Bulls Island Archery Hunt produces a rare buck

When I arrived on Bulls Island to assist with the November hunt, co-worker Wayne Tucker told me to check out the 15-point buck taken by Scott Bailey of Columbia, South Carolina. Fifteen-point buck? Sure enough, the eight and a half year-old deer had points protruding from the base of both antlers with a rack covered in velvet. How could this be? Tony Spires, officer for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources who was on the hunt, found that the buck had no testicles, which would explain the unique rack. This was Bailey’s 17th consecutive hunt on Bulls Island, and to be sure, a most memorable one.

Talking with Jeff Davis of South Carolina Bowhunters, Bailey noted “This was a special deer for me because it came from a place that holds so many outdoor memories for me and my father.”

Bailey’s buck was the highlight of the hunt and one of ten deer harvested throughout the week. Forty-seven hard-core hunters brought over boatloads of gear and provisions to camp during a week that brought all types of weather – from balmy temperatures to bone-chilling storm conditions.

The December hunt turned out to be a quieter one - no rare takes and no adverse weather. Over the course of the week, 24 archers harvested five deer. Randy Rabon of Lancaster, South Carolina, took two of those, one being an eight-point buck.

The more primitive bow-hunt is a challenging sport and just getting to the island poses a logistic challenge for the archers. However, talk to the hunters and you will find that “being out there” is just as important as taking a deer. It is the pristine beauty of Bulls Island that lures the archers year after year - a quiet get-a-way from a busy lifestyle. It also is the camaraderie to be found around the evening campfire where, to be sure, the story of Bailey’s 15-point buck will be told time and again.

The Bulls Island Archery Hunts occur during the second week of November and December. To obtain more information, visit the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge website at http://www.fws.gov/caperomain/ or call 843-928-3368.

Submitted by Tricia Lynch, Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, Awendaw, South Carolina

Warm Springs Regional Fisheries Center participates in candlelight festival

Warm Springs Regional Fisheries Center staff and the Friends of the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery participated in the Warm Springs Candlelight Festival Township on November 21, 2009. This annual festival begins the holiday celebration in Warm Springs, Georgia, and includes candlelit streets and shops, a township parade, a candlelight tour run, and other holiday events. Staff, volunteers, and Friends’ group members walked, rode on a decorated electrofishing boat, and drove a Service truck in the township parade. More than two hundred children and parents watched the parade, received fish tattoos, and were encouraged to visit the facility.

Following the parade at the aquarium, fifteen children and five adults created holiday ornaments for wildlife with help from staff and volunteers. Participants covered pine cones with peanut butter, rolled them in birdseed, and took the ornament home to hang on a tree. The Friends’ group also provided free hot chocolate, cookies, and chips to the public. This event provided a great opportunity for the public to meet the Regional Fisheries Center staff.

Submitted by Nicole Rankin, Warm Springs Regional Fisheries Center, Warm Springs, Georgia

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

The Office of Diversity and Civil Rights sponsored several activities to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Throughout the month of November, Diversity and Civil Rights sent educational e-mails to employees consisting of Native American facts and trivia questions. Some employees were quite competitive with the trivia, eager to be the first one to answer correctly.

On December 3, 2009, the Diversity and Civil Rights staff conducted a special emphasis program in the Regional Office. Shari Brewer started the event with a presentation on the Service’s Tribal Grants Program and the National Eagle Repository. Many employees indicated that they were not aware of these partnership efforts between the Service and Native American Tribes.

Afterwards, Acquanetta Reese introduced the film “Two Rivers - A Native American Reconciliation.” The film documents a community’s social and political reconciliation initiative with the Methow Tribe. A discussion followed in which employees expressed their thoughts about how Native Americans have been treated throughout history.

Employees also were encouraged to visit the Atlanta History Center where the exhibit Native Lands: Indians, and Georgia is on display.

Managers who participated in Native American Heritage events received credit towards their annual diversity training.

To learn more about diversity topics or to view films such as “Two Rivers,” visit the Diversity and Civil Rights page on the Intranet.

For President Obama’s Native American Heritage Month, 2009 Proclamation,
go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-national-native-american-heritage-month

Submitted by Shari Brewer, Office of Diversity and Civil Rights, Atlanta, Georgia

Nature rocks! Family Nature Club kicks off at Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery

Cold temperatures and the chance of snow do not normally set the scene for spending much time outdoors for most people. However, January 2010 was a special month for Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery as the hatchery kicked off its first ever Nature Rocks! Family Nature Club. The year-long program, coordinated in partnership with the Russell County Public Library, offers an engaging, family-oriented activity monthly to help encourage parents and guardians, along with their children, to enjoy the outdoors.

Each month has a different theme, ranging from Awesome Amphibians (which will include a guided, spring hike around the hatchery’s wetlands to learn different frog calls) to Camping 101 (focused on teaching participants how to set up a mock campsite and feel more comfortable with all the necessary gear). Healthy snacks also are provided to all participants during the free one and a half-hour program. To help ease the driving distance, the two partnering organizations also rotate locations alternately. The hatchery hosts monthly activities during the “odd” months and the public library in Jamestown, Kentucky, on “even” months.

Submitted by Amanda Patrick, Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery, Jamestown, Kentucky

Story time and aquatic critters

Staff members from the Warm Springs Fish Technology Center shared half a day with at the St. Anne Bacelli Catholic School in Columbus, Georgia, reading stories about aquatic animals and then introducing animals to students from Pre-Kindergarten to Second grade. Students and teachers saw some of the animals, such as alligators, tadpoles, crayfish and turtles. The Second-graders learned about different types of habitats and animals, and this visit lead to a great opportunity to tell the children about streams and rivers and of the different animals that live in them. All six classes are on the same hall at the school, and noise levels rose from class to class as the different animals were shown. Two hundred children and sixteen teachers were taught about the need to protect aquatic resources and the animals that inhibit them.

Submitted by Bill Bouthillier, Warm Springs Fish Technology Center, Warm Springs, Georgia

Children and Christmas Bird Counts

What better way to introduce kids to nature then by using an Audubon Christmas Bird Count? During the month of December or over the holidays, all across the world Christmas Birds Counts are being conducted. Since the turn of the century, starting in 1900, these counts have been going on. Last year in 2008, over 2,200 surveys were conducted. This year, my own children assisted. They were up by 6 a.m., dressed, and ready to bird. We started looking and listening for owls, but it was too cold and dark to see or hear anything. The temperature was 28 degrees, and the wind was blowing. Both girls were dressed as if they lived in the New England states, layer after layer of clothes. By 7:30 a.m., the sun came out, and the birds were moving.

The first bird the girls saw was a red-shouldered hawk, and both the hawk and the girls were surprised. The youngest child still doesn’t understand that you need to be quiet when birding. She likes to yell when she sees a hawk. During the afternoon, the temperature rose by three degrees, and birds still seemed to move about. We had a great day birding. We birded for more than seven hours and saw more than 50 species of birds. When I asked the girls what they liked best about the day, one child answered “seeing 200 crows at one time.” The other child enjoyed her “hot chocolate.”

Submitted by: Bill Bouthillier, Warm Springs Fish Technology Center, Warm Springs, Georgia

Bay Day for Surfside Middle School

On October 8 and 9, 2009, around 100 seventh grade students from Surfside Middle School in Panama City Beach, Florida, participated in Bay Day. This is an annual event partnering Bay County Schools, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Gulf Coast Community College. The students came out to St. Andrews Bay, Florida, to participate in various stations that looked at biodiversity and focused on the importance of sea grass beds. The students learned how to use plankton nets, seines, yabbie pumps, kick nets, and microscopes. All the participants enjoyed getting outside of the classroom and seeing the diversity in essentially their back yard.

Submitted by Richard Zane, Panama City, Florida, Ecological Services Field Office

Snakes alive! Snake hunting in south Florida

During some cold and blustery days in mid-January, 60 volunteers from multiple agencies in south Florida crowded together to learn how to conduct surveys for and safely catch Northern African Pythons. This multiple-agency working group, known as ECISMA, (Everglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area), sponsored a three-day, python roundup. These cooperative working events bring together representatives from various federal, state, local, and tribal governments, private industries, and community organizations responsible for controlling the spread of invasive species in south Florida. The rapid response surveys for Northern African Python in the Bird Drive Basin Recharge Area were conducted in response to a new species being discovered in south Florida with the hope of eradicating it before it became established.

Unlike the Burmese python which is feared to be found throughout the Everglades System, the Northern African Python is a newcomer to the Everglades. These systematic surveys will aid the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in assessing the status of the introduced population in an area where the pythons have been sighted and collected.

With twelve staff members and volunteers from Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatcheee National Wildlife Refuge trained on which end of the snake to grab and supplied with snake bags, the python hunt began in the Bird Basin area adjacent to Miccosukee Tribal lands and at the entrances to Everglades National Park, just off the Tamiami Trail.

Participants walked through dense Melaluca forest, crawled through and over garbage piles of abandoned cars, lumber, and shingles, poked sticks under root balls and into rock piles in hopes of seeing or catching a snake. Other participants drove established routes and surveyed canals adjacent to surrounding developments or canoed the open water areas looking for snakes sunning themselves along the banks.

A half-hour into the hunt on January 12, a cry went up that the first snake of the day was found. Sam Ward, a Loxahatchee volunteer, found a female, an almost 125-foot Northern African Python weighing between 95 to 105 lbs. Found curled up in the tall grass by a canal, the snake did not put up much of a struggle due to the cold weather and was easily wrangled into a snake bag. Although only two snakes were found and captured that day, python sightings are becoming more and more regular. One participant who works for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), who does grading and mowing of the levees around water management areas, captured 11 pythons in one week alone.

The aim of the ECISMA partnership is to better coordinate the activities of all partner agencies, and help facilitate a rapid response against new non-native introductions, which can pose a serious threat to south Florida’s natural environments through direct competition with native plants and wildlife. As an ECISMA partner the refuge actively works to help stem the proliferation of numerous invasive plant and animal species. The refuge staff members have stepped up early detection efforts on all exotic non-native fauna, because we know it may only be a matter of time before we see them here, if they are not already. More photos in Photo Album.

Submitted by Rolf Olson, A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Boynton Beach, Florida

Sewee Center hosts Lowcountry Girl Scouts

On Saturday, November 14, 2009, the Sewee Visitor and Environmental Education Center became a hub of activity for more than 100 Girl Scouts and their families. Following practice sessions of tying knots, setting up camp, and sleeping under the stars, the Scouts spent the rest of the day participating in an array of hands-on outdoor-oriented activities and learning about Native American lore. Throughout the day of jam-packed activities, even the youngest Daisies had great fun planting colorful flowers for the butterflies to enjoy in the Butterfly Garden behind the Center.

It was a wild time! The Scouts made plaster animal tracks while learning about the animal’s habitats and feeding habits and created many interesting and colorful impressions of fish on paper towels. Much was learned about the eating habits of owls when the Scouts dissected owl pellets to find skeletal remains of several small meals. Adding to the girls’ excitement was the program given by The Center for Birds of Prey. Monty, the Birds of Prey representative, brought an Eastern Screech Owl, Saker Falcon, and Harris’ Hawk, and talked to the Scouts about the birds’ special adaptations that make them successful in their lifestyles. Monty also explained how the Center cares for injured birds brought to the facility.

Hawk Hurst, noted Native American storyteller, flute maker, and musician captivated his young audience by telling tales, such as how the earth was once known as Turtle Island and how that came to be. He introduced Native American musical instruments such as the flute and single drum and, to the delight of his audience, played several songs.

For lunch, the Scouts did some tasty campfire cooking! The girls made macaroni and cheese and sweet treats – apple and cherry/chocolate chip cobblers - in Dutch ovens, using hot coals under and on top of the iron pots.

The JGL Scout Day celebrated Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scout Organization. Under the direction of Troop Leader Harriett Futch, the Mount Pleasant Girl Scout Council organized this incredible event, with fifteen Girl Scout troops represented. More photos in Photo Album.

Submitted by Pat McCormack, Sewee Visitor and Environmental Education Center, Awendaw, SC

Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex hosts International Fire Congress visitors

On November 30, through December 6, 2009, the fourth International Fire Ecology and Management Congress hosted by the Association for Fire Ecology took place in Savannah, Georgia. The focus of the fire Congress was to provide a forum on global wildland fire research and management. The Congress theme was Fire as a Global Process. Each day of the Congress featured invited international speakers who placed contemporary wildland fire issues into a global context. Concurrent sessions and a poster session covered a wide range of topics and issues, including contributed papers and special sessions developed on specific themes, all with a central focus on global fire ecology and management.

The keynote speaker for the Congress was former Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt. Plenary speakers traveled from around the world to participate in the Congress. Region 4 Archeologist Richard (Rick) Kanaski presented a paper on prescribed fire effects on cultural resources. This paper emphasized the importance and support for prescribed fire as a conservation and land management tool, specifically in the southeast United States. Rick’s paper also emphasized methods of protection for cultural resources during fire suppression and prescribed fire project implementation.

The broad range of topics covered at the Fire Congress included fire behavior, fire effects, cultural, social and economic impacts of fire, the role of technology in fire management, rehabilitation and restoration, landscape level fire and fire regimes, climate change, carbon accounting, and education. The Congress offered a unique opportunity to experience fire management and research from integrated countries other than the United States.

Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex hosted a field trip to illustrate cultural resources and fire ecology of a southeastern landscape. While inclement weather forced a change from a trip planned for Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge, the international visitors, representing Australia, Haiti, Burundi, the Philippines, Nepal, and Romania were instead treated to an in-depth tour of Pinckney Island and Savannah National Wildlife Refuges. Rick Kanaski, Refuge Ranger Peter Range and Fire Management Officer Terri Jenkins served as guides on the trip. The visitors were introduced to the historical, cultural, and fire management aspects of the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex. The group asked many questions, provided much discussion, and offered a global perspective of fire management in their own countries.

Submitted by Terri Jenkins, Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex, Georgia