Terrestrial Animals
Bats
Fact Sheet: WNS & Bats - DoD Readiness on Military Installations (Legacy 10-445) (PDF)
Emerging Threat to America's Bats: White-Nose Syndrome- Report April 2010 (Legacy 09-445): (PDF)
This report details the goals and accomplishments of the second White-nose Syndrome (WNS) Science Strategy Meeting held in Austin, Texas, May 27-28, 2009. Fourteen leading scientists from the most relevant disciplines, representing universities, national laboratories, and state agencies, participated. In addition, representatives of 12 federal and state wildlife agencies and non-government organizations joined in discussions in the two-day meeting. The overall goals of this meeting were to further explore the symptoms, causes, and consequences of this emerging disease.
POSTER: Emerging Threat to America's Bats: White-Nose Syndrome (Legacy 09-445) (PDF)
Fact Sheet: Emerging Threat to America's Bats: White-Nose Syndrome (Legacy 09-445) (PDF)
The Bat Grid Inventory and Monitoring Project: A Regional Approach to Inventorying and Monitoring Bat Populations - 2009 Final Report, November 2011 (Legacy 09-390) (PDF)
The specific objectives of The Bat Grid Project are to develop better methods for collecting acoustic, morphologic, and genetic data so that species can be more effectively identified and their presence and distribution better understood, contribute to baseline inventory and long-term monitoring of bat species presence, and develop responsive conservation efforts for this taxon in the Pacific Northwest, incorporate DoD lands in the Pacific Northwest into The Bat Grid Project, and develop a model for bat inventory and monitoring that can be applied regionally or nationally. This report reflects results from the second year of data collection under The Legacy Program for The Bat Grid Inventory and Monitoring Project that spans the Pacific Northwest. Detailed background on the project is available in the 2008 Inventory Report.
Year 1 Field Work Report: Utah Bat Monitoring Protocol - Final Report, January 2010 (Legacy 09-346) (PDF)
This report details a two-level monitoring protocol designed specifically to address Department of Defense (DoD) and the State of Utah management objectives regarding 1) landscape scale bat ecology issues and 2) statewide bat demographics.
Utah Bat Initiative Project Posters (Legacy 09-346) (PDF)
These 4 posters summarize the goals, findings and accomplishments of this multi-year effort to understand the status of bats in Utah and measures to take to conserve and manage them.
Department of Defense Bat Risk Assessment-Utah February 2010 (Legacy 09-346): (PDF)
Legacy Project #: 09-346
The purpose of this report is to consolidate, understand, and apply bat data and knowledge gained through Legacy funded projects Legacy Phase I 07-346, Legacy Phase II 08-346, and Legacy Phase III 09-346 to support military mission activity and land management. This plan addresses DoD facilities in Utah whose management authority extends over 1.8 million acres, about 15% of total DoD lands ownership in the continental U.S. Contains actionable management recommendations for each base to cover the improvement and or sustainment of bat populations including impact offset measures in active and former mission use areas.
Status of Utah Bats-Final Report January 2009 (Legacy 08-346) (PDF)
Bat populations and communities have been monitored in Utah for over 100 years, on 12 land owner types including department of defense (DoD) lands. This project enabled a consolidation of all known bat data in the State of Utah. This report analyses the data across space and time within the state within 6 objectives (survey effort, occurrence, diversity, abundance, roosting and breeding locations and environmental associations), across 6scales (ecoregion, physiographic province, land cover, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) regions, land owner type, and county).
Utah Bat Conservation Plan 2008 - 2013 (Legacy 08-346) (PDF)
The purpose of this document is (1) to identify deficiencies in the understanding of the biology of the bats that inhabit Utah, (2) to identify anthropogenic threats to the bats of this state, (3) to direct research efforts to acquire needed knowledge, and (4) thus to guide management of Utahs bat species to ensure the viability of bat populations in the state. It is intended not to be static but instead to be a dynamic or a living document that will be updated and expanded in future editions.
The Bat Grid Inventory and Monitoring Project: A Regional Approach to Inventorying and Monitoring Bat Populations 2008 Inventory Report (Legacy 08-390) (PDF)
The specific objectives of The Bat Grid Project are to develop better methods for collecting acoustic, morphologic, and genetic data so that species can be more effectively identified and their presence and distribution better understood, to contribute to baseline inventory and long-term monitoring of bat species presence, and develop responsive conservation efforts for this taxa in the Pacific Northwest, and develop a model for bat inventory and monitoring that can be applied regionally or nationally. This report details the efforts and achievements of this project.
Department of Defense Strategy to Support a Multi-Agency Bat Conservation Initiative Within the State of Utah (Legacy 07-346) (PDF)
This report details how this project has consolidated the majority of known collected bat data in the state of Utah. A web-based geodatabase has been created to allow entry, storage, and queries of old, new and future data for any and all contributing partners and land managers. U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) and the UDWR led this effort - coordinating with the Utah Bat Conservation Cooperative (UBCC) that consists of 14 other federal, state and private stakeholders - to expand the current bat knowledge in the state from just over 2,300 records to over 21,000 bat records, a 900% increase. Includes a numerous appendices including a Bat key, maps, inventory, and more.
Conserve Gray Bat to Achieve Recovery: Survey of Gray Bat (Myotis grisescens) Summer Caves in Tennessee - Survey Report, July 2006 (Legacy 06-297) (PDF)
Due to human disturbance at roost sites, populations of gray bats (Myotis grisescens) were declining in the 1960's and 1970's. The gray bat was listed as endangered species in 1976. Since its initial listing, the gray bat population has increased throughout most of its range. In 2005 there were discussions about the possibility of down-listing their status to "threatened". As part of this process, the need for updated population estimates was identified. This project was initiated to compile needed data on the population of gray bats in Tennessee during the summer.
Fact Sheet: Conserve Gray Bat to Achieve Recovery (Legacy 06-297) (PDF)
Bat Grid Report: Natural Selections, October 2009 (PDF)
Herps
DoD PARC Strategic Plan Implementation, Management, and Technical Support - Meeting Minutes, National Military Fish and Wildlife Meeting, Atlanta GA March 12, 2012 (Legacy 12-423) (PDF)
These minutes detail the DoD Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Implementation Workshop, one of the preliminary steps to implementing the DoD PARC Strategic Plan. Topics covered: Updates from the initial workshop in 2011 (Nashville TN) and Path Forward, DoD PARC Project Update and Accomplishments, Discussion of Future Projects and Implementation, Priorities and Action Items.
DoD Installation Herpetofauna Database (Legacy 11-423)
This DoD Herpetofauna Database is designed to cross reference county level species data with military installation, range and training area county locations to provide a list of historic and current occurences of herpetofauna.
(Be patient as the database can take several minutes to load).
DoD Installation Herpetofauna Database READ ME File (Legacy 11-423) (PDF)
This page gives important information and contacts for the use of the database. Please take a moment to read this before accessing the database.
Department of Defense Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) Strategic Plan Workshops - Meeting Minutes for April and June, 2010 (Legacy 09-423) (PDF)
These meeting minutes from DoD/PARC workshops in Crystal City VA (April) and Tucson AZ (June) outline the elements and considerations in the subsequent development of the DoD/PARC Strategic Plan.
Landscape-Level Habitat Associations and Phylogenetics of Desert Tortoises on Southwestern Arizona Military Ranges Managed by the Army, Air Force, and Marines - Final Report, March 2012 (Legacy 09-385) (PDF)
Given the possibility of future ESA listing and the challenges that such a decision would impose upon the Department of Defense (DoD), it is prudent to understand the distribution of desert tortoises on military ranges within the Sonoran Desert so that appropriate management decisions can be made to reduce conflicts while maintaining the military readiness mission. The primary objective of this study was to develop a landscape-level predictive habitat model for desert tortoises inhabiting the Yuma Proving Ground and Barry M. Goldwater Range in southwestern Arizona. The secondary objective of this study was to characterize the phylogenetic grouping of desert tortoises inhabiting these DoD managed lands. This report contains methods, models, results and a set of detailed maps.
Fact Sheet: Automated Bird and Amphibian Species Identification Computer Program (Legacy 09-345) (PDF)
Automated Bird and Amphibian Species Identification Computer Program, Final Report March 11, 2011 (Legacy 09-345) (PDF)
During the third year of this project, the main objectives were to increase the species recordings, improve the reliability of the biodiversity monitoring stations (hardware), improve the species identification component of the project website (software), and provide training to a number of installations. This report details how this project met these objectives for the year.
Do Frogs Still Get Their Kicks on Route 66? A Transcontinental Transect for Amphibian Chytrid Fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) Infection on U.S Department of Defense Installations - Final Report February, 2011 (Legacy 09-426) (PDF)
Amphibians play an essential role in the ecosystems of Department of Defense (DoD) lands. The fungal disease chytridiomycosis, caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a major cause of many amphibian population declines and extinctions worldwide. Limited amphibian disease surveys for Bd have occurred on DoD lands to date. The objectives of this investigation were to answer the following questions: 1) Does Bd occur in amphibian populations in the relatively undisturbed environments of military installations? 2) Is there a spatial pattern to the presence of Bd? 3) Is there a temporal pattern to the presence of Bd? and 4) Do our results shed light on whether Bd is acting as an epidemic or endemic infection across North America? This study represents the most geographically extensive survey, to our knowledge, for Bd infection conducted to date.
Guide to Inventory and Monitoring of Amphibians on Dare Co. Bombing Range, Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, NC (PDF)
Provides identification information on larval and adult life history stages of most commonly seen amphibians on these installations in NC. Also includes methodologies for NRMs to employ to gather data on amphibian species.
Chiricahua Leopard Frog(Lithobates [Rana] Chiricahuensis): Considerations for Making Effects Determinations and Recommendations for Reducing and Avoiding Adverse Effects - Updated August 2009 Report (Legacy 05-258) (PDF)
This document's goal is to focus the effects analysis of proposed Federal activities on critical elements, reduce uncertainty in determining effects, and improve and facilitate section 7 consultations that may be required under the Endangered Species Act. The CMED should be used as a guide in assessing potential effects of a proposed action to the species, but consideration must be given to site-specific information in making the final determination of effects. The CMED provides considerations in determining if the species may be in the action area of the proposed activity and, if so, possible ways in which Federal activities may affect various aspects of the species and its habitat.
Prescribed Burns and Their Effects on Threatened and Endangered Species With Emphasis on the Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene C. Carolina (Legacy 05-271) (PDF)
This report summarizes preliminary findings from year one of field studies on the ecology of the Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene c. carolina) on the Fort Custer Training Center (FCTC) in south central Michigan. This study was initiated to investigate the impacts of prescribed burning on resident herpetofaunal populations by examining patterns of movement and habitat use of the Eastern Box Turtle using radiotelemetry. This report provides a discussion of data collected to date, as well as management recommendations intended to promote the conservation of the Eastern Box Turtle, as well as other herpetofaunal species found on the FCTC, including those that are listed as threatened and endangered such as the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus c. catenatus), Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata), and Blandings Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii).
Monitoring and Management of a Sensitive Resource: A Landscape-level Approach with Amphibians Final Report FY 99 (Legacy 99-1867) (PDF)
March 2000. This document provides identification information on larval and adult life history stages for the most common amphibians on 3 installations in NC during the 1999 study period.
Monitoring and Management of a Sensitive Resource: A Landscape Level Approach With Amphibians Final Report 2000 (Legacy 99-1867) (PDF)
This document provides identification information on larval and adult life history stages of the most common amphibians on USAF Dare County Bombing Range, USMC Cherry Point Air Station and the USMC Camp Lejeune during the year 2000 study period.
Management and Conservation of Reptiles and Amphibians on Military Installations (PDF)
DoD Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) (PDF)
Other Mammals
Spatial Ecology of the Island Fox - Final Report, July 2011 (Legacy 08-308) (PDF)
Fox densities on San Clemente and San Nicolas Island are unusually high, making this population particularly susceptible to the spread of a novel virulent disease. Furthermore, fox densities vary among habitats within each island in ways that influence home range behaviors, making it difficult to predict the outcome of a disease introduction. By use of radio collars, the goals of this project were to determine how density mediated changes in fox behaviors affect disease spread through changes in the frequency of contact among neighboring foxes, and 2) to use that information to inform a spatially explicit epidemic model which can then be used to evaluate effective monitoring, vaccination, and response strategies to minimize the impact of diseases likely to infect island foxes.
Fact Sheet: Spatial Ecology of the San Nicolas Island Fox (Legacy 08-308) (PDF)
Digital Radio Telemetry Monitoring of San Nicolas Island Foxes - Final Report, December 2008 (Legacy 07-308) (PDF)
This report details the second year of a project demonstrating an efficient method for tracking daily survival of a large number of island foxes on San Nicolas Island, CA. The first goal of this project was to demonstrate a labor-saving novel technology to efficiently monitor the daily survival of a large sample of island foxes. The second goal was to develop mortality thresholds which trigger increasingly intensive management response when natural mortality rates are exceeded.
Fact Sheet: Digital Radio Telemetry Monitoring of San Nicolas Island Foxes (Legacy 07-308) (PDF)
Remote Monitoring of Island Foxes (Legacy 06-308) (PDF)
This report details an innovative radio-telemetry system for monitoring San Nicolas Island foxes through a DoD Legacy funded research and demonstration project on San Nicolas Island off the coast of California. It describes monitoring efforts and accomplishments using this system, summarize the results of the first year of intensively monitoring fox survival, and develop a preliminary set of monitoring-based criteria to trigger management actions based on these results. Includes a discussion of ways in which the system can be improved and new developments to be implemented in the second year of this project.
Island Fox Management Guidelines For Species At Risk On Department Of Defense September 2004 Report (Legacy 03-154) (PDF)
This report characterizes the Island fox, Urocyon littoralis, A Species at Risk and how to manage for it.
Tools
A Tool to Assess the Vulnerability of Terrestrial Vertebrate Species to Climate Change - August 2010 (Legacy 09-433) (PDF)
Species assessments of vulnerability or extinction risk are management tools used to prioritize conservation needs so that actions can be directed in an effective and efficient manner. This document contains a simple and flexible tool for assessing the relative risk of individual species to population declines or increases associated with projected changes in climate and related phenomena.
Natural Resources Inventories
Ecological Monitoring Compendium on Wake Island Prior to Rat Removal - Final Technical Report, November 2011 (Legacy 09-438) (PDF)
Introduced rats are known to dramatically affect island biodiversity. On Wake Island, a U.S. Air Force installation in the tropical Pacific, rats predate seabirds and may have extirpated several seabird species from the island. Rats may impact a range of other biota and ecological processes on Wake. The Wake Island eradication provides a valuable opportunity to document ecological changes on such an island by monitoring various taxa before and after the operation. This report contains a Work Plan, Monitoring Protocol, and Sampling Designs for Seabird Monitoring, Shorebird Monitoring, Sea Turtle Monitoring, Vegetation Sampling, Arthropod Sampling, and Rodent Population Monitoring on Wake Island. The protocols and results described in the above reports, if replicated post eradication, can provide valuable documentation of ecological changes on Wake Island resulting from rat removal. These documented changes can then be used to generate predictions about ecological responses to potential rat eradications on other tropical islands on which the Department of Defense (DoD) has a management stake.
An Inventory of the Significant Natural Areas of Scotland County, NC - May 2005 (PDF)
An Inventory of the Significant Natural Areas of Hoke County, North Carolina - September 2004 (PDF)
WNS Workshop 2011 - Tucson, AZ
Workshop [August 30 - September 1, 2011] on Bat Ecology, WNS Status, and Implications on DoD Mission, Tucson Arizona (Legacy 10-445) (PDF)
This contains all the information and materials from the 2011 DoD WNS workshop organized by Bat Conservation International, including the Workshop Agenda, Contact information, USFWS Basic WNS Facts, BCI Basic WNS Facts, BCI Map of WNS spread, Map of DoD installation WNS risk, webinar and field trip information (including decontamination and field trip videos), Federal WNS Planning Documents, Protocols and Information, various State WNS Response Plans for Southeast US, and extensive related peer-reviewed literature and reprints.
Fort Huachuca Field Trip Video
Video from the Fort Huachuca field trip conducted during the WNS and Bats Workshop on Bat Ecology, White Nose Syndrome and Implications to the DoD Mission - Tucson, AZ, August 30-September 1, 2011 (Legacy 10-445).
WNS Summer Decontamination Demonstration Video
WNS Summer Decontamination Video from August 31, 2011 during the Fort Huachuca field trip, part of the WNS and Bats Workshop on Bat Ecology, White Nose Syndrome and Implications to the DoD Mission - Tucson, AZ (Legacy 10-445).
WNS Workshop DVD - General Workshop Documents
WNS Workshop DVD - Protocols and Information
WNS Workshop DVD - State Response Plans
WNS Workshop DVD - WNS Literature Reprints
WNS Workshop DVD - Bat Literature Reprints
Bat Conservation International (BCI) Summer Survey Protocols - 2011 (PDF)
WNS Workshop DVD - Presentations
TNC Clean Caving Guide (PDF)
WNS Workshop DVD - Acoustic Monitoring Demonstration Files
WNS Workshop 2010 - Nashville, TN
Workshop [November 2-4, 2010] on Bat Ecology, White-nose Syndrome Status, and Implications on DoD Mission, Nashvile Tennessee (Legacy 10-445) (PDF)
This contains all the information and materials from the 2010 DoD WNS workshop organized by Bat Conservation International. Included are: Workshop Agenda, Contact information, USFWS Basic WNS Facts, BCI Basic WNS Facts, BCI Map of WNS spread, Map of DoD installation WNS risk, webinar and field trip information (including decontamination video, photos), Federal WNS Planning Documents, Protocols and Information, various State WNS Response Plans for Southeast US, and extensive related peer-reviewed literature and reprints.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National and Regional Contacts (DOC)
U.S. Forest Service WNS Contacts (PDF)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service WNS FAQ (PDF)
Bat Conservation International - Map of DoD Installation WNS Risk (PDF)
Relative WNS Risk Map - Continental US (PDF)
Bat Conservation International (BCI) WNS FAQ (PDF)
WNS Workshop DVD - Bat Literature Reprints
WNS Workshop DVD - Federal Planning Documents
WNS Workshop DVD - Presentations
WNS Workshop DVD - Protocols and Information
WNS Workshop DVD - State WNS Plans
WNS Workshop DVD - WNS Literature Reprints
