July 2011 Alabama Indigo Snake Reintroduction Update

As many of you know, the 2011 tracking season is in full swing. On May 3, 2011 we re-released the 6 snakes that survived 2010. Of the 17 released in 2010, 6 snakes lived, 6 snakes died, and 5 snakes disappeared. Of the 6 that died, 2 were hit by vehicles, 2 were eaten by predators (one avian, one mammal), and 2 died of “natural causes”. During 2010, 7 snakes disappeared, 2 excreted their transmitters, 2 emigrated onto private land where we were unable to keep track of them, and 3 had battery failure before recapture. However, 2 of these snakes were captured in late February while basking in front of their hibernacula. One snake had excreted its transmitter and was thought dead, the other’s radio battery had died. Both of these snakes were found using the same gopher tortoise burrows as snakes with working radios. The 6 snakes recaptured in February were brought to Auburn where they were implanted with new radios with a longer 2 year battery life. They were then re-released at their point of capture.
Since their release, we have been consistently locating all 6, and to date they are all still alive and seem to be doing well. Some of these snakes seem to be at or over the 6 ft mark. A4 was seen eating another copperhead on Mother’s Day. Most of the snakes have been using the same areas that they occupied last year. They have, interestingly, been utilizing many of the same burrows and retreats that they used last summer.
On May 16, 2011, 31 more snakes were released onto the site. Of these, 21 were implanted with radios and 10 received only a PIT tag. Of these 21, 10 were female and 11 were male. Of the 21 radioed snakes, 10 were soft released into the pens and 11 were hard released outside the enclosures along a nearby fire break. Within the 6 enclosures, 4 received 2 snakes (2 with a male and a female, one with 2 males, and one with 2 females) and 2 received 1 snake (one with a male and one with a female). Snakes were distributed by clutch and size across the release methods. All of the snakes without radios were males and were hard released outside the enclosures in the area.
It was 11 days before the first snake escaped from the pens. After that, snakes trickled out of the pens. As observed last year, there were no noticeable breaches in the fences and it appears the snakes are finding their way out through underground passages. As of now, 4 snakes (3 females and 1 male) remain in the enclosures. While in the pens, the snakes utilized upturned tree rootballs, burned out stumpholes, and gopher tortoise burrows for refugia similarly to snakes outside the pens.
Several times, snakes from this year’s release located and used the same burrows as snakes from last year’s release. This occurred with both soft and hard released snakes and some of the locations were a considerable distance from the initial release site. These observations were surprising, particularly since the pens and most of the Forest Service compartment around the release site were prescribed burned this winter and spring to improve the habitat in the area.
Snakes have occasionally been encountered crossing roads and so far have made it safely across. Do Not Harm signs have been placed around the area and should encourage drivers to avoid running the snakes down. Last week, the Forest Service observed and photographed an unknown snake crossing a paved road. This snake has not yet been identified, but is known to be a snake without a radio, since all of the snakes with radios were accounted for in areas a considerable distance away from here. The unknown snake could be one of the snakes released last year that was last seen in this area or one of 10 males released this year without radios. We hope that with further examination, the photographs taken of this snake will distinguish between these two possibilities. We also hope to encounter this snake again soon and capture it to scan the pit tag so we can be sure of its true identity.
Blue Lake Methodist Camp across the Pond Creek drainage has been a popular spot for the snakes again this year. Four of the snakes have been observed on camp property on the same day. The camp director was re-contacted and again expressed support and enthusiasm for the project, welcoming us to track on the property whenever needed. According to her, encounters with venomous snakes are up on the camp this year and she hopes the indigo presence there will help control dangerous encounters.
A couple of snakes have also used habitats around the Blue Lake Recreation area this year, and a couple of snakes have recently moved further north. A number of the snakes have also been using neighboring private land.
Movement has increased over the past couple of weeks, and many of the snakes have moved into the nearby creek drainages. As observed last year, the males are moving further distances and with more frequency than females. The furthest distance recorded from the release site this year is 2.62 km by a male from this year’s release.
Snakes encountered on the surface are often slithering around flicking their tongues and prodding under logs and in holes in a foraging behavior. One snake was observed eating a corn snake yesterday. The tree climbing behavior observed in a few snakes last year has not been documented in the field this year. Many of the snakes have been observed rattling their tails, hissing and inflating their bodies in a threat pose when approached.
Habitat use has been diverse, with snakes utilizing all habitats available. The most surprising observation so far in terms of habitat has been the high incidence of snakes locating many of the same retreat sites that were used by snakes last year. The verdict on prescribed burning’s affect on habitat use is still out for now, but is expected to have more influence in winter habitat use when snakes rely more on gopher tortoise habitats for overwintering.
Feedback from the local community has remained positive. The new metal signs distributed around the area and placed at trailheads, the local country store and popular recreation areas should increase opportunities to bolster support of the project.
As of today, 26 of the 27 radioed snakes are alive and well. Only one snake from this year’s release has been found dead and this mortality appears to be a natural predation. As the snakes find their way around and achieve rapid growth, the likelihood of natural predation should decrease. Additionally, the sighting of an unknown snake by the Forest Service is encouraging, since it may indicate an increase in the survival of last year’s snakes.
The overall outlook for repatriated indigos establishing self-sufficient populations in the wilds of Alabama remains good. Although it will be years yet before the true success of the project can be measured, continuing research should reveal important information to increase the chances for success. For conservationists, the success of this project would represent more than just a step in the recovery of a federally threatened species; it would also indicate that years of management in the longleaf have restored this imperiled ecosystem enough to support the diverse array of species that once inhabited this wilderness. As important predators that help keep ecosystem health in balance, and as a part of the natural heritage we had thought forever lost in Alabama, the attempt to return indigo snakes to Alabama is an investment in the future and that is good news indeed.

USFWS adds eastern Gopher Tortoises as a candidate species eligible for Endangered Species Protection

(The following is information from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service press release issued 26 July 2011. The press release in its entirety can be found here.)

In a press release issued today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that gopher tortoises east of Mobile Bay will be added to the list of candidate species eligible for Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. While candidate species receive no statutory protection under the ESA, inclusion on the candidate list promotes cooperative conservation efforts for these species.

"After careful review, we have determined the gopher tortoise east of Mobile Bay is facing many of the same problems and challenges as the western population, which is already listed as threatened," said Cynthia Dohner, Southeast Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We hope increased protection and conservation efforts in the next few years by private landowners and state and federal agencies in Alabama Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina can reduce those threats."

In making this determination, the Service completed a comprehensive review – known as a 12-month finding – and found sufficient scientific and commercial data to propose listing the species as threatened or endangered throughout its range. However, the Service is precluded from beginning work immediately on a listing proposal because its limited resources must be devoted to other, higher priority actions.

...

The eastern portion of the gopher tortoise’s range includes Alabama (east of the Tombigbee and Mobile Rivers), Florida, Georgia, and southern South Carolina. In these areas, the gopher tortoise will become a candidate species for listing under the ESA. In the western range states, west of the Tombigbee River in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, it will continue to be listed as threatened under the ESA.

Threats to the gopher tortoise include habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation, predation, inadequacy of regulatory mechanisms, and incompatible use of herbicides in forest management.

(For more information on the Gopher Tortoise - one of the South's iconic reptile species - see information from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Gopher Tortoise Council.)

Red Mountain Park Added as a New AAN Partner

Habitat at Red Mountain Park - Photo by Dr. Jennifer Layton

ALAPARC and the Alabama Amphibian Network (AAN) would like to extend a warm welcome to Samford University and Red Mountain Park as partners in the AAN! Dr. Jennifer Layton (Samford) has been working with Red Mountain Park officials in Birmingham to install new coverboard and treefrog shelter arrays at the park for participation in the network. This site is a great addition to the seven environmental education partners already serving in the network and will add a unique comparison with the AAN’s site at Ruffner Mountain Nature Center. Both Ruffner Mountain and Red Mountain are located in habitat characteristic of the Valley and Ridge physiographic province and will provide a great snapshot of this region’s amphibian diversity.

Huge props to Dr. Layton and colleagues for spearheading the design and installation of the site, and we look forward to this new partnership! For more information on the AAN – a collaborative citizen science network funded through Legacy, Partners in Environmental Education – please visit the ALAPARC website.

Outdoor Alabama Fact Sheet Info Now Online

Since our organization's inception, ALAPARC has had a continuing partnership with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources's award-winning Outdoor Alabama website. As part of this partnership, ALAPARC members have contributed over 15 species profiles for Alabama herpetofauna for publication. These profiles serve as one of our first lines of defense in combating a lack of herp awareness by communicating reliable, comprehensive info about reptiles and amphibians to members of the public in a jargon-free, accessible format. In return, the ADCNR has graciously allowed us to link to these profiles as part of our own website's inventory of Alabama herps.

Not all of these species currently contain published profiles, however, and we are seeking to complete this species list as soon as possible. Laura Laurencio has recently created an excellent outreach initiative page on our website to aid in this effort, including an Excel spreadsheet of those Alabama species that currently need profiles.

If you are an expert on one of the species listed at the link above, please consider serving as an author! “Expert” is a relative term, of course, so we welcome anyone with a strong familiarity of a particular species and a desire to condense knowledge from the scientific literature into an easy-to-read, jargon-free format for public consumption. If you're interested in becoming an author, please contact Wally Smith at whsmith1@crimson.ua.edu for more info.

Outreach Database Now Online!

Amphibian outreach program with the Alabama Hiking Trail Society

As a service to educators and the greater public in Alabama, ALAPARC has assembled a network of herp outreach program providers in the state. These individuals regularly present educational programs at schools, nature centers, and other venues around Alabama, geared towards improving public awareness of Alabama's herpetofauna and associated conservation efforts. Our hope is that condensing outreach providers in one central location will make these individuals and groups more accessible to the community and facilitate communication between providers.

If you are an educator or outreach coordinator wishing to plan a herp presentation for your school or group, please browse the spreadsheet provided at the link above to view a list of program providers and their service area in the state, as well as their contact information and other details for scheduling a program.

As of 18 April, the database includes only those ALAPARC members who volunteered personal info on our sign-up sheet at the 2010 meeting. If you aren't currently on the list but frequently give herp outreach programs and would like to be included, please contact Wally Smith at whsmith1@crimson.ua.edu for more information on being added to the network.

Frogging By Ear Workshop

When: 25-27 March 2011
Where: Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center, Andalusia, Alabama

Come spend a fun weekend in the longleaf with herpetologists, Jimmy and Sierra Stiles, learning all about frogs in Alabama’s frog hotspot. This region supports one of the highest frog species diversities in the United States. Participants will learn how to recognize frogs by their call and by using field marks to identify frogs in hand. Nightly field trips will tour local frogging sites for hands-on practice. Learn how to choose the best sites for listening to frogs, no matter where you are. We will demonstrate how Google Earth and other map resources can be used to identify the best spots for exploring the sounds of the night. Local frogs will be used to illustrate techniques to target species by understanding their life history, habitat and survival needs. We will present some interesting new techniques used for long-term monitoring and research as well as discuss some low-cost methods for managing your land for maximum frog diversity. Participants will have opportunities to photograph local frog species as well as some other interesting local reptiles and amphibians. The workshop will be based out of the Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center. We will be able to explore over 90,000 acres of prime frog habitat.

Workshop Schedule

Friday March 25th
2:00-5:00 Introduction to frogging, species identification, habits and habitats
5:00-5:45 Break
5:45-6:30 Dinner
6:30-9:30 Trips to local ponds

Saturday March 26th
8:00 Breakfast
9:30-12:00 GIS maps and frogs, Froglogging
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-2:00 Break
2:00-5:00 Photograph, experience and investigate live reptiles and amphibians
5:00-5:45 Break
5:45-6:30 Dinner
6:30-9:30 Trips to local ponds

Sunday March 27th
8:00 Breakfast
Cost of the workshop includes all lodging, meals, and instruction
$235 for single occupancy in a room per person
$225 for double occupancy in a room per person

To register or for more information contact

Jimmy and Sierra Stiles
5687 US Hwy 29
Andalusia, Alabama 36420
334-881-0084
205-533-1407
jrstiles@earthlink.net

REGISTRATION DEADLINE 21 MARCH 2011

Opp Rattlesnake Bounty Retracted

As a follow up the previous post, you can read about how, due to concerns raised about the rattlesnake bounty, Opp retracted this policy.

ALAPARC Press Release: Conservation groups send letters opposing Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo

Opp, Ala. (Feb. 7, 2011) — Controversy is again brewing over the Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo.The 51st annual event will be held April 1-2 in Opp, a small city that holds just 6,500 residents.

Each year, almost 100 Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes are hunted throughout south Alabama. In the past, many were taken from gopher tortoise burrows. Those captured are placed on display for the rodeo and then killed afterward. Last year, an estimated 20,000 people flocked to Opp for the city’s biggest attraction.

However, citing declines in the Eastern diamondback’s population, some conservation groups believe the “bring ‘em back alive” component of rattlesnake roundups should end, while maintaining other aspects of the festivals. Biologist D. Bruce Means, Executive Director of the Coastal Plains Institute, published a report in 2009 using 50 years worth of data collected from roundups in Opp and three Georgia towns. His findings provide a sobering survey of the impact those events have on the species.

“Both numbers of snakes and weights of the largest snakes that participants turned in annually declined in the last two decades,” he reported. “Statements by roundup officials and rattlesnake hunters support that roundup hunting has depleted local rattlesnake populations and forced hunters to travel further to collect snakes in recent years.”

With Opp’s rodeo less than two months away, some conservation groups have sent letters to city officials urging them to end a recently enacted policy that compensates residents for capturing live snakes for the event. In an interview with the Andalusia Star News, Opp City Planner Don Childre said the city will pay $8 per foot of rattlesnake and $100 for each live unharmed snake over five feet in length. For any snakes measuring more than eight feet (this length exceeds any turned in over the past 50 years), the city will pay $1,000. Opp has paid hunters for years to capture the snakes, but many of those hunters have since quit, according to Childre. He told the newspaper that because of this, “‘we thought we’d open it up to the public.’”

The Gopher Tortoise Council (GTC), a nonprofit organization promoting conservation of gopher tortoises and other unique upland species within the Southeast, One More Generation, a nonprofit in Georgia dedicated to preserving endangered species and the environment, Ruffner Mountain Nature Center and the Alabama chapter of the Sierra Club are among the organizations pushing for the policy’s retraction. In its letter, the GTC stresses the danger in encouraging the general public to capture rattlesnakes, a potentially deadly species.

“Because of this ill-conceived request, untrained individuals inspired by monetary gain are likely to put themselves at great risk capturing, handling, and transporting rattlesnakes,” the letter states. “Although rattlesnakes are unlikely to bite unless provoked (e.g. by capture) a bite from a rattlesnake is potentially debilitating and can even be fatal.” Furthermore, the GTC states that a common practice associated with collecting rattlesnakes involves gassing tortoise burrows, which is against the law in Alabama, but difficult to enforce.

“Gassing burrows can kill or harm the other inhabitants of tortoise burrows (of which there are >360 species including the gopher tortoise, a species federally protected west of the Tombigbee River and state protected to the east),” the GTC letter states. “Tortoise burrows are also known refuges of the eastern indigo snake, a federally listed-threatened species recently reintroduced to Conecuh National Forest.”

The letter also claims that offering a bounty will encourage unregulated exploitation of rattlers. Although the roundups are not as detrimental as the habitat loss and degradation the snake encounters throughout its range, they can still impact the species’ overall numbers, according to David Steen, co-chair of the GTC.

“Concentrated collecting within a particular area is likely to result in considerable decreases in population size and in the most extreme cases, elimination of the species in that spot altogether,” he said. “Between habitat loss, road mortality, and collecting (among other factors), the Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake has to contend with many new threats; this is likely why many biologists think the species is declining overall.”

Steen believes holding an event that celebrates the snake instead of one that includes capturing and killing it will still attract the crowds Opp sees each year. “Festivals of this type are great revenue producing opportunities and can be considered part of Southern culture,” he said. “But, collecting and killing of wild animals doesn’t need to be on the schedule to retain all of that. Educational displays of captive animals will probably satisfy the vast majority of rattlesnake enthusiasts.”

He cited the San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival in San Antonio, Fla. as a prime example of this. The festival, which one newspaper estimated draws more than 30,000 people, offers snake and reptile exhibits, as well as other educational programs concerning the environment. In its letter, the GTC told Opp officials that it would be interested in participating and promoting similar educational activities at future festivals.

For a copy of Means’ study on rattlesnake roundups, visit http://www.herpconbio.org/Volume_4/Issue_2/Means_2009.pdf.