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Rock Island Field Office 1511 47th Avenue e-mail: RockIsland@fws.gov
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2016 News
Oxbow restorations go international
Restored oxbows in Iowa are the model for efforts in Ontario, Canada. Photo by Aleshia Kenney/USFWS. December 2016
Oxbow restorations go international There’s a new kid in town when it comes to restoring habitat in and along streams, and it all started in Iowa! Oxbow restoration began as a tool for restoring habitat for the federally endangered Topeka shiner, a species found in prairie streams, and has transformed, from its humble beginnings in Iowa, into a regional and now international phenomenon. Oxbow restorations are now studied for more than their fisheries benefits, but also for their potential to improve water quality.
In 2002, the Rock Island Ecological Services Field Office began restoring oxbows in the North Raccoon River watershed in Iowa. In terms of fisheries benefits those restorations are a great success. The practice then took off in the Boone River watershed with a focus on diverting drainage tile into the restored oxbows. The goal was now to improve water quality and reduce nitrates, with improvements to Topeka shiner habitat as a secondary goal. So far, the preliminary results have been impressive. Recent monitoring indicates a 45 to 90 percent decrease in nitrates leaving the oxbow, and Topeka shiners were recently found in a restored oxbow – a first for the Boone River!
Rock Island Field Office is at the forefront of transforming and expanding oxbow restoration into a widely accepted habitat restoration method, and was recently invited to present their methods to Canada’s Alternative Land Use Services Conference. Alternative Land Use Services is a unique incentive program in Canada that recognizes the role farmers and ranchers play in producing food and sustaining a healthy environment, similar to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program.
The landscape in Ontario is similar to the prairie pothole landscape in Iowa, surrounded by agriculture, heavily drain tiled and extremely altered. After reading an article about oxbow restorations in Iowa, a biologist from Ontario contacted Rock Island with questions about potentially implementing oxbow restorations as an Alternative Land Use Services practice.
Rock Island's Aleshia Kenney gave a presentation at the program's annual conference in September highlighting her office's successes and sharing lessons learned from past oxbow restorations. The presentation was warmly received and generated lively conversations. Plans are in the works for representatives from the Alternative Land Use Service program to visit Iowa and see, first hand, some oxbow restorations.
By Aleshia Kenney Rock Island Ecological Services
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listseastern massasauga rattlesnake as threatened species
Sept. 29, 2016
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the eastern massasauga rattlesnake as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The Service also determined that designating critical habitat for the eastern massasauga is not prudent.
Eastern massasaugas are currently found in scattered locations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada. The species, a candidate for listing since 1999, has been declining over the past few decades due to loss and fragmentation of its wetland habitat. Nearly 40 percent of the historical populations are now extirpated and an additional 15 percent are of uncertain status. Of those known remaining populations, most are experiencing ongoing threats, meaning additional population losses are anticipated in the future.
Scoping for EIS: MidAmerican EnergyProposed Habitat Conservation Planfor Wind Energy Facilities in Iowa
Public Scoping Meetings May 17 and 18, 2016 Information Webinar May 23, 2016
MidAmerican Energy Company is seeking a multi-year incidental take permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for potential harm and mortality of threatened and endangered wildlife that may occur as a result of construction, operation and maintenance of their wind energy facilities in Iowa. Under the Endangered Species Act, permittees must prepare a Habitat Conservation Plan that identifies how incidental take will be avoided, minimized and mitigated.
Public Scoping Meetings: May 17 and 18, 2016
Eagle Telemetry
April 28, 2016
Over the past three years the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Rock Island Field Office (RIFO) has collaborated with West Virginia University (WVU) and the U.S. Geological Society to trap and place telemetry units on bald eagles. It is the goal of this project to use modern GPS-GSM telemetry systems to provide information about eagles in the Midwest. To accomplish this goal, we have successfully trapped and placed units on 23 bald eagles to date, and will trap and add units to approximately 40 additional bald eagles next winter.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceDetermines Critical Habitat isNot Prudent for ThreatenedNorthern Long-eared Bats
Hibernating northern long-eared bat. Photo courtesy of Dave Thomas; Lyon College
Determination based on desire to reduce potential disturbance at hibernation sites, habitat requirements of species, and acknowledgement of white-nose syndrome as primary threat
April 25, 2016 Given the nature of the primary threats facing the species and the potential harm of publishing its hibernation locations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that designating critical habitat for the northern long-eared bat under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is not prudent. The Service’s determination does not affect the bat’s threatened status, which it received in 2015 due to white-nose syndrome, a deadly fungal disease impacting cave-dwelling bats.
Critical habitat is a designation under the ESA for lands that contain habitat features that are essential for the survival and recovery of a listed species, which may require special management considerations or protections. The ESA requires the Service to consider which areas are needed for a species’ recovery and to designate critical habitat accordingly, unless it determines that doing so is not prudent for the species.
April 14, 2016: Draft Habitat Conservation Plan for Midwest Wind Energy Promotes Coordinated Industry Engagement in Conservation of At-Risk Species
April 12, 2016: Indiana Bat Summer Survey Guidelines Available
Draft Habitat Conservation Plan for Midwest Wind Energy Promotes Coordinated Industry Engagement in Conservation of At-Risk Species
A cluster of hibernating Indiana bats; one of eight wildlife species cover in the proposed Midwest Wind Energy Multi-species HCP Photo courtesy of Steve Taylor; University of Illinois
April 14, 2016
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today released a draft plan to help ensure wind development does not contribute to the decline of species that already are impacted by threats such as disease and loss of habitat. The Draft Midwest Wind Energy Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) outlines measures for participating Midwest wind energy companies to follow to help reduce the nation’s carbon emissions and further sustainable energy independence while ensuring those efforts contribute to conserving protected bat and bird species.
The plan enables the Service to monitor and reduce “incidental take” of protected species caused by wind energy development and operation within an eight-state plan area, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. Species covered by the plan include the Indiana, northern long-eared and little brown bats, as well as Kirtland’s warbler, interior least tern, bald eagle, and the Great Lakes and Great Plains populations of the piping plover.
Midwest Wind Multi-species HCP Home
March 15, 2016: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Will Study the Status of the American Burying Beetle and Yellow-banded Bumble Bee
Protections Finalized for ThreatenedNorthern Long-Eared Bats |
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Last updated:
January 11, 2017
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