Category Archives: Indiana

Indiana River Otters: From Recovery to Control

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otter_pair_maxwell“The [Indiana] Department of Natural Resources is considering allowing a trapping season for river otters less than two decades after being reintroduced to the Hoosier landscape,” wrote John Martino, outdoors columnist for the Kokomo Tribune last week. In the article, Martino says the river otters were official declared extirpated from Indiana in 1942.

The state’s reintroduction program began in 1995 and included 303 river otters trapped in Louisiana and released in Indiana, the article says. Ten years later river otters were taken off the state endangered species list.

In 2013 the IDNR received more than 64 formal complaints about river otters eating fish from private ponds, Martino reports. The department issued 11 nuisance animal control permits in 2012, he adds. Now, he reports, the department is considering controlling the river otter population by opening a trapping season for river otter in the counties where it is most abundant.

Read the article in the Kokomo Tribune here.
Information on river otter from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources is here. It includes links to several data sets, including a mortality study.

Photo: courtesy Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Urban (and Suburban) Deer

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deer technical guideThe Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife has put together a 32-page online booklet to help municipalities better understand deer and available management options. The impact of white-tailed deer within urban communities is not just a problem in several Indiana communities, but is a growing problem nationwide.

“The Urban Deer guide was developed to support communities that struggle with urban deer conflicts,” said Chad Stewart, DNR’s deer management biologist in a department statement. “Very few topics can be as polarizing as dealing with white-tailed deer in an urban setting. How to resolve these conflicts can cause elected officials many sleepless nights.”

The booklet includes appendices on using sharp-shooters, deer resistant plants, and a solutions matrix.

This link will take you straight to the PDF of the booklet, Urban Deer: Technical Guide.

Indiana Studies Urban Fawns

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collared fawn IndianaFrom an Indiana Department of Natural Resources press release:

DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife biologists are partnering with Ball State University biologists to determine how white-tailed deer fawns move in urban areas compared to rural areas.

The study kicked off this spring with more than 30 fawns being collared with lightweight radio transmitters to track their movement. The project will last two years and the data collected will be used to help with statewide management of white-tailed deer. The data will also provide insight into the differences in the lives of urban and rural fawns.

Read the entire press release here.

Photo: Collared fawn, courtesy of Indiana DNR

 

 

 

Midwest Otter Recovery

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otter_pair_maxwellRiver otters now occupy more than 80 percent of Indiana counties, says Scott Johnson, nongame biologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources in a department press release.

That is remarkable, because in 1942 river otters had been extirpated from the state. A restoration program began in 1995, 303 otters were transported from Louisiana and released at 12 sites in northern and southern Indiana.The otters thrived and in 2005 they were removed from the state’s endangered species list.

More recently, otters have moved into central Indiana, finding habitat in an area that was long thought not to be ideal, says Johnson.

In what is perhaps the modern sign of wildlife restoration success, the otters are now considered a nuisance to some Indiana pond owners. The IDNR received 34 river otter complaints last year and issued 10 control permits in 2012.

Read the IDNR press release, here.

In Illinois, river otter restoration may be considered even more successful. Last week, National Public Radio reported that Illinois had reinstated an otter trapping season for the first time in 90 years. The story’s headline says that the state has been overrun by otters.

Read or listen to the NPR story, here.

Photo: River otters, courtesy Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Midwest Otter Recovery

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otter_pair_maxwellRiver otters now occupy more than 80 percent of Indiana counties, says Scott Johnson, nongame biologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources in a department press release.

That is remarkable, because in 1942 river otters had been extirpated from the state. A restoration program began in 1995, 303 otters were transported from Louisiana and released at 12 sites in northern and southern Indiana.The otters thrived and in 2005 they were removed from the state’s endangered species list.

More recently, otters have moved into central Indiana, finding habitat in an area that was long thought not to be ideal, says Johnson.

In what is perhaps the modern sign of wildlife restoration success, the otters are now considered a nuisance to some Indiana pond owners. The IDNR received 34 river otter complaints last year and issued 10 control permits in 2012.

Read the IDNR press release, here.

In Illinois, river otter restoration may be considered even more successful. Last week, National Public Radio reported that Illinois had reinstated an otter trapping season for the first time in 90 years. The story’s headline says that the state has been overrun by otters.

Read or listen to the NPR story, here.

Photo: River otters, courtesy Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Dry in the Midwest

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Things have been dry in the Midwest this year. So far the biggest impact seems to be fish kills in bodies of water that are drying out. However, according to an Associated Press article that ran in the Indiana Post-Tribune, the impact may not be felt for years:

Rusty Gonser, professor of ecology and biology at Indiana State University, said the drought’s impact could extend well into the future where fish and wildlife are concerned.

 

“There are short-term and long-term effects with a drought like this,” he said.

 

“You might not see the effect on the population for two to five years,” he said, noting that shifts in reproductive cycles occur at all levels of the ecosystem. “And in three years, it might be raining a lot and people won’t realize a drought caused the issues seen then.” (Read the whole article, here.)

 

In fact, just last year the Midwest saw high rainfalls and flooding, so it may be difficult to sort out the impacts on area wildlife in the years to come.

Another take on the drought comes from a columnist for the Aurora (IL) Beacon-News. Her take-away? It’s the survival of the fittest. (Read it, here.)

The drought also means a quieter Fourth of July. Fireworks have been banned in some locations, for fear of starting wildfires. (Missouri Department of Conservation press release, here.)

Meanwhile, the US Drought Monitor shows that, while the Midwest drought is still relatively new (and parts of the Midwest are merely suffering from an “abnormally dry” spell) long-term drought continues in the South and West.

Photo by Steve Hillebrand, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Spring research round-up

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Black duck
The New York State Department of Envirnmental Conservation and the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (located at Cornell University) are conducting two black bear research projects in south-central New York this season. One study will estimate bear population density using a genetic (DNA) identification technique. The other will study bear movements and habitat selection in core bear ranges and fringe areas. Read more.
Also this spring, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program is teaming up with Montclair State University and the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey for the state’s first broad-based scientific study of chytrid fungus. The study seeks to find out if chytrid fungus is having an impact on the state’s amphibian populations. More info from the State of New Jersey.
This winter the Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife Department studied black ducks along the state’s coast. The department is concerned about the birds because their numbers have been declining. Read about the study in this article from the Cape Codder, via the WickedLocal Eastham blog. The study will continue for three more years.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Fish and Wildlife recently completed catfish research in the Wabash River. There had been no harvest limits on large catfish in the state, and the public had expressed concerns about fishing pressure. The state is looking into regulating the fishery. Some info on the regs from the Indiana General Assembly. A report on catfish in the Wabash River.
Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Dept.

Box turtle data bonanza

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Courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife

The current issue of American Midland Naturalist has three papers on turtles, and two on eastern box turtles. The first box turtle (Terrapene carolina) paper examined the clutch size and clutch frequency of box turtles at the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge on eastern Long Island, NY. The researchers X-rayed the turtles they hand-captured. About 40 percent of the females captured were found to have eggs.

The big surprise for the researchers was that the average clutch size was 4.1 eggs. A previous study conducted in Connecticut (just across Long Island Sound from the research site) was 6.7 eggs/clutch. Yet another study in Maryland reported an average clutch size of 4.6. The Long Island study also found that clutch size did not appear to be related to body size in any statistically significant way. The authors suggest that clutch size may have more to do with specific local conditions than general geographic location.

Another surprise was that 95 percent of the turtle eggs survived at nests protected against predators, suggesting that egg predators play a big role in the population dynamics of eastern box turtles. You can find the paper here.

In the second paper, Indiana researchers radio-tagged box turtles and followed them for two years. They found that 96.2 percent of the turtles they tracked survived annually. Winter survival was lower than survival through the months of the year when the turtles were active (95.6 versus 96.7). Get more information from the paper, here.

White nose syndrome in Indiana

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Researchers found two bats that appeared to be stricken with white nose syndrome while doing a winter survey of Endless Cave in Washington County, in southern Indiana. This Indiana TV station says the disease was confirmed in one of the bats. However, when last checked, the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s map (at bottom of page) still showed the incident as a suspected case of white nose syndrome. It may be updated by the time you read this.

In other white nose syndrome news, the cover story of the journal Conservation Biology examines white nose syndrome. The researchers conclude that culling sick bats won’t stop the spread of the disease.