Protecting endangered species on national wildlife refuges

Happy Endangered Species Day! Our biologists team up every day with people across the Northeast to bring our over 100 protected wildlife and plants closer to recovery. Today we’re bringing you updates on a few projects that are doing just that.

Endangered freshwater mussels in the Clinch and Powell River Watersheds in Virginia (Bottom diagonal row, left to right: Cumberlandian combshell, Oyster mussel. Middle Row: Shiny pigtoe, Birdwing pearlymussel, Cumberland monkeyface. Top row: Rough rabbitsfoot) Credit: USFWS

At the bottom of a river, a rock-like creature extends a single muscular foot from its shell. This creature – capable of filtering through several gallons of water per day – sounds like a sci-fi character but is actually a freshwater mussel. Mussels clean our streams, rivers, and lakes as they feed on small food particles and algae. If you find mussels, you can usually find good water quality. We are working to establish 2-4 new populations of four endangered species of mussel; the club shell, orange-foot pimpleback, spectiaclecase and purple cat’s paw on or near the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Together, with the help of 15 cooperators, the Service has already established 5 new populations of the clubshell mussel and successfully raised 3 different year classes of purple cat’s paw mussel.

A pair of Roseate Terns on Gull Island, NY. Studies in 1975, on Gull Island, reported the hybridization of common terns and roseate terns. Similar crosses have not been documented since. Photo Credit: Sarah Nystrom

If you’ve ever been to Gull Island in New York or traveled along a saltwater coastline, you may have witnessed a Roseate Tern diving headfirst into the water after its prey. Six National Wildlife Refuges, Ecological Services and Coastal Program offices partnered with state agencies and non-governmental organizations are working to protect this Federal and state endangered species. These agencies are reducing the risks from predation, habitat loss, and disturbance to Roseate tern breeding and staging sites across the North Atlantic breeding range.

While adult Karner blue butterflies feed on the nectar of flowering plants, Karner blue caterpillars feed only on the leaves of the wild lupine plant. Credit: Joel Trick/USFWS

 

Karner blue caterpillars work together with ants, providing nectar in exchange for protection against the caterpillar’s natural enemies. 2-3 subpopulations of Karner blue butterflies are being restored on the Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge through habitat restoration, captive rearing and propagating lupine, to save the species from extinction. Funding has already allowed for prescribed habitat burns, the removal of fencing, lupine propagation and the release of 750 butterflies into the wild.

Seabeach amaranth. Photo Credit: Gene Nieminen.

 

Plant species face extinction too! Seabeach amaranth is an annual plant species endemic to the Atlantic Coast from South Carolina to Massachusetts. The species has rapidly declined over the past 13 years from over 200,000 plants to only 1,320 in 2013 – largely due to climate change, sea level rise, development of beach front property and increased beach use. More than 3,800 seeds have been collected from four sites to establish more self-sustaining populations on 6 National Wildlife Refuges in areas less vulnerable to man-made threats.

 

 

These projects are funded by a special initiative in our agency called the Cooperative Recovery Initiative. The initiative was established in 2013 to restore and recover federally listed threatened or endangered species on national wildlife refuges and surrounding lands. It funds on-the-ground conservation projects that provide high conservation benefits.

Through the $6.86 million in CRI funding, the Service is working to recover threatened or endangered species across 27 states on or near national wildlife refuges. The 16 CRI funded projects will benefit a number of other species as well; including piping plover, bull trout and the Yellowstone grizzly.

For more information about Endangered Species Day – May 20, 2016, click here.

For more information about the 2016 Cooperative Recovery Initiative, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Wisdom – Pollinator Week

This week is National Pollinator Week, a week to celebrate the insects, birds, bats, and other critters responsible for 1/3 of all the food we eat, and also to raise awareness about their declining populations. You can learn more by checking out the awesome blog written by our intern extraordinaire, Tom Barnes, or by heading to our national pollinator page. You can also follow the conversation on Facebook and Twitter at #PollinatorWeek.

Original image by Caleb Spiegel/USFWS

Beating the butterfly blues

One of our partners, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission, is celebrating its 25^th anniversary today! The commission protects and manages the Albany Pine Bush for ecological, recreational and educational benefits. Among other conservation efforts, the commission manages young forest habitat (called pitch pine-scrub oak barrens) for endangered Karner blue butterflies and other wildlife. Earlier this summer, we visited the preserve to help release some captive-reared butterflies! Summer intern Beth Decker shares some of her thoughts from the day.

Beth Decker captures footage of a recently released endangered Karner blue butterfly. Credit: USFWS

As a college student at a summer internship, I don’t always know what my day will hold, but I dread the thought of sitting and sorting paper all day.

Such was my situation on a recent Tuesday morning. I walked into the office and was asked if I wanted to go see the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, which is located just a few miles out of Albany, N.Y., and release endangered Karner blue butterflies. I was not sure what to expect.

The next morning came, and I was on my way to see these blue-winged butterflies, distinguished by the multiple orange dots on the wings’ underside. I joined Robyn Niver and Bethany Holbrook from our New York field office, along with Meagan Racey from our regional office, Kathy O’Brien from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and our fantastic guide Neil Gifford, the Commission’s conservation director, to release some butterflies into the wild at a habitat project in the preserve.

We gathered a few white mesh cubes and set off. I thought with confusion, “Where are the butterflies?” It turns out that the butterflies were inside the cubes, and their tiny size of about a quarter makes them hard to see from a distance.

The butterflies are carried in these white mesh containers. Neil Gifford, Kathy O’Brien and Robyn Niver prepare to release butterflies in one of the preserve’s habitat restoration areas. Credit: USFWS

As we all set off into the habitat where the Karners were to be released, I expected to meander through an open pasture of wildflowers and grasses. That’s what all butterflies like, right?

Wrong. I learned that the Karner likes a partly shaded environment with mostly young, thick vegetation and a few large trees. The young forest was surprisingly pretty, and it supports other animals like box turtles and Cooper’s hawks.

I learned from Neil that the Karner is completely dependent on the blue lupine plant, which is also rather small like the Karner itself! The lupine is the only thing the Karner caterpillars will eat and is the preferred plant on which adults lay their eggs.

“Picture a wide open landscape filled with dense shrubs, scattered pitch pines, openings of prairie grass and wildflowers all rooted in sweeping sand dunes.” This is the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. Credit: USFWS

The Karner faces decreasing young forest and lupine habitat – and an influx of people competing for the same space. Thinking of the urban spaces of Albany just outside the preserve, I realized just how difficult it might be getting for the Karner.

Luckily, the population has grown quite healthy in the Albany Pine Brush Preserve! The combination of releasing butterflies and creating the ideal habitat with prescribed burns, cutting, and planting more lupine seeds is really helping out.

From the Albany Pine Bush Preserve: After more than 50 years of decline, the Karner blue has returned to former haunts throughout the 3,200-acre preserve. This insect, first studied and named by zoologist and renowned author Vladimir Nabokov in 1944, can now be found at nearly 60 sites covering more than 200 acres of the preserve. Credit: USFWS

The releases really help establish the population in the newly restored areas. When we opened the mesh cubes to release the Karners, their wings opened and they fluttered in the excitement of the striking sunlight. I couldn’t help but feel excited and happy for them. When we opened up the mesh cages, they slowly few out of them and were close enough to touch…One even landed on me!

My experience with the Karner blues that day was incredible, and a good surprise job on my internship. I hope to see them again sometime – and want to give a huge thanks to Neil and the preserve for such an amazing opportunity!