Recognizing Officer John Ross

Today we’re giving a big shout out to John Ross who was recognized as the Service’s regional Federal Wildlife Officer of the Year in 2017. Ross, like his peers, enforces laws to keep refuge visitors safe and to protect wildlife. He is the first law enforcement officer to receive this regional recognition twice.

Ross has worked at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge for 12 of his 19 years of service. The refuge spans 112,928 acres in Virginia and North Carolina, and, in addition to covering that area, he covers law enforcement needs at three other refuges in the region. Ross began his career at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, one of the country’s most visited refuges.

Map of Great Dismal Swamp NWR

Known for his team spirit and his ability to bring people together, Ross sets an “example of helping everyone on the staff with everything such as maintenance, visitor services, fire, forestry, and biological programs, all while maintaining the integrity of his own program.” said a colleague nominating Ross for the award.

Regional Chief of Refuge Law Enforcement, Gary Andres says Ross is an exemplary officer with the exceptional ability to work well with others, including his team. Ross’ duties are diverse and include training new officers entering the field from the police academy, serving as a critical incident stress mentor, working with state game wardens and other Service law enforcement agents on cases, running the refuge’s deer hunt, and many other things.

Congratulations, Officer Ross! And a special thank you to our regional law enforcement officers today and every day.

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Animal encounters come with the territory when you’re a federal wildlife officer. One day Officer Ross was called upon to move a rattlesnake from a trash can, where it had found a warm spot to curl up. He secured the snake and put it in the backseat of his car. A little while later as he was driving, he saw in his rear view mirror that the snake was escaping the cage. Some quick thinking and a blast of the AC, and the snake retreated for the rest of the ride. In addition to snakes, Ross has moved alligators to more remote locations.

Swipe right, woodpeckers! Endangered birds trucked to Great Dismal Swamp in hopes of matchmaking

Do endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers know what’s at risk? Sure, if I strike out on Tinder or eHarmony.com, I’d be pretty frustrated, probably gloomy. For these rare woodpeckers, not pairing up has high stakes.

The soft, melodious social calls of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers were absent from Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge for over 40 years. That is, until last fall, when biologists trucked eight six-month-old birds from the Carolina Sandhills refuge in South Carolina and the Palmetto-Peartree Preserve in North Carolina to the southeast Virginia pine pocosin forest.

Biologists tucked birds into their new digs, pre-dug artificial cavities  30 feet high in native pines, and at sunrise, pulled screens from in front of their cavities to set them free. The release marked the first significant step in the multi-year effort to establish Virginia’s second population and the northernmost public outpost of one of the country’s first federally endangered birds.

Now, most of us are pretty familiar with “the birds and the bees.” We know if the birds don’t link up, there are no chirping little ones to be found. And with no little ones, there will be no future birds, and no population. So, biologists waited with anticipation until this past spring to see what these cardinal-sized woodpeckers would do.

Did we say watching, waiting yet? Much anticipation here folks. Credit: Kelly Morris/USFWS

“Two birds paired up over the winter, but they didn’t breed, which isn’t completely off the wall for first year birds,” says refuge manager Chris Lowie. “Three males flew off, leaving three females that have been establishing their own territories.”

Enter phase two. On the night of October 21, biologists at Carolina Sandhills refuge finished trapping four males and four females. They started the five hour drive north, stopping every hour to feed the birds. In the dark hours of early morning at Great Dismal Swamp, they again tucked the young birds into new homes. A couple dozen volunteers waited in excitement, poised to assist with the release at sunrise.

Red cockaded woodpecker at Carolina Sandhills refuge, just before captures at dusk on November 14. Credit: Kelly Morris/USFWS

Red cockaded woodpecker at Carolina Sandhills refuge, just before captures at dusk on November 14. Credit: Kelly Morris/USFWS

Red cockaded woodpecker at Carolina Sandhills refuge, just before captures at dusk on November 14. Credit: Kelly Morris/USFWS

When the light came, the screens came down and the birds were free to check out their new neighborhoods.

“All birds seemed happy,” Chris says. “They paired up and were talking to each other right from the start. Let’s hope they all stay!” Weeks later, on November 14, biologists brought two extra males north for the three females already at the refuge.

Dr. Bryan Watts from the Center for Conservation Biology prepares an artificial cavity to receive a red-cockaded woodpecker in 2015. These woodpeckers live in mature pine forests, where trees may be up to 100 years old. The birds nest and roost in tree cavities that they dig and maintain. Around the cavities, the birds peck holes that weep resin. The resin protects eggs and young against snakes and other predators. © Robert B. Clontz / The Nature Conservancy.

Here’s where “pairing up” gets interested with the red-cockaded woodpecker. This territorial bird stays put (doesn’t migrate like many of our birds) and forms groups that include one breeding pair and up to four “helper” birds. Those helper birds are typically males, and they help incubate eggs and feed young.

Previous endeavors to reintroduce the birds in Alabama, Arkansas, and Florida have been successful, with the birds populating and reproducing in these areas. At Great Dismal Swamp, biologists are closely monitoring the translocated birds, which were released from their cavities Thursday morning. Additional translocations and releases will continue once a year for a minimum of three years.

The red-cockaded woodpecker was once common throughout the southern U.S., from southern New Jersey to Florida and west to east Texas and Oklahoma. As mature pine forest habitat was cutover, and forest management practices changed over the first half of the century, the woodpecker’s population significantly declined, spurring its protection in 1970 under the Endangered Species Act. By 1994, just 4,200 red-cockaded woodpecker breeding pairs remained. Today, in response to new conservation science, recovery, and habitat restoration programs, there are 6,400 potential breeding pairs. Credit: USFWS

Virginia’s only existing population is at The Nature Conservancy’s Piney Grove Preserve in Sussex County, where the population has grown from 11 birds in 2002 to 67 adults in spring 2015. Having a new breeding colony “will help protect the Virginia population against loss from catastrophic events such as disease and storms, and put the bird on the track to recovery,” says Lowie. So…swipe right woodpeckers!

Partners in the Great Dismal project include the Service, The Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary, The Nature Conservancy, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, North Carolina Department of Transportation, J. Carter and Associates, and other local groups. Funding for the effort comes from the Service’s Cooperative Recovery Initiative, which focuses on restoring threatened and endangered species on national wildlife refuges and surrounding lands.

 

Check out other recent efforts:

• NC’s Calloway Forest Preserve
• Relocations from the largest population to Florida’s National Forests
• Prescribed burns to restore habitat neighboring VA’s only existing population).

 

Sharing Lessons Learned

Great Dismal Swamp, Credit: USFWS

Sunset in Sebangua, Credit: USFWS

Staff from the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, located in North Carolina and Virginia, has entered into a Sister Protected Area Arrangement with Sebangau National Park in Indonesia. Through this partnership, the two nationally protected areas will work together to share expertise in environmental restoration and the development of ecotourism.

Participants of the Ecotourism Workshop conducted by the USFWS during their last visit to Indonesia, Credit: DOI-ITAP

As exciting as this partnership sounds, you may be wondering why Great Dismal Swamp was chosen to become a “sister” to a national park half a world away. Well, there are actually very good reasons!

Deforestation outside of Sebangau National Park for a palm oil production plantation, Credit: DOI-ITAP

Both Great Dismal Swamp and Sebangau encompass vast peatlands that have historically been drained of water to support timber harvesting operations. Prior to becoming a National Wildlife Refuge in 1974, Great Dismal Swamp was owned by timber companies, who created ditches to drain the peatlands, making it easier to remove trees. Similarly, much of the peatlands in Sebangau have been drained through the formation of canals that were created to move timber down river to market. Because the once rich peatland forests have been drained and deforested, both areas have suffered frequent forest fires that have further devastated the area’s ecology.

Devastation from the 2008 wildfire at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Credit: USFWS

Why are wetlands such as peatlands important to conserve? Wetlands provide many direct services to people, like cleaning our drinking water, protecting us from floods, and providing habitat for many species of wildlife. In addition, Great Dismal Swamp and Sebangau are refuges for endangered species. Great Dismal Swamp is home to the red-cockaded woodpecker and the canebreak rattlesnake, while Sebangau hosts the largest orangutan population in any protected area in Indonesia.

A wild orangutan spotted in a peat swamp forest in Indonesia, Credit: Daniel Murdiyarso, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

Peatlands are particularly important to the issue of climate change because they store huge amounts of carbon in their wet soils. Although they only cover about 3 percent of the world’s land area, peatlands store twice as much carbon as all of the trees in the world’s forests combined! When peat soils are drained and exposed to oxygen from the atmosphere, those stores of carbon are released as carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas scientists say is a major cause of global warming. Even more devastating are the amounts of carbon dioxide released if these dry soils are burned in forest fires.

Layers of dry peat soil were destroyed during a wildfire at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, leaving these plant roots exposed, Credit: USFWS

At Great Dismal Swamp, scientists have been working for years to rewet the peatland soils. They have installed weirs, devices that can be used to control water levels, into the ditches throughout the refuge to slow drainage and raise water levels. Through a $3.1 million project supported by federal funding for Hurricane Sandy recovery, 13 additional weirs will be added or replaced at the refuge. By managing water levels, the Service and partners hope to bring back the natural resources that have been lost, along with the benefits they provide, such as protection from floods. Also, because the refuge will be able to raise or lower water levels as needed, the peatlands will become more resilient to the predicted effects of climate change.

A half-moon riser structure installed to slow drainage and re-wet the peat soils at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Credit: USFWS

A large weir at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, another water control structure used to slow drainage and raise water levels, Credit: USFWS

Sebangau, which was only established as a Federal National Park in 2004, is still in the beginning of its restoration journey. Through the Sister Protected Area Arrangement, the staff at Great Dismal Swamp has committed to helping them navigate through this journey. Great Dismal Swamp personnel will offer training in hydrological restoration and monitoring, endangered species management, and the development of ecotourism in the Park.

USFWS Hydrologist Fred Wurster discussing groundwater well installation with Indonesian conservationists, Credit: DOI-ITAP

Great Dismal Swamp and Sebangau staff “trekking” along an interpretive trail in Sebangau National Park, Credit: DOI-ITAP

Each year for five years, the staffs of the protected areas will meet in person, once at Great Dismal Swamp and once at Sebangau. In addition, an Indonesian intern will spend one month at Great Dismal Swamp this spring, learning how hydrology is managed at the refuge.

Great Dismal Swamp staff travelling by klotoeks, a boat traditional to the area, into Sebangau National Park, Credit: DOI-ITAP

Chris Lowie, refuge manager at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, says he has learned a lot from Indonesian conservationists. “For me, the trip was beneficial to see first-hand that we are not alone in the U.S. at addressing peatland management. It is a very complex system, so learning what folks are doing in other parts of the world is useful for our management strategies as well.”

Chris Lowie (Refuge Manager, Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge) and Adib Gunawan (Manager, Sebangau National Park) at the Partnership Signing Ceremony, Credit: DOI-ITAP

This partnership is just one example of how the Service is committed to addressing environmental restoration on a global scale. By creating and maintaining partnerships across the world, we hope to contribute toward true and lasting impacts to Earth’s natural resources, for the benefit of all.

To learn more about Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, please visit their website and Facebook page.

To learn more about Sebangau National Park, please visit their Facebook page.

The sister protected area partnership between Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and Sebangau National Park was signed through the United States Department of Interior (DOI) to strengthen management of national parks in Indonesia. The DOI International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) is partnering with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to implement the project, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Feature photo credit: Exotissimo Travel