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2012 Feature Stories
September 2012
Rachel Carson’s research in the 1950s on the effects of pesticides to the American robin sparked awareness of and a concern for the risks of chemicals to human and wildlife health. Carson’s research led to the banning of the pesticide DDT and to the Environmental Protection Agency‘s review and regulation of all pesticides. Although regulated, chemicals are widely used in the environment and there is evidence that some chemicals used today can cause a health risk to wildlife, something Carson warned us about decades ago. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains Carson’s legacy of due diligence and continues investigations on the effects of chemicals on wildlife today.
- - - - - - - - - - - - The Fox River 50 Years After Silent Spring
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Research to assess the affect of herbicides on endangered Hine's emerald dragonflies.
September 2012
If Rachel Carson walked along the shores of Green Bay today, she would observe Forster’s terns flying overhead, notice egrets and herons foraging in near shore wetlands, and perhaps even witness northern pike migrating into coastal wetlands. The Green Bay shoreline is a far cry from the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean near Carson’s Maine cottage where she found the inspiration for her best-selling book, The Sea Around Us. But an inspiring shoreline it is, nonetheless. Thanks to clean-up and restoration efforts in recent decades there are vast improvements in the Bay and the Lower Fox River.
Six Whooping Crane Chicks Arrive in Wisconsin
for Ultralight Training
June 27, 2012
The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) is pleased to announce that this year’s group of birds that will follow the ultralight planes to Florida has safely arrived in Wisconsin from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD.
As with last year, they were taken to the White River Marsh State Wildlife Area in Green Lake and Marquette Counties. This is only the second year that this new site has been utilized. The cranes will spend the summer with Operation Migration staff getting acclimated, gaining strength, and learning to follow the planes. This fall, Operation Migration will guide the young birds on their first southward migration to the Gulf coast of Florida, the cranes’ winter home.
These birds represent a portion of the 12th group of endangered whooping cranes to take part in a project conducted by WCEP, a coalition of public and private organizations that is reintroducing a migratory flock of whooping cranes into eastern North America, part of their historic range. An additional batch of chicks will be migrating south as part of WCEP’s Direct Autumn Release (DAR) project. Biologists from the International Crane Foundation rear whooping crane chicks that are released in the fall in the company of older cranes, from which the young birds then learn the migration route. The DAR cranes will be released on the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge (HNWR) in Dodge County, WI early this fall. There are now over 100 wild cranes in this population, all of which, with the exception of 3 wild hatches, were released using the above two methods.
Most of the whooping cranes released in previous years spend the summer in central Wisconsin, where they use areas on or near Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, as well as other public and private lands. WCEP asks anyone who encounters a whooping crane in the wild to please give them the respect and distance they need. Do not approach birds on foot within 200 yards; remain in your vehicle; do not approach in a vehicle within 100 yards. Also, please remain concealed and do not speak loudly enough that the birds can hear you. Finally, do not trespass on private property in an attempt to view or photograph whooping cranes.
WCEP founding members are the International Crane Foundation, Operation Migration Inc., Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and National Wildlife Health Center, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, and the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team.
Many other flyway states, provinces, private individuals, and conservation groups have joined forces with and support WCEP by donating resources, funding, and personnel. More than 60 percent of the project’s budget comes from private sources in the form of grants, public donations, and corporate sponsors.
If you come across a whooping crane in the wild, please report the sighting at the WCEP whooping crane observation webpage at: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/whoopingcrane/sightings/sightingform.cfm.
-WCEP-
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov. Connect with our Facebook page at facebook.com/usfwsmidwest, follow our tweets at twitter.com/usfwsmidwest, watch our YouTube Channel at youtube.com/usfws and download photos from our Flickr page at flickr.com/photos/usfwsmidwest.
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Recovery Plan Outlines Steps to Help Rare Plant
May 30, 2012
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced availability of a draft recovery plan for the threatened dwarf lake iris, a species native to the Great Lakes coastline of Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada.
The recovery plan provides federal, state and tribal natural resource managers and their partners with a blueprint of actions needed to prevent the extinction of the plant and recover it to the point that protection under the Endangered Species Act is no longer needed. Recovery actions focus on conserving the iris’ habitat through a variety of protection strategies, including the preparation of management and monitoring plans. Additional efforts will focus on improving understanding of dwarf lake iris ecology.
Listed as threatened by the Service in 1988, the dwarf lake iris occurs along the shorelines of northern lakes Huron and Michigan, where it ranges from the Door Peninsula of northeastern Wisconsin eastward through the Mackinaw Straits region of Michigan and then south to the Bruce Peninsula of Ontario. Dwarf lake iris typically grows in shallow soil over moist sand, gravel and beach rubble, and limestone crevices. Dwarf lake iris is vulnerable to both natural processes, such as shading from forest growth, and human activities that can modify or destroy its habitat.
Copies of the Recovery Plan for the dwarf lake iris are available from the East Lansing, Michigan Field Office, 2651 Coolidge Road, Suite 101, East Lansing, Michigan 48823. The plan may also be downloaded from the Service’s website at: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered. Comments may be submitted to the East Lansing Field Office at the address above, and must be received by June 29, 2012.
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.
Connect with our Facebook page at facebook.com/usfwsmidwest, follow our tweets at twitter.com/usfwsmidwest, watch our YouTube Channel at youtube.com/usfws and download photos from our Flickr page at flickr.com/photos/usfwsmidwest.
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lists Two Freshwater Mussels as Endangered
March 13, 2012 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the sheepnose and the spectaclecase, two freshwater mussels found in river systems in the eastern half of the United States, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Sheepnose are currently found in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The sheepnose occurs in 25 streams, down from 76, a 67 percent decline. Very few of these populations are known to be reproducing.
The spectaclecase once occurred in at least 44 streams but now occurs in 20 streams, a 55 percent reduction in the number of occupied streams. Of the 20 remaining populations, six are represented by only one or two known specimens each. Spectaclecase mussels are currently found in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Information about Spectaclecase
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Piping Plover Nesting Habitat Protection
Along the Shores of Lake Michigan
February 23, 2012 The endangered piping plover will soon return to the beaches of the Great Lakes to begin another nesting season. In 2011, there were approximately 55 breeding pairs of piping plover in the Great Lakes region. Plovers nest on wide sand and cobble beaches near where the vegetation starts to grow. Each pair of plovers normally has a clutch of four eggs that both adults incubate for about 28 days. After the eggs hatch, the chicks are extremely vulnerable because they cannot fly for their first four weeks. During this time, any type of harassment can significantly decrease their chances of survival. If adult plovers are chased away because of harassment, the flightless chicks are easy prey for gulls and other predators, as the adults are not there to warn them of danger. Dogs that are not on a leash can easily chase and injure or kill the chicks.
Cooperation by private landowners is key to recovery efforts for this highly vulnerable species. In a typical year 20 to 30 % of Great Lakes piping plovers nest on private property.
Information about Piping Plovers
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lists
Two Freshwater Mussels as Endangered Species
February 13, 2012 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed two freshwater mussels – the rayed bean and the snuffbox – as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. The two mussels are found in river systems in the eastern United States.
The rayed bean is currently found in rivers in Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia, as well as Ontario, Canada. The snuffbox occurs in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada.
Information about Listing the Rayed Bean
Information about Listing the Snuffbox
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Salazar Announces Recovery of Gray Wolves in the Western Great Lakes, Removal from Threatened and Endangered Species List:States, tribes to assume management responsibility
December 21, 2011
Photo by Corel Corporation |
WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that gray wolf populations in the Great Lakes region have recovered and no longer require the protection of the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is publishing a final rule in the Federal Register removing wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and in portions of adjoining states, from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants.
“Once again, the Endangered Species Act has proved to be an effective tool for bringing species back from the brink of extinction,” Secretary Salazar said. “Thanks to the work of our scientists, wildlife managers, and our state, tribal, and stakeholder partners, gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region are now fully recovered and healthy.”
The rule removing ESA protection for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes becomes effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Information about Delisting the Gray Wolf Western Great Lakes DPS
2011 Feature Stories
