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Live chat on Invasive Species, awards ceremony and poster display: Off-Site participation.
illustration c. I65DESIGN+MEDIA ©2013 |
Live chat series, poster display, awards ceremony open Invasive Species Awareness Month
MADISON – A series of online chats, a State Capitol display of
posters created by schoolchildren and a new feature page are just some
of the activities and resources unveiled this week to launch Wisconsin’s
10th annual Invasive Species Awareness Month .
Starting in 2004, Wisconsin has organized awareness activities about
invasive species, nonnative plant and animal species whose introduction
causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to
human health. The event is sponsored by the Wisconsin Invasive Species Council,
which is comprised of representatives from state agencies,
universities, organizations and industries, and is advisory to the
Department of Natural Resources.
This year’s theme encourages people to Protect the places where you play,
and is reflected in a new DNR web feature series that will highlight
awareness month activities and more detailed information about
terrestrial invasive species, aquatic invasive species, forest pests,
and wetlands.
To participate, visit the DNR home page and look for the chat box or search the phrase ask the experts. You can also join the conversation via the DNR Facebook page and clicking the Cover it Live Chat box at the top of our page.
- From the Ask the Experts page, people also can view transcripts from a June 4 online chat on terrestrial invasive species and a May 22 chat on firewood.
- Starting June 7, posters created by Wisconsin fourth- and
fifth-grade students for the poster contest will be on display in the
Capitol rotunda.
- On June 11, Invader Crusader Awards will be
presented at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison at a 1 p.m. ceremony
to recognize individuals and organizations who have made outstanding
contributions to preventing the introduction and spread of invasive
plants and animals. The event is open to the public. Winners of the
Wisconsin Invasive Species Council poster contest also will be honored
at the ceremony.
- On Wednesday, June 19, the Second Annual Invasive Species Education Summit will be held at Trees for Tomorrow
in Eagle River. Distance participation will be available via webinar.
The free summit will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and lunch will be
provided. Registration is required by June 10.
For more information go to: Invasive Species Awareness Month website.
Read more here:
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
- Chrystal Schreck - (608) 264-8590
- Caitlin Kohlbeck - (414) 263-8712
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The remarkable recovery in Wisconsin and nationwide, of the bald eagle, is enjoyed by all.
photo c. WDNR ©2013 |
Record number of bald eagle nests found
Aerial surveys now underway to count eaglets
RHINELANDER – State biologists take to the skies again this month to
count how many young bald eagles hatched this spring, buoyed by April
aerial survey results suggesting a record number of occupied nests in a
record number of counties.
“We’re really close to having eagles nesting in all Wisconsin
counties,” says Jim Woodford, the Department of Natural Resources
conservation biologist coordinating the survey this year. “We’re well
beyond what we would have thought possible in the state.”
Earlier this spring, an eagle nest was documented for the first time
in Racine County, a homeowner has reported one near the Racine-Kenosha
county line, and reports are coming in of adult eagles in Walworth
County.
Last year, new breeding territories were documented throughout the
state and, in particular, in northwest and north central Wisconsin and
along the Mississippi River in southern Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin Bald Eagle and Osprey Surveys 2012 [PDF].
Preliminary results from the April aerial surveys suggest that the
number of breeding pairs will climb past the record set in 2012 of 1,337
breeding pairs, Woodford says. That 2012 total was up 50 pairs from
2011, and is a far cry from the 108 breeding pairs documented in 1973,
when the first survey was done, Woodford says.
“What we’re seeing is that eagles are much more tolerant than they
were,” he says. “Their ability to acclimate to humans and our activities
has increased.”
That increased tolerance and milder winter temperatures means more
eagles are living in Wisconsin year-round. “If there is open water
year-round, the eagles will stay here,” he says. The cold spring doesn’t
appear to have affected nesting.
The bald eagle
has enjoyed a remarkable recovery in Wisconsin and nationwide since
being placed on the state and federal endangered species lists in the
1970s. Wisconsin played an important role in that recovery, a story told
in a special 2012 web feature on bald eagle recovery.
Eagles were removed from Wisconsin's endangered list in 1997 and from
the federal list in 2007, although the bird and their nests remain
protected under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. That
law prohibits the killing, possession, sale or import of any bald or
golden eagle, alive or dead, including any part, nest, or egg, unless
allowed by permit.
Wisconsin’s aerial surveys, which started in March and run through
June, are part of the nation’s longest running statewide bald eagle
survey. This year is the 41st the survey has been conducted, and they’ve
been a foundation of Wisconsin’s successful program to restore bald
eagles to the sky, Woodford says.
Wisconsin's eagle recovery efforts took flight in the 1960s when
volunteer Chuck Sindelar of Waukesha started spending summers riding
shotgun in a small plane, peering into eagle nests. Sindelar paid for
the contract pilot out of his own pocketbook so he could check out the
reports of eagle activity reported by citizens. In later years, Dave
Evans, a Duluth volunteer, and Ron Eckstein, a DNR biologist, would
follow Sindelar's aerial surveys by climbing the trees where Sindelar
found active nests. Together, the three banded more than 3,000 eaglets,
yielding information to help better understand Wisconsin eagles and how
to manage their habitat.
DNR named Sindelar a Comeback Champ in 2012 for his help in eagle restoration.
DNR pilots now fly the surveys, which are typically done twice a year
with state endangered resources and wildlife management staff doing the
counting. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service staff survey nests by
watercraft within the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife & Fish
Refuge.
DNR staff use the information from the aerial surveys to help protect
and manage eagle nesting territories. Throughout the state, DNR staff
are contacted by public property managers and private landowners and
make recommendations to protect eagle nests from disturbance. On public
and private properties, all nests are fully protected and habitat is
managed to promote tall snags and large, super canopy white pines.
The surveys also allow other important research to occur. For
instance, DNR research scientist Mike Meyer is in the third year of a
study to collect blood samples from eagles to determine the levels of
environmental contaminants. A photo gallery showing Meyer and others
working with eaglets can be found on DNR’s Flickr account.
“Nest protection and management continue to be important in the
longterm conservation of our bald eagle population,” Woodford says. “The
surveys are a critical part of that because we need the best
information possible to make those recommendations.”
Donations can be made to the Adopt an Eagle nest fund to
help support the aerial surveys, rescue and rehabilitate sick, injured
or orphaned eagles, and work with landowners to protect and manage nest
trees and winter roost sites. Go to the DNR website and search for Adopt an Eagle.
Read more here:
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
- Jim Woodford -(715) 365-8856
- Dan Goltz - (608) 485-0876
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