Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The state wildlife grants program was created in two thousand one and provides federal dollars
to each state for wildlife identified as species of greatest conservation need. State wildlife
grants provide funding to projects that restore and enhance wildlife populations and habitats
by taking action before a species becomes endangered. This is one of the key sites of
the Casco Bay shorebird monitoring project on the coast of Maine.
We are looking on the Royal River which is in the town of Yarmouth, Maine. This is an
area that we have designated as significant wildlife habitat for shorebirds. This is under
our natrual resources protection act. So we actually regulate development activities along
the shoreline. This particular project, the Casco Bay Shorebird Conservation, is a long-term
monitoring study. And, like any species management, what you need first is monitoring. We need
to know if these species are increasing, decreasing or staying stable. We have shorebirds coast
wide from Kittery to Lubec and that's the way we'd like to keep it. Nationally shorebird
numbers are in a state of decline. It is very concerning, so we're trying to do what we
can for the birds that use our coast to stage as they go south to the wintering grounds.
This habitat is crucial to migrating shorebirds. Without this rich ecosystem, the shorebirds
will not be able to complete their seasonal migration.
Different waves of populations are coming down from the Arctic to come to the Maine
coast to fuel up and rest and prepare for the next leg of their migration which is a
nonstop flight across the Atlantic down to South America. So we feel our coastline is
very important for the birds that come here. Individual birds that come here are only here
for about two weeks and in that time they have to double their body weight so they have
the fuel to make that nonstop trip across the ocean. Once they're out over the ocean
they're committed, they can't sit down and rest, they have to fly the entire way. So
that's why we're very concerned about our shorebird habitat.
These shorebirds are important components of the environment here on the coast so protection
of these animals also benefit the surrounding coastal communitites.
Shorebirds are a great indicator species. Towns are very concerned about the health
of the mud flats because they do support the clamming industry, baitworm harvesting and
tourism. So, shorebirds are a great indicator. If we start losing, say, the numbers start
dramatically declining at this particular site then the town of Yarmouth knows, there's
an issue here.
Unlike game animals which have liscense fees and other tax funds for support, shorebirds
in Maine have less funding available to support their management and conservation.
State wildlife grant moneys have given us a unique opportunity to do this project. In
the nineteen twenties and thirties waterfowl populations were declining such as shorebird
populations are today. Back then, with the migratory bird treaty act, they could establish
bag limits, hunting seasons, but what they also did is they created the waterfowl duck
stamp. Federal duck stamp, state duck stamp. That was an opportunity that if you wanted
to hunt waterfowl you had to pay. And those revenues went directly into the resource and
were critical in habitat protection, habitat enhancement for waterfowl. For shorebirds
we have nothing like that and yet we have users, we have birders, we have ecotourists,
we have a lot of people taking photos of shorebirds and selling them on the internet and where
this is good for the local economy, none of these revenues are going back into the resource.
So , state wildlife grant moneys are finally we have an opportunity to tap some funding
to really put back into the resource.
Many projects funded by state wildlife grants aim to identify and address problems that
affect wildlife before a species declines to dangerous levels. These monitoring studies
also evaluate the efficiency of current wildlife management actions.
Part of this Casco Bay Monitoring Program is, after five, ten years we'll be able to
determine are these protection initiatives sufficient? Are we actually sustaining our
birds? Or, are they too restrictive?
There are many partners that play crucial roles in the Casco Bay Shorebird Monitoring
Project. These partners provide funding and contribute time and resources to ensure the
success of this project.
We have very little knowledge of shorebird roosts off shore. And yet, Casco Bay has many
many islands, rocks and ledges that could provide roosting so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is doing shorebird surveys offshore. By getting baseline information now on shorebird
use offshore then we'll compare it as the years go by. So, the U.S. Fish ahd Wildlife
Service, very helpful in that regard.
In the past, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant programs have been very successful in
maintaining and restoring other wildlife populations here in Maine.
State wildlife grant moneys have provided us with funds. We have a wintering population
of harlequin ducks, which are state threatened and we have a wintering population of purple
sandpipers. Both species share offshore rocks and ledges to feed and roost on throughout
the winter. That's their habitat, they come South to Maine to winter. And state wildlife
grant moneys have enabled us to hire a boat and crews and go out throughout the winter
and monitor both these species. Harlequin ducks, we only have about eighteen hundred
birds wintering here. The Eastern North American population is about twenty-four hundred birds
so we have a huge responsibility for that particular species wintering off our coastline.
Certainly if we had access to more state wildlife grant moneys we would do this intensive long
term monitoring program for shorebirds on other watersheds in Maine. Cobscook Bay, fairly
pristine area, but our surveys indicate that numbers are declining there and we'd like
to know why.
State wildlife grants play a key role in protecting the vitality of our country's wildlife. Without
this funding for proactive conservation, some of our most magnificent species could be lost
forever.