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.

No bait needed for this catch

The truck used by Michael's Wholesale
Bait to transport fish.

Two Massachusetts businessmen were convicted Friday of three felony charges each in federal court for unlawfully dealing in millions of dollars of live freshwater fish without the required state permits. The case illustrates the protection that state and federal wildlife law provide to our waters and wildlife – and the strong partnership vital to enforcing that protection.

In 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement was alerted by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Massachusetts Environmental Police that something wasn’t quite right at Michael’s Wholesale Bait of West Springfield, Mass.

Students take pride in contributing to turtle conservation

Today, wildlife biologist Stephanie Koch and four high school students share their reflections on raising and releasing rare Blanding’s turtles as part of an experimental head-starting program.

BLANDING'S TURTLE

This medium-sized freshwater turtle inhabits wetlands in parts of the upper Midwest, New York, New England and southern Canada. Throughout the Northeast, populations appear to be declining. More

Bristol County Agricultural High School students have partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others to help nurture Blanding’s turtles, considered threatened in Massachusetts, and later release them with a greater likelihood of survival at Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge in Sudbury, Mass.

The program, intended to establish a new population at the refuge, involves collecting hatchlings in the wild, raising them in captivity and releasing them back in the wild when the turtles are large enough to survive most predation. Head-start programs are one of many tools that the Service considers in the conservation of species like the Blanding's turtle.

Over the last three years, Bristol Aggie teacher Brian Bastarache and Stephanie have led students in releasing more than 150 turtles. This year's release was on May 23.

Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge joins partners to help breed rabbits

This post is part of a series running all week about the work done on national wildlife refuges to help with threatened and endangered species recovery. Today, you’re hearing from Nancy Pau, a wildlife biologist at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and James Panaccione, a biological science technician, about the construction of hardening pens to help recover New England cottontails.

DID YOU KNOW?

The New England cottontail has become so rare that it's a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. What's a candidate? (PDF)

You’ve seen them hopping around your backyard right?

Well, not necessarily. You may have seen rabbits in New England, but probably not the rare New England cottontail.

While these rabbits may closely resemble the more commonly seen eastern cottontail, they require a much more specific type of home and are known as habitat specialists. New England cottontails need dense thickets, and they hesitate to stray from cover. 

As that habitat has been lost to development and maturing forest, the New England cottontail population has dramatically declined. These issues, along with habitat separated or fragmented by expanding roads and highways, make it difficult for these rabbits to find food or mates.

Linking red knots from Monomoy to Cuba and beyond

THE RED KNOT

• Is a medium-sized shorebird and a candidate for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
    
• Undertakes one of the longest migrations, traveling 16,000 miles round trip from their farthest wintering grounds at the tip of South America to their Arctic breeding grounds.
   
• Flies an estimated 5,000 miles without stopping for six days, one of the longest nonstop flights in the bird world.
    
  
• Needs safe places – stopover sites – to rest and feed.

This post is part of a series running all week about the work done on national wildlife refuges to help with threatened and endangered species recovery. Today, you’re hearing from Stephanie Koch, a refuge wildlife biologist, and Susi vonOettingen, an endangered species biologist, about red knot banding and the data collection that is critical to the recovery of this species.

Furl, smear, jiggle, twinkle and fire. It’s all in a day of red knot banding.

At Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, the day began with a crisp ocean breeze as we, our coworkers, partners and volunteers, hauled several hundred pounds of field equipment to our boats. We were heading out to Minimoy Island to capture red knots, and everyone, especially first-timer Susi, was very excited!

“I was in learning mode, fumble fingers and all,” Susi said. “Then orders started to fly, and I really got lost.”

Capturing red knots is no easy task, even with a seasoned, experienced crew leader. At Monomoy Refuge, we use cannon nets, large explosive driven nets that allows us to capture a large number of birds at the same time.

Not just rocks: The mussels of our rivers and streams

Today you’re hearing from Meagan Racey, who handles public affairs and media relations for Ecological Services, on her recent encounter with freshwater mussels. 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 sky beamed blue above, and the sun shined down on me below as I sliced the clear water with my paddle—shwoosh down the right side of the kayak, and shwoosh down the left side. From the shoreline, a great blue heron watched me wearily, and up ahead a bald eagle peered from the treetop. Minnows darted under the water and water bugs glided across the top.

It’s hard to beat a day on the water. My trip down a portion of New England’s longest river, the Connecticut River, started at Greenfield, Mass., and amid all the beautiful details I mentioned above, one unmentioned characteristic struck me the most – the littering of freshwater mussels poking up from the bottom of the clear river.

A day with the terns of Ram Island

Today you’re hearing from Brett Hillman, a biological science technician for the Service’s New England Field Office, as he recounts his work with shorebirds in Massachusetts. Brett assists the endangered species biologists and has the great pleasure of working with a wide variety of wildlife.

Before May 24, I never thought I could have so much fun and learn so much while being pooped on by hundreds of real-life Angry Birds! That all changed when I had the great pleasure of helping with some field work at a tern colony on Ram Island in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.

Partnering to save endangered animals: Massachusetts

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!

A few decades ago, an uncontrolled wildfire roared through an area of pine barrens on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, burning 8 square miles down to the sandy soil.

Today, the communities and businesses of the town of Mashpee border these fire-prone barrens, as well as lands protected by federal, state and local agencies. Not only do thousands of people live here, but the rare New England cottontail has also found a home in the pitch pines and scrub oaks of the barrens. Read the rest of the story.

Contrary to what some may know, some types of young forests are dependent on
periodic wildfire. Fire management officers mimic the natural fire process to keep a
healthy space for plants and wildlife, including the rare New England cottontail,
which needs this habitat for survival.
Credit: Catherine J. Hibbard/USFWS

A rare rabbit needs our support

This Bunny Needs Brush to Survive

This time of year, gardeners in the Northeast are all too familiar with the rabbits that have chosen their beds for buffets. But there’s a less abundant rabbit that you probably don’t know about, and that you would be much less likely to find in your garden. That cottontail, the New England cottontail, is the only one native to our region.