Reviving a river: Checking in at Great Works Dam

Each week, our folks at the Maine field office are driving by to check on the progress of the Great Works Dam removal, part of the Penobscot River Restoration Project. 

These photos are not from the same perspective as previous, but you get a better appreciation of the current state of the dam. The concrete section at left is nearly gone and most river flow passes through this breach.

Credit: Steve Shepard/USFWS

Conservation celebrity visits a home for New England’s only native rabbit

The national head of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Chief Dave White, visited an eastern Connecticut farm on July 14 in hopes of catching a glimpse of the rare New England cottontail.

The farm is owned by Tom McAvoy, a lifelong outdoorsman and the first partner for the New England cottontail under the new Working Lands for Wildlife program. The program, led by the NRCS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is an innovative approach to work with farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to restore and protect land for wildlife.

Service biologist Ted Kendziora talking with NRCS Chief Dave White and others at the farm. Photo courtesy of Tom McAvoy.

Nuggets for knotweed!

Puddles the Blue Goose with
Devin Gill. Puddles is the symbol of the
Service's National Wildlife Refuge
System. Credit: USFWS

Our West Virginia field office recently teamed up with McDonalds and the Potomac Highlands Cooperative Weed and Pest Management Area to educate Randolph County residents about the negative impacts of non-native, invasive plants like Japanese knotweed on their property and on broader landscapes.

"It was a great success!" says Devin Gill, AmeriCorps volunteer with the West Virginia office. "We spoke with many individual restaurant-goers at our booth, and informational hand-outs were passed out by the McDonald's staff on food trays and in to-go bags. They had extras at the end of the day, and I've heard that they continued distributing hand-outs on subsequent days until they were all gone. A successful event and a great partnership for our office!" 

Puddles cutting a stem of Japanese knotweed. Credit: USFWS

The local paper also covered the outreach event. 

A creative solution to invasive plants problem at a Delaware park

Two new recruits are spending their summer at Brandywine Creek State Park tackling invasive plants by doing what they do best – eating.

Two river water buffalo, named Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger, are chowing down on invasive plants at a rate of 20 pounds per day as part of the park’s prescribed grazing project. By both eating the plants and crushing the root mat with their weight, the water buffalo are proving very effective for controlling invasive plants like canary reed grass.

Julie Slacum stands with one of the water buffalo. Credit: USFWS

Sea turtle nests meet Virginia's state record

It has been quite a summer for sea turtles at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach.

This nesting season has been a busy one, with refuge staff discovering nine nests with still more than a month left in the nesting season. The nests have been found at various locations: on the refuge, Sandbridge Beach, False Cape State Park and the busy Virginia Beach oceanfront. The highest number of sea turtle nests ever found and recorded in the state was nine in 2005. 

Loggerhead eggs. Credit: USFWS

Wetlands ecologist receives award for significant service

Just earlier this year, we cheered for our colleague Ralph Tiner when his work was recognized among the 30 most influential publications in wetland science over the past 30 years. Well, we’re at it again!

On June 11, Ralph was awarded the Department of Interior Superior Service Award for his contributions in leadership, coordination and expertise to his field and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wetlands Inventory program.

Reviving a river: Checking in at Great Works Dam

Each week, our folks at the Maine field office are driving by to check on the progress of the Great Works Dam removal, part of the Penobscot River Restoration Project.

The contractor was able to get back to work late last week (hurray!). Check out the photos taken by the Penobscot River Restoration Trust.

Partnering to save endangered animals: Virginia

We're so excited about the new interactive map highlighting endangered species efforts in each state across the nation. Each day we'll feature a state, partner and animal. Subscribe on the right to keep up!

It's our last state -- Virginia!

Virginia is just about as far north as you'll be able to find the red-cockaded woodpecker. In the world of North American woodpeckers, this one stands out.

Its the only woodpecker that excavates nest and roost areas in living trees. Not to mention, it's also one of just two woodpeckers protected by the Endangered Species Act (along with the ivory-billed woodpecker).

Partnering to save endangered animals: West Virginia

We're so excited about the new interactive map highlighting endangered species efforts in each state across the nation. Each day we'll feature a state, partner and animal. Subscribe on the right to keep up!

The Appalachian Mountains rise thousands of feet along an ancient line dropping south from Canada to Alabama. Over centuries, unique environments developed along this line and gave birth to an rich variety of wildlife, including an amazing number of freshwater mussels. 

West Virginia, the only state completely enclosed in the Appalachian range, takes pride in the huge chunk of mussels that call its rivers and streams home. In many unpolluted streams, an experienced visitor can spot from 20 to 30 different kinds of freshwater mussels.

Reviving a river: Checking in at Great Works Dam

Each week, our folks at the Maine field office are driving by to check on the progress of the Great Works Dam removal, part of the Penobscot River Restoration Project.

This graph shows that the water has remained flooded. It was at less than 7,000 cubic feet per second when it was breached and then peaked at 70,000 cubic feet per second. We're hopeful that work can start back up in another week.

Dammed once, restored now

Today you're hearing from Eric Schrading, private lands coordinator in our New Jersey Field Office, as part of our series on fish passage.

The expense of owning a dam can be quite surprising to a landowner. Dr. Calvin Shen owned a 220 acre farm on Pohatcong Creek in central New Jersey, and on that creek was an earthen dam.

In late 2008, Dr. Shen realized the unreasonable costs of maintaining that 80-year-old Class 2 dam. That’s when he reached out to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to explore ways to breach the dam and restore the Pohatcong Creek.

Partnering to save endangered animals: Maryland

We're so excited about the new interactive map highlighting endangered species efforts in each state across the nation. Each day we'll feature a state, partner and animal. Subscribe on the right to keep up!

In Maryland and other states, bog turtles are most often found on private lands. These lands need long-term maintenance to maintain quality habitat for bog turtles; otherwise the vegetation growth advances or exotic species invade. 

On Deb English’s horse farm, the solution was grazing by sheep and goats. 

The abundance of bog turtles in pastured wetlands like those on English’s farm suggests that grazing has historically maintained the openness of wetlands needed for habitat. English and her family worked with the Maryland Bog Turtle Partnership to improve a section of their farm for the turtles. 

Partnering to save endangered animals: Delaware

We're so excited about the new interactive map highlighting endangered species efforts in each state across the nation. Each day we'll feature a state, partner and animal. Subscribe on the right to keep up!

And we're back! Time to feature Delaware and one of its most renowned avian visitors--the red knot. 

Back at the end of May, biologists cheered when a legendary red knot was seen in Delaware Bay. This dove-sized shorebird was tagged in 1995 in Argentina and is thought to now be around 19 years old. If an odometer tagged along with the bird, it would read over 350,000 miles, thanks to its yearly migration from Argentina to the Canadian Arctic.

Celebrate Independence Day with wildlife in mind

When people think of the Fourth of July, they often think of the red, white and blue, patriotism, apple pie, cookouts and of course – fireworks. As we celebrate our Independence with these beautiful displays of explosive colors and sounds, it is important to remember not only how much joy they bring us, but also how they affect the wildlife that live close by. 

A particular area of concern is the beach, a very popular location for partying and viewing fireworks, but also prime habitat for endangered bird species such as piping plovers and roseate terns. The unfamiliar lights and sounds erupting from the beach are perceived not as a celebration, but as a threat. 

Photo by Anita Ritenour.