For more than 70 years, nearly 90 acres of a Mitchell County bottomland lay mostly dry, drained by a shallow ditch that cut through the heart of the cup-shaped tract.
Yet in 2003, owners James and Sue Adams applied to enroll the site in a federal wetlands restoration initiative called the Wetlands Reserve Program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service approved a permanent conservation easement. The ditch, dug in the 1930s to fight mosquitoes and malaria, was plugged in 2006. Water soon flooded the tall grass and cypress trees.
And this year, like last, endangered wood storks joined a growing throng of cattle egrets, anhingas and little blue herons that have adopted the reborn wetland as a rookery.
Earlier this month, Natural Resources Conservation and Georgia Department of Natural Resources workers eased small boats across shimmering green duckweed and around cypress trees crowded with stick nests and white chicks. One pond cypress no more than 25 feet tall held seven wood stork nests. In the tree, nine storks, their black heads bowed, eyed the boats. Across the pond, adult and young birds squawked and clucked in the afternoon heat turned thick by thunderstorms roaming the horizon.
DNR Nongame Conservation Section employees estimate the site has 125 wood stork nests. The count is part of an annual spring survey of the imperiled birds in Georgia. Biologists discovered the new Mitchell County nest site after a stork the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was tracking by satellite transmitter in Florida moved to south Georgia.
James Lee Adams Jr. is pleased. The former engineer retired from farming in 2000, the same year he was named Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year. But he still deals in land and has long kept close tabs on agricultural programs. Adams said it was obvious to him and his wife the property, part of a larger intact wetland covering about 200 acres and surrounded by cropland, should “never have been put into production.”
The Wetlands Reserve Program allowed them to take it out.
For wetlands degraded by urbanization and intensive farming, the voluntary program offers financial incentives for permanent or 30-year conservation easements, as well as cost-share agreements for restoration. Wetland protection and restoration are established as the main land-use for the duration of the easement or agreement. Wildlife benefit, and landowners still control access.
Commonly called WRP, the Wetlands Reserve Program had 2 million acres enrolled as of 2009. The goal is another 1 million in five years.
Keith Wooster, state wildlife biologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, said Georgia has about 16,500 acres in 45 sites, all in the southern part of the state. Wooster rates the Adams’ property, owned largely by the couple’s AA Land Co., as the top “two or three site in southwest Georgia.”
James Tillman Sr., the agency’s state conservationist, said Georgia has “enjoyed tremendous success” helping landowners install wetland conservation practices through the WRP. The help from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and its partners continues after the habitat is restored, Tillman said.
“This assistance may be in the form of reviewing restoration measures, clarifying technical and administrative aspects of the easement and project management needs, and providing basic biological and engineering advice on how to achieve optimum results for wetland-dependent species.”
The option for permanent protection helped attract the Adams. “I think we have a responsibility No. 1 to look after the land,” James Adams said. “… We’re just holding this land in trust.”
Controlling access and receiving a financial return also proved important. James sees public support through programs like WRP as vital so small landowners can afford to set aside land for conservation.
Georgia’s State Wildlife Action Plan, a strategy that guides Wildlife Resources Division and DNR efforts to conserve biological diversity, emphasizes such technical and financial assistance, Nongame Conservation Section Chief Mike Harris said. “One of our top five areas of focus is working with private landowners, and I think this is a good example of a program that restored some valuable habitat,” Harris said.
What was a prairie-like field that soil conservation technician Dan Baker said “you could walk across” is now wet, rich habitat for a variety of wildlife, from eastern kingbirds and black-bellied whistling ducks to common gallinules and American bullfrogs.
Plus a lanky wading bird struggling to regain its foothold in the U.S.
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Showing posts with label nests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nests. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
2009 Bald Eagle Surveys Show Rise in Nests, Young
AAG Note: Fayette County was blessed this year as a number of bald eagles wintered over in Peachtree City. These giant wonders of nature were absolutely gorgeous as they flew around the lake. We'll be on the watch for them again next year.
Bald eagle populations continue to soar in Georgia, with 2009 totals from the state Department of Natural Resources showing increases in nests and young fledged.
Checks done mainly by helicopter this winter and spring counted 124 occupied bald eagle nesting territories, 98 successful nests and 162 young fledged. That’s up from last year when 112 occupied territories, 85 successful nests – those in which eagles are raised to the point they can fly – and 134 eaglets were reported. The 2008 numbers marked a slight dip from the previous year.
Nongame program manager Jim Ozier of the DNR Wildlife Resources Division said Georgia’s eagle population has been gradually increasing for years. These iconic raptors, taken off the federal endangered/threatened species list in summer 2008, are nesting in suitable habitat across the state, taking advantage of reservoirs and ponds that offer their primary prey – fish.
“Thirteen (new) nests were documented this year,” including the first at Lake Blue Ridge, Ozier said.
The surveys led by Ozier, who has monitored Georgia’s bald eagles for two decades, are an example of the programs supported by Georgians who buy a wildlife conservation license plate or donate to the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff. Both programs benefit the Wildlife Resources’ Nongame Conservation Section, which receives no state funds for its mission to help conserve Georgia wildlife not legally hunted, fished for or trapped, as well as rare plants and natural habitats in the state.
Bald eagles are one of more than 600 high-priority nongame animals and plants identified in the Georgia Wildlife Action Plan, a strategy guiding state conservation efforts. But even though eagles and their nests are big – nests average 5 feet wide – they can be hard to find.
Bald eagles typically use the same nest, often built in the tops of tall pine or cypress trees. But each year some established pairs build new ones. If the new nest is near the old, it is usually easy to find, Ozier said. But some nests are much farther away and more difficult to pinpoint.
Reports from the public can help. Georgians who see a bald eagle nest or two or more eagles together are encouraged to download the form at www.georgiawildlife.com (click “Conservation,” “Species of Concern,” “Bird Conservation” and then “Report Nesting Bald Eagles”). Send the completed form to Jim Ozier, jim.ozier@gadnr.org or Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, Nongame Conservation Section, 116 Rum Creek Drive, Forsyth, GA 31029.
When eaglets leave the nest, they are the same size as adults but dark brown, almost black. Bald eagles gain the characteristic white head and tail feathers at 4 to 5 years old
Conservation laws, restoration work and a ban on the pesticide DDT have helped the bald eagle recover from near-extinction through much of its range 40 years ago. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took the species off the federally threatened list in August 2008. This American symbol and subject of one of Georgia’s nongame wildlife license plates is still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and other federal and state legislation.
Bald eagle nests numbered in the single digits in Georgia when Ozier started searching for them. Nesting territories steadily increased, then surged from the low 80s to 96 in 2006 and beyond 100 in recent years.
Nests are concentrated along the coast, but can be found across the state, usually near major rivers or lakes where the fish, waterbirds and even turtles that eagles eat are abundant.
BALD EAGLES at a glance
** Size: Adults can weigh 14 pounds, with 8-foot wingspans. Males are slightly smaller.
** Prey: Fish are a staple. Eagles also eat waterfowl, turtles, snakes, rabbits and other small animals.
** Mates: Eagles mate for life. They often use the same nest, adding to it each year. (Nests up to 10 feet wide and weighing a half-ton have been recorded.)
** Offspring: Pairs typically lay one to three eggs by December. The young fledge in three months and are on their own in about four.
** Long-lived: Bald eagles live up to 15-25 years in the wild, longer in captivity.
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Bald eagle populations continue to soar in Georgia, with 2009 totals from the state Department of Natural Resources showing increases in nests and young fledged.
Checks done mainly by helicopter this winter and spring counted 124 occupied bald eagle nesting territories, 98 successful nests and 162 young fledged. That’s up from last year when 112 occupied territories, 85 successful nests – those in which eagles are raised to the point they can fly – and 134 eaglets were reported. The 2008 numbers marked a slight dip from the previous year.
Nongame program manager Jim Ozier of the DNR Wildlife Resources Division said Georgia’s eagle population has been gradually increasing for years. These iconic raptors, taken off the federal endangered/threatened species list in summer 2008, are nesting in suitable habitat across the state, taking advantage of reservoirs and ponds that offer their primary prey – fish.
“Thirteen (new) nests were documented this year,” including the first at Lake Blue Ridge, Ozier said.
The surveys led by Ozier, who has monitored Georgia’s bald eagles for two decades, are an example of the programs supported by Georgians who buy a wildlife conservation license plate or donate to the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff. Both programs benefit the Wildlife Resources’ Nongame Conservation Section, which receives no state funds for its mission to help conserve Georgia wildlife not legally hunted, fished for or trapped, as well as rare plants and natural habitats in the state.
Bald eagles are one of more than 600 high-priority nongame animals and plants identified in the Georgia Wildlife Action Plan, a strategy guiding state conservation efforts. But even though eagles and their nests are big – nests average 5 feet wide – they can be hard to find.
Bald eagles typically use the same nest, often built in the tops of tall pine or cypress trees. But each year some established pairs build new ones. If the new nest is near the old, it is usually easy to find, Ozier said. But some nests are much farther away and more difficult to pinpoint.
Reports from the public can help. Georgians who see a bald eagle nest or two or more eagles together are encouraged to download the form at www.georgiawildlife.com (click “Conservation,” “Species of Concern,” “Bird Conservation” and then “Report Nesting Bald Eagles”). Send the completed form to Jim Ozier, jim.ozier@gadnr.org or Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, Nongame Conservation Section, 116 Rum Creek Drive, Forsyth, GA 31029.
When eaglets leave the nest, they are the same size as adults but dark brown, almost black. Bald eagles gain the characteristic white head and tail feathers at 4 to 5 years old
Conservation laws, restoration work and a ban on the pesticide DDT have helped the bald eagle recover from near-extinction through much of its range 40 years ago. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took the species off the federally threatened list in August 2008. This American symbol and subject of one of Georgia’s nongame wildlife license plates is still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and other federal and state legislation.
Bald eagle nests numbered in the single digits in Georgia when Ozier started searching for them. Nesting territories steadily increased, then surged from the low 80s to 96 in 2006 and beyond 100 in recent years.
Nests are concentrated along the coast, but can be found across the state, usually near major rivers or lakes where the fish, waterbirds and even turtles that eagles eat are abundant.
BALD EAGLES at a glance
** Size: Adults can weigh 14 pounds, with 8-foot wingspans. Males are slightly smaller.
** Prey: Fish are a staple. Eagles also eat waterfowl, turtles, snakes, rabbits and other small animals.
** Mates: Eagles mate for life. They often use the same nest, adding to it each year. (Nests up to 10 feet wide and weighing a half-ton have been recorded.)
** Offspring: Pairs typically lay one to three eggs by December. The young fledge in three months and are on their own in about four.
** Long-lived: Bald eagles live up to 15-25 years in the wild, longer in captivity.
-----
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