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Three rare Florida salt marsh voles discovered on Lower Suwannee NWR
Southeast Region, April 5, 2004
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The salt marsh vole is so rare that before April of this year only 15 individuals of this subspecies had been found in the last 22 years, all at one site near Cedar Key, Florida. Since 1982, efforts by numerous researchers have been unable to document voles anywhere else within Florida's Big Bend region, and the Florida salt marsh vole was listed as an endangered species in January of 1991. This spring, Steve Barlow, wildlife biologist, and Mike Mitchell, assistant manager at Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge in Chiefland, Florida conducted a methodical search on the refuge for voles. Because Florida salt marsh voles require habitat dominated by seashore salt grass, numerous sites were surveyed for this vegetative type and compared to an original capture location. A site with the best potential habitat was selected, and a trapping survey began in April. After four days of trapping, three Florida salt marsh voles ? one female and two males - were captured. The discovery of these voles marked the first time the subspecies had ever been captured at a location other than the original site. Recovery efforts for this subspecies call for continued surveys to document other isolated locations of voles and to complete more detailed life-history studies of the current known populations. An emphasis will continue to be placed on conserving Florida's Big Bend salt marsh region, through management of public lands and cooperative opportunities with private landowners.

Contributed by: Elsie Davis, External Affairs, Atlanta, GA

No contact information available. Please contact Charles Traxler, 612-713-5313, charles_traxler@fws.gov


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