudson called Alabama the Grand Central Station for the endangered gray bat.”

Read the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources press release here.
Read the Washington Post article here.

Map: Showing the location of the white nose syndrome finding in Alabama. Map by Cal Butchkoski, PA Game Commission, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

Last Minute Objections to New ESA Defination

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On the last day of the comment period, a group of 97 conservation scientists sent a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) objecting to the proposed definition of “significant of portion of its range” in the Endangered Species Act.

The last day also saw a letter signed by 89 environmental organizations objecting to the new definition.

The most comprehensive article on the topic is from Environmental News Service.
Another article appeared in PlanetArk.
The Center for Biological Diversity, which took the lead among the environmental organizations commenting, also posted the letter from the scientists, here.

Photo: cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, Credit: Mike Wrigley/USFWS

Last Minute Objections to New ESA Defination

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On the last day of the comment period, a group of 97 conservation scientists sent a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) objecting to the proposed definition of “significant of portion of its range” in the Endangered Species Act.

The last day also saw a letter signed by 89 environmental organizations objecting to the new definition.

The most comprehensive article on the topic is from Environmental News Service.
Another article appeared in PlanetArk.
The Center for Biological Diversity, which took the lead among the environmental organizations commenting, also posted the letter from the scientists, here.

Photo: cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, Credit: Mike Wrigley/USFWS

Maybe Bats Just Hit (or Get Hit by) Wind Turbines

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Four years ago a science journal article was published saying that most of the bats found dead at an Alberta wind farm had no signs of external injuries, but their lungs were damaged. The verdict: barotrauma, damage caused by a sharp change in pressure. In humans the most common example is when you rupture an ear drum while on an airplane.

It was unexpected, it was weird, and it got plenty of coverage in the general media. (National Geographic News; Discover Magazine blog)

Now some Illinois scientists have published a paper in the journal Veterinary Pathology that says that damaged lungs can be an artifact of freezing specimens before examination, and that the bats they examined that were found dead at an Illinois wind farm showed every sign of plain old trauma. In fact, the paper says, the bats at the wind farm had more external injuries than the bats found dead in downtown Chicago that were assumed to have been killed by flying into buildings.

Read the article in Veterinary Pathology, here. (Fee or subscription required.)

Photo: Gray bat, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Research on the Hoof

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A pronghorn is released in western ColoradoColorado Parks and Wildlife has announced surveys of bighorn, pronghorn and elk, and Washington State is examining the health of its elk herd.

A Colorado Division of Wildlife press release describes the bighorn and elk surveys as major research projects. The aim of the elk study is to get a better idea of the population and to find elk migration patterns. The bighorn study will investigate the decline of one of the three populations of sheep in the survey area.

Read the whole press release for more details about the Colorado bighorn and elk study, including survey methods.

The pronghorn study will investigate why fawn survival is so low in a population introduced into western Colorado about 10 years ago, another Division of Wildlife press release says. In related news, on March 1, 74 pronghorns were released to supplement a population in the Gunnison Basin.

Read the pronghorn press release here, for more details, including survey techniques.

Biologists from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are examining elk organs and teeth submitted by hunters to determine the health of the herd, says an article in the Eugene Register-Guard. The teeth were used to determine the age of each animal. The organs are examined for fat, the article says. There’s a formula that converts the amount of fat observed on the organs to a percentage of fat on-the-hoof.

The fatter the better, since fat reserves are needed to get through the winter.

Read the whole article here.

Photo: A pronghorn antelope is release March 1, 2012, by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The pronghorn was captured in Limon earlier in the day and released near Delta to supplement a small herd in that area. Photo: Colorado Parks and Wildlife

For Better Genetics, Use Habitat Clusters

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by Louise HuntHabitat clusters can improve the genetics of rare species, such as the Florida scrub jay, says a recent paper in Biology Letters.

The research focused on the genetics and available habitat for the Florida scrub jay, but the findings are applicable to other rare species, the paper says.

“We present a detailed case study of one highly fragmented, endangered species (Florida Scrub-Jay) showing the importance of keeping habitat gaps as narrow as possible, in order to maintain gene flow among populations,” says John Fitzpatrick, director of Cornell Lab of Ornithology and one of the authors of the paper. “Habitat gaps greater than a few kilometers separating two populations reduce movement of jays across them sufficiently to cause genetic isolation of the two populations. This highlights the importance of maintaining or restoring habitat ‘stepping stones.'”

Read the paper here — with subscription or fee.
Read the Cornell Lab of Ornithology press release here.
Read the Cornell Lab of Ornithology blog on the topic here.
Read the Volusia County (Florida) web page about the research, while it was in progress, here.

Photo: Florida scrub jay by Louise Hunt, courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology