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Ga. DNR e-news; photo of marbled godwits
January 2009
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Also in this issue:
* Best bird seeds
* A new nongame plate
* Hognose in profile
* Fall Line Sandhills

WILD Facts
Hey, kids, is cold weather keeping you inside? Cure your boredom by drawing or painting a picture for one of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources' art contests! The Give Wildlife A Chance poster contest is open to K- through 5th-graders and this year's theme is "Nature's gifts: the plants and animals of Georgia." The deadline to submit artwork is March 9. Details will be online soon at www.georgiawildlife.com. Also, the Youth Birding T-shirt Art Contest returns this year and is open to all grade levels. The deadline to turn in your native bird pictures is March 2. (You can also sign up for the new Youth Birding Competition e-newsletter.)

In education
Here’s one way first-graders at McDuffie Environmental Education Center learn about camouflage and develop observation skills: by searching for plastic bugs and other creatures of different colors and sizes placed along the center’s interpretive trails. “The kids get a kick out of who can find the most and have a great time doing it while learning about animal habitats and animal survival strategies,” staff member Dot Kay said. Such unique lessons stimulate the minds of about 5,000 visitors a year at the center in Dearing, spurring an appreciation for east Georgia’s diverse ecology. More on McDuffie.


Southern hognose snake.

Up close
Southern hognose snake
Heterodon simus
Also called: Puff or spreading adder.
Distinct looks: Stout-bodied snake with sharply upturned snout and often a relatively blunt tail. Adults usually range from 13-22 inches long. Brown and somewhat square blotches on back; cream on belly.
Found in: Dry, upland Coastal Plain habitats with sandy soils. Only one specimen documented in the Piedmont. Spends most of its time in burrows, stump holes, and old root channels of rotting pines. Rarely seen above ground, and then only during the day.
Reproduction: Probably lays clutches of about 6-14 eggs in late spring and early summer (no nest has been documented in the wild). Hatchlings emerge between mid-September and mid-October.
Eats what? Toads, almost exclusively. The snake’s snout may help dig them out and its elongated rear teeth may help puncture toads that inflate themselves to avoid being swallowed.
Status: State-listed as threatened. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers it a species of concern. The southern hognose appears to be declining across its range. Though widespread in southern Georgia, it has disappeared from some areas, according to Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia.
Threats: Habitat loss, vehicle traffic and fire ants (which may eat eggs and hatchlings).
Not like them: Though sometimes confused with eastern hognose snakes and pigmy rattlers, the southern hognose is not venomous (unlike rattlesnakes) and less likely to roll over and play possum (unlike the eastern hognose). It will hiss and spread its neck when threatened. But it rarely tries to bite.
D.C. updates
As power changes hands in Washington and the recession deepens, conservation groups varying from the National Audubon Society to Trout Unlimited are pressing for more – and more secure – natural resources funding. The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies has written Barack Obama with suggested ways to better support the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, a U.S. hallmark of policy and law designed to conserve species and habitats. Groups including the association are also hopeful the president-elect and new climate czarina Carol Browner will make good on Obama’s promise to earmark dollars for wildlife and habitats in cap-and-trade climate change legislation. On a related front, the Teaming With Wildlife Fly-in Day is set for Feb. 24-25. The annual event brings state wildlife officials and U.S. lawmakers together over the importance of continued funding for State Wildlife Grants. The federal program created in 2000 helps states prevent wildlife from becoming endangered, through priorities outlined in wildlife action plans. Georgia's plan.

Public lands profile
Fall Line Sandhills Natural Area offers a look at remnant beach dunes coinciding with an ancient shoreline, and the diversity of rare species such as Southeastern kestrel and endangered pondberry once common to these middle Georgia habitats. Read more.

Ranger reports
Eagle unknowns: The DNR has no leads yet regarding who shot an immature bald eagle later captured in November at Paradise Public Fishing Area near Tifton. The eagle is on the rebound at Auburn University’s Southeastern Raptor Center. A flight evaluation will determine whether the bird can be released into the wild. Anyone with information about the shooting can call the TIPs hotline, 1-800-241-4113, or e-mail TurnInPoachers@dnr.state.ga.us.
Winter on the water: December on the coast means whale patrols and trawler checks. Cpl. Cindy Miller and Sgt. James Shelton warned boaters and ships about a right whale spotted off the south end of Saint Catherines Island Dec. 3. Rangers 1st Class Mark Carson and Craig Smith and Cpls. Jesse Cook and Ron Harris cited shrimp trawler operators for violations involving turtle excluder devices and other issues in Saint Andrew and St. Simons sounds Dec. 12.
Not quite doves: While patrolling the Leefield-Stilson area in Bulloch County Dec. 26, Cpl. Eddie Akins and Sgt. William Vickers checked a dove shoot and cited -- among other violations -- three people for killing 12 robins.

Nongame in the news
* Chattanooga Times Free Press: “Stock ventures,” column about stocking lake sturgeon in North Georgia’s Oostanaula and Etowah rivers. (Jan. 1)
* (Chesapeake) Bay Journal: “No kidding! Goats are latest tool in restoring bog turtle habitat,” about using goats to help clear a wetland in Maryland for the imperiled turtles. (January)
* Washington Post: "Team frees whale tangled in fishing lines," about efforts including Georgia DNR to disentangle a juvenile right whale from fishing lines. (Dec. 30)
* The (Columbia, S.C.) State: “Stunned turtles fill up facility,” about a November cold snap that stunned and left stranded 60-80 sea turtles along the N.C. coast. (Dec. 27)
* Outdoor News Daily: "Georgia research spells hope for chestnuts," about DNR biologist Nathan Klaus' research into chestnut's historic range, and genetic work by The American Chestnut Foundation. (Dec. 22)
* The Outdoor Wire: "Need for seed drives fall harvest of native grasses," DNR release about harvest of wiregrass, others to restore native grasses. (Dec. 17)
* Savannah Morning News: "Scientists plan to eavesdrop on whales," about acoustic monitoring planned for mother right whales and calves off Georgia coast. (Dec. 11)
* Georgia Outdoors blog: Brief on Youth Birding Competition's new e-newsletter, Georgia's Young Birder. (Dec. 10)
* The Daily Tribune News (Cartersville): "Georgia aster takes root in Cartersville," about discovery of rare plant at Red Top Mountain State Park and on corps lands in Bartow County. (Dec. 10)
* Beaufort Gazette (S.C.): "Panel monitoring alien species invading local waters," update following meeting of Gulf and South Atlantic Regional Panel on aquatic invasive species, a panel that includes Georgia. (Dec. 9)
* North Georgia Daily Citizen (Dalton): "These gifts are for the birds," WILD Fact about holiday help for birds. (Dec. 9)
* The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Endangered right whales begin migration toward Georgia," about whales' winter move to calving areas off Georgia, Florida. (Dec. 7)
* All About Animals blog: "Keep feeders up in winter for visiting hummingbirds," about feeding off-season hummers. (Dec. 6)
* WXIA-TV/11Alive: "Children helping restore dinosaurs of the river," about Armuchee Elementary students helping DNR reintroduce lake sturgeon to the Oostanaula River near Rome. (Dec. 5)

Upcoming "Outdoors"
"Georgia Outdoors" is shown on GPB channels at 9:30 p.m. Fridays, noon and 6 p.m. Saturdays and 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays (except when preempted by other programming). Click here for the schedule on the digital channel GPB Knowledge.
* "License to fish," 9:30 p.m. Jan. 9, noon and 6 p.m. Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13
* "Sam Shortline," 9:30 p.m. Jan. 16, noon and 6 p.m. Jan. 17, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 20
* "This land is your land," 9:30 p.m. Jan. 23, noon and 6 p.m. Jan. 24, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27
* "Sixth Annual Nature Photography Contest," 9:30 p.m. Jan. 30, noon and 6 p.m. Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3
Details online.

Calendar
Jan. 21: 10:30 a.m., 2008 Forestry for Wildlife Partnership awards presentation to Georgia Power and Plum Creek, State Capitol, Atlanta.
Jan. 30: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance meeting, State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Athens.
Feb. 13-16: Great Backyard Bird Count.
Feb. 20-21: 9th Annual Georgia River Network Conference, UGA Center for Continuing Education, Athens. 
March 13-14: Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia 2009 conference, UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center.
April 25-26: Georgia Youth Birding Competition, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, Mansfield. Register by March 31.
April 27-29: Georgia Water Resources Conference, UGA Center for Continuing Education, Athens.
June 20-26: Paddle Georgia 2009 (Coosawattee and Oostanaula rivers).
Submit items to rick.lavender@gadnr.org.

Photo credits (from top):
* Marbled godwits on the beach (masthead). Brad Winn/Ga. DNR
* Brad Winn shows marbled godwit with satellite transmitter. Kristina Summers/Ga. DNR
* American oystercatcher tagged. Brad Winn/Ga. DNR
* Cardinal and chipping sparrows at feeder. Terry Johnson
* Green treefrog. Ga. DNR
* Restored grassland habitat. Ga. DNR
* Loggerhead shrike. Todd Schneider/Ga. DNR
* Working to free a right whale from fishing gear off north Florida coast. Katie Jackson/ Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
* Building a bird feeder in Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center workshop. Linda May/Ga. DNR

Georgia Wild
volume 2, issue 1

Georgia Wild is an e-newsletter produced by the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division and focused on conserving nongame species, those not legally trapped, fished for or hunted. The newsletter is delivered free to subscribers. Subscribe or read archive issues here. Wildlife Resources' Nongame Conservation Section conserves and protects Georgia's diversity of native animals and plants and their habitats through research, management and education. The section receives no state funds, depending on grants, donations and fundraisers such as nongame license plate sales, the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff and Weekend for Wildlife. Call (770) 761-3035 or click here for details on direct contributions. The nongame plates -- the bald eagle/U.S. flag and ruby-throated hummingbird -- are available for a one-time $25 fee at county tag offices, by checking the wildlife license plate box on mail-in registration forms or through online renewal.

Next month
* Indigo snake conservation
* The future of prescribed fire
* Terry Johnson's column



 Project tracking
marbled godwits
takes wing on coast
   The sand is cold and crunchy underfoot as the researchers wait to spring their carefully laid trap. The target: marbled godwits.
   The marbled godwit is a large migratory shorebird that nests in the grasslands of the Plains states and central Canada, as well as in Alaska and, in small numbers, eastern Canada. Godwits winter on the West, Gulf and East coast, including in Georgia. The birds will stay here until late April or early May, with a few juveniles remaining throughout the summer.
Brad Winn working with marbled godwit.   The marbled godwit is in decline, at least in part due to habitat loss, and listed by the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan as a high-priority species.
   On this chilly December morning, the group headed by Brad Winn, Wildlife Resources Division coastal nongame program manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, has spent most of the last several hours setting a trap to capture and satellite-track these cinnamon-colored birds with the upturned bills.
   Small transmitters attached to the godwits will provide more accurate information on where they migrate and nest, what their movements are throughout winter, and other general location data. The work is part of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service project encompassing North America and aimed at connecting winter habitats, nesting areas and migration stops for the various populations, information vital to managing habitat for the species.
   But the window for capturing the birds is narrow. As the tide rises, they slowly move onto the sand bar, and into the capture area. If they are not in place before the tide begins to recede, the chance to trap them today will be lost.
   Winn radios the team and the countdown begins. Three … two … one. …  Small cannons fire the net over a large group of birds that includes marbled godwits and American oystercatchers.  Everyone scrambles to secure the trapped birds. Each is gently removed from the net, placed in plastic bins and taken to a staging area where they are measured, weighed, banded and examined.
   The team forms an assembly line of sorts to work faster. Winn and Chris Depkin, a wildlife biologist, are in charge along with Scott Coleman, Little St. Simons Island ecological manager. They weigh the godwits to determine which ones are large enough to carry the transmitter. Each transmitter weighs 9.5 grams, less than two quarters stacked together. The birds must weigh more than 300 grams to qualify. Two birds are picked.
   The godwits’ bills and part of their legs referred to as the tarsus are measured. Three feathers are plucked, two from the breast and one from the wing. Tests that measure the ratio of stable isotopes can reveal what the bird was feeding on when it grew the feather, providing more details of the godwits’ migration habits.
   The birds’ wings are stretched to check for molting, which helps indicate the age of the bird. Each leg receives both a metal band and a plastic band for identification. After a quick swab to test for avian influenza, volunteers photograph each bird and it is released, its ordeal over.
   The group bands 11 marbled godwits and 44 oystercatchers (pictured below), a species listed as threatened in Georgia. The Wildlife Resources Division has been banding marbled godwits and American oystercatchers since 2001. Researchers began the godwit transmitter project in this state last fall, thanks to a grant from The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), the nonprofit advocacy group for Wildlife Resources' Nongame Conservation Section.

Keeping track
Monitor the marbled godwits' travels at www.seaturtle.org. Transmitter data will be posted starting this month.
American oystercatcher after banding.


Can’t-beat seeds for birds
By Terry W. Johnson
   Bird feeding is big – really big. Roughly a third of North Americans older than 16 feed birds, using more than a billion pounds of wild bird seed annually. But with our economy going downhill faster than a goldfinch streaking for a holly bush with a sharp-shinned hawk in pursuit, we are all looking for ways to trim our family budgets. Instead of eliminating bird seed, why not learn which seeds are preferred by birds and create the least waste?
Cardinals and chipping sparrows at feeder.   When faced with at least 21 different seeds, deciding which is best can be difficult. Most folks buy seed mixtures. While not necessarily a bad idea, like everything from tools to cars, not all mixtures are created equal. Some are excellent. However, far too many contain high percentages of sorghum (milo), flaxseed, oats or wheat. These seeds are not preferred by many birds that frequent feeders in our state.
   This becomes obvious when after a few weeks your bargain mix yields seed piles growing like miniature volcanoes beneath your feeders. The most common seeds in the heaps will be round and reddish brown: sorghum. Feeder birds will eat sorghum, but only after consuming other seeds first. In the meantime, the sorghum often gets wet, becomes contaminated with bacteria or mold, and poses a health threat to birds.
   A few decades ago, a project conducted by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researcher showed that two seeds – white proso millet and black oil sunflower – attract the greatest variety of birds. Sunflower seeds are favored by most seed-eating birds, a list of about 40 species including cardinals, tufted titmice, Carolina chickadees, house and purple finches, American goldfinches, brown-headed nuthatches, and red-bellied woodpeckers. Even birds that can’t break open the tough seed coat eat the seeds. Birds like dark-eyed juncos often feed on bits and pieces of sunflower meats left by larger birds.
   A downside is that many birds such as cardinals and finches crack open sunflower seeds at the feeder. As a result, the hulls can quickly build up. They must be regularly removed. The hulls are a bird health hazard and contain a chemical that retards the growth of many plants. Don’t want to deal with hulls? Buy hulled sunflower seeds. While more expensive, they eliminate the mess.
   There are three types sunflower seeds on the market – black oil, striped and gray. While birds will devour all three, black oil sunflower seeds are the best buy. They are smaller, contain the highest percentage of oil (40 percent) and have the thinnest hulls. Ideally, 75 percent of the seeds in your feeders should be black oil sunflower.
   White proso millet seeds – round, golden brown and shiny – are favored by white-throated, fox, chipping and other sparrows. Mourning doves, eastern towhees and quail also eat white proso millet. Together, white proso millet and black oil sunflower seeds attract more birds than any other seeds you can offer the 25-plus species of birds that regularly visit seed feeders in Georgia. These seeds can be mixed together or offered in separate feeders.
   The problem most Georgians face is that while black oil sunflower seeds are widely available, white proso millet seed is often hard to find. Typically, it can only be purchased in stores specializing in bird-watching supplies. As a result, many people buy mixed seed. That’s fine. Just make sure the mixture contains high percentages of black oil sunflower and white millet seeds
   It may cost a little more, but it’s worth it.
   Read Terry's full column.

Terry Johnson is a former Nongame program manager with the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, a noted backyard wildlife writer and expert, and executive director of TERN, the friends group for Wildlife Resources Nongame Conservation Section.

Help pick a new nongame plate
   What creature will be featured on Georgia’s next wildlife conservation license plate? You decide.
   Early this year, the Wildlife Resources Division will present five designs for a new nongame wildlife plate on www.georgiawildlife.com. The separate designs will include a green treefrog, a right whale, a red-headed woodpecker, an owl (species to be decided) or an eastern indigo snake. These are animals and settings that represent what Wildlife Resources’ Nongame Conservation Section does – work to conserve wildlife, rare plants and natural habitats.
Photo of current nongame tags.   The top tag design will grace the vehicles of conservation-minded Georgians as early as spring, joining the hummingbird and bald eagle plates as critical fundraisers for the Nongame Conservation Section.
   Here’s where you come in. Check www.georgiawildlife.com starting in mid-January for a survey showcasing the new plate designs. (If you’re a Georgia Wild subscriber, don’t worry: You’ll get an e-mail alert when the survey is up.)
   Review the designs. Pick the ones you like. Then tell your friends to do the same.
   Remember, $22 of the one-time $25 fee for the purchase of each plate goes to Georgia’s Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. Wildlife plates are the fund’s top source. Tag sales made up two-thirds of the money raised in fiscal 2004-2007.
   By matching grants and supporting projects, the fund is used to conserve animals not hunted, fished for or trapped, as well as native plants and habitats. The Nongame Section receives no state appropriations for this mission.
   Your support is vital. Your vote on the new plate is needed.
   With sales of the bald eagle and hummingbird plates gradually decreasing – not unexpected considering the older designs and rising number of advocacy plates – “We thought it was time … to have a fresh look for the plates that support our section,” nongame Assistant Chief Lisa Weinstein said.

Green treefrog.Plates' past
1997: Georgia Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund created. First conservation plate introduced (bobwhite quail in longleaf pine habitat).
2003: Bald eagle and U.S. flag plate goes on sale. Quail/longleaf tag retired.
2005: Second plate featuring ruby-throated hummingbird at trumpet vine produced.
2009: New conservation plate planned. Watch for public survey on designs at www.georgiawildlife.com.


Eyes on the skies ...
and bushes and beaches

   Birdwatchers are mobilizing en masse for these events:
  • A midwinter waterbird survey on Georgia’s coast Jan. 16. The census led by the Wildlife Resources Division and conducted each year since 1996 covers all barrier islands beaches to count and ID every shorebird, seabird, wading bird and waterfowl seen. The 2008 survey counted an estimated 103,003 birds and about 40 species.
  • The Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 13-16. 2008 marked a fourth consecutive record in checklists: 85,725. Georgia ranked fifth in species spotted, Savannah second among “localities.” Join the citizen-science effort Cornell Lab of Ornithology Director John Fitzpatrick calls “a vital link in the arsenal of continent-wide bird-monitoring projects.”
  • Georgia’s Youth Birding Competition April 25-26. The third annual event in 2008 recorded the most participants (126), species spotted or heard (approximately 200) and money raised for conservation ($3,642). There is also a T-shirt art contest and a free e-newsletter.

Restored grasslands.

Part 2: Rare birds & state lands
Restoring grasslands,
canebrakes aids birds
Georgia Ornithological Society grant benefits work on WMAs, park
By Tim Keyes and Nathan Klaus
   Grassland birds have shown the sharpest declines of any guild of North American birds due to land-use changes over the last century. In Georgia, grassland nesting species like grasshopper sparrow and eastern meadowlark as well as pine savanna species such as Bachman’s sparrow and loggerhead shrike Loggerhead shrike.have all suffered. Grasslands also provide habitat for migratory sandhill cranes and wintering sparrows and raptors.
   Meanwhile, creatures that depend on canebrakes – an array varying from Swainson’s warbler to several butterfly species that use cane (Arundinaria sp.) as a host plant – also have taken a hit. Historically, canebrakes covered miles of bottomland habitat. Now, cane exists only in small, isolated patches and large canebrakes, a threatened habitat in Georgia, are almost non-existent.
   As part of the State Wildlife Action Plan's focus on species and habitat of high conservation concern, the Wildlife Resources Division’s Nongame Conservation Section is working to restore upland grassland habitats and bottomland canebrakes. The Georgia Ornithological Society pitched in last year with significant funding through the Bill Terrell Avian Conservation Grant program, a testament to GOS’ commitment to bird conservation.
   The upland habitat work has focused on Joe Kurz Wildlife Management Area in Meriwether County and Panola Mountain State Park in Rockdale County. Both sites have extensive areas of bermudagrass pasture. Bermudagrass is an exotic grass planted for cattle forage that competes with native grasses and forbs and is poor habitat for native wildlife. Birds like bobwhite quail and sparrows prefer native bunch grasses, which grow in clumps leaving bare ground between where young birds can move while being protected by tall grasses overhead.
   Biologists are converting 100 acres of pasture to native warm-season grasses at Joe Kurz. At Panola Mountain, the immediate goal is establishing 20 acres of native grasses from hand-collected seed. This technique ensures that local genotypes of grasses are restored. Charlie Muise, Georgia Important Bird Areas coordinator, is using volunteers to mist-net birds and monitor avian response at both sites.
    Results have been excellent. During the breeding season, grasshopper sparrows and eastern meadowlarks have been located. Wintering sedge wren, vesper sparrow and many swamp and song sparrows have been banded. Northern harriers have been seen hunting over the restoration area. Migratory sandhill cranes also used both sites last year.
   Canebrake restoration has included mulching and applying herbicide to 10 acres of privet at Panola Mountain and transplanting native cane to these areas. Volunteers helped dig, plant and water the clumps of cane. Despite dry weather last spring, the area has shown more than 50 percent survival of the transplanted stems, plus a surge of growth in spots where the privet canopy was removed.
   Biologists also are working at Riverbend WMA in Laurens County, where the privet is less abundant but a fast-growing, 15- to 20-year-old hardwood thicket is shading out cane patches. A skidder-mounted mulcher was used to clear about 7 acres total. Cane stands should rapidly fill in these new light gaps, creating dense canebrakes. Riverbend’s large population of Swainson’s warbler should make good use of this habitat as it develops. The warblers were surveyed before the project and their response to the work will be tracked.
   Wildlife Resources has applied for a GOS grant for 2009. The hope is to continue these projects and begin similar ones at more sites. Tim Keyes is a wildlife biologist and Nathan Klaus is a senior biologist with the Nongame Conservation Section.
 
Photo of crew disentangling a juvenile right whale.
Noteworthy
   * The right whale calving season is off to a swimming start. Nineteen cow/calf pairs have been spotted as of Jan. 5. The annual average since 2001, when the survey record of 31 was set, is 22 (check last year’s totals).
    * Also, a juvenile whale was freed from fishing lines that threatened its survival last month. In the photo above, Wildlife Resources biologists Mark Dodd (far right) and Clay George (left, at helm) work with Tom Pitchford of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to help untangle the 2-year-old right whale from fishing gear Dec. 27 off the Florida coast. The crew, backed by a support boat including Wildlife Resources technician Kate Sparks, cut a line coming from the whale’s mouth and reattached a tracking buoy. The drag of the buoy pulled off the remaining lines by the next day, marking the mission involving federal, state and nonprofit agencies a clear success. The whale was spotted gear-free Jan. 4.
   * A North Atlantic right whale was seen in the Azores Islands off Portugal Jan. 5. Using photographs, New England Aquarium biologists identified the whale as No. 3270, a female sighted off Massachusetts and Canada since 2002. Right whales were once common in the Azores and other areas along the European coast, but only a few have been documented there since the late 1800s, when commercial whaling decimated the population. The last sighting of a right whale in the Azores before was in 1914. 
   * AT&T has signed on as a signature sponsor for the 2009 Weekend for Wildlife, agreeing to donate $50,000 to the Feb. 6-7 conservation fundraiser at The Cloister on Sea Island. Last year’s weekend raised a record $1 million-plus for nongame wildlife and featured the event’s first signature sponsor, Lake Lanier Islands Resort.
   * Nathan Klaus, a senior Wildlife Resources Division biologist, is reviewing old maps and using GIS to determine former locations of American chestnuts, a tree nearly obliterated by blight. Klaus’ goal is to map the chestnut’s former range and density in Georgia, data that will help define where to plant blight-resistant chestnuts.
   * A draft water conservation implementation plan for Georgia is online and available for public comment through Jan. 31. Released by the state Environmental Protection Division in December, the plan is seen as a guide for businesses, farmers, homeowners, government officials and water service providers to reduce water waste, loss and overall use.
   * Some endangered species found in Georgia are part of a January National Geographic story and online photo essay called “Last One.” Included are stunning shots of a red-cockaded woodpecker, a bog turtle and fringed campion.
* U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service updates include the annual list of Endangered Species Act candidates (251 species), an online copy of the swamp pink’s five-year review (pdf), the final five-year review of granite outcrop plants (pdf), and Florida panther reports including a revised recovery plan and the annual summary of panther contacts, conflicts and outreach.
* The Georgia Junior Ranger is a new, free and fun e-newsletter from the Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites’ Junior Ranger program. Click here to subscribe, see the first issue and find out more about this nature-packed program for ages 6-12.
* Our apologies for inadvertently omitting Georgia ForestWatch from the groups involved in outplanting Georgia asters at Currahee Mountain (“Chilly Currahee gets rare plants,” December Georgia Wild).
* A new video by the U.S. Forest Service and Wildlife Forever targets hunters and anglers with details on identifying invasive plants and animals and ways to help stop their spread. Download the 27-minute “Defending Favorite Places” or a shorter version.
* The Boone and Crockett Club has reaffirmed its position that the federally protected gray wolf should be delisted. Club president Lowell Baier said allowing states to manage them as a game species, instead of litigating the issue, is “the best hope for the gray wolf.”

Building feeders at Charlie Elliott.
Parting shot
MacKenzie Ann Losch, 3, of Covington helps her granddad Darryl Losch, also of Covington, build a bird feeder during a recent workshop sponsored by TERN at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center. The event covering bird-feeding basics and how-to construction drew 26 children and adults, plus volunteers from the Mansfield center and the Gwinnett Woodworkers Association. TERN, or The Environmental Resources Network, is the friends group of Wildlife Resources’ Nongame Conservation Section.

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