Georgia wild: news of nongame and natural habitats [Oct. 2010]

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INSIDE | SCHOOL OWLS | STURGEON SURPRISE | FEEDING PUMPKINS | DOERUN NATURAL AREA | View newsletter online | Unsubscribe | Forward a copy | Subscribe

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OCTOBER 2010
Give wildlife a chance
Georgia DNR's Nongame Conservation Section receives no state funding to conserve nongame wildlife, native plants and natural habitats. We depend on contributions, grants and fundraisers. Meaning we depend largely on you! How can you help? * Buy a conservation license plate.

Woodpecker newcomers settling in at Silver Lake
'Eglin 11' raise rare bird numbers, hopes
Talk about a smooth move. This month, Nongame Conservation Section staff translocated 11 juvenile red-cockaded woodpeckers from Eglin Air Force Base in northern Florida to Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area near Bainbridge.
These endangered birds had been banded as nestlings in a Southern Range Translocation Cooperative project involving DNR, the Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Southern Co., the University of Georgia, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. DNR biologists then monitored the woodpeckers to pinpoint their roost
sites, captured the juveniles at

* Contribute to the Georgia Wildlife Conservation Fund tax checkoff. * Donate directly to the Nongame Conservation Section, even online! * Use GoodSearch for your Internet searches (enter "Georgia Nongame Conservation Fund" under "Who do you GoodSearch for" and click "Verify"). * Join TERN, the Nongame Conservation Section's friends group.
WILD Facts
Many songbirds recently left Georgia to migrate south toward Central and South America for the winter. We won't see many species of flycatchers, swallows, warblers and vireos until they return in the spring. However, lots of ducks, harriers, kinglets, snipes and sparrows are arriving from the northern U.S. and Canada to spend the winter here. For help with species identification, grab a bird field guide with range maps that tell when to expect various birds in your area. Summer ranges normally are shown in pink or orange and winter ranges in blue. Purple usually indicates where a species lives year-round.
-- Linda May
In education
News of Georgia's No Child Left Inside Coalition is spreading. The group scheduled its first state Summit on Children and the Outdoors for Oct. 23 at the Georgia Wildlife Federation's Alcovy Conservation Center in Covington. The purpose: Gather community leaders and other decision-makers to discuss issues and solutions involving youth spending too little time outdoors. The state coalition is committed to raising awareness about the importance of nature for

dark after they entered the roost trees and carried them to Silver Lake, where artificial cavities placed in longleaf pines awaited them.
The translocation marked the largest move of redcockaded woodpeckers to Georgia and should help build Silver Lake populations the only on state-owned lands to sustainable levels.
The WMA has 21 active red-cockaded clusters, or family groups. The newcomers, caught in two trips to Eglin, include four male-female pairs and three single females.
Translocated red-cockaded woodpeckers tend to stay in the areas they're released more than birds raised there, according to DNR wildlife biologist and project leader Phil Spivey. But there are no guarantees.
Spivey added plenty of cavities at Silver Lake and removed a few cavity-loving flying squirrels, which compete for the nest sites. As for the Eglin transplants, "I'm trying to give them every reason to stay there," he said.
That includes playing matchmaker. The single females were released in the home territories of single males.
Spivey said two males interacted "well" with the new girls on the block. The third male showed no interest, simply watching from his cavity.
"I think he's just an old cranky fellow who doesn't care about starting a family," Spivey said, chuckling.
Night raiders nest

children's mental and physical health. Membership is diverse, varying from government agencies to nonprofits, city planners to parents and educators to physicians. Learn more here or on Facebook.
Public lands profile
Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Natural Area
Much has been written of the longleaf pinelands of South Georgia and the fact most have disappeared. Yet an even scarcer habitat is a seepage bog with acres of pitcherplants. In southwest Georgia's Colquitt County, Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Natural Area has both intact longleaf-wiregrass uplands and acres and acres of pitcherplants! Learn more about the habitat, plants and animals of this secluded, 651-acre natural area in "Where carnivorous plants thrive ... and longleaf pines endure," a profile of Doerun Pitcherplant Bog by DNR botanist Tom Patrick.
D.C. talk
The prospect of requiring "Bd-free" permits for amphibians imported or involved in interstate trade is raising questions on all sides, as

in new Habersham High
Habersham Central High's newest raider made a dramatic debut last month.
Maybe that's not surprising, considering the setting: at least 16 feet high in the unfinished auditorium of the new high school, being built beside Central High near Mount Airy.
Erik Gouine of CD Mechanical in Demorest was using a mechanical lift to check a large airconditioning duct when he heard something inside. Next came an eruption that made him hit the lift floor. "All I saw was dang wings and feathers!" Gouine said, grinning.
The source of his shock? A barn owl. She and her mate had made a nest in the ductwork three eggs lain amid gray scraps of insulation (below).
The nest is still there. Workers are staying clear of the duct, while keeping a protective eye on the parents.
Project superintendent Lee Chitwood of Charles Black Construction, the Cleveland company managing construction of the school, said plans are to work around the federally protected birds until the young hatch and fledge.
That could take another two months. Meanwhile, the owls are spotted mostly mornings and evenings in the auditorium or gym. The female often perches in a ceiling corner over the stage, her lightcolored body visible against the black roof and walls.
The owls access the buildings through open doors, preying on rats, mice and other small animals. Workers have found owl pellets and
parts of rats.

expected. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking its own a year after Defenders for Wildlife petitioned to have all live amphibians and their eggs labeled "injurious" under the Lacey Act unless free of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. The chytrid fungus dubbed Bd causes chytridiomycosis, the culprit behind large-scale amphibian die-offs in Australia and parts of the Americas. To weigh whether the Lacey Act addition is warranted, Fish and Wildlife posted a Federal Register notice last month that lists 14 questions. They vary from what are annual amphibian sales to which U.S. wildlife species have been affected by Bd. Others, from researchers to pet trade enthusiasts, are adding on, wondering who would do the testing, how and is it justified for interstate trade. Bd has been present in Georgia since at least the 1970s. Unlike Ranavirus, which the petition doesn't target, no widespread problems from Bd have documented here.
Up close
American oystercatcher Haematopus palliatus Up close: Large, boldly patterned shorebird conspicuous along ocean shores and salt marshes. True to its name, the American oystercatcher is specialized in feeding on

Chitwood's call to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the company's patience in waiting out the barn owls before finishing construction is appreciated, said Field Supervisor Sandy Tucker of the agency's Georgia Ecological Services Field Office.
"This is a wonderful example of how the public is such an important part of conserving Georgia's native wildlife," Tucker said.
Chitwood, pictured above near the nest site with Gouine (left), suggested the construction workers have "all turned into" owl watchers. Someone even left a plastic owl figurine in a nest of grass on his desk.
In his 25 years with Charles Black Construction, Chitwood said he has never heard of barn owls nesting on a construction site. Now, the Habersham Raiders have one of nature's true night raiders next door.
"Who would'a thought?" Chitwood said.
Altamaha surprise
Not a record, but angler's catch is big 'n rare
By Bert Deener Jamie Hodge of Atkinson was fishing for the state-record flathead
catfish on the Altamaha River the evening of Aug. 27 when he hooked into a surprise.
Hodge is no stranger to big catfish: He has placed high in the annual Wayne County Catfish Tournament throughout the years.
He headed out before dark and caught some live fish to use for bait. At about 9:30 p.m., he hooked a small channel catfish and dropped it to the bottom of the river, using his large baitcasting outfit spooled with 50-pound-test monofilament.
In only a few minutes, his bait clicker went off. Hodge set the hook, expecting just a decent flathead ... until the fish continued its run and started dragging the boat upriver.
Fishing alone, all Hodge could do was pull up the anchor and hold on. "When it was pulling my boat upstream, I just knew I had the staterecord flathead," he said.
Yet after a fight that lasted about 45 minutes, something else rose to
the surface beside his boat: an 8-foot Atlantic sturgeon.

bivalves (oysters, clams, and mussels) and other marine invertebrates. Uses its brightly colored bills to open hard-shelled prey. (Video) Key characteristics: Thick red-orange bill; black, white and brown body. Range: Found along the North American Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to Florida, along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas, in parts of the Caribbean, and in an uneven distribution in South America as far south as Patagonia. Habitat: Feeds in marine and estuarine intertidal habitats that include, saltmarshes, shellfish beds, shoals, sand and mud flats. Nests on shellrakes, isolated sandspit islands and undisturbed barrier beaches. Roosts on exposed barrier beaches and shell-rake islands. Behavior: Territorial before and during breeding season (March-July). If disturbed while nesting, they will leave the nest and make a series of distracting calls while circling the intruder repeatedly. The only shorebird to bring food to otherwise precocial chicks. (Hear oystercatcher calls.) Reproduction: From March through July, one to three spotted eggs are laid in a shallow nest scrape on the sand. These birds prefer remote barrier islands with sparse vegetation but will also use shell rakes on the edges of saltmarsh.. ID issues: Possibly confused with black skimmers, which have much shorter legs, and black back feathering unlike the brown of American oystercatchers.. Status: Listed as a species of extremely high priority in the Southeastern section of the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan. Listed as rare in Georgia. There are fewer than 100 breeding pairs in Georgia, and about 11,000 individuals in the eastern U.S. Threats: Oil spills, water contamination, beach armoring, beach engineering, recreational beach

The story had a happy ending for angler and fish. Hodge released the sturgeon unharmed into the Altamaha.
Because of their dinosaur-like appearance and rare capture, some anglers would have killed such an unusual catch, wondering what it was and not knowing it was a protected species. There are two sturgeon species in the Altamaha River, Atlantic and shortnose. Both of these native fish are protected from harvest and must be released as quickly as possible.
In comparison, the flathead catfish is an invasive species illegally introduced into the Altamaha River basin, where it has decimated redbreast sunfish and bullhead fisheries.
Jamie Hodge did not take any photographs of the sturgeon. But he won't forget it.
Even if it wasn't a new state-record catfish. Bert Deener is regional fisheries supervisor of the Wildlife Resources Division's Region VI.
Sturgeon update
In early October, NOAA Fisheries Service proposed listing as endangered five Atlantic sturgeon populations on the East Coast, including in Georgia. The federal listing is designed to prevent extinction of a species. Deadline for comments is Jan. 4. The shortnose sturgeon has been listed as endangered since 1967.
Out my backdoor
No trick, just a wild treat

use, sea-level rise, loss of isolated island nesting habitats from erosion, depredation of eggs and chicks by domestic pets and native predators, and storm surges.
Sources include: "The Breeding Bird Atlas of Georgia," "Protected Animals of Georgia" (Georgia DNR), "Population and winter distribution of eastern American Oystercatchers" (Journal of Wildlife Management)
Nongame in the news
The Hartwell Sun: "Jellyfish found in Lake Hartwell," nonnative jellyfish documented for first time in lake. And in Lake Allatoona. (Oct. 19) The Augusta Chronicle: "Dwindling fish won't change reactor plans," Southern Nuclear says proposal to list Atlantic sturgeon as endangered won't finished studies supporting new Plant Vogtle reactors. (Oct. 18) The (Gainesville) Times: "Donated land ensures access to Chattahoochee River," The Trust for Public Land celebrates land acquisitions that add public access to headwaters. (Oct. 15) White County Telegraph story. Ch. 41 WMGT-TV (Macon): "White-nose syndrome killing bats, heading to Georgia," DNR's Trina Morris discusses looming threat of WNS. (Oct. 14) Chicago Sun-Times: "Whooping cranes: 10th ultralight-led flight," 11 young whoopers leave Wisconsin's Necedah NWR for Florida -- and parts of Georgia en route. (Oct. 12) Ch. 3 WRCB-TV (Chattanooga, Tenn.) (and others via AP): "Protection sought for mussel found in Georgia river," Altamaha spiny
considered for endangered listing. (Oct. 12) Florida Times-Union story.

By Terry W. Johnson Pumpkins mean different things to different people. For some
children, pumpkins represent jack-o'-lanterns and Halloween. Homeowners, on the other hand, consider bright orange pumpkins the ideal fall yard decoration. To those of us who enjoy fine food, they conjure up thoughts of pumpkin pie, stew, soup and roast pumpkin, and other delicacies.
Unfortunately, few think of pumpkins as a food source for wildlife. Each year, far more pumpkins are raised than eaten. Most are used exclusively as decorations. Yet, instead of tossing your pumpkins after Halloween or Thanksgiving, why not offer them as a post-holiday wildlife food? It is a snap, and a great way for you to involve your children or grandchildren in a wildlife project. Small pumpkins can be placed around the yard for raccoons and other animals that eat fruits and vegetables. Want to be creative? Fashion a face on an old pumpkin with an assortment of fruits and vegetables such as carrots and apples. Then see which parts of your creation your wildlife neighbors favor. Cut larger pieces into chunks and place them in secluded parts of the yard. They'll provide food for late butterflies and other insects that dine on plant juices. Pieces can also be mixed with slices of apples, pears and other fruits and presented in shallow pans. Better yet, a pumpkin shell can be cut to fashion a shallow bowl for the food offerings. At this time of year, your fruit salad might attract American robins, northern mockingbirds, rose-breasted grosbeaks, northern cardinals, hermit thrushes, brown thrashers or perhaps a gray catbird that has lingered long after its cohorts have left for their wintering grounds in Mexico, the Caribbean and northern Central America. Whether you are creating a jack-o'-lantern or simply cutting up a

The (Warner Robins) Sun News (and others): "Perdue dedicates Go Fish center in Perry," education center opens to public on even of Georgia National Fair. (Oct. 8) Georgia Public Broadcasting photos. BBC: "Mammals facing extinction threat," Red List of Threatened Species rates at least a quarter of world's mammal species at risk of extinction. (Oct. 6) The Florida Times-Union: "Brunswick-based ranger receives 2010 Georgia DNR honor," recently promoted to captain, Doug Lewis adds another highlight. (Oct. 5) Chattanooga Times Free Press: "Killer hemlock bug found in Chickamauga," discovery of hemlock woolly adelgid in Walker County puts experts on alert for signs in Whitfield, Catoosa, Dade and Chattooga counties. (Oct. 4) Savannah Morning News (and others via AP): "Georgia stork watchers worry about endangered status," Fish and Wildlife Considers downlisting wood storks to threatened. (Oct. 2) The Florida Times-Union: "CoastFest boasts car-size bubbles plus turtles, sea creatures and raptors," 16th annual environmental festival sports even more diverse lineup. (Sept. 30) The Florida Times-Union: "Georgia gets critical habitat along Altamaha River," nearly 7,000 acres added along Altamaha River to Townsend WMA. (Sept. 30) Athens Banner-Herald: "Conservation program releases purchase stats," Georgia Environmental Finance Authority has protected 185,000 acres from development. (Sept. 29) The Atlanta Journal Constitution: "Humble shrimper deployed ingenuity to save a species,"
column about the late Sinkey Boone of Darien as creator of a turtle excluder device. (Sept. 29)

pumpkin to make a holiday dish, don't throw away the seeds. Many birds find the pumpkin's large, off-white, flat seeds every bit as desirable as sunflower seeds. The list of birds that relish sunflower seeds includes a host of backyard favorites including northern cardinals, Carolina chickadees, tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches, blue jays, dark-eyed juncos, rose-breasted grosbeaks, purple finches, mourning doves, and two introduced species, the European starling and house sparrow.
As you might expect, chipmunks and squirrels don't miss a chance to dine on pumpkin seeds.
Before pumpkin seeds are fed to birds, they should be dried. This will require removing the seeds from the stringy pulp surrounding them. Since this is a messy process, you might consider doing this outdoors. How-to below.
Place dried seeds in bags and store them in a freezer until you are ready to use them. Pumpkin seeds will last up to three months when dried and frozen.
It has been my experience that pumpkin seeds are best fed to birds using a bird feeding table or open feeding tray. Here's a tip: If at first your feeder birds don't recognize the large white seeds as food, sprinkle a few atop a layer of black oil sunflower seeds. By the time the sunflower seeds disappear, a few birds should have found that pumpkin seeds are also edible.
Whether you look at pumpkins as traditional holiday delicacies, yard ornaments, scary symbols of Halloween or food for backyard wildlife, I think that you will agree these colorful fruits have become an integral part of the tapestry of autumn in the Peach State.
Read Terry's complete column on pumpkins as wildlife food, including a bit of history on this bright fruit.
Terry Johnson is a former Nongame program manager with the Wildlife Resources Division, a backyard wildlife expert, and executive director of TERN. His column is a regular Georgia Wild feature.
Saving pumpkin seeds
Taking your pumpkin outside, scoop out the seed-containing pulp and place it in a colander. Then direct the spray from a hose onto the pulp. Extract the seeds that remain in the colander and place them on either

Savannnah Morning News: "Ranger tracks the lives of Georgia's painted buntings," Fish and Wildlife Service's Peter Range has been banding them since 1999. (Sept. 28) GrindTV: "Incredible flight of Georgia shorebird 'to be awed and admired'," whimbrel's wanderings make Internet headlines in radiotracking project. (Sept. 28) Nature news: "Threats to the world's plants assessed," analysis of plant biodiversity rates more than 20 percent of world's 380,000 plant species at risk of extinction. (Sept. 28) Savannah Morning News: "After record season, Georgia turtle hatchlings head out," the view from Wassaw Island NWR on the best nesting year since 1989. (Sept. 27) The Macon Telegraph (and others via AP): "New river bed scanning technique yields habitat insights," DNR's Adam Kaeser and Thom Litts develop lower-cost methods for mapping river, stream beds. (Sept. 27) Science Now: "Florida panthers dodge extinction," adding Texas cougars to gene pool helped save declining cat species. (Sept. 23) The Macon Telegraph: "Don't forget the wonders of natural aromas," a walk in Black Creek Natural Area sparks the senses. (Sept. 23) Chattanooga Times Free Press: "Sandhills in crosshairs," Tennessee debates proposed hunting season for sandhill cranes. (Sept. 3)
Calendar
Nov. 4: Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council annual meeting and conference, Zoo Atlanta. Nov. 5: Outdoor Classroom Symposium, Zoo Atlanta.
Feb. 4-5: Weekend for Wildlife, Sea Island. Submit events

paper towels or a screen in a sunny location to dry. The large white seeds can also be dried in an oven under low heat.
Place them on a cookie sheet and heat them to 175-200 F. Check them every 10 minutes or so to ensure you don't overheat them.
Noteworthy
Conservation lands on the lower Altamaha grew by almost 7,000 acres last month. In a DNR partnership involving The Nature Conservancy, Rayonier Forest Resources, the U.S. Marine Corps and others, 6,911 acres stretching 10 miles along the river were acquired and added to Townsend Wildlife Management Area. The tract features habitat for at least 17 federal- or state-listed species, including swallowtailed kites and Florida manatees. The property also provides buffer for the Marines' Townsend Bombing Range. The acquisition is the second part of a two-phase project protecting more than 14,000 acres along the Altamaha ("New Altamaha area," August 2009).
One of the two known populations of Radford's mint received a checkup Oct. 8. A Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance team including Nongame Conservation Section botanists Tom Patrick and Eamonn Leonard found fewer than 300 Dicerandra radfordiana individuals along sandhills on Townsend WMA in McIntosh County. Yet, the good seed crop anticipated will be used to spread this showy annual into adjacent areas where Game Management helped remove non-native sand pines. (Also see "Rare mint, priceless teamwork,"
January 2009) More than 100,000 permanently protected acres in Georgia
have been certified by the DNR for the conservation tax credit. The state passed the milestone reaching 103,732 acres by mid-October.
Five-plus tons of flathead catfish have been removed from the
Satilla River since DNR's Satilla River Native Fishes Restoration crew

Photo credits (from top) * In masthead: barn owl. Thomas G. Barnes/ courtesy of U.S. Fish and Widllife Service * Phil Spivey with juvenile female red-cockaded woodpecker released at Silver Lake. Carol Heard/Bainbridge Post-Searchlight * Barn owl (not one of the owls in the Habersham school building). Thomas G. Barnes/ courtesy of U.S. Fish and Widllife Service * Yellow pitcherplants (Sarracenia flava) at Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Natural Area. Tom Patrick/Ga. DNR * Erik Gouine (left) and Lee Chitwood near heating/air duct where barn owls nesting. Rick Lavender/Ga. DNR * Barn owl nest and eggs in duct at Habersham high school under construction. Rick Lavender/ Ga. DNR * American oystercatcher. Brad Winn/Ga. DNR * DNR volunteer with Atlantic sturgeon caught and released (immediately after the photograph) during shad sampling project on the Altamaha River. Bert Deener/Ga. DNR * Terry Johnson's granddaughter, Anna Leverette, preparing wild treats from a pumpkin. Terry W. Johnson * Cluster of flowering Radford's mint. Dirk J. Stevenson/Project Orianne * Children watch a bog turtle in the Nongame Conservation Section booth during CoastFest. Brad Winn/Ga. DNR
Georgia Wild volume 3, issue 10
This is: A free monthly e-newsletter produced by DNR and focused on nongame. Subscribe or see previous issues.
Nongame: Wildlife not legally trapped, fished for

began its annual sampling season May 4. The catch of 6,289 flatheads raised the total removed since the 2007 start of full-time flathead management to more than 19,700 fish, or nearly 27 tons.
Celebrate right whales' seasonal return at the second annual Right Whale Festival Nov. 20 on Jacksonville Beach. Set for 10 a.m.-4 p. m. at Sea Walk Pavilion, this fest features exhibits, live music, a beach cleanup and a 5k run.
The Go Fish Education Center opened with a bang this month, drawing more than 1,600 visitors during its first week-and-a-half. The Perry center promoting Georgia fishes and fishing is now open FridaySunday, with Monday-Tuesday reserved for educational outreach.
What has scales but not fins and calls the Go Fish Center home? An eastern indigo snake. The first from an indigo captive breeding effort that will benefit environmental ed centers in Georgia, the snake hatched this year is only about a foot long but could grow to more than 8 feet as one of North America's largest snake species.
Altamaha spinymussels would be listed as endangered and nearly 150 miles of the Altamaha River designated as critical habitat under recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposals. The agency cites declines in spinymussel numbers and distribution, plus no sign the spiky mussels are reproducing and no clue about what host fish they use to propagate. ("Mystery of spinymussels," November 2008)
Invasive plants and bio-fuels; the challenge of popularizing native plants; sustainable landscaping: Plant pros will ponder these topics and more at the annual meeting of the Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council. The conference, focused on the impact of invasives on the state's ecology and economy, is Nov. 4 at Zoo Atlanta.
A boost for golden-winged warblers is in the works at Chattahoochee National Forest. Through timber operations and other management, the DNR, U.S. Forest Service and National Wild Turkey Federation hope to provide about 700 acres of open, brushy habitat on Fannin County's Brawley Mountain, the only place known in Georgia where golden-winged warblers still nest. ("Brighter future for goldenwings," October 2009)
Weekly Leaf Watch updates, views from a webcam at Black Rock
Mountain State Park and fall color news from Georgia Forestry

or hunted, plus native plants and natural habitats.
We are: The Wildlife Resources Division's Nongame Conservation Section. Our mission: Conserve and protects Georgia's diversity of native animals and plants and their habitats through research, management and education. It's worth repeating that we depend on grants, donations and fundraisers such as nongame license plate sales, the Georgia Wildlife Conservation Fund state income tax checkoff and Weekend for Wildlife.
Buy a tag: Nongame license plates the eagle and hummingbird are available at county tag offices, by checking the wildlife license plate box on mail-in registration forms and through online renewal.
More info:
q www.georgiawildlife.com q (770) 761-3035 in Social Circle, (478)
994-1438 in Forsyth or (912) 264-7355 in Brunswick q Georgia Wild archives q Conserving Nongame Wildlife: 20082009," our biannual report
Connect with us on ...

Commission experts are at www.GeorgiaStateParks.org/leafwatch. Texas tapped Jason Wisniewski of the Nongame Conservation
Section to talk at a recent freshwater mussel summit. Wisniewski, whose specialty is malacology (the study of mollusks), gave his thoughts on federal proposals to list 11 freshwater mussels in Texas as endangered (presentation pdf).
Seen the plan for a paddling trail along Georgia's coast? The Coastal Georgia Blueway Plan was mapped by the Coastal Regional Commission with help from a DNR Coastal Resources Division grant.
About 3,860 lake sturgeon fingerlings were recently stocked by DNR Fisheries Management staff in Lake Allatoona's Little River arm. The stocking, the third this year above Allatoona Dam, is aimed at restoring lake sturgeon populations in the Coosa River system.
From Georgia Tech to the Chatham County Resource Protection Commission, here's a look at the winners of the 2010 Conserve Georgia awards, plus this year's Partnership for a Sustainable Georgia awards. Winners were announced Oct. 6.
Parting shot

Turtles, from bog turtles (above) to a loggerhead hatchling, captivated young and old at the Nongame Conservation Section's CoastFest display this year. The ever-popular festival sponsored by DNR Coastal Resources Division drew some 8,300 people Oct. 2 to the agency's
regional headquarters in Brunswick.

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