Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced $20.5 million in grants on Tuesday to support 24 projects in 13 states to conserve and restore coastal wetlands and their fish and wildlife habitat.

The grants, awarded under the 2012 National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program, will be matched by nearly $21 million in partner contributions from state and local governments, private landowners and conservation groups.

“Coastal wetlands serve as some of nature’s most productive fish and wildlife habitat while providing storm protection, improved water quality, and abundant recreational opportunities for local communities,” Salazar said. “I am pleased that with these grants we are able to help our state partners implement some of their high-priority projects that support both conservation and recreation along their coasts.”

The grants will be used to acquire, restore or enhance coastal wetlands and adjacent uplands to provide long-term conservation benefits to fish, wildlife and their habitat. States receiving funds include Alaska, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

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Two Suspects Apprehended in Louisiana

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has identified two juveniles for their alleged role in the illegal shooting of two whooping cranes found dead in Jefferson Davis Parish on Oct. 10.

According to an eyewitness account, two boys stopped on Lyons Road in between Mouton and Guidry roads south of Jennings at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 9. The eyewitness said they shot from their truck and killed two whooping cranes.

Agents and biologists were notified Oct. 10, and retrieved the dead birds, part of the agency’s whooping crane reintroduction program. Agents were able to locate the suspected juveniles Monday night based on information from the eyewitness account, according to a press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Losing two cranes, especially in such a thoughtless manner, is a huge setback in the department’s efforts to re-establish a whooping crane population in Louisiana,” said Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham. “We take this careless crime very seriously.”

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The Cumberland darter, rush darter, yellowcheek darter, chucky madtom, and laurel dace are now federally-listed as endangered throughout their respective ranges, according to a press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The listings become effective on September 8, 30 days following Tuesday’s publication in the Federal Register.

The rush darter is only found in the Tombigbee-Black Warrior drainage in Alabama. It continues to have a presence in three watersheds: the Turkey Creek watershed (Jefferson County); the Clear Creek watershed (Winston County); and the Cove Creek watershed (Etowah County). However, the fish has a more limited distribution within these watersheds.

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The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are investigating the shooting death of a mature bald eagle near Wise in Warren County, North Carolina. A reward of up to $2,500 is being offered for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible.

The eagle was discovered injured on March 20 and examined by Dr. David Conde of the West Hills Veterinary Clinic in Henderson, North Carolina. He determined that the eagle had been shot and had a broken wing. Despite being treated for its injuries, the eagle died on March 28.

“Because the eagle was found along a traveled roadway, someone may have seen or heard something that will help in our investigation. We are hoping that anyone with information on who is responsible for shooting the eagle will step forward and provide information that will help us solve this case,” said Sandra Allred, a special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based in Raleigh, North Carolina. “As with many instances regarding the conservation and use of our natural resources, the illegal actions of one selfish individual can have the potential to hurt the interests of the majority of people who respect our resources. The bald eagle is a symbol of our country, and we will vigorously pursue those who kill or injure our Nation’s symbol.”

Anyone with information concerning the shooting of this eagle is asked to call Special Agent Allred at 919-856-4786, or North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Officer Richard Creech at 252-886-3614 or 252-438-3428.

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What kind of an ignorant redneck Republican would shoot and kill a bald eagle, the great symbol of American freedom and the national bird of the United States?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are investigating the shooting death of a bald eagle east of Crossville, Tennessee in Crab Orchard near the Crab Orchard School in Cumberland County. The first person who provides information resulting in the successful prosecution of the person or persons responsible in these investigations will be eligible for an $8,500 reward.

This is the second bald eagle killed in Tennessee in less than a month. Another eagle had been recently found shot and killed in adjacent Bledsoe County, Tennessee, in the area of Big Springs Gap Road. The birds were found approximately 30 miles apart.

The eagle killed in Cumberland County was examined by a veterinarian and determined to have been shot. The eagle killed in Bledsoe County was also examined by veterinarians at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine and determined to have been shot. Both bald eagles were mature with a white head and white tail.

Anyone with information concerning the eagle found in Cumberland County is asked to call Special Agent John Rayfield at 615-736-5532, or Cumberland County Wildlife Officer Casey Mullen with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency at 800-262-6704.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks are investigating the shooting deaths of two black bears in Mississippi and offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the conviction of any responsible party.

One adult black bear was found dead earlier this week in Hinds County near Edwards, Mississippi. The other bear, a female wearing a GPS collar for research purposes, was found dead this past November in Bolivar County near the Mississippi River, according to a press release issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday.

“Both black bears appeared to have been shot,” said Bob Oliveri, special agent in the USFWS’s Law Enforcement Office in Jackson. “Further examination should determine the exact cause of death.”

Glynn Wilson

Black bears are protected by both state and federal laws. Violations of these statutes carry maximum criminal penalties of up to $100,000 and/or 6 months in jail, or both.

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Although the eastern cougar has been on the endangered species list since 1973, its existence has long been questioned. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a formal review of the available information and, in a report issued Wednesday, concludes that the eastern cougar is extinct and recommends the subspecies be removed from the endangered species list.

“We recognize that many people have seen cougars in the wild within the historical range of the eastern cougar,” said the Service’s Northeast Region Chief of Endangered Species Martin Miller. “However, we believe those cougars are not the eastern cougar subspecies. We found no information to support the existence of the eastern cougar.”

Reports of cougars observed in the wild examined during the review process described cougars of other subspecies, often South American subspecies, that had been held in captivity and had escaped or been released to the wild, as well as wild cougars of the western United States subspecies that had migrated eastward to the Midwest.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources are investigating the suspicious deaths of three whooping cranes in south Georgia.

The cranes were found and reported by hunters in Calhoun County, just west of Albany, Ga., on Dec 30. The landowner reported the cranes had been in the area for a few weeks before they found them dead just before New Year’s Eve.

Necropsies are expected to be completed in about two weeks.

The cranes are part of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership effort to reintroduce whooping cranes into the eastern United States.

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Glynn Wilson

A yellow-crowned night heron feeding on the section of Village Creek that intersects the Roebuck Golf Course, just down stream from the destroyed dam.

by Glynn Wilson

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Notice of Violations to the City of Birmingham Thursday for killing 11,760 watercress darters, an endangered species protected by the Endangered Species Act, and also for injuries to some 8,900 additional darters killed when a city park manager ordered a beaver dam removed on Village Creek in Roebuck Springs.

The Service is seeking a civil penalty totaling $2,975,000.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources also has a claim against the City for $1,062,786.21 for the death of watercress darters, plus the deaths of more than two million individuals of a protected species of snail.

The ADCNR is contemplating a lawsuit against the City to collect that claim, according to a press release.

The Service’s action stems from an incident that happened September 19, 2008, when a City maintenance crew removed a beaver dam from the Roebuck Springs pool in Hawkins Park. The crew also breached an underlying earthen dam that formed the spring pool where more than 20,000 of the small endangered fish lived.

Breaching the dam quickly drained the spring pool and stranded and killed thousands of watercress darters among a mass of drying aquatic plants.

“The massive fish kill resulted in the loss of more than half of the largest known population of this species,” said Cynthia K. Dohner, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Southeast regional director.

Watercress darters are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and are a trust resource protected by Alabama law. The only populations in the world are found in five spring pools and spring brooks in Jefferson County, Alabama, within the metropolitan area of Birmingham.

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