Endangered Species Bulletin articles from March 2003

Endangered Species Bulletin archives from March 2003

Jewels in our waters.(stream conservation)
March 1, 2003... At the crack of dawn, as you slice through the calm river with quiet paddle strokes, your canoe glides upstream through a bank of fog that will slowly burn off with each cast of your fishing rod. Why does everyone love our beautiful...

Conservation and recovery of Southeastern Imperiled Fishes.
March 1, 2003... Prompted by concern over the plight of southeastern fishes and a desire to address their conservation, the Fish and Wildlife Service organized a meeting of more than 60 aquatic natural resources experts in October 1999. Professionals...

Releasing mussels to recovering waters.
March 1, 2003... One of our nation's biological hot spots, the 21,390 square miles (55,379 sq. kilometers) of the Upper Tennessee River Basin (UTRB) provides habitat for a remarkable diversity of aquatic life. More than 85 of the approximately 300 described...

Crayfish: an overlooked fauna.
March 1, 2003... When we think about biological diversity, the plant and animal treasures hidden away in tropical rainforests or the unusual species that evolve on isolated islands readily come to mind. It may surprise many people that the freshwater systems of...

The urban life of darters.(excessive sedimentation endangers darter fishes)
March 1, 2003... Most people in the United States now live in urban areas and suburbs, squeezed onto three percent of the nation's land area. In turn, most of the water that enters our southeastern streams and lakes is affected by activities that occur on these...

Forty-one tons.(fish habitat improvement)
March 1, 2003... Why would 30 people volunteer to move large boulders, by hand, into the Elk River on a hot day in August? "In the hopes of providing new habitat for one of the rarest fishes in the Southeast," replies Lee Barclay, Supervisor of the Cookeville,...

Landowners are recognized for conservation work.(fish habitat improvement)
March 1, 2003... At a dinner held in April 2002, 20 private landowners from the Morrison-Viola area of middle Tennessee were recognized by the Barrens Topminnow Working Group for their efforts to restore and protect habitat for this extremely rare fish. ...

In memoriam: Tyler Alley Sykes.(Obituary)
March 1, 2003... Editor's note: The following was provided by the Service's Cookeville, Tennessee, Field Office in tribute to the memory of Tyler Sykes, who tragically passed away due to illness shortly after she wrote the preceding articles. Tyler Sykes...

Down by the Green River.(wildlife protection and habitat modification)
March 1, 2003... Immortalized in John Prine's song "Paradise," the Green River flows lazily through west-central Kentucky before joining the Ohio River. Although Prine sings of the town of Paradise in Muhlenberg County, we think that true paradise lies many...

Sending surrogates to the rescue.(preventing extinction of freshwater mussels)
March 1, 2003... It is reclusive, silent, and sedentary, but it's also Mother Nature's natural water filter and an indicator species to boot, and now a small group of scientists in the Southeast is putting in long hours in an attempt to rescue a single...

Cryptic biodiversity.(rich biodiversity in the southeastern waters of the United States)
March 1, 2003... Just how many aquatic animal species do we have in the Southeast? We don't have a final answer to this question yet, but through the collaborative efforts of agency biologists and scientists specializing in taxonomic classification, we are...

Sturgeon surveys in the Lower Mississippi River.
March 1, 2003... In September 2001, the Fish and Wildlife Service's Jackson Field Office and the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, with assistance from the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Commission, initiated a multi-year program of trawl surveys for...

Chinese biologists compare argali to bighorn.(dwindling numbers of bighorn sheep)
March 1, 2003... "Stop the car!" cried Liu Chuguang through our interpreter, Julia Su. The minibus slid to a halt on the rocky washboard road. As the dust cleared, we made out a thin tawny figure picking its way around a field of boulders. Then, about 50 feet...

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. (Region 1).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge In April 2002, volunteers donated over 200 hours to restore native plants at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Nevada. By working to revegetate the site, volunteers helped restore and recreate...

San Pablo Bay NWR. (Region 1).(salt marshes restored)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... San Pablo Bay NWR The refuge began the restoration of 72 acres (29 ha) of low-yield hayfields to tidal salt marsh last March by breaching a bayfront levee. The goal is to bring back native pickleweed-dominated vegetation, which is habitat for...

American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus). (Region 5).(species reintroduction)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) Reintroduction of this carrion beetle continues on Nantucket Island, off the coast of Massachusetts. The Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, has reared beetles for release since...

Lee County cave isopod (Lirceus usdagalun). (Region 5).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Lee County Cave Isopod (Lirceus usdagalun) On February 19, 2002, five staff from the Service and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's Division of Natural Heritage rediscovered the Lee County cave isopod in Thompson Cedar...

Piping plover (Charadrius melodus). (Region 5).
March 1, 2003... Piping plover (Charadrius melodus) U.S. Atlantic Coast piping plover abundance and productivity figures for the 2000 and 2001 breeding seasons are now available on-line at "http:// pipingplover.fws.gov/status/index.html." After a 3 percent...

Listing actions. (Regional News).(species protection)
March 1, 2003... Emergency Listing Rule California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense) On July 22, due to an imminent threat of habitat destruction, we listed the Sonoma County distinct population segment of the California tiger salamander as...

Box score.(endangered species population numbers)
March 1, 2003... Listings and Recovery Plans as of March 31, 2003 ENDANGERED THREATENED GROUP U.S. FOREIGN U.S. FOREIGN MAMMALS 65 251 9...