Something exciting has touched down in Roswell— and this time, it’s not from another planet. The National Wildlife Refuge Association is thrilled to welcome Marianne Kelso as our new biologist at Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), where she’s bringing her skills, smarts, and species-saving know-how to southeastern New Mexico’s Pecos River watershed.
This year, we celebrate a momentous occasion: the 121st birthday of the National Wildlife Refuge System! For over a century, this incredible network of lands and waters has served as a beacon of conservation, protecting a staggering array of wildlife and providing cherished outdoor experiences for millions.
Florida Panthers are subspecies of Mountain Lion and are known for their elusive nature. They are highly independent and territorial, except when mating or raising kittens. Compared to other subspecies, Florida Panthers have characteristics of a crooked tail, unique patches on their fur, and black markings that highlight the tips of their tails, ears, and snout. They prefer warm climates like swamps, wetlands, and upland forests. In the past, their range extended beyond Florida, and many wild panthers were spotted in the Gulf Coast states, between Florida and Louisiana, and even in Arkansas. However, today, a majority of the remaining wild panthers can be found only in the southwestern tip of Florida, with an estimated population of just over 200 individuals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is embarking on an ambitious new effort to establish an Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area (formerly known as the Southwest Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Area). If successful, a new conservation area would allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to work with willing landowners to protect the lands most important to our water and wildlife, in one of the most biologically diverse regions in our country. The USFWS has released a draft Everglades to Gulf Land Protection Plan and is seeking input.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is embarking on an ambitious new effort to establish a Southwest Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Area. If successful, a new conservation area would allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to work with willing landowners to protect the lands most important to our water and wildlife in one of the most biologically diverse regions in our country.
There was Ramen and Rissotto, the alligators and Rivali, Remus and Cass, the hawks and owl who welcomed the approximately 150 guests at the Wild About Wildlife event to benefit the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and the National Wildlife Refuge Association. The event was held outdoors in the lush gardens at the home of Richard and, Board Member, Dragana Connaughton in Palm Beach.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association has been active on the ground in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem and Southwest Florida. Our work in outreach, conservation science, and land protection has resulted in significant conservation gains to protect the most ecologically significant landscapes in southern Florida, directly benefiting several national wildlife refuges or the landscapes where they are located. Our work has resulted in increased conservation funding and the permanent protection of thousands of additional acres.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association and its partners are advancing critical conservation efforts by working to protect habitat for the Florida grasshopper sparrow. Our land conservation projects within the region are resulting in significant gains in protecting remaining wild Florida grasshopper sparrow populations.
The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is the most endangered bird in the continental United States; it will almost certainly go extinct without herculean efforts to recover the population. Over the past few decades, the total number of these birds known to exist on the planet dwindled from in the thousands to a low of only a few dozen left in the wilds of south-central Florida just a few years ago.
However, there are signs of hope. In the last two years, the outlook has improved for this delicate little bird characteristic of Florida’s unique dry prairie landscapes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), White Oak plantation, and other partners have been working together over the last five years to increase population numbers for the Florida grasshopper sparrow through arduous habitat management, nest protection, and predator management in conjunction with intensive captive breeding.
The program has now successfully reared and released dozens of sparrows on several public and private conservation lands in south-central Florida. And it is working; the released birds are breeding and the population numbers in the wild are increasing.
All this work is happening within the boundary of the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge (EHNWR). This essential refuge has an acquisition boundary that encompasses almost a million acres – an area that stretches from just south of Orlando down to Lake Okeechobee. It will eventually protect a combination of public and private lands of at least 150,000 acres that includes land that contains newly discovered populations of Florida grasshopper sparrow.
If successful, these efforts will ensure the future of Florida dry prairie and the ranchlands of the region, which will continue to provide the critical wildlife habitat, water conservation, wildlife corridors, and natural resource recreation benefits in this region of rich and unique biodiversity and cultural history.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association has worked closely with the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, the USFWS, Florida state agencies, and others to ensure that the best available science is used to guide conservation-based land protection resulting in the most strategic return on investment, including the identification and protection of the best remaining habitat of the Florida grasshopper sparrow.
Identifying properties that might contain habitat conditions that could support these birds is a challenging task that requires painstaking property analysis by experts in botany and avian ecology. To find these tiny sparrows in thousands of acres of wilderness requires laborious surveys performed by teams of avian ecologists who can discern the faintest note of their song and parse out the reproductive implications of any behaviors that they may observe.
Our partner, Lance Arvidson of Common Ground Ecology, recently discovered a previously unknown population of the Florida grasshopper sparrow on a private ranch. We supported Common Ground Ecology to subsequently assemble and lead a team of Florida grasshopper sparrow experts to thoroughly document the population. This analysis found that the new population likely contains nearly as many wild Florida grasshopper sparrows as are in each of the only two known populations of significance.
We are proud that our support better documented an unknown population of this critically imperiled bird. We are facilitating a state-federal partnership to protect this land and the sparrows; we are working with USFWS and the state’s Florida Forever Program to leverage enough funding to ensure the protection of this 6200-acre ranch forever.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association – working with USFWS, the State of Florida’s Forever and Rural and Family Lands Protection Program and other partners such as Audubon Florida, Ducks Unlimited, and Open Space Institute has also helped protect other nearby properties that are adjacent to the largest remaining block of Florida grasshopper sparrow habitat in the Kissimmee Prairie State Preserve, including over 4,000 acres on the Triple Diamond Ranch; another 1,300 acres of dry prairie habitat will be protected in 2021.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association is committed to ensuring that the goals of the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge are achieved, which includes protection of all the remaining occupied habitat of the Florida grasshopper sparrow as well as opportunities to re-establish populations on other available habitats within the core range of this extremely rare and endangered species.
We are continuing to work with the UFSWS, the state of Florida, and many other partners to raise the critical funds to protect the ranches and other lands critical to the Florida grasshopper sparrow and the many other threatened and endangered species dependent on the dry prairie landscape of south-central Florida before they are lost to development.
The Refuge Association works closely with the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, the USFWS, Florida state agencies, and others to ensure that the best available science is used to guide conservation-based land protection resulting in the most strategic return on investment, including the identification and protection of the best remaining habitat of the Florida grasshopper sparrow.
The Conservation Partners Project (CPP), funded through a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, is underway in Florida. This innovative partnership between the National Wildlife Refuge Association and Florida Conservation Group seeks to protect habitat on private lands and restore wetlands in Southwest and South-central Florida.
