State compiling wildlife inventory
Toolbox
By Sky Barsch Times Argus Staff - Published: December 30, 2004
WATERBURY – In an effort to avoid emergency recovery programs, Vermont wildlife specialists are using federal funds to survey and plan for the protection of creatures that might otherwise be headed for the endangered species list.
Vermont's Fish and Wildlife Department, with the help of federal funding and more than 60 agencies and organizations, is compiling an inventory and plan for the state's animals most in need of conservation, according to Jon Kart, comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy coordinator for the department. The list, called the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy, will include what experts believe are the best management practices for more than 200 animals, from lynxes and silver-haired bats to southern bog lemmings and American bitterns. The study looks at plants as well.
The goal is to list the mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, invertebrates and insects that are rare or whose populations are declining, and to identify and implement conservation methods before the creatures become so rare that restoring populations is expensive and potentially not possible.
The program is funded by the State Wildlife Grants program, a federal source that aims to survey and protect animals that aren't on the endangered species list and those that aren't typically hunted or fished, according to Kart
"It's so much cheaper to help something when it's in good shape than to provide triage," Kart said. "That's probably the main reason Congress was interested in enacting this legislation."
Vermont has been eligible for a total of $2.5 mil-lion since the program's inception in 2001, and that money has gone to numerous habitat restoration and conservation programs, Kart said, including studying and restoring Bicknell's thrush, osprey and tiger beetles, as examples.
The state is required to complete a Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy in order to receive the grant funding and must provide a match with state funds, donations and funding from other organizations.
Though the strategy inventory is a requirement of the federal program, Kart indicated the chance to complete the inventory as an exciting opportunity rather than a burden.
"This is the first time this has ever been done. No state has done anything like this. It's all on uncertain territory. We're trying to do this with wildlife we know very little about. It's an incredible exploration," he said.
So far, teams of biologists, ecologists, conservationists and sportsmen and women have identified about 130 vertebrates, including mammals, birds and fish, and more than 120 invertebrates, including insects and mussels, as in greatest need of help. These include martens, shrews, voles, eastern darters, Atlantic salmon, spotted turtles, Western chorus frogs and different species of mayflies.
"They've all been identified," Kort said of the animals in need of conservation. "We go from peregrine falcons, which we know a lot about, to little (woodland) voles, a rodent we only have historically maybe 50 records of them. There's only 50 of those and we don't know, are they very rare in the state? Or are they everywhere and people just didn't look?"
Kart said the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy has many benefits. With such a large number of wildlife experts putting their heads together, Kart hopes that the inventory will allow all individuals and organizations who are interested in conservation to be on the same page. Experts are trying to figure out what conditions are adversely affecting Vermont's wildlife. Threats may include a lack of contiguous forest, competing exotic species, or an uncontrolled harvesting by people.
The Conservation Strategy also aims to provide a science-based foundation for understanding the issues involved in addressing wildlife needs, allow conservation actions to be more proactive and less reactive, allow conservation actions of agencies, landowners, interest groups, conservation organizations and others to be coordinated so that they are more cost-effective and produce cumulative benefits and allow existing programs that provide incentives or technical assistance to private landowners for voluntary actions to conserve natural resources on private lands to be used more effectively, among others.
The final strategy, subject to public comment and federal approval, will likely be an electronic document the public will be able to access, Kart said. That way, an individual who is interested in property improvement for wildlife habitat could access the document and get the most comprehensive data available on land management practices.
Vermont is not alone in this mission. The 49 other states and several territories are participating in the conservation program as well, Kart said. Federal money is awarded based on a formula that takes into account a state's size as well as its population.
Kart said he is in frequent contact with those working on the same project in other states, to see what sort of management plans can be implemented regionally.
Field work will continue in the spring, and a draft of the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy is due out sometime next year.
Contact Sky Barsch at sky.barsch@timesargus.com or 223-3335.
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