Loggers clear 30 acres for cottontail habitat in NY

Check out this story from New York Outdoor News! We recently finished the primary phase of our first private lands project with owner Benny Caoila in Patterson, New York. In March 2015, we harvested small areas of trees on 30 acres to provide space for young trees, shrubs and plants to grow.

BY JEFF MURRAY, NY OUTDOOR NEWS

Benny Caiola is a real estate developer, but for the next several years, he’s going to be developing some of his land with a different goal in mind — restoration of the New England cottontail rabbit.

If you see rabbits sneaking into your garden or running ahead of your beagles, you are most likely watching the eastern cottontail.

But the eastern variety is actually an import, introduced into New York decades ago to replace a once-populous native, the New England cottontail. Now state and federal wildlife officials are launching a project to restore the New England cottontail to much of its original range, and Caiola and other landowners will be on the front lines of the effort.

Partners (loggers Joe Zarecki and Faun Koplovsky, forester Doug Ramey, Ted Kendziora with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) stand in front of our first private landowner project in New York. Photo courtesy of Benny

Caiola, who lives in Larchmont, Westchester County, owns 300 acres in Patterson, in Putnam County, that adjoins about 1,000 acres of state land. The land is primarily forest that had been logged at some time in the past.

“Doug Ramey from East-West Forestry Associates, whom I’ve used in the past, had reached out to me about a habitat project that was taking place on the adjoining state property,” Caiola said. “He explained to me that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was conducting this work and that there was possibly some grant money that was available if I was interested. I told him that I was and he proceeded to set up a meeting with Ted Kendziora from U.S. Fish and Wildlife as well as Doug Little from the National Wild Turkey Federation.

“(Kendziora) explained to me that this type of habitat restoration additionally benefits approximately 40-plus species, like turkey and deer,” he said. “It was pretty much a no-brainer for me.”

The New England cottontail has inhabited parts of New York and New England for thousands of years, but habitat destruction has greatly reduced the numbers and range of the native bunny.

Sure, it doesn’t look so great now, but wait a growing season. This place becomes a hotspot for food and shelter for tons of wildlife. Photo courtesy of Benny.

The eastern cottontail, which to the untrained eye is almost identical to its New England cousin, was introduced to the region in the early 20th Century, and flourished. Despite their similar appearance, the eastern cottontail was better able to adjust to shrinking habitat than its native counterpart, said Meagan Racey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service public affairs specialist.

“Biologists believe that their larger eyes and sharper vision lets eastern cottontails venture farther from protective cover while remaining able to spot and evade predators. Eastern cottontails seem better able to survive in the fragmented habitats of southern New England, including open fields, forest edges, small thickets, and even golf courses and suburban lawns,” Racey said. “In many smaller habitat patches, eastern cottontails have replaced New England cottontails. They may simply be able to survive in habitats that New England cottontails cannot use, and they may be better able to find and occupy new habitats as they become available.”

Here’s an ‘after’ example from another one of Ted’s projects. Credit: USFWS

The goal of the project is to recreate large tracts of the type of habitat conducive to survival of the New England cottontail rabbit.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is partnering with state wildlife agencies in several Northeastern states, including New York.

In the Empire State, DEC is working with its federal counterparts to create about 10,000 acres of suitable young forest habitat across parts of Dutchess, Columbia, Putnam and Westchester counties that can sustain more than 28,000 New England cottontails by 2030.

Currently, there are only pockets of the native rabbits east of the Hudson River.

“The habitat conditions the New England cottontail needs are also needed by many other species of wildlife,” said DEC chief wildlife biologist Gordon Batcheller. “There are 100 different species that require young forest or brush land. Bog turtles, whippoorwills, ruffed grouse — all need young forest. So if we create habitat for New England cottontails, we’ll benefit whole other species.

“It’s a core mission of ours to protect these species and ensure they continue into the future as a native New Yorker,” Batcheller said. “Managing for young forests is long term commitment. It needs to become part of who we are and what we do in our own lands. We’re looking to establish long term management in perpetuity. Going forward, this will be standard operating procedure in the Northeast.”

For more information, go to newenglandcottontail.org.

Birds on a wire: How power lines can help songbirds

Today you’re hearing from Christine Peterson, a graduate student in the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Here she is collecting vegetation data along a power line right-of-way. Credit: Dr. Allan Strong

Many people probably never think about power line rights of way or, perhaps, never even hear of them. But for some migratory bird species, rights of way could provide essential habitat, which is why they have become the focus of my research.

Here is a blue-winged warbler nest we found during habitat mapping. Credit: Christine Peterson

An electric power line right of way (ROW) gives an electric company access to areas where power lines occur, even on privately owned land. In order to access, maintain and repair electric power lines, vegetation along ROWs must be managed to prevent interference. This allows for these ROWs to remain in a shrubby state over long periods of time.

Here’s where the Audubon Society and I come in. The Audubon Vermont chapter of the National Audubon Society recruited local citizen science volunteers to look for priority songbirds to see if our feathered friends were using these shrubby areas created along powerlines. It turned out that four priority bird species, including golden-winged warbler, eastern towhee, blue-winged warbler, and field sparrow were visiting these ROWs. So, as a graduate student, I was called in to take a closer look.

You can find eastern towhees in brush, tangles, thickets and along forest edges. Photo from Flickr Creative Commons user John Beetham.

Last summer, I led a field crew to ROWs across the Champlain Valley in Vermont to follow and map these priority songbirds to see which parts of the ROWs they were using. Eighty-seven birds and two months of very early mornings later, we could see where these shrubland birds liked to spend their breeding time. We then revisited all of these areas to collect countless thorn-induced wounds, as well as detailed vegetation data.

With all of this information, my research aims to paint a clearer picture of how these birds use habitat along powerline ROWs. So… why does this matter?

Only about 15 percent of the preserved land in Vermont is publicly owned. That leaves the fate of much of the land up to private landowners.

Because of this, encouraging conservation and management among private landowners is very important. These particular songbirds rely on shrubby (young forest) habitat to mate and reproduce. It is becoming increasingly hard for them to find this habitat, especially in the Northeast region, as forest recovers and matures from the agricultural boom of the early 1900s. Shrubland occurs as a transitional period between when a field becomes forest again, so it requires disturbance to be created. Using areas like ROWs is convenient because they are already managed or “disturbed” regularly and remain in transition.

In order to access, maintain and repair electric power lines, vegetation along rights of ways must be managed to prevent interference. This allows them to remain in a shrubby state over long periods of time. Photo from Flickr Creative Commons user mwms16.

By examining the patterns of how birds use this habitat and what management is being done, I can suggest management that might better serve these bird species. Audubon Vermont and I collaborated on a report that was submitted to the Vermont Electric Cooperative, which manages over 7,500 acres of ROW land in Vermont. With this information, we hope that future management will create more suitable habitat for these declining shrubland songbirds.

Blue-winged warblers breed at forest and field edges. Photo from Flickr Creative Commons user Matt Stratmoen.

Findings from this research can also help promote important habitat corridors for songbird migration pathways along what is referred to as the “Atlantic Flyway.” This migration pathway is used by a variety of birds traveling to and from breeding grounds that runs along the eastern coasts of North and South America.

During their long migration, birds need places to stop along the way to rest and refuel for their journey. Creating habitat corridors along migration routes can help these birds get to their destinations!

What’s hopping down the bunny trail?

Rabbits aren’t the only ones that use young forest habitat. Here’s a female bluebird enjoying the restored area at the Peck and Callahan preserves. Photo courtesy of Beth Sullivan, Avalonia Land Conservancy.

DID YOU KNOW?

The rare New England cottontail is a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. It’s different than the non-native eastern cottontails that people brought to New England for hunting years ago, and that you commonly see on roadsides and in gardens. A huge team, including our agency, is out to save it. Learn more.

We’re sharing a post from our partner, Beth Sullivan at the Avalonia Land Conservancy in Connecticut. Avalonia is helping us make more habitat for the New England cottontail and other wildlife that depend on young forest. See the original post at their blog.

Last year at this time, we were in the middle of a giant project on our Peck and Callahan Preserves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in combination with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, had helped us plan and prepare for what was one of the biggest projects Avalonia had undertaken to date other than acquisitions.

We’re taking a new approach to stewardship. Over the years, the goal of environmental stewardship has shifted from pure preservation to more active conservation and management of land entrusted to us, for its best usage and greatest value.

We were convinced that turning 22 acres of mature forest, past its prime for supporting diverse wildlife, into a young forest restoration area was the best use for the land and our best action for the future of many species.

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The active cutting part of the project was completed in August of 2013 (see photos above). In the fall there were several trips to the site for fine-tuning the landscape, opening a passable trail for machinery and work parties, and a huge effort to plant and then protect nearly 100 native shrubs, installed to add diversity to the landscape as it regrew.

Shrubs were protected by netting to protect from nibbling deer. Photo courtesy of Beth Sullivan, Avalonia Land Conservancy.

The ideal way to plant new shrubs was in groups of eight or nine, and then erect fencing around the whole plot to keep deer from browsing on them. Well, in rocky, upland Stonington, there were no places where we could dig nine adequate holes in a fashion even close to ideal! Then, trying to cart fencing material, more than a half mile into the rocky preserve which was now covered with slash and brush, became an impossible feat. So we improvised and used a light netting, draped tepee style over stakes near each plant. Then more branches were piled around the plant to make it even more difficult for deer to get close enough to eat the desirable shrub. The effort served its purpose for the winter.

Turkeys forage in the open and retreat to woodland edge. Photo courtesy of Beth Sullivan, Avalonia Land Conservancy.

Checking on Progress. We returned several times in the spring to check on different areas and were pleased at the progress. Tree stumps were re-sprouting robustly. There were shades of green covering what had been bare earth. Almost all the plants were showing signs of life and regrowth. Not many had been nibbled by the deer. Some were even blossoming, a promise of berries to come. We were, however, dismayed to find a snake had become entangled in the netting at some point and had perished. We knew the netting had to come off.

Well, the job to remove the netting was far harder than putting it on. First we had to find all the plants! With all the new growth surrounding them, even many of the orange tags and flags were hidden. Weeds and vines had grown up into the netting and the plants themselves were happily sending out new branches and leaves, so removing the netting became a surgical operation.

The ground is now covered with green. Photo courtesy of Beth Sullivan, Avalonia Land Conservancy.

We spent hours back tracking through all corners of the areas as we worked, examining new growth, becoming excited over resurgence of vines and thrilled at the ground cover of low bush blueberries.

It was a wildlife heaven.

Wild turkeys foraged in the brush and took dustbaths in the trail. There were grasshoppers all over as well as dragonflies, bees and uncountable other insects.

Native shrubs grow up through protective branches. Photo courtesy of Beth Sullivan, Avalonia Land Conservancy.

Fly-catching birds of several species were using the brush piles and tree snags to swoop and catch the insects. There were bluebirds singing everywhere. Eastern towhees chorused from spots low and high throughout the area. The little vernal pond was still cool and shady, having been protected during the project. We found a small wood frog in the fern glade nearby. The clear stream ran fresh through the moss covered boulders in the low land.

We ran out of energy before we had found and uncovered every bush. We will return again soon. But it was a reaffirmation, to me, that this project will bring new life and rejuvenation to an opening in the forest. It may be a while before the New England Cottontails find it, but a lot of other wildlife already has.

Much of ground cover is lowbush blueberry. Photo courtesy of Beth Sullivan, Avalonia Land Conservancy.

Follow the project at the Avalonia blog.