Fort Stewart receives conservation award for birds

Late last month, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recognized the conservation progress at U.S. Army Fort Stewart Military Reservation in southeastern Georgia. In bestowing the 2009 Military Conservation Partner Award, FWS cited the doubling of the state's largest Red-cockaded Woodpecker population.

FWS Acting Director Rowan Gould announced the award at the 75th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Milwaukee, Wis.

“The Service is proud to honor Fort Stewart’s exceptional accomplishments in endangered species conservation and propagation, environmental education, and community outreach,” Gould said. “Fort Stewart’s environmental program is extremely comprehensive. They do everything from contributing 254 juvenile red-cockaded woodpeckers to the Service’s translocation program to hosting an annual Kid’s Fishing Event.”

Fort Stewart covers 280,000 acres, making it the largest military installation in the eastern United States. It manages populations of more than 20 state and/or federally protected species, including Red-cockaded Woodpecker, eastern indigo snake, flatwoods salamander and Wood Stork.

Military bases expand efforts for endangered birds

Endangered species, such as Red-cockaded Woodpecker, increasingly receive support at more military bases around the country. The Department of Defense spent $300 million to protect at-risk plants and animals between 2004 and 2008 -- "more than it spent in the previous ten years combined," according to a New York Times article today.

Today, herculean efforts to save threatened species are unfolding at dozens of military sites across the nation, from Eglin, Fla., where the Air Force has restored and reconnected streams for the Okaloosa darter, to San Clemente Island, Calif., where the Navy has helped bring the loggerhead shrike back from the brink of extinction. ...

Preserving those species can require frustrating adjustments. At certain times each year, for example, the Marines are able to use only a fraction of the beachfront at Camp Pendleton, Calif., to practice amphibious landings out of concern for nesting shorebirds like the coastal California gnatcatcher. ...

Still, for every clash there is an instance of intense efforts to keep an animal safe. At Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif., for example, the Marines built a desert tortoise research and rearing center in 2005 to help the soft-shelled babies avoid predation by ravens.

Take five minutes to watch the video, "Military Bases as Wildlife Havens." You'll get to see a biologist use a mist net to capture a Red-cockaded Woodpecker and hear the bird's vocal protests.

Hawaiian Army base receives conservation award

U. S. Army Garrison-Pohakuloa on Hawaii's Big Island recently garnered the 2006 Military Conservation Partner Award, bestowed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The service created the award to recognize "significant natural resource conservation achievements through cooperative work with the Service, state and local government, and other organizations. Such achievements may include the conservation, protection, and restoration of important habitat for a variety of species - including endangered and native species - on military lands."

The service's director, H. Dale Hall, said, "The service applauds Pohakuloa's cooperative conservation achievements, especially their proactive habitat restoration and endangered species monitoring program, which exemplifies positive cooperation between government and private-sector partners."

The 131,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area - located on the island of Hawaii between Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, and the Hualalai Mountains - is the largest Department of Defense installation in Hawaii. The area extends as high as 9,000 feet on Mauna Loa and is a mosaic of unique ecosystems. Pohakuloa's natural resource staff helps protect 19 federally listed species - 15 threatened or endangered plant species, 3 bird species, and one mammal. Several of these endangered plant species exist only at Pohakuloa and their numbers are critically low due to threats that include over-grazing, competition from invasive plants, and wildfires.

Pohakuloa's natural resource staff has developed an impressive array of community partnerships through groups such as the Hawaii Community College and the Junior Sierra Club. These partnerships seek to educate the public about resource protection and land stewardship through Earth Day Activities and other community events. Pohakuloa also works with organizations to decrease over-grazing by allowing controlled hunting of feral sheep, goats, and pigs. In addition, the natural resource staff has also exceeded expectations concerning the protection of listed plant species on rare Hawaiian sub alpine tropical dry land forest habitat by restricting grazing by these animals. To prevent grazing damage, Pohakuloa has gone to great effort and expense to erect over 7,000 acres of exclusionary fencing and plans to fence a total of 33,000 acres. This exclusionary fencing also benefits the Hawaiian hoary bat by allowing mature shelter trees used for roosting and breeding to regenerate.