My refuge, my home: A firsthand account of summer at Chincoteague

Today, you're hearing from Jenna Valente, a recent graduate
who has been interning at Chincoteague National
Wildlife Refuge in Virginia. 

So there I was, an eager 22-year-old entering the last week of finals that I would ever have to take before receiving my prized bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine. I was continually searching for new job opportunities in the area I am most passionate about: the environment. Approximately two months into my search, my attention was drawn to a posting for an internship at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia. I arrived at Chincoteague searching for knowledge and adventure and my refuge experience provided that plus a lot more.

Best of 2012: 9) Gone fishin'

Atlantic salmon in circular
pool at White River National
Fish Hatchery.
Credit: Ann Froschauer/USFWS

We're bringing in the new year with a look back at our milestones for 2012. Check back each day for featured events and activities from across the Northeast!

Ever had an aquarium? You probably had no more than a handful of fish to care for. Imagine if you were raising millions and millions of fish, including a variety of species with different needs. Let's throw some freshwater mussels in there, too.

You're starting to look like a national fish hatchery, where biologists blend layers upon layers of science and technique to successfully raise and release fish and mussels that will support our waters and fishing pastime and industry.

Best of 2012: 2) Recovering wildlife



New England cottontail at Great Bay National
Wildlife Refuge. Credit: New Hampshire Fish and Game.

We're bringing in the new year with a look back at our milestones for 2012. Check back each day for featured events and activities from across the Northeast!

Many threatened and endangered animals across the Northeast improved last year, and much of that progress is thanks to the many people working to recover and maintain healthy wildlife populations.

Gifts from nature: Urban green spaces

Living in a concrete jungle doesn’t mean you don’t get a gift from nature. With 80 percent of Americans living in cities, it’s no surprise that sometimes there’s a need to escape from it all. Some might think that in order to get a little solitude and to experience nature, you need to venture to far, remote places. But Mother Nature has given the gift of outdoor green spaces right in the backyard of many cities.

A hawk perches at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum in Philadelphia.
Credit: Derik Pinsonneault/USFWS

During this season of holiday giving, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would like to take time and reflect on the gifts we receive throughout the year from Mother Nature. Gifts of Nature are treasures to behold and wonders to be thankful for.

Giving mussels a boost in Tenn.'s Powell River

Today you're hearing from Jess Jones, a restoration biologist with the Service's Virginia Field Office, on releasing the largest group of three endangered mussels in the Powell River. This post is part of a series running all month on freshwater mussels, highlighting their importance to the Northeast landscape and the concerted efforts underway to ensure their future in our waters.

Biologist Jess Jones distributes mussels. Credit: Gary Peeples/USFWS

Every once in a while everything just works out. 

Today was such a day -- cool and sunny, an early fall afternoon on the Powell River in northeastern Tennessee, where biologists and students worked together to release endangered mussels. Heavy rains occurred the week before, but the water level dropped just in time to stock them in the river, 5,500 oyster mussels (Epioblasma capsaeformis), 1,000 Cumberlandian combshells (Epioblasma brevidens), and 27 snuffbox (Epioblasma triquetra). The young mussels were 1-2 years old and about 20-30 mm long.

Recovering the wild from a wild river: Taking a look back

This post is part of a series running all month on freshwater mussels, highlighting their importance to the Northeast landscape and the concerted efforts underway to ensure their future in our waters.
 
The conflict between the demand for energy and the love of land

The 1960 film Wild River, starring Montgomery Clift and Lee Remick, dramatically depicts the controversy surrounding the construction of a series of federal dams to harness the mighty Tennessee River for electrical power generation in the 1930s. The story opens when a Tennessee Valley Authority field administrator is sent to make way for one of the dams, but the Garth family and others living along the river resist leaving their land, which is to be flooded. Slowly, the conflict unfolds. 

Wild River pits the need for power generation and flood control against the preservation of land and culture. Construction of dams throughout the Tennessee River basin brought the region into the modern world but also displaced farm families and communities, altered aquatic habitats, and resulted in the loss of many native fish and mussels. 

TVA's Norris Dam on the lower Clinch River in Tennessee. Completed in 1936, it was the first of many dams constructed by TVA to harness the power of the Tennessee River System. The free-flowing portion of the Clinch River above the dam is the nation's top hotspot for freshwater mussel diversity.

Roanoke makes river more popular for fish and recreation

Two years later, and the new and improved bridge that crosses the Roanoke River in Roanoke, Va., is still a gift to the fish that make the river their home, as well as to the people of the city.

Completed on May 20, 2010, the installation of the new bridge was the final step in the Wiley Drive Bridge replacement project that including replacing the previous bridge with one that would better serve the fish and other visitors to the Roanoke River.

The main purpose of the project was to allow more movement for groups of Roanoke logperch, a fish protected under the Endangered Species Act, that have been documented in upper and lower sections of the river. The former bridge acted almost as a dam, keeping the populations separated from one another and lowering genetic diversity. 

Before and after the bridge replacement. 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

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).