Get a look inside the mind of a new hunter

Students from the University of Delaware pose for a group photo during their waterfowl hunting education course at Blackwater NWR, Credit: Chris Williams

Recently, a group of University of Delaware students visited Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland to learn about waterfowl hunting and wildlife conservation. Although they’re each pursuing studies in natural resources, all of them were first-time hunters.

The program, offered through a new partnership among Delta Waterfowl, Ducks Unlimited, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, offered hunter education, shotgun safety training, and background on managing waterfowl populations.

Students learn about waterfowl, Credit: Chris Williams

Training session, Credit: Chris Williams

Aside from the practical training and experience in the field, the program prompted the students to explore their feelings about hunting in general. Here are some of their individual thoughts about the experience.

How I dealt with feelings of  guilt:

“My fears spawned from the action of the hunt itself; if I do succeed, how will taking that life affect me, either on site or after I come home? Can I personally consider taking a life, “success”? Will I let my leaders down if I cannot bring myself to squeeze the trigger after all the effort in training me?”

– Dawn Davin

Credit: Chris Williams

How I made it through my first hunting trip:

“In fact, I was calm up until it was time to shoot. Everything happened so quickly. I am not used to shooting a gun, I am used to shooting clay birds, and I have no idea how a bird even lands in the water. I shortly found out, very quickly. I am up first. I see birds coming in as Jerry tells me to get ready. I respond as if I have never shot a gun before. I forget how to even hold the stock into my shoulder. As I am struggling to think straight, the birds see us and fly away.”

– Morgan Cochran

Students pose with a collection of duck decoys, Credit: Chris Williams

How my opinion on hunting has changed:

“I find that my opinion of hunting has changed considerably through the course. I always knew intellectually that hunting was an integral part of managing many species across the globe, but really honing in on the specifics and taking a part in that management connected me to the topic more. I learned so much about how setting goals for certain waterfowl species can aim to stabilize their population, and I got to participate in making those goals a reality.”

–Josh Zalewski

Two students prepare for their hunt, Credit: Chris Williams

My final reflections on the day:

“The one time I began to feel guilty and question exactly why I went hunting was when I talked to my boss about it. She knows there are population control benefits to hunting, but wasn’t sure why I personally wanted to be a part of it. Like many of my friends and family members, she was surprised to hear that I, animal lover extraordinaire, truly enjoyed killing an animal. It was difficult to explain why I wanted to and enjoyed the hunt when put that way, but I was able to “change her mind a bit” after I told her about the economic benefits, the reasoning behind certain policies, impact of invasive species, and so on. I will certainly have to do some more self-examination to determine my true stance, but that is a challenge I welcome.”

– Samantha McGonigle

 

 

 

The American eel: Tale of a champion migrator

The American eel spawns and hatches in the ocean waters of the Sargasso Sea, near Bermuda, about 2 million square miles of warm water in the North Atlantic.

Map of Sargasso Sea in relation to NYS, USFWS

The larvae of this snake-like fish drift with the currents for about a year to find homes throughout their huge range, from Greenland to Venezuela. Many eels migrate north and make it all the way to Lake Ontario.

A champion migrator if I’ve ever seen one.

Eels go through a very complicated maturation process that usually takes them from oceanic waters to freshwater and then back to the ocean for spawning. Some eels remain in saltwater or estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay their entire lives.

If you need a reason to conserve these amazing marathon swimmers, then here are some pretty unique behaviors to keep in mind. Eels can absorb oxygen through their skin and gills, allowing them to travel over land, particularly wet grass or mud (so cool!). Eels also can cover their entire bodies with a mucous layer, making them nearly impossible to capture by hand.

Historically, eels were abundant in Lake Ontario with over 1 million documented annually migrating upstream at the Moses-Saunders Hydropower Dam on the St. Lawrence River. In 2001, there was a huge drop to 944 migrants. Numbers have increased in the last decade, but are still below 50,000, leaving biologists looking for answers.

The extreme population decline may have been fueled by the 1970s demand for yellow and silver life stages of the American eel. Harvest can be especially detrimental because of the eel’s slow and complex maturation process, but the definite cause of the decline is still not clear.

American eels no longer have access to much of their historical habitat because dams and other obstructions in rivers block their migration and prevent them from accessing all available habitat. Localized population declines are also attributed to mortality in hydropower plant turbines, degradation of current habitat, and overharvest.

Addressing these threats to the American eel and its conservation is a multifaceted approach which includes research and monitoring to increase eel access to former habitat and understand the mysterious spawning migration, as well as reducing anthropogenic mortality.

Organizations including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, New York State Department of Conservation, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests, the Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife, and Parks, the New York Power Authority, Hydro Quebec, and Ontario Power Generation have targeted projects to develop methods to safely pass eel around hydro dams on large rivers.

Within New York State, our field office has partnered to track eel migration in the St. Lawrence River. Eels are tagged with acoustic tags in the Bay of Quinte (on the north shore of Lake Ontario). They then travel downstream along the St. Lawrence River and can be tracked with receivers located at the Iroquois Dam, about 80 miles downriver. That migration usually takes place in late summer or early fall when the eels are maturing from their yellow form to a beautifully elegant silver mature stage.

Documented eel movements at the Iroquois Dam in NYS, USFWS

In collaboration with other natural resource agencies, the Service continues to work to mitigate adverse impacts to eels. These measures are specified during the licensing or relicensing of hydropower projects by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commision and can include the addition of facilities like eel ladders to safely pass eels upstream, screens to keep eels out of turbines, passageways to guide them downstream, or shutting turbines down at night when silver eels migrate.

Service biologists collecting eel receivers on the St. Lawrence River, USFWS

Eel ladders, which are designed specifically for this species, allow eels to swim over barriers using an ascending ramp. Eel migration is monitored at various areas both upstream and downstream to help understand and optimize eel passage inland and to the ocean.

Other conservation actions include restrictions on eel harvest by the United States and by the federal and provincial governments in Canada.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to work with partners to better understand and conserve this remarkable species. The more informed we can be about the species around us, the better we are able to makes conscious choices to conserve and protect wildlife and the ecosystems in which we all live.

 

Lessons Learned and Put to the Test at Rhode Island Refuge

When Hurricane Sandy hit the Rhode Island coast in late October 2012, Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge got hammered. Five years later to the day, the remnants of Tropical Storm Philippe struck New England, bringing strong winds and heavy rain. This time, the refuge was ready, thanks to work by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners.

The Wrath of Sandy

Hurricane Sandy brought heavy rain, wind gusts exceeding 80 miles per hour, and a storm surge boosted by a full moon to Sachuest Point. It wrought havoc on the refuge, chewing up pavement, strewing rocks and chunks of concrete onto the access road, and knocking down power poles. Maidford Marsh was flooded and its outlet to the Sakonnet River blocked by sand.

Restoring power to the visitor center took three months and re-opening the road another three, at a cost of $648 thousand. Thousands of would-be visitors were inconvenienced.

Hurricane Sandy caused severe damage to the access road at Sachuest Point. Credit: USFWS

Fortifying Infrastructure

Following Sandy, the Service worked with partners to repair and armor the access road, bury 7,000 feet of utility lines that run alongside it, and remove 60 utility poles. The work cost more than $1 million and was supported by Federal funding for Hurricane Sandy recovery and resilience projects and a generous $250,000 donation from local partners.

Following Hurricane Sandy, the Service and its partners strengthened the access road by adding armor stone along the ocean side. Credit: USFWS

The last utility pole along the access road comes down. Credit: USFWS

Mending the Marsh

The northern end of the marsh at Sachuest Point was modified dramatically in the early 20th century, when the Maidford River was rerouted and the Connector Road built from one side to the other. The southern end served as the dump for the Town of Middletown until 2004, when trash was removed and placed in a landfill to the west of the marsh.

With the marsh’s natural water movement, or hydrology, altered, the northern end was prone to flooding during heavy rain storms. After Sandy, it was inundated for an extended period, and the Connector Road was underwater.

In 2015, as part of another project supported by Hurricane Sandy funds, refuge staff created new channels in the marsh to improve its hydrology and drain storm water. When they realized more were needed, they contracted with the Woods Hole Group, in East Falmouth, Massachusetts, to study further the hydrology of the marsh. Another channel was added this fall, and staff will continue to assess the situation.

With support from a Hurricane Sandy Resilience grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Town of Middletown, Rhode Island, raised the Connector Road through the marsh to reduce its chances of being overtopped by floodwaters.

In 2015, the Service created additional channels in the marsh to improve water movement and drainage. Credit: USFWS

Following further study of the marsh’s hydrology, the Service created another channel this past summer. Credit: USFWS

A Trial Run

This year’s storm was the result of bombogenesis, which happens when air pressure drops rapidly, intensifying the winds at the center of the storm. While not a hurricane, it brought heavy rain, high winds, and more power outages than Sandy. Due to the moon phase, tides were lower, reducing storm surge.

This time, there was no flooding and no loss of power at the refuge. The access road and visitor center remained open to the public. Cleanup amounted to closing lids on trash bins.

In the northern Maidford Marsh, stormwater drained through new channels and into the Sakonnet River without backing up. The Connector Road remained above water and open to traffic.

“We were hoping that the new channels would improve drainage, and this storm demonstrated that they have,” said Dr. Jennifer White, the Service’s Hurricane Sandy resiliency coordinator.

A #StrongerCoast

It’s hard to make a direct comparison between last month’s storm and Hurricane Sandy, but the conditions presented by the two are strikingly similar. While Sachuest Point experienced high winds and heavy rain during both, the damage to infrastructure and habitat was like night and day.

Knocked to its knees five years ago, the refuge returned stronger, meeting the recent challenge head-on and remaining up and running for wildlife and people.