{"response":{"docs":[{"id":"dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2017-belec-p-btext","title":"Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2017 fiscal year report","collection_id":"dlg_ggpd","collection_title":"Georgia Government Publications","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018"],"dcterms_creator":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_date":["2017"],"dcterms_description":["Report on conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife."],"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Social Circle, Ga. : Georgia. Department of Natural Resources. Wildlife Resources Division. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section--Periodicals","Wildlife conservation--Georgia--Periodicals","Natural areas--Georgia--Periodicals"],"dcterms_title":["Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2017 fiscal year report"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of Georgia. Map and Government Information Library"],"edm_is_shown_by":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2017-belec-p-btext"],"edm_is_shown_at":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2017-belec-p-btext"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["state government records","official reports"],"dcterms_extent":null,"dlg_subject_personal":null,"iiif_manifest_url_ss":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"Conserving Georgia's Nongame Wildlife \n2017 \nFISCAL YEAR SUMMARY \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n1 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n A s part of Georgia DNR's Wildlife Resources Division, our mission at the Nongame Conservation Section is conserving the more than 95 percent of native species in the state not fished for or hunted, as well as rare plants and natural habitats. These animals and plants vary from uncommon  such as gopher tortoises and many other species that use their burrows  to common, like the ruby-throated hummingbirds and northern cardinals that visit your bird feeders. All help make our state unique. And as Georgians, all of us share in the responsibility of protecting them and the wild places they need, now and for the next generation. This report tells our agency's story as a leader in that effort. I hope it not only informs you, but that it also encourages you to join us in working to restore and conserve wildlife across our state. Thank you, \nJon Ambrose Chief, Nongame Conservation Section \n \nTortoise burrow (Rick Lavender/DNR) \n \nGEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES | WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION | NONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n1 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n C \n \nO \n \nN \n \nT \n \nE \n \nN \n \nT \n \nS \n \nCONSERVATION \n \nn BIRDS \nn Waterbirds............................ 3 n Red-cockaded Woodpeckers....5 n Surveys and Habitat \nRestoration........................... 7 \nMarshbirds Grassland Birds Mountain Birds Wood Stork Nests Swallow-tailed Kite Nests and Roosts Bald Eagle Nests Golden Eagles \nn AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES \nn Sea Turtles.......................... 11 n Sea Turtle Stranding Network \nand At-sea Recovery........... 12 n Bog Turtles......................... 13 n Gopher Tortoise \nConservation Initiative........ 13 n Gopher Tortoises and \nEastern Indigo Snakes........ 14 n Gopher Frogs....................... 15 n Eastern Hellbenders............ 15 \nn MAMMALS \nn North Atlantic Right Whales...................... 16 \nn Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network.............. 17 \nn Florida Manatees................ 18 n Small Mammals.................. 19 \n \nn FRESHWATER AQUATIC SPECIES \nn Aquatic Conservation Initiative..............................21 n Robust Redhorse...................................................23 \nn PLANTS AND NATURAL HABITATS \nn Sandhills................................................................25 n Rare Plant Conservation........................................26 n Coastal Habitat and Plant Conservation...............28 n Vegetation Monitoring...........................................29 n Restoring Mountain and Coastal Plain Bogs........30 n Habitat Improvement on State Lands and the \nInteragency Burn Team..........................................31 n Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance.....................35 n Ginseng Management...........................................36 n Biotics Database....................................................36 \nn PRIVATE LANDS \nn Private Land Activities...........................................37 n Forestry for Wildlife Partnership...........................38 n Army Compatible Use Buffer Conservation...........39 n Community Wildlife Project...................................40 \nn INVASIVE SPECIES \nn LAW ENFORCEMENT \n \nEDUCATION AND OUTREACH \n \nn Regional Education Centers.............45 n Youth Birding Competition................50 n Camp TALON....................................51 \n \nn Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest.................................51 \nn Social Media....................................52 n Other Outreach.................................53 \n \nLAND ACQUISITION AND CONSERVATION EASEMENTS \nn Sprewell Bluff ....................................... 57 n Panola Mountain State Park: \nGDOT Tract............................................. 57 n Alligator Creek WMA: \nAlligator Creek Tract.............................. 57 n Sansavilla WMA: \nSansavilla Phase 2 Tract....................... 57 n Paulding Forest WMA............................ 57 n Sandhills WMA: \nColeman Tract........................................ 58 n Musgrove Plantation: \nSt. Simons Land Trust Phase 2 Tract.... 58 n Georgia Conservation \nTax Credit Program................................ 58 \nCONSERVATION PLANNING \nn State Wildlife Action Plan Revision....... 59 n Regional Conservation Partnerships..... 59 \nFINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATION \nn Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund... 60 n Nongame License Plates....................... 61 n Weekend for Wildlife............................. 61 n Georgia Wildlife Conservation \nFund State Income Tax Checkoff........... 62 n The Environmental \nResources Network............................... 62 n Federal and Other Funding.................... 62 n Administration and Personnel............... 63 \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n2 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n CO N S E RVAT I O N \nBirds \n \nWaterbirds \nGeorgia's barrier island beaches, coastal salt marshes and freshwater wetlands support 86 species of seabirds, shorebirds and wading birds, collectively known as waterbirds. The Waterbird Conservation Initiative includes: \nn Protecting important colonial waterbird nesting habitats. \nn Conducting surveys to determine the status and habitat needs of resident, migratory and wintering waterbirds. \nn Creating partnerships for long-term conservation of wetland-dependent bird species. \nConservation efforts include protecting and managing five sand islands for beach-nesting and migratory birds. While this is especially valuable for seabirds, resident and migratory shorebirds also benefit from protected critical nesting and resting areas free from disturbances. One of the areas, a dredge-spoil island near Brunswick, supports one of the largest colonies of nesting seabirds on the South Atlantic Coast. \nHighlights and challenges in fiscal year 2017 included the following: \nFor the second consecutive year, DNR supported a Beach Stewards Program, a volunteer group committed to helping protect a least tern colony on St. Simons Island. The efforts of these volunteers helped more than 100 least tern pairs fledge many chicks at one of the state's most \n \nheavily visited beaches. Also, a number of Wilson's plovers nested in this area and benefited from the Beach Stewards' protection. The program made significant strides in educating area residents and visiting beach-goers about the plight of beachnesting birds. \nHurricane Matthew, which hit the Georgia coast in October 2016, significantly altered many nesting areas. The storm wiped out St. Catherines Island Bar, a once-reliable breeding site for seabirds and shorebirds. Ogeechee Bar was diminished to the point that regular tidal flooding kept birds \n \nfrom fledging young there. Satilla Marsh Island was damaged enough that brown pelicans did not nest there in 2017. Many beaches and shell rakes also suffered sediment loss, leading to decreased quality of the nesting habitat. Hopefully in time these island, shell rake and offshore bar habitats will recover. \nGlynn County saw two large and successful seabird colonies in 2017. At Pelican Spit, there were an estimated 1,200 royal tern nests, 357 black skimmer nests and 123 sandwich tern nests. The Brunswick dredge-spoil island had 5,962 royal \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n3 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \nBald eagle (Jerry Turner) Banding American oystercartcher (DNR) \n \n tern, 291 sandwich tern, 230 black skimmer, 46 gull-billed tern and 82 brown pelican nests. Scores of chicks hatched and fledged at both sites. \nFor nesting American oystercatchers, a combination of flooding tides and high rates of depredation at several key nesting sites (Little Egg Island Bar, Little St. Simons Island and Cumberland Island) led to low statewide productivity. Of 120 pairs documented, eight chicks fledged, a productivity rate of less than 6 percent. \nNongame Conservation Section staff and partners also tracked seabird colonies on Ogeechee Bar, Pelican Spit, St. Simons' East Beach, the Brunswick dredge island, Satilla Marsh Island and several rooftop colonies in the St. Marys area. Significant productivity was noted on Pelican Spit and the Brunswick dredge island. These two sites are free from mammalian predators, a factor that often leads to high productivity. \nIn other fiscal 2017 updates, Nongame Conservation also: \nn Conducted American oystercatcher trapping projects. Two trappings were done using cannon nets. In November, staff captured and banded 30 birds on shell rakes behind Jekyll Island. In mid-February, 45 birds were captured at Fort Pulaski on the Savannah River. The tagged birds have since been resighted in Maine, New York and New Jersey. During the breeding season, an adult and nine chicks were banded \nn Monitored beach-nesting and wading birds on St. Catherines and Cumberland islands with two seasonal bird technicians, funded by a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant. \nn Continued coordinating spring and fall International Shorebird Surveys across the coast. These repeat surveys of key migratory stopover sites provide the best trend data for most shorebird species across the Western Hemisphere. \nn Supported, through a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant secured by staff, the second and final year for a graduate student experimenting with using predator exclosures on Wilson's plover nests at Little St. Simons. This project follows work that Nongame Conservation has supported involving this species at several sites. \n \nUSFWS' Adam Smith fits saltmarsh sparrow with a nanotag (Rick Lavender/DNR) \n \nn Funded through a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant a repeated band-resight survey for American oystercatchers in the Altamaha Delta and St. Simons and St. Andrews sounds from August 2016 through April 2017. The effort documented more than 1,100 birds using these three sounds over the course of the project. Staff also assessed the birds' response to Hurricane Matthew, documenting a slowing of southbound migrants and birds temporarily leaving the study area. Virginia Tech staff will do the final data analysis. \nn Installed two Motus Wildlife Tracking System towers, antennas that detect nanotags, a new generation of tiny transmitters that can be placed on animals as small as dragonflies. Working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, staff caught, fitted with nanotags and released 27 saltmarsh sparrows this winter to help track them to their breeding grounds. If sea-level rise projections prove accurate, saltmarsh sparrows are considered at risk of extinction over the next 50 years. The towers, funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, also detected several other birds, most notably the passage of 11 endangered Kirtland's Warblers tagged that winter in the Bahamas. \nn Continued with partners a sharp-tailed sparrow banding project that is providing data on the winter distribution of two species  \n \nSaltmarsh sparrow (Tim Keyes/DNR) \n \nNelson's and saltmarsh sparrows  and five subspecies of these little-known birds. \nn Led the Georgia Shorebird Alliance with several coastal partners. Involving state, federal and private groups, this organization is making significant progress in management, monitoring, research and education regarding shorebirds on the Georgia coast. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n4 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n New red-cockaded woodpecker cluster at Silver Lake WMA (Joe Burnam/DNR) \n \nRed-cockaded Woodpeckers \nThe red-cockaded woodpecker is the only woodpecker in the U.S. that excavates cavities in living pines. The drastic loss of mature pine forests over the past 200 years has been the primary cause of this species' decline. Suitable habitat now occurs primarily on some military bases, national forests and other public lands, although red-cockaded woodpeckers still live on many private properties. \nIn 1999, DNR developed the nation's first statewide red-cockaded woodpecker Habitat Conservation Plan to provide management options for private landowners. The plan includes options for mitigated incidental take and for Safe Harbor. \n \nSafe Harbor focuses on landowners in southwest Georgia, where plantations managed for the northern bobwhite also support a significant population of red-cockaded woodpeckers. Safe Harbor involves a landowner's commitment to manage habitat beneficially for the site's \"baseline\" number of woodpecker families, or those on the site when the agreement is made. A family group refers to red-cockaded woodpeckers occupying a cluster of cavity trees. The group can vary from a single bird to a breeding pair plus one to three helpers  typically male offspring from previous years that help feed younger siblings. In exchange for maintaining this baseline number of family groups, the landowner's responsibility does not increase if the woodpecker population increases. \n \nIn Georgia, two new properties totaling 10,038 acres were enrolled in Safe Harbor during fiscal year 2017. Statewide, 175,397 acres are enrolled in Safe Harbor management agreements covering 105 baseline groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers and supporting 38 surplus groups, or additions to those woodpecker populations. Most of these properties are in the Red Hills region near Thomasville. The Red Hills region supports the largest population of red-cockaded woodpeckers on private lands. Since the inception of Safe Harbor in 2000, this population has stabilized at about 180 groups. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section worked with Safe Harbor participants and conservation partners in fiscal 2017 to monitor nesting and \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n5 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n population status, band woodpeckers and install artificial nest cavities. Staff surveyed multiple Safe Harbor properties to locate new cavity trees and update property maps. \nStaff also worked with the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center to restore the redcockaded woodpecker population at Ichauway Plantation in Baker County. These 29,000 acres supported a single male in 1999. In part through the translocation of 71 young birds, Ichauway Plantation now has 36 family groups. \nIn 2008, DNR acquired 8,400 acres near Bainbridge to create Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area, the first state-owned property with red-cockaded woodpeckers. Silver Lake has extensive stands of mature longleaf pine habitat with intact native groundcover. \n \nThe red-cockaded woodpecker population at Silver Lake continues to grow, with 34 family groups (30 potential breeding groups and four single-bird groups) documented in fiscal 2017, an increase of three groups from the previous year. Attaining 30 potential breeding groups is a population milestone. The Silver Lake population is now considered stable enough that it is no longer eligible to receive translocated birds. DNR banded 37 young at Silver Lake produced by these groups, and installed one new recruitment cluster, or recipient site (typically four artificial nest cavities). Through continued prescribed fire, installation of additional recruitment clusters and careful forest management, Silver Lake WMA eventually will sustain about 50 family groups. \nIn 2013, DNR entered an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage the red- \n \nFt. Stewart red-cockaded woodpecker translocated to Moody Forest (Charlie Muise) \n \ncockaded woodpeckers on corps land that DNR leases for Lake Seminole Wildlife Management Area. This property is adjacent to the Silver Lake population and features quality longleaf and wiregrass habitat, some of which red-cockaded woodpeckers already use as foraging habitat. In fiscal 2017, Nongame Conservation biologists installed a recruitment cluster on Corps of Engineers land adjacent to Silver Lake. The cluster immediately attracted a new breeding pair, and those birds successfully nested. In the coming year, more recruitment clusters will be installed at Lake Seminole WMA to encourage the further expansion of red-cockaded woodpeckers. \nAt Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area near Baxley, staff installed two recruitment clusters and refurbished cavity inserts in three others. DNR also conducted two separate translocations to Moody Forest in fiscal 2017. The first involved pairing a female from Silver Lake with a newly discovered single male at Moody Forest. This marked the first red-cockaded woodpecker translocation between state-owned properties in Georgia. The second translocation involved moving two woodpecker pairs from Fort Stewart. At least three of the five translocated birds remained on Moody Forest into the nesting season, with all three becoming breeders. As of spring 2017, the WMA had three potential breeding groups, two more than the previous year. All three groups attempted nesting, with one group successfully fledging two young. Habitat management, including timber thins and prescribed fire, is helping improve and create more woodpecker habitat. Staff will install an additional woodpecker cluster at Moody Forest in the coming year. \nNongame Conservation also consulted with U.S. Forest Service personnel to evaluate the potential for red-cocked woodpecker restoration at Sprewell Bluff Wildlife Management Area and to prioritize restoration efforts on the area near Manchester. As a result of that meeting, Nongame Conservation biologists are delineating focal areas for redcockaded woodpecker habitat restoration and preparing to draft a reintroduction plan. Biologists are also working with State Parks and Historic Sites Division personnel at Jarrell Plantation State Historic Site to plan habitat restoration work, with the goal of establishing red-cockaded woodpecker groups on the Juliette property and expanding the woodpecker population at the adjacent Oconee National Forest. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n6 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Surveys and Habitat Restoration \nn Marshbirds \nSecretive marshbird surveys in fiscal 2017 focused on black rail, king rail and least bittern, species that are difficult to survey due to their secretive nature and use of wetland habitats that are hard to access. Surveys in late March and April at Altamaha Waterfowl Management Area near Darien detected several least bitterns and king rails, as well as a few purple gallinules, another rare marshbird. No black rails were detected during these surveys. \nAs part of an assessment following a petition for federal listing of the species, special nocturnal black rail surveys were conducted at more than 400 points in the coastal area. Each point was surveyed at least three times between April and mid-July. Unfortunately, there were no confirmed detections of black rails during these surveys. This effort will continue in 2018. \nLittle is known about the population status of the Florida sandhill crane, a resident subspecies that occurs only in peninsular Florida and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. Over the past six years, helicopter surveys have been conducted annually in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from March-April to count nesting pairs of Florida sandhill cranes. Starting in 2014, a standardized grid of transects has been flown to conduct the counts. Using this approach, statistically valid population estimates can be developed. \nA single survey flight was flown in fiscal 2017, on April 12. That flight documented 11 active or recently active nests (egg shells were present in the latter nests). This is about the same as the average number of nests per flight during the three flights in 2015, although nearly 50 percent less than that found during the single survey flight in 2016. Nongame Conservation staff intended to make two additional survey flights in fiscal 2017 to increase the sample size for statistical reasons, but could not because of the rapid growth of the West Mims wildfire in the Okefenokee and a subsequent flight ban. However, just before the ban, staff conducted an April 13 reconnaissance flight over four areas of potential nesting habitat not surveyed in the \n \nDNR's Ashley Harrington surveys for kestrels along transmission lines (Rick Lavender/DNR) \n \npast and spotted three adult Florida sandhill cranes in one area, Honey Prairie. The adults behaved like they had young hidden nearby. \nn Grassland Birds \nSurveys started seven years ago for Henslow's sparrow continued in 2017. This species is a small songbird that nests in grasslands of the Midwest and Northeast and winters in grassy areas of pine flatwoods, pitcherplant bogs and powerline corridors in the Southeast's Coastal Plain. Henslow's sparrow numbers have declined precipitously over the last several decades due to habitat loss at breeding and wintering grounds. \nThis sparrow is a species of high conservation concern because of its small population size, greatly reduced habitats and other factors. Its secretive nature and small numbers make it difficult to survey and monitor. Little is known about its distribution and populations across most of its range, including Georgia. \n \nStandardized transects at Paulks Pasture Wildlife Management Area in Glynn County, Townsend Wildlife Management Area near Ludowici and Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area near Baxley were surveyed three times from January through March using the same techniques (flush netting) as the previous six years. Numbers captured were low, with only 30 previously unbanded birds caught. This is less than half the average of 65 birds per year that have been captured and banded since this effort began and only one-third the 90 birds banded in 2016, an all-time high. In addition, 11 birds banded at these sites from one to three years earlier were recaptured during 2017. Two additional sites, Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area, a newly acquired property near Ocilla, and a powerline associated with the Canoochee Bogs complex were also surveyed, but no Henslow's sparrows were found. \nThe significant fluctuation in the number of sparrows captured this year highlights the fact \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n7 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n that there can be a great deal of inter-annual variation in populations of this species, as well as shifts in use of wintering sites. \nSurveys will continue at Paulks Pasture, Townsend and Moody Forest to track long-term population trends. Other sites with suitable habitat will be surveyed for new populations. \nThe nest box program for southeastern American kestrels finally had a good year in fiscal 2017 after experiencing many years of declines. Nest box use was up substantially in all regions. In Tifton, eight of 32 boxes were occupied as a new research partnership with Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College students began that may shed light on the habitat needs of this species. In the western Fall Line sandhills, 41 boxes were occupied, up from 31 in 2016. More good news: Only one nest was lost to predation, compared to five early in 2016. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section partnered with a regional power distribution company to erect 22 boxes high on the company's transmission line towers in 2016. These boxes are placed about 100 feet above the ground, compared to about 15-20 feet for boxes on the wooden power poles. In 2017, kestrels nested in at least 15 of these high boxes, a 66 percent occupancy rate that is far beyond what the agency has observed in many years of checking boxes placed lower. This dramatically added to the number of active nest boxes in the program and inspires hope that the new approach may rescue Georgia's smallest falcon from extinction in the state. \nIn addition to trying to install more boxes high on power lines, upcoming work will include an effort to estimate population sizes and trends for this species in Georgia. With eight years of survey data, Nongame Conservation's dataset should be robust enough to estimate detection probability and provide a close estimate of the total population. \nNative grass plantings done in 2016 at Panola Mountain State Park had to be redone after extreme drought caused a failure. The now 11-year effort has restored more than 100 acres of Indian grass at the park near Stockbridge. While this aspect of the project is done, other work remains. For at least a few more years, exotic weeds will need to be controlled on the site while the grasses thicken and become more firmly established. Planting of native forbs \n \nimportant for pollinators and other wildlife will continue in the restored area. \nTwo adjoining habitats important for conservation, canebrakes along the South River and a woodland beside the native grass restoration site, are also being restored. Both communities are grassdominated and will complement Panola Mountain's restored grassland, with many species using two or even all three habitats to complete different parts of their life cycle. As a first step, invasive exotic species (primarily Chinese privet and thorny olive) must be eradicated. In fiscal 2017, 110 acres were treated either mechanically or chemically to eliminate these and other invasive plants. \nNative grass restoration is being completed at several other sites as well. In spring 2017 this included planting about 40 more acres on Joe Kurz Wildlife Management Area near Woodbury in coordination with a new dove field and other habitat work on adjoining land, about 30 acres on Chattahoochee Bend State Park near Newnan and about 70 acres on Flat Creek Public Fishing Area in Houston County, all in coordination with DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Fisheries Management and Game Management sections. About 120 acres of old fields heavily invaded by Bradford pear were cleared at Sweetwater Creek State Park near Lithia Springs. The area will be planted with native grasses in spring 2018. \nn Mountain Birds \nOn Brawley Mountain in northeast Georgia's Fannin County, habitat restoration has been completed for the only remaining population of goldenwinged warblers in the state. Brawley Mountain was burned with the help of Nongame Conservation's west-central Georgia fire crew in spring 2016 to enhance the habitat. (An adjoining unit was burned in spring 2015.) However, Georgia's golden-winged warbler population has faltered. Biologists detected a lone male in 2013, no birds in 2014, one male in 2015 and two males in 2016. However, no birds were detected in 2017. \nOther states also have lost populations of this species. The golden-winged warbler is in steep decline throughout almost its historic range. Despite the gloomy outlook, the Brawley Mountain project has yielded some promising results. The area has been restored to a montane oak woodland featuring especially high bird \n \ndiversity, including many woodland and early successional bird species. The project site also has been invaluable as an outdoor classroom. Many field trips led by DNR and U.S. Forest Service staff have touted Brawley Mountain as a successful example of woodland restoration in the Southern Blue Ridge. \nn Wood Stork Nests \nWood storks were listed as endangered in 1984 following dramatic declines in breeding colonies in southern Florida. Wood stork nests were first documented in Georgia in 1965. By the 1980s, the birds were nesting here in increasing numbers. \nGeorgia now supports more than 20 percent of the U.S. nesting population, about 9,500 breeding pairs. The recovery plan for the wood stork in Georgia includes monitoring reproductive success of nesting colonies, identifying potential threats and working with landowners and site managers to promote colony survival and longevity. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section conducts aerial surveys each spring to find and monitor nesting colonies. Stork nesting effort  the number of pairs that attempt to reproduce  fluctuates annually. Calendar year 2014 set the nesting season record for wood storks in Georgia, with 2,932 nests in 22 colonies. Water levels were favorable for both nesting and foraging, and the colonies monitored for productivity had high nest success. \nIn 2017, roughly 1,900 stork nests were documented in 23 colonies across the Coastal Plain. While lower than the record counts, the 2017 totals fit within the trend of increasing nesting in Georgia. Productivity monitoring showed that almost all active colonies fledged young. \nMore than 75 percent of all wood stork rookeries in Georgia are on private land. Continuing the success of conservation efforts for this species depends on landowners' willingness to ensure the protection of viable freshwater-wetland nesting sites. \nn Swallow-tailed Kite Nests and Roosts \nThe swallow-tailed kite has suffered a significant range reduction since the 1880s when it bred in 21 states. These elegant raptors are now found in seven Southeastern states, where they nest in bottomland forests along some \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n8 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n large rivers. Most nests in Georgia are on private land, particularly industrial timberlands. \nNongame Conservation efforts include finding and monitoring nests, advising the public about reporting sightings, protecting nests from predators where possible, working with private landowners to ensure habitat viability, supporting habitat management on protected lands where kites nest and searching for previously radio-tagged kites. \nAn estimated 150-200 pairs of swallow-tailed kites nest in Georgia each year. Most nests are on the lower stretches of the Satilla and Altamaha rivers, but nests are also scattered throughout other south Georgia river drainages that feed into the Atlantic  such as the Savannah, Ogeechee and St. Marys  and almost all rivers that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, including the Suwannee, Alapaha, Aucilla, Flint, Little Ochlockonee and Withlacoochee. While densities are highest in the lower stretches of these rivers, kites nest well into the upper Coastal Plain on the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers. \nDuring the 2017 nesting season, fieldwork focused on better defining the limits of the kites' breeding range statewide and continued surveys of the core area in southeast Georgia for monitoring long-term population trends. DNR also emphasized surveying sites considered for possible land acquisition or protection. \nBecause the Altamaha and Satilla river systems have been heavily surveyed, aerial surveys were conducted on the Savannah, Ogeechee, Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers. Ground and boat surveys were done on the lower Altamaha and Satilla as well. \nThe surveys documented 33 nests, 17 in the Altamaha drainage, eight in the Satilla and three in the Okefenokee Swamp. Thirteen nests were documented on wildlife management areas, including first records for Paulks Pasture and Tuckahoe (near Sylvania). Nesting was considered probable at another nine sites. \nKite numbers appear stable in Georgia, yet little recolonization of the species' historic range has been observed. About two-thirds of confirmed and probable kite breeding areas are on private land. The remaining third are on protected lands such as wildlife management areas, national wildlife refuges and military bases. \n \nn Bald Eagle Nests \nOnce common in Georgia, the bald eagle declined in abundance during the mid-20th century and no longer was nesting in the state by the early 1970s. Yet populations rebounded here and elsewhere, helped by a 1972 ban on the use of DDT in the U.S., habitat improvements following enactment of the federal Clean Water and Clean Air acts, protection through the Endangered Species Act, increased public awareness and the restoration of local populations through release programs known as hacking. \nFollowing federal delisting in 2007, primary legal protection for eagles comes under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Nest trees and associated primary and secondary buffer zones are conserved via recommendations of federally established bald eagle management guidelines. Georgia's ongoing conservation efforts include monitoring all known eagle nests in January and in March, working with landowners to protect nest sites, public education programs about eagle conservation and ecology, and rehabilitation of injured eagles. \nDuring the 2017 nesting season, the Nongame Conservation Section documented 218 occupied nesting territories, a state record. Of these, 142 were successful, fledging 218 eaglets. Active nests were found in 68 counties, which was also a record. This marked the third straight year the number of occupied nesting territories in Georgia exceeded 200. There were 210 in 2015 and 201 in 2016. The trend is encouraging, especially considering only nine nests were known in the state in 1990, 55 in 2000 and 139 in 2010. Biologists continued to work closely with landowners to conserve nesting habitats, minimize disturbances near nest trees during the nesting season, help acquire federal take permits to support development projects and capture injured eagles and deliver them to veterinary and rehabilitation facilities. Public assistance has been invaluable. For example, in fiscal 2017, private citizens helped biologists by monitoring 11 nests from the ground and proved instrumental in discovering 17 more nests. \nBiologists were curious to see how coastal nests, which comprise more than one-third of the state's total, fared in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. Only five nest trees appeared to have fallen because \n \nBald eagle nest near Rome (Gena Flanigen) \n \nof the October 2016 storm, despite swaths of devastated forest on Little Tybee, Ossabaw, Blackbeard and St. Catherines islands. On the flipside, five new nests were found on the coast. \nAnalysis of data collected in fiscal 2017 indicates that 95 percent of 263 eagle nests observed were in pine trees, mostly dominant and co-dominant specimens. Most nests are found in mature, flat-crowned loblolly pine, but the birds also used other pine species, such as longleaf, white and Virginia. Of the remaining 5 percent, nearly all were built in cypress trees. Eagles in Georgia rarely build nests in dead trees, and none have been recorded on man-made structures such as electrical and cell phone towers or bridge structures. \nNongame Conservation continued working with partners at the University of Georgia's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study avian vacuolar myelinopathy. Once referred to as AVM, scientists now call the disease simply VM because it has been detected in fish, mammals and other taxa, in addition to birds. This mysterious disease has \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n9 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n caused significant mortality in American coots and bald eagles, and was implicated in the deaths of at least seven and perhaps 10 or more eagles at Clarks Hill Lake north of Augusta during the winter of 2016-2017. Although VM-associated mortality in birds has historically been detected at other lakes in Georgia, such as Varner and Juliette, Clarks Hill, also called J. Strom Thurmond Reservoir, has been plagued with the disease since at least the late 1990s. The first VM-killed eagle was found at this reservoir in 1998. There has been a dramatic decline in eagle nesting territories there, from a high of eight or nine in the 1990s to two or three in recent years. However, five occupied nest territories were recorded at the reservoir this season despite low-water conditions and the VM mortalities. Hopefully, this marks the start of an upward trend. \nAs of fiscal 2017, satellite telemetry devices have been placed on five eaglets from three nests on the northern part of Clarks Hill. In fall 2015, one of the males was shot in Pennsylvania and the other shed its transmitter. The two males outfitted with transmitters in April 2016 migrated north in June. One of them flew to the Hudson Bay area; the other spent the summer in Pennsylvania and Ohio feeding along the Great Lakes and rivers. One of the three remaining birds in this study died from VM early in 2017. As for the other two birds, one spent the late spring and early summer of 2017 near Lake Erie, and the other has remained near the Savannah River, occasionally taking short dispersal flights to South and North Carolina. \nn Golden Eagles \nThe Nongame Conservation Section is part of a regional project exploring migration routes and habitat use of golden eagles in the eastern U.S. Started in 2006 and first aimed at investigating how wind turbines pose a threat to golden eagles, the research by Appalachian Eagles has expanded from Pennsylvania and West Virginia to as far south as Alabama as scientists learned that the eagles do not always migrate to and from Canada along Appalachian Mountain ridges. Some fly through the Midwest, according to project leader Dr. Tricia Miller of West Virginia University. \nTo fill in details about the pathways and the population's distribution, scores of camera stations are used to document golden eagles. Researchers also track eagles fitted with transmitters that post almost real-time updates to cell towers. \n \nIn fiscal 2017, grant funding from The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), friends group of Nongame Conservation, was again used to buy two transmitters. Two previous transmitters bought with TERN funds had been fitted on golden eagles trapped and released at Devil's Backbone Hunting Club, a project partner near Sprewell Bluff Wildlife Management Area in middle Georgia. The first bird was trapped in February 2015, the second in February 2016. One migrated to and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence area in Quebec, while the other was tracked to the upper Midwest and Lake Superior. Interestingly, both returned briefly to Sprewell Bluff in early 2017. \nOne of the transmitters bought this year was fitted on a golden eagle captured at John's Mountain by Miller with the aid of the U.S. Forest Service's Ruth Stokes. As of July 2017, the start of the next fiscal year, this eagle was in the Northwest Territories, an unexpected and remarkable migration distance and location. Shortly after this capture, a second golden eagle was observed at the same site but was not caught. The perception in the ornithological and birding communities is that when sighted, which is a rare occurrence, golden eagles in Georgia usually appear in the northern one-third of the state, primarily in remote, mountainous terrain. However, records show that the species is not restricted to one geographical area and can occur in the Coastal Plain, which is what happened when a sick golden eagle was found near the Okefenokee Swamp in January 2017. This bird died, apparently from lead poisoning after swallowing a fishing sinker. \n \nForest Service's Ruth Stokes with golden eagle (USFS) \n \nn Peregrine Falcons \nFor the third consecutive year, a pair of peregrine falcons nested on a cliff face at Tallulah Gorge State Park, the state's only known peregrine nest in a natural setting. The first nest recorded at this site, near Tallulah Falls, was in 2015, then the only \"wild\" nest documented in the state in 80 years. That nesting effort resulted in two fledglings. A peregrine pair again nested on the cliff in 2016, below the nest found in 2015 and in a site that was much more difficult to observe. One eyas was seen at the site that spring, but it was not clear if it fledged. \nIn 2017 a peregrine falcon pair again was observed exhibiting nesting activity on the cliff face, though in a new location. This time the site was easier to observe from an observation platform on the opposite side of the gorge. The public watched as the parents reared and fledged four young in May. \nElsewhere in the state, an agitated peregrine falcon was encountered during a botanical field trip in Rabun County in May 2017, but an intensive search did not locate a nest site. A pair of falcons was observed visiting a drumlike structure on a communications tower in DeKalb County that month, but nesting was not confirmed. Falcons were observed mating at the well-known nesting site on the SunTrust Plaza building in Atlanta, but for the second consecutive year apparently they did not nest there. A search of buildings in the city where falcons have been observed before resulted in sightings at two buildings involving separate pairs, but no nests were found. In June, a juvenile falcon in the company of an adult was reported from downtown Atlanta, indicating that at least one pair did nest in the city this year. \nAs in years past, a biologist with Rock City at Lookout Mountain banded and hacked two eyasses acquired from a breeder in Minnesota. The birds were \"soft-released\" on June 12, 2017. \nIn 2018, biologists will work with state parks staff to monitor nesting at Tallulah Gorge, as well as coordinate with volunteers in Atlanta to find and monitor nests in the city. Staff also plan to conduct a search of potentially suitable nest sites on cliffs in north and west Georgia, and will step up efforts to inspect tower structures that might serve as nesting strata. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n10 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Sea Turtles \nLoggerhead sea turtles are found in Georgia's coastal waters year-round and nest on all barrier island beaches. In accordance with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recovery plan for this species, DNR management efforts focus on surveying and protecting loggerhead nests and managing nesting beach habitat. The Nongame Conservation Section coordinates the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative, a group of volunteers, researchers and government employees that conduct nest protection and management activities on Georgia beaches. In addition, Nongame Conservation is responsible for managing the nesting projects on the state-owned islands of Sapelo and Ossabaw, including hiring and supervising seasonal technicians. \nNest management strategies such as relocating nests, installing protective screens and removing predators help ensure high nesting success. Since comprehensive surveys began in 1989, loggerhead nesting has been highly variable, with an average of 1,300 nests per year. In 2017, more than 2,140 loggerhead nests were documented on Georgia beaches. This year's loggerhead nest total was lower than the record high set in 2016 (3,289 nests); however, the overall statistical trend in nesting (covering 28 years) shows an increase of approximately 3 percent annually. The nesting data indicates that the loggerhead sea turtle population in Georgia continues to progress toward recovery and delisting. \nOther conservation activities conducted by Nongame Conservation in fiscal year 2017 included reviewing proposed regulations to require turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, in skimmer trawl fisheries, reviewing \n \nLOGGERHEAD NESTING IN GEORGIA Annual nest totals since comprehensive surveys began in 1989. \n3,400 3,200 3,000 2,800 2,600 2,400 2,200 2,000 1,800 1,600 1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 \n200 0 '89 '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 \n \nAmphibians and Reptiles \n \nLoggerhead hatchling on Little St. Simons (Sarah Martin/DNR) \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n11 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n lighting plans for beachfront hotel construction and conducting lighting surveys on developed nesting beaches, and monitoring the effects of harbor dredging projects on sea turtles. \nTo develop a comprehensive understanding of the number and relatedness of loggerheads nesting on Georgia beaches, DNR and the University of Georgia have developed a catalog of unique genetic profiles for Georgia's nesting female turtles. Drs. Joe Nairn and Brian Shamblin, working with DNR staff, have identified an average of 600 loggerhead females using the Georgia coast annually from 2008-2016, with a range of 347 to 977 turtles per year. \nOne of the significant findings of this study is that at least 100 mother/daughter pairs nest on Georgia's barrier beaches. Because it takes at least 30 years for a loggerhead to become sexually mature and begin nesting, the mothers are at least 60 years old, nesting alongside their 30-year-old daughters. \n \nNecropsy of a dead loggerhead at St. Catherines (DNR) Sea turtle tech Shelby Walker with morning nesting loggerhead (Shelby Walker/DNR) \n \nSea Turtle Stranding Network and At-sea Recovery \nThe Nongame Conservation Section monitors sea turtle mortality through the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network. Systematic patrols of barrier island beaches provide information on the number and species of dead turtles that wash up on the Georgia coast. When possible, necropsies of stranded turtles are done to evaluate causes of mortality. Sea turtle strandings are the primary index of threats to sea turtles in Georgia's coastal waters. \nIn fiscal year 2017, 126 dead or injured turtles were documented on Georgia beaches. The 2017 stranding total is slightly lower than the 28-year average of 188 strandings per year. Recent patterns in strandings strongly correlate with the shrimp trawling effort off Georgia's coast, suggesting that commercial fishing activity is a significant source of mortality for sea turtles. \nResults from necropsy examinations indicate that boat collisions and commercial fishery mortality are significant sources of mortality. They accounted for, respectively, 29 and 24 percent of strandings in fiscal 2017. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n12 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Bog turtle (Thomas Floyd/DNR) Gopher tortoise (Dirk J. Stevenson) \n \nBog Turtles \nThe fiscal 2017 field season brought new challenges to conservation efforts involving bog turtles and eastern hellbenders (updates on the latter are in the hellbender section). During much of the 2017 calendar year, no State Wildlife Grant funding was available to hire seasonal wildlife technicians. Instead, the Nongame Conservation Section sought assistance from longtime conservation partners to continue surveying and monitoring efforts, avoiding a disruption in long-term data sets. \nThe federally threatened bog turtle, North America's smallest turtle species, inhabits Georgia mountain bogs generally found along slow-flowing spring creeks and seepages in low mountain valleys. During the spring and summer of 2017, Nongame Conservation Section staff, with help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery and Rabun Gap- \n \nNacoochee School, continued surveys monitoring three bog turtle populations discovered during the 2014 and 2015 field seasons. Sixty-seven traps were deployed and checked, totaling 2,880 trap days. While efforts did not include searching for additional populations at sites that had not been surveyed, 15 capture-and-releases of 10 different turtles were recorded at the three sites with known populations. The releases included two turtles that had not been caught before. \nGopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative \nThe Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative is a Georgia-based effort to conserve the gopher tortoise in hopes of making its listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act unnecessary. Members include DNR, the Georgia Forestry Commission; the U.S. Department of Defense, Fish and Wildlife Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service; The Nature Conservancy; The Conservation Fund; Georgia Conservancy; the Knobloch Family Foundation; the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation; the Bobolink Foundation; Georgia Chamber of Commerce; and The Orianne Society. \nGopher tortoises are found in the Coastal Plain from eastern Louisiana to western South Carolina and southern Florida. The species is federally listed as threatened in Louisiana, Mississippi and western Alabama. Within the rest of its range, the gopher tortoise is classified by the Fish and Wildlife Service as a candidate species, meaning it warrants being listed but has not been because of other issues. \n \nEcologically, the gopher is a keystone species: Georgia's state reptile digs deep, long burrows that are used by more than 300 different animal species. One, the eastern indigo snake, is federally listed as threatened. Others are being considered for federal listing, including the gopher frog, Florida pine snake and eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake. \nGopher Tortoise Initiative partners know they can be proactive and work to avoid listing gopher tortoises, or they can be reactive and face the consequences of increased federal regulation that will affect key parts of the state's economy, including commercial growth, agriculture, forestry and military base activities. To help preclude the need for listing  a decision that members know will not rest solely on efforts in Georgia  the initiative is focused on permanently protecting many of the state's gopher tortoise populations. Georgia has at least 122 known viable populations. (The Fish and Wildlife Service considers 250 adult tortoises a minimum viable population.) \nPermanent protection of populations is being achieved through a combination of fee-simple land acquisitions and conservation easements. When the effort started Georgia had 36 permanently protected gopher tortoise populations. At the close of fiscal year 2017, the total was 43. The initiative is trying to protect 65 populations, work that will require raising an estimated $150 million. The funding is expected to come equally from three sources: state, federal and private donations. As of early fiscal 2018, the Gopher Tortoise Initiative was completing projects that will increase the tortoise habitat conserved in Georgia to more than 38,000 acres and the number of permanently protected populations to at least 47. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n13 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Eastern indigo snake at tortoise burrow (Dirk J. Stevenson) \n \nGopher Tortoises and Eastern Indigo Snakes \nBoth the gopher tortoise and the eastern indigo snake, which is federally listed as threatened, are priority species in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. \nDuring fiscal 2017, the Nongame Conservation Section tortoise survey crew completed line-transect distance surveys on 12 sites, sampling aimed at estimating tortoise density and abundance. Sites included Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area in Irwin County, Alligator Creek Wildlife Management Area in Wheeler County, Bullard Creek Wildlife Management Area in Jeff Davis and Appling counties, Flint River Wildlife Management Area in Macon County, Ohoopee Dunes Wildlife Management Area in Emanuel County, George \n \nL. Smith State Park in Emanuel County, General Coffee State Park in Coffee County, The Nature Conservancy's R.G. Daniels Preserve in Candler County, and two large private tracts in Atkinson and Wayne counties. Highlights included four newly surveyed populations that have more than the 250 adult gopher tortoises needed for a minimally viable population and an estimated population at Alapaha River WMA of nearly 2,400 tortoises, by far the largest population on state lands and 21 percent more than when the site was last surveyed in 2012. \nNongame Conservation began doing linetransect distance sampling for gopher tortoises in 2007. Surveys have been completed on 92 sites, public and private, statewide. Survey results are incorporated into conservation strategies aimed at precluding the need to federally list the tortoise under the Endangered Species Act. \n \nIn another study funded and supported by Nongame Conservation, The Orianne Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving rare reptiles and amphibians, continued occupancy monitoring of imperiled eastern indigo snake habitat to determine population trends. In southern Georgia, indigos overwinter in xeric sandhill habitats, where they den in the burrows of gopher tortoises. The study's initial focus is the Altamaha River basin, considered a population stronghold for eastern indigos. That focus will expand to include the Satilla and Alapaha River basins in 2018. \nOrianne staff surveyed 19 sandhill sites on public and private lands, detecting indigos at 26 percent. The degree of detections in 2017 increased significantly from the previous year; however, nine of the sites sampled in 2017 had not been surveyed in previous years and likely are not comparable. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n14 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Gopher Frogs \nState listed as rare, gopher frogs depend on intact sandhill habitats, where adults survive within the burrows of their namesake host, the gopher tortoise. However, these frogs also require nearby fishless wetlands where they breed and their tadpoles develop. Because of widespread upland and wetland habitat alteration throughout their range, gopher frogs are now limited to fewer than 10 sites in Georgia. \nIn 2007, the Nongame Conservation Section began a project that involved collecting gopher frog eggs from healthy populations, rearing them to latestage tadpoles or post-metamorphic froglets and releasing them at an unoccupied but high-quality protected site at Williams Bluffs Preserve in Early County, which is within the species' historical range. The goal: Establish a self-sustaining breeding population of gopher frogs, a rangewide first for this imperiled amphibian. \nIn fiscal 2017, portions from five egg masses were collected and raised, resulting in the release of 810 froglets at Williams Bluffs and 785 at the source pond on Sandhills Wildlife Management Area near Butler. Because of reduced recruitment at the source pond over the last few years, staff decided to offset any potential impact from removing eggs by returning nearly half of the head-started metamorphs. Fortyfive metamorphs were moved to The Blue Heron Nature Preserve in Atlanta where they will be used for an experimental captive breeding effort conducted by The Amphibian Foundation. If successful, the captive colony will provide a reliable source of eggs and lessen dependency on wild populations to support reintroductions. \n \nEastern Hellbenders \nThe state-protected eastern hellbender, North America's largest salamander, inhabits clear coldwater streams in the mountains of north Georgia. \nDuring summer 2017, the Nongame Conservation Section staff, working with multiple cooperators, surveyed for hellbenders in nine streams using conventional techniques  snorkeling and flipping rocks. Researchers caught and released 89 hellbenders. Each was weighed, measured, photographed and marked with a Passive Integrated Transponder, or PIT, tag for future identification. Cooperators included Georgia Department of Transportation ecologists, Zoo Atlanta, the University of Georgia, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery, \nAll of the stream stretches had been surveyed in 2011 and 2014. They were re-surveyed in 2017 as part of the project's three-year cycle. This sampling schedule is building a long-term dataset, providing data for estimating hellbender numbers and allowing for periodic assessment of stream habitat conditions and the health of hellbender populations. A healthy hellbender population indicates good water quality and a healthy environment. PIT tag scans showed that eight hellbenders caught in 2017 also had been caught and marked in the 2011 and 2014 surveys. \n \nGenetic tissue samples were collected from 78 hellbenders for the Georgia Museum of Natural History genetic archive collection and for use in other genetics research. Tissue samples also will be examined for evidence of Chytrid fungus (Bd), salamander chytrid disease (Bsal) and Ranavirus. Results from the analysis are contributing to a rangewide assessment of the species' health. Abundance, size and mass data are used to determine the health of hellbender populations. \nAlso in fiscal year 2017, Georgia was one of six states in the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies awarded a Competitive State Wildlife Grant for conserving hellbenders. This national program encourages cooperative partnerships that result in large-scale landscape conservation. The other states in the project included Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. \nIn Georgia, proposed activities over the next two years will augment ongoing survey and population monitoring efforts started in 2011 through the State Wildlife Grants program. These include hellbender surveys through environmental DNA, or eDNA; pathogen monitoring and testing for three amphibian diseases; larval hellbender habitat characterization; larval hellbender diet analysis and an assessment of prey availability through stream macroinvertebrate sampling; and artificial nest box installation. \n \nGopher frog for release at Williams Bluffs Preserve (Jessica McGuire/DNR) Eastern hellbender (Thomas Floyd/DNR) \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n15 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n DNR's Mark Dodd readies to cut rope from Ruffian (DNR/NOAA Permit 18786) \n \nNorth Atlantic Right Whales \nThe North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world. Commercial whaling in the late 1800s nearly drove the species to extinction. Since whaling was banned in 1935, the population's recovery has been slowed by human impacts, including ship collisions and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. \nEach winter, pregnant right whales and small numbers of nonbreeding whales migrate from feeding grounds in the northeastern U.S. and Canada to calving grounds along the coast of Georgia and northeastern Florida. \nMammals \n \nSurveying bats for white-nose syndrome in a Georgia cave (Katrina Morris/DNR) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n16 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n The DNR collaborates with National Oceanic Atmospheric and Administration Fisheries, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Sea to Shore Alliance and others to conserve North Atlantic right whales in the Southeast United States. Management actions focus on reducing human-related mortality, monitoring the whale population and protecting right whale habitat. From December through March, aerial surveys are flown along the Georgia and northeast Florida coast to document calf production, collect photo-identification data and warn ships about whale locations. At the same time, boat surveys are conducted to collect photoidentification data and genetics samples and to document injured and entangled right whales. \nDuring the 2017 calving season, survey teams documented only three mother/calf pairs and one adult male right whale (the latter was entangled in commercial fishing gear). This marked the fewest right whales sighted in the Southeast since surveys began in the 1980s. Below-average calving has been documented since 2012, which, along with high rates of mortality, is causing the species to decline. An analysis by NOAA found that the species has decreased from a peak of 483 whales in 2010 to 458 whales in 2015 (the most recent year for which estimates are available). Scientists suspect that low calving rates might have been caused by changes in the whales' plankton food resources, as evidenced by visible declines in the health of the animals and changes in their distribution in the northeastern U.S. and Canada in recent years. \nBiologists successfully disentangled the one non-calving right whale that was seen off Georgia during 2017. The adult male, nicknamed \"Ruffian,\" was already covered in scars from an entanglement the whale survived in the 2000s. It took biologist two days to remove more than 150 yards of heavy rope and a 135-pound metal crab trap from the whale  gear it had apparently dragged more than 1,500 miles from Canada. More than 80 percent of North Atlantic right whales bear scars from previous fishing rope entanglements. \nIn January 2015, the Nongame Conservation Section began a four-year project to develop and deploy minimally invasive, implantable satellite tags on North Atlantic right whales. The work is led by researchers from Marine Ecology and Telemetry Research, with help from DNR, Florida \n \nDisentangling Ruffian (IFWC/NOAA permit 15488) \n \nFish and Wildlife, Sea to Shore Alliance and the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center. The primary goal is to identify the route that whales use to migrate between the calving grounds in the southeastern U.S. and the northeastern U.S. feeding grounds. Field work was suspended for the 2017 calving season because of the low number of whales. However, development work has continued in the lab, and field work hopefully will resume in fiscal 2018 if the number of whales improves. Seven tags have been deployed. The longest deployment lasted 50 days and tracked one juvenile whale's migration more than 1,000 miles from Florida to Massachusetts. \nNongame Conservation also works to protect right whales and their habitat through involvement in the Right Whale Southeast Implementation Team, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team and the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. The agency receives considerable support from DNR's Coastal Resources and Law Enforcement divisions in education and outreach, policy efforts, and enforcement of federal right whale protections (also see: Law Enforcement for Nongame). Most funding for DNR right whale conservation efforts is provided through NOAA Fisheries grants. The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), the friends group of Nongame Conservation, is helping fund part of the satellite tagging project. \n \nGeorgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network \nThe Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network was created in 1989 to coordinate marine mammal stranding responses in the state. The Nongame Conservation Section coordinates the Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network with funding from NOAA Fisheries and help from other agencies and private organizations. \nNetwork goals include investigating human impacts on marine mammals, monitoring population health, providing rapid and humane response to live stranded marine mammals, contributing to marine mammal research, and educating the public about marine mammal conservation. \nFrom 2000 to 2016, the network documented an average of 36 stranded dolphins and whales a year. Bottlenose dolphins were the most commonly stranded species, making up 79 percent of strandings, followed by pygmy and dwarf sperm whales (13 percent combined). Other species that have stranded in Georgia historically include Atlantic spotted dolphins, rough-toothed dolphins, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, Risso's dolphins, pygmy killer whales, false killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, humpback whales, Bryde's whales, North Atlantic right whales and beaked whales. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n17 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n The network documented 32 strandings in calendar year 2016-2017 bottlenose dolphins, three pygmy sperm whales and two beaked whales. Six strandings were the result of human causes. One beaked whale apparently died from ingesting plastic. Three bottlenose dolphins were incidentally captured in research nets; two were released unharmed. One bottlenose dolphin was found dead entangled in rope of unknown origin. One bottlenose dolphin was reported alive entangled in a rope attached to a commercial crab pot. DNR staff disentangled that dolphin and released it unharmed. \nFlorida Manatees \nFlorida manatees inhabit tidal rivers, estuaries and near-shore ocean waters throughout coastal Georgia during the warm months of the year. The Florida manatee population numbers at least 6,000, with approximately half of the population found along Florida's Gulf Coast and the remainder along the Atlantic Coast and the St. Johns River. Each spring and summer an unknown number migrate into Georgia, returning to Florida in fall as water temperatures cool. \nFormerly listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, manatees were down- \n \nlisted in March 2017 to threatened thanks to sustained population growth throughout their U.S. range. The Nongame Conservation Section cooperates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Navy and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to conserve manatees in Georgia. Management focuses on reducing human-related mortality and protecting habitat. Recovery tasks include documenting causes of mortality and injury, rescuing injured and out-of-habitat manatees, monitoring distribution and habitat use, educating boaters about watercraft impacts, and reviewing permits and policies that may impact manatees and their habitat. \nSixty-two manatee mortalities were documented in Georgia waters from 2000 to 2016. Of those, 27 percent were due to watercraft collisions and 19 percent were from cold stress. Less common causes of mortality included drowning in shrimp nets, gunshot and entrapment. Two manatee carcasses were found in Georgia during calendar year 2016. Cause of death could not be determined in either case. \nNongame Conservation conducted the second year of a four-year manatee satellite-tagging \n \nproject in 2016 in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, Sea to Shore Alliance, Georgia Aquarium and others. The primary objective is studying fine-scale movement of manatees around Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay to assess watercraft collision risks. Other objectives include investigating migratory behavior and identifying travel corridors. \nEight male manatees were captured near Cumberland Island in May and July 2016. Each was fitted with high-accuracy, GPS-linked satellite transmitters. A ninth manatee that was tagged in 2015 remained tagged through 2016. Four of those manatees remained tagged as they migrated back to Florida and were still tagged as of Dec. 1, 2016. The other five manatees shed their tags in an average of 22 days, with the durations ranging from three to 44 days. Tagged manatees ranged as far north as Hilton Head Island, S.C., and as far south as Fort Lauderdale, Fla. \nPreliminary project results indicate that manatees rely heavily on the Intracoastal Waterway to migrate north and south between estuaries. They also appear to travel along the marsh edge more often than in the middle of river channels, a behavior that could place them at lower risk of watercraft strikes. \n \nAssessing and releasing manatee for tracking (Sea to Shore Alliance/USFWS permit MA37808A) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n18 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Small Mammals \nA grant for bat and small mammal conservation originally secured by the Nongame Conservation Section in 2012 continued to support work on these species in Georgia. \nDNR, the Georgia Department of Transportation and the University of Georgia started a cooperative project in fiscal year 2014 designed to learn more about the range of cavedwelling bats in Georgia, with a focus on Indiana and northern long-eared bats. Since the Department of Transportation, or DOT, is required under the Endangered Species Act to ensure projects do not jeopardize the existence of bat species such as Indiana and northern long-eared bats, determining the accurate range and habitat specifics of myotis bats can assist DOT with project predictability, balancing federal funding by congressional district and possibly lowering project planning and construction costs. \nIn 2017, a UGA graduate student and technicians continued capturing and tracking the target species across the potential range as defined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (The northern long-eared bats were trapped using mist nets, \n \nfitted with temporary radio transmitters and tracked to roost trees, with roost and surrounding habitat characteristics documented at each site.) Simultaneously, Nongame Conservation biologists and DOT contractors completed project-based surveys in the same area. \nThis marked the final season of fieldwork for this project, and capture rates of target species have declined significantly. Results from plots around these roost trees and landscape-level analysis are expected to yield information about roost-site preferences that can better define potential habitat. If sufficient netting efforts and call analysis across an area do not yield targeted species, those areas might be removed from range maps the Fish and Wildlife Service maintains, reducing DOT's burden to survey bats for projects in those areas. These results also help measure trends in northern bat populations since the discovery of white-nose syndrome in Georgia in 2013. \nNongame Conservation, the Fish and Wildlife Service and DOT staff also continued surveying for bats at bridges in fiscal 2017. Nongame Conservation refined a survey form and completed a contract to begin developing a \n \nDNR's Laci Coleman trains consultants on inspecting bridges for bats (Leanne Burns/DNR) \n \nversion of the data form for mobile devices. The surveys of occupied bridges, continued through the winter, revealed a surprising number of bridges used by bats year-round. DOT is working with DNR and the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect these populations during bridge maintenance, repair and replacement projects. DNR worked on plans with DOT to move forward with repair and replacement of bridges that have significant bat roosts outside. \nAlso in 2017, Nongame Conservation biologists completed a project with UGA to inventory bats at several National Park Service sites. Biologists and technicians compiled a report on Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in metro Atlanta and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield near Kennesaw. During the inventory, bats were captured in mist net surveys, acoustic surveys were done and North American bat sampling grids were established at Ocmulgee National Monument and Cumberland Island National Seashore. Overall, more than 300 bats of six species were captured and released during the inventories. Thousands of acoustic files were collected, and, based on call analysis, several additional species were documented as likely using the areas. This inventory is the most extensive completed at the parks and will provide a baseline for future bat work. \nNongame Conservation biologists remained active in the Georgia Bat Working Group and helped plan and hold the fourth annual Georgia Bat Blitz. For this event at Vogel State Park near Blairsville, teams spent three nights netting in and around the park on several DNR wildlife management areas and the Chattahoochee National Forest. Nearly 50 people participated, representing several agencies and organizations. Despite rain and cold temperatures, a total of 62 bats were captured: 25 eastern red bats, 24 big brown bats, 10 silver-haired bats, one Seminole bat and two small-footed bats. On May 13, the Saturday during the blitz, the group held an education event at Vogel with daytime and evening activities. It is estimated that hundreds of people attended. Overall, the fourth annual Georgia Bat Blitz was rated a success. \nThe statewide Anabat survey continued in 2017. The project used volunteers to drive more than 30 transects across the state, collecting bat \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n19 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n DNR's Emily Ferrall with eastern red bat (DNR) Eastern spotted skunk in Rabun County (DNR) \n \ncalls. Most routes were completed once or twice. Nongame Conservation also continued the North American Bat Monitoring Project, which includes stationary and mobile acoustic sampling in pre-selected grid cells across the continent. Biologists in Georgia have selected sites and plan to add to them. \nResearchers used software and visual identification to analyze Anabat survey calls collected through 2013. Through such analysis, biologists can determine most bat species and numbers per route. The routes will be run over multiple years to build a long-term set of call data for determining bat population trends across the state. An interactive map of identified bat calls was completed for 2014 and 2015 and posted online. \nA citizen-scientist program launched in 2014 to monitor summer bat maternity roosts in the state also was continued. This outreach encourages the public to count bats at bat houses, barns and other roosts twice each summer. The effort mirrors programs in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and allows the public to help with long-term monitoring of wildlife populations. \nA federal grant initiated in 2016 helped fund white-nose syndrome work in Georgia. As of winter 2017, Nongame Conservation had confirmed white-nose syndrome, or WNS, in 14 Georgia counties. Biologists also documented a 94 percent decline in populations at known hibernacula in north Georgia. In the northeastern \n \nU.S., caves infected with white-nose syndrome have suffered mortality rates as high as 95-99 percent after a few years of infection. After several years of post-WNS surveys, it appears that sites in Georgia are following those trends. \nAccording to Fish and Wildlife Service estimates, this devastating disease has killed more than 5.7 million bats and been documented in 31 states and five Canadian provinces as of the close of fiscal 2017. Nongame Conservation will continue to monitor sites in winter to document the disease's spread and related mortality. Biologists also are working with the public and the caving community to promote awareness of white-nose and support for bat conservation. The agency's annual report on WNS was promoted through social media and the Georgia Wild enewsletter. The report included a story map that provides an online, multimedia presentation that can be updated each year. \nIn fiscal 2017, the Nongame Conservation and Game Management sections funded an additional season of spotted-skunk camera trapping through the Georgia Museum of Natural History at UGA. The university hired former Nongame Conservation employee Emily Ferrall to run the survey. Based on protocols developed through \n \na multistate working group, Ferrall placed 21 motion-activated cameras at randomly selected sites, using a can of sardines and a strongsmelling lure as bait at each site to attract the skunks. This season, one new spotted-skunk site was detected in northwest Georgia, and survey efforts were expanded to include sites in the west-central part of the state. \nSupported by a multistate State Wildlife Grant initiated in 2015, a UGA doctoral student continued research focused on the southeastern pocket gopher. Overall, the goal is to conserve and restore southeastern pine savanna in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. One way to accomplish this is by better understanding, as well as recommending and restoring, conditions to promote southeastern pocket gophers, a critical species in this habitat and one that has suffered significant population declines across its historic range. In summer 2016, the student conducted transect walking surveys on several wildlife management areas and state parks. Unfortunately, evidence of pocket gopher activity was found only at Georgia Veterans State Park near Cordele and Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway in southwest Georgia's Baker County. During the season, 25 gophers were trapped at Ichauway and six at Georgia Veterans State Park. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n20 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Freshwater Aquatic Species \n \nAquatic Conservation Initiative \nGeorgia is one of the richest states in freshwater aquatic biodiversity, ranking among the top five in the number of native species of mussels (127 species), fishes (265), crayfishes (70) and aquatic snails (84). Unfortunately, Georgia also ranks among the top states in imperiled freshwater aquatic species. A recent assessment recognized 152 imperiled freshwater aquatic species in Georgia, more than half of which have a significant portion of their global range within the state's boundaries. Approximately 22 percent of Georgia's freshwater fishes, 28 percent of mollusks and 36 percent of crayfishes are ranked as imperiled or critically imperiled in the state. Yet even these numbers understate the problem because they don't include an additional 48 species, most of them mollusks, considered historic or extirpated from Georgia. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section launched the Aquatic Conservation Initiative in 1998 to determine the status of Georgia's aquatic fauna and develop conservation plans for declining species. This effort is aimed primarily at identifying important populations of rare aquatic species through surveys \n \nand research, incorporating species location and status information into the DNR database, and assisting with conservation planning for rare aquatic species. \nNongame Conservation conducts hundreds of aquatic surveys around the state each year, documenting or monitoring important populations of high-priority species. In fiscal 2017, surveying and monitoring efforts focused on robust redhorse, sicklefin redhorse, blackbanded sunfish, rare darters and mussel communities in the lower Flint and Coosa river systems. \nStaff continued to assist The Nature Conservancy and Kennesaw State University with annual monitoring of Etowah and Cherokee darters at three sites in Raccoon Creek. The purpose is to assess the effectiveness of stream channel and riparian restoration in part of the creek affected by a powerline right of way and to monitor long-term population dynamics of these two federally protected species. During sampling this fiscal year, 35 Etowah darters and 127 Cherokee darters were collected. These numbers are fewer than the record high 83 Etowah darters and 242 Cherokee darters captured in 2015. However, monitoring from 2009-2016 has documented large annual fluctuations in catch rates for both \n \nspecies, fluctuations that likely correspond to observed variation in stream flow levels. \nThe sicklefin redhorse is a state-endangered species, and until fall 2016 it was a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Along with other partners, DNR entered a Candidate Conservation Agreement to conserve this species in February 2016. Paving the way for expanded monitoring and conservation efforts over the next 10 years, the agreement was cited as a factor in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision not to list sicklefin redhorse under the Endangered Species Act. \nIn fiscal 2017, Nongame Conservation continued working with partners to conduct fyke net sampling for the species in Brasstown Creek and the Nottely River. The fyke uses wing nets to direct migrating fish into a central net chamber. Captured fish are weighed, measured, marked with a uniquely numbered tag and released in their direction of travel. Sampling was done during the spring spawning season and yielded more than 100 adult sicklefin redhorse, including recaptures from the previous year. DNR also installed a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) detection array (i.e., an antenna buried in the stream and connected to a tag reader on \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n21 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \nBridled darter (Peter Dimmick/DNR) \n \n Setting up PIT array to detect sicklefin in Brasstown Creek (DNR) Holiday darter (Brett Albanese/DNR) \n \nthe bank) just downstream of the fyke net in Brasstown Creek. The PIT array recorded each time previously tagged sicklefin redhorse passed over the antenna. The array registered 372 detections of 112 unique individuals, including 42 that had been tagged the previous year. \n \nNongame Conservation continued surveys for the state-endangered blackbanded sunfish. This effort is part of an ongoing State Wildlife Grants project in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Environmental DNA, also called eDNA, water samples were \n \ncollected at 31 sites in 2015. Of those, only five tested positive for the presence of blackbanded sunfish. In fiscal 2017, the two agencies teamed up to try traditional sampling methods at those sites. Despite extensive efforts using multiple collection techniques, no blackbanded sunfish were encountered. Additional sampling is planned for fall 2017. \nNongame Conservation also contracts with the University of Georgia for long-term monitoring of Etowah and Conasauga river fishes. These river systems are among the most diverse in the southeastern U.S., supporting important populations of rare fishes such as blue shiner, frecklebelly madtom, Etowah darter and Conasauga logperch. Monitoring has been ongoing since 1998. Information from these studies has been invaluable for conservation planning, species status assessments and documenting relationships between fish populations and environmental stressors. One current objective is using eDNA technology to survey for the frecklebelly madtom in areas it has not been observed for more than a decade. \nNongame Conservation began a multiyear collaborative effort to assess the conservation status of the bridled darter, frecklebelly madtom, holiday darter and trispot darter. All four fishes had been petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The project's goal is to make sure the decision of whether to list these species is based on recent data \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n22 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n and to identify important actions for recovery. Work in fiscal 2017 included compiling and summarizing existing distribution data for each species, conducting surveys for bridled and holiday darters and developing range maps that show the status of each population. Snorkeling surveys documented important populations of bridled and holiday darters in the upper Etowah River, Amicalola Creek and the upper Conasauga River. (In October 2017, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that bridled and holiday darters did not require federal listing, but proposed listing trispot darter as threatened. Bridled and holiday darters will remain a conservation focus in Georgia.) \nMussel sampling continued in lower Flint River tributaries in fiscal 2017, marking the 10th year of monitoring these populations. Summer stream flows from 2013-2016 are believed to have spurred several rare species to reproduce successfully, resulting in some outstanding increases in local populations. \nStaff also continued a comprehensive mussel survey of the upper Coosa River basin in Georgia. The project was initiated in tributary streams in 2015 but focused on the mainstem rivers \n \nas well as tributaries to the upper Etowah and Coosawattee rivers in 2016 and 2017. The upper Coosa basin historically harbored more than 40 freshwater mussel species, including several protected under the Endangered Species Act. Thus far, the project has led to the discovery of several previously unknown populations of rare mussels, including the first records of the federally threatened finelined pocketbook from the \n \nDNR's Peter Dimmick and Deb Weiler sampling mussels on the Conasauga (Jason Wisniewski/DNR) \n \nEndangered rayed kidneyshell filtering (Peter Dimmick/DNR) \n \nupper Etowah River basin. Sampling is expected to conclude by fall 2017, with distributional modeling following the sampling. Nongame Conservation staff presented research results at regional and national symposia and published study results in several peer-reviewed journals. Staff also contributed to multistate and national efforts to assess the taxonomy, status and distribution of aquatic species in North America. \nStaff expanded their survey expertise and began sampling for the beaverpond marstonia, a diminutive snail petitioned for federal listing. This snail, discovered in 1973, occurred in spring-fed tributaries to the lower Flint River in Crisp County. Although not collected live since 2000, the beaverpond marstonia was petitioned for listing in 2010. Additional survey efforts are planned for fall 2017, at which time the species is presumably mature and at its maximum size of approximately 2 millimeters in length. \nData from surveying and monitoring efforts, including data submitted through the agency's scientific collecting permit program, are entered into the NatureServe Biotics database. Partnerships also are maintained with the Georgia Museum of Natural History and the Stream Survey Team of DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Fisheries Section. These partnerships boost the amount of data available for environmental review and conservation planning. \nRobust Redhorse \nThe robust redhorse is a rare sucker with wild populations occurring in limited reaches of the Altamaha, Ogeechee and Savannah rivers in Georgia and the Pee Dee River in North and South Carolina. The fish is state listed as endangered in Georgia. Prior to its collection and identification in 1991 by DNR Wildlife Resources Division fisheries biologists, this species had not been observed in more than 100 years. A team of state, federal and industry biologists organized under the Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee has done intensive work since the early 1990s to recover the species in Georgia and the Carolinas. \nA significant part of this effort has been capturing and spawning wild fish from the Oconee and Savannah rivers and producing young in hatcheries to restore populations in rivers across the native range. In partnership with the \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n23 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia Power and the University of Georgia, the Wildlife Resources Division helped develop a hatchery program in 1993. A Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances, the first of its kind for an aquatic species, also was developed by the Wildlife Resources Division, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and Georgia Power to help reintroduce robust redhorse into the Ocmulgee River in Georgia. \nFrom 1993-2008, about 115,700 hatcheryreared robust redhorse were stocked in the Broad, Ocmulgee, Oconee and Ogeechee rivers in Georgia. Regionally, South Carolina stocked 71,934 fingerlings in the Broad and Wateree rivers before that state's hatchery program ended in 2013. North Carolina began a project to augment its Pee Dee River population in calendar year 2014. \nBiologists have documented growth and survival rates in all stocked rivers in Georgia and South Carolina. They also have observed spawning behavior in fish stocked in the Broad, Ocmulgee and Ogeechee rivers. Researchers are trying to document survival of wild-spawned fish in stocked populations and their recruitment into juvenile and adult populations. Establishment of selfsustaining populations will represent a significant step toward recovery. Other recovery activities included evaluations of recruitment success and a major gravel augmentation project on the Oconee, as well as telemetry studies on the Ogeechee, Ocmulgee, Broad, Savannah and Pee Dee rivers and a population-dynamics study on the Ocmulgee. \nIn 2014, an intensive electrofishing survey of the Oconee River from Sinclair Dam to Dublin was completed. This study was designed to assess the status of the Oconee population. Staff spent 65 hours electrofishing April-May, collecting two adult Robust Redhorse and spotting a third. As anticipated, this effort provided substantial evidence that the Oconee River population has experienced a major decline since the 1990s. Causes appear to be the long-term effects of a combination of degraded spawning habitat, unsuitable spawning and rearing flows, increased sedimentation, and the introduction of non-native fishes. \nRemnant populations have been searched for above Sinclair Dam (Little River and the Wallace Dam tailrace) and Wallace Dam (the Apalachee and Oconee rivers). A single adult robust \n \nredhorse was collected from the lower portion of Little River above Lake Sinclair in 2012, the product of an accidental escape of fingerlings from the Walton Hatchery in 1995. Potential spawning shoals were surveyed in Little River during 2013-2014, but no robust redhorse were observed. Additional surveys are needed in the Little and Apalachee rivers. \nWhile adult robust redhorse are known to have survived and found spawning habitat in the Ocmulgee, Ogeechee and Broad rivers, additional monitoring is needed to ensure recruitment. In cooperation with partners, Nongame Conservation helped develop a visual monitoring protocol that estimates the number and size distribution of adult fish observed at spawning sites each year. If sufficient recruitment is occurring, the number of small fish and the total number of fish observed at spawning sites should remain stable or increase from year to year. This protocol was implemented on the Ocmulgee and Savannah rivers in 2015, documenting about 14 and 100 adult fish, respectively. \nUnfortunately, a flood in winter 2015 deposited large amounts of sand over the Ocmulgee River's only known spawning site, and consequently, researchers did not document any spawning activity in 2016. Fewer than 10 fish were documented at a Savannah River spawning site, but stream flow levels prevented staff from carrying out an adequate number of sampling events. \nDNR staff conducted electrofishing surveys of the Ogeechee River population as part of the Fisheries Management Section's standardized sampling program. These surveys have not documented robust redhorse since three adults were collected in 2014. The only known spawning site on the Ogeechee has been visited from 2015-2017, but each year high flows precluded visual observations during the spawning season. Robust redhorse have not been observed spawning in the Ogeechee since 2012, raising significant concerns about the long-term viability of this stocked population. \nJuvenile robust redhorse have proved almost impossible to detect since the onset of sampling by the Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee and its partners. From 2012-2014, three juveniles were documented in the lower Savannah River's intertidal zone, more than 130 miles downstream from the nearest known spawning site. DNR's \n \nStream Survey Team collected the first juvenile from the lower Ocmulgee River near Hawkinsville in 2014, an occurrence consistent with long-distance dispersal from an upstream spawning site. While low detection of juveniles probably precludes their use for recruitment monitoring, these captures are helping researchers better understand the life history and habitat needs of robust redhorse. \nGeorgia and South and North Carolina were awarded a competitive State Wildlife Grant in 2016 for a three-year project to identify and implement critical management actions needed to ensure survival of robust redhorse across its range. Funds are being used to increase capacity for robust redhorse conservation within DNR and to support contracts for research and monitoring. Partners include Georgia Power, Georgia Southern University, the Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Georgia and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Objectives include determining if known populations are self-sustaining, improving adaptive management for populations and, according to the results of those first two objectives, implementing management actions and monitoring. DNR will work with partners to accomplish these goals and conserve the robust redhorse, hopefully resulting in there being no need to list it under the Endangered Species Act. \nThrough funding under this grant, the Wildlife Resources Division and partners increased monitoring in fiscal 2017. These efforts included spawning season visual surveys on the Broad, Ocmulgee, Oconee, Ogeechee and Savannah rivers, electrofishing surveys on the Ocmulgee, and habitat surveys on the Broad, Ocmulgee and Oconee. Visual and electrofishing surveys during the spawning season included 11 surveys on the Ocmulgee, three on the Oconee, one on the Ogeechee, 15 on the Broad and seven on the Savannah. These surveys yielded no robust redhorse in the Ocmulgee, Oconee and Ogeechee rivers. As noted above, the maximum number of individuals observed spawning in the Broad and Savannah rivers were 14 and 204, respectively. Nongame Conservation staff conducted surveys to document potential spawning habitat availability on the Ocmulgee, Oconee and Broad rivers. Locations rated as having high potential will be revisited in fiscal 2018 in hopes of seeing spawning robust redhorse. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n24 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Sandhills \nTwo competitive State Wildlife Grants in Georgia and other states have benefited sandhill and upland longleaf pine habitats that support gopher tortoises. A third grant, awarded in calendar year 2015, continued that progress in fiscal year 2017. \nDNR received the first grant, for $1 million, in 2009 to work with Alabama, Florida and South Carolina on restoring high-priority sandhills. DNR and state wildlife agencies in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were awarded a $981,000 State Wildlife Grant in 2011 for additional habitat restoration on the targeted \n \nhabitats, referred to as phase 2 of the original project. In fall 2015, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana began phase 3, powered by a competitive $500,000 grant awarded earlier that year. \nIn phase 1, completed at the end of fiscal 2013, all states exceeded their project goals and nearly tripled the original goal for overall acreage treated (95,000 acres treated vs. the 38,600 acres proposed). In phase 2, completed in fiscal 2015, restoration goals were exceeded again, with 76,666 acres treated versus an original goal of 51,575. This work is expected to yield significant habitat benefits  largely through improvements in herbaceous understory \n \ncoverage  for priority species throughout the sandhills, such as the gopher tortoise and northern bobwhite. Goals for phase 3, a two-year part of the project, include restoring or enhancing more than 33,000 acres of sandhill or upland longleaf habitat across the six states in the gopher tortoise's range. \nGeorgia has thus far used funds from phase 3 to hire a seasonal fire crew in southeast Georgia, plant longleaf pine seedlings at Townsend Wildlife Management Area near Ludowici and the new Alligator Creek Wildlife Management Area in Wheeler County, and contract with The Nature Conservancy for additional prescribed burning on priority lands in southeast Georgia. \n \nPlants and Natural Habitats \n \nPitcherplants in Coastal Plain bog (Rebecca Byrd/DNR) \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n25 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Canby's dropwort in savanna (Alan Cressler) \n \nRare Plant Conservation \nSurveys are conducted throughout Georgia to identify and inventory locations of rare plants and provide guidance on appropriate management activities. This work is done by state botanists, sometimes with consultants, private landowners, photographers and members of botanical organizations. \nDuring the 2017 fiscal year, preliminary results of a federal grant to survey high-quality hardwood ravines in central Georgia included significant new sites for relict trillium and fringed campion, both federally endangered species. Other state-rare plants found included yellow milkvine, an unusual trillium soon to be described, yellow corydalis, Ocmulgee skullcap, Florida horsebalm, Vasey's trillium (rare south of the mountains) and northern prickly-ash. \n \nNongame Conservation Section staff also conducted a second year of monitoring the status of large-flowered skullcap at five sites in northwest Georgia and continued work with Atlanta Botanical Garden on the recovery of monkeyface orchid, or white fringeless orchid. Both taxa are federally listed as threatened. The large-flowered skullcap is locally frequent and likely will be delisted when a few more sites are protected. However, the orchid remains threatened due to continued site degradation, excessive deer browsing, wild hog impacts and the lengthy time needed to propagate material for enhancement. After four years, a population of white fringeless orchid is now established in a secluded bog site on Chattahoochee Bend State Park in Coweta County. In addition, at least two natural sites for the orchid are now wellprotected and can be augmented with propagules and ongoing management agreements. \n \nGeorgia aster remains a high-priority species for surveys and monitoring since it is part of a Candidate Conservation Plan. This showy, deep purple aster is now reported from nearly 125 sites in 35 Georgia counties. Management and permanent protection are afforded on several public properties, including the Chattahoochee National Forest, Chattahoochee River National Recreational Area, Pickett's Mill Battlefield State Historic Site, Paulding Forest Wildlife Management Area, James H. Sloppy Floyd State Park and Red Top Mountain State Park. Partners in the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance continue work to protect and monitor additional sites, especially along powerline right of way. \nNew state land acquisitions were found to harbor several significant plants of conservation concern. For example, Ohoopee Dunes Wildlife Management Area near Swainsboro and Flat \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n26 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Tub Wildlife Management Area near Douglas contain pitcherplant bogs and hardwood bluffs of interest with parrot pitcherplant, wiregrass dropseed and Mellichamp's skullcap. Surveys of other public and private sites also yielded many rare-species discoveries. These included Ashe's calamint in southern Tattnall County, goldenseal in Walker County, purple milkweed in Cobb County, Stokes aster in Evans County, spotted Joe-pye weed in Towns County, sweet pitcherplant in Wheeler County and tidal marsh obedient plant on the lower Savannah River. \nRelocation and safeguarding of rare plants continued in 2017. Safeguarding involves propagation by cuttings, seed or plants to ensure Georgia material is available later to enhance natural populations or establish new ones. Examples during fiscal 2017 are Carolina \n \nwindflower from Elbert County, Thorne's bumelia from Pulaski County and a strange primitive fern from Tift County known as rush quillwort. \nCoordination with partners and private landowners is critical for plant conservation. Nongame Conservation botanists work closely with DNR Wildlife Resources Division Private Lands biologists to provide outreach to landowners about partner programs that can support rare-plant habitat protection and restoration. Nongame Conservation's Steve Raper helped staff with outreach for protection of cypress savanna wetlands, granite outcrops and pitcherplant bogs. \nFiscal 2017 saw significant progress for cypress savanna wetlands and their federally endangered inhabitant, Canby's dropwort. Recovery and \n \nLarge-flowered skullcap (Alan Cressler) \n \ndelisting of Canby's dropwort, a lacy member of the carrot family, is a priority for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and DNR. Since 18 of 21 of the species' occurrences in Georgia are on privately owned agricultural lands, working with private landowners is essential. This year, the Fish and Wildlife Service awarded DNR a grant for permanent legal protection of one of the largest Canby's dropwort populations, in Dooly County. The landowners have been working with DNR since 2008 and are excited about protecting their wetland. In addition, in early fiscal 2018 the U.S. Agriculture Department's National Resource Conservation Service awarded $1.19 million to a partnership project with DNR for permanent protection and restoration of 850 acres of cypress savanna wetlands in Lee County that contain Canby's dropwort. The project also will protect an important source of clean water for priority freshwater mussel populations. \nOn other fronts, Coastal Plain pitcherplant bogs remain a special conservation concern. Additional rare plants were documented on private tracts in Brooks and Evans counties. These included snowy orchid, small-flowered grass-pink and scale-leaf purple foxglove. Well-managed pitcherplant bogs and nearby intact wiregrass uplands are especially rich in species of milkweed. In collaboration with the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, staff helped collect the seed of several milkweeds. Making propagated native milkweeds available in the nursery trade will promote the use of native plants for pollinator gardens and as host plants for numerous insects, including monarch butterflies. \nBotanists working with Georgia plants continue to discover and describe plants new to science. A mint named Monarda austroappalachiana, southern Appalachian beebalm, was newly described from the Cumberland Plateau and is now recorded from the western slope of Pigeon Mountain in Walker County. Intensive studies of primitive ferns known as quillworts revealed Georgia as home to at least one new entity, not yet formally named, and found only on Altamaha grit outcrops at Flat Tub WMA and The Nature Conservancy's Broxton Rocks Preserve in Coffee County. This makes at least four new species of quillwort found in Georgia in the last decade. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n27 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Coastal Habitat and Plant Conservation \nThe Nongame Conservation Section's focus on plant and habitat conservation and restoration along the Georgia coast ranged far and wide in fiscal year 2017. Staff led coastal land protection efforts during this period, including applying for land acquisition grants through the North American Waterfowl Conservation Act and National Coastal Wetland Conservation Grant programs. These two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant programs have been critical in conserving fish and wildlife habitats on Georgia's coast in recent years. \nThis year, Nongame Conservation was awarded a North American Waterfowl Conservation Act grant for the acquisition of Sansavilla Wildlife Management Area Stage phase 3 and National Coastal Wetland Conservation grants for the acquisition of Sansavilla phase 4, Musgrove Plantation phase 3 and Satilla Blackwater phase 1. Each grant is worth $1 million and is matched with funds from the state and other partners. \n \nStaff initiated fine-scale natural community mapping on state lands along the Altamaha River, where significant longleaf pine restoration work is taking place. Field surveys have turned up several new rare plant and community occurrences. The resulting landcover maps will be useful for future restoration and management planning for wildlife management areas in the Altamaha corridor. \nA wildlife technician was hired for Altama Plantation Wildlife Management Area, near Brunswick. This position is focused on conducting longleaf restoration using prescribed fire and other management techniques, work critical to restoring habitat for the gopher tortoise and other rare species on Altama. \nNongame Conservation biologists also worked in an advisory role to give input on management and research on high-priority coastal lands. As part of the Little St. Simons Island Ecological Advisory Council, staff helped make decisions concerning management and potential research projects on Little St. Simons. Nongame staff also served on the Cannon's Point Preserve Conservation Task Force and provided technical \n \nsupport to Cannon's Point, The Nature Conservancy and St. Simons Land Trust staff. This participation included reviewing potential research projects and evaluating threats to Cannon's Point conservation values. \nNongame Conservation started working with Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay to update habitat maps and survey known rare-plant occurrences on the base in St. Marys. In fall 2017, staff will establish vegetation monitoring transects in fire-maintained habitats and areas that may be impacted by rising sea levels. \nStaff also worked with NatureServe and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources on a Coastal Resilience Assessment project for the Savannah River watershed. The goal is to improve resilience by reducing communities' vulnerability to coastal storms, rising sea levels and flooding by strengthening natural ecosystems and the fish and wildlife habitat they provide. Nongame Conservation is supporting the project by participating in stakeholder workshops and providing landcover and rare species data that are integral to the assessment. \n \nSandhills lily (Alan Cressler) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n28 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n The agency collaborated with the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and Atlanta Botanical Garden on conserving and promoting native milkweeds in southeast Georgia. Staff found several new populations of milkweed species and collected seeds for propagation. Finding local seed sources is critical to promoting planting of native milkweeds in the coastal region. \nA rangewide survey project for the federally endangered hairy rattleweed was initiated. This plant species is known to exist only in two southeast Georgia counties, Brantley and Wayne. Staff are working with Weyerhaeuser and other landowners to survey for hairy rattleweed throughout its known range. Biologists hope that data from this project will be useful for planning future conservation efforts. \nStaff surveyed roadside habitats for rare plants in Camden and Charlton counties. Nongame worked with biologists from the engineering firm WSP, consultants for the Georgia Department of Transportation, to conduct the surveys, part of a highway widening project. Four populations of the federally petitioned floodplain tickseed were discovered. When assessing these populations later, staff found a new population of state-threatened corkwood, which also could be affected by the road widening. Seeds from the tickseed populations were collected for safeguarding. Two large populations of floodplain tickseed were also discovered on Sansavilla WMA near Brunswick in fall 2016. \nThis recent fiscal year, staff worked to safeguard sandhills lily in a powerline right of way east of Flat Tub Wildlife Management Area near Douglas. Previously, only two populations of this imperiled lily were known to exist in Georgia. The new population found in the powerline right of way was threatened by mowing. Nongame Conservation worked with the local electric membership corporation, which agreed not to mow when the plant is flowering and maturing fruit. Bulb scales were collected from some of the lilies, which will be used by Chattahoochee Nature Center to attempt propagation. On Flat Tub, more plants were found (part of a population discovered last year) and staff caged some to help protect them from being eaten by deer. Sandhills lily is a high-priority species in the State Wildlife Action Plan and for the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance. \n \nPending garden studies at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, the plant may be an undescribed Georgia endemic  more reason to safeguard all extant occurrences. \nVegetation Monitoring \nBecause of its importance in informing sound conservation and management, monitoring is essential to implementing Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. To meet plan goals, the Nongame Conservation Section has incorporated habitat and vegetation monitoring in several ongoing projects. Monitoring is key to tracking changes in wildlife habitat and measuring biological diversity and habitat suitability for rare wildlife species. Quantifying the changes resulting from the agency's rare-species and habitat-restoration efforts will help gauge the success or failure of conservation actions. \nNongame Conservation's habitat monitoring in fiscal 2017 included monitoring restoration efforts, sea-level rise monitoring in coastal marsh habitats and monitoring that emphasizes, in part, gopher tortoise habitat at Altama Plantation Wildlife Management Area in Glynn County. \nHabitat monitoring targeted a diversity of rare-plant restoration projects. One example is at Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area near Perry. Oaky Woods has one of Georgia's most unique plant habitats, Black Belt prairie. These prairies existed in small patches for decades within privately owned timber plantations. Under state ownership, timber is being harvested in some areas to restore the open prairies. Nongame Conservation's monitoring samples the richness of plant species in the original prairie patches and in timber-harvested areas to determine whether management is successful in bringing back the prairie plant composition. This work also provides insight into the original prairies. \nOther similar examples of habitat restoration monitoring conducted during the fiscal year included open oak savanna restoration at Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area near Dawsonville, cypress savanna restoration at Big Dukes Pond Wildlife Management Area near Millen and pitcherplant bog restoration at Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Wildlife Management Area near Doerun. \n \nNongame Conservation continued a collaborative project with DNR Coastal Resources Division to monitor salt-marsh transects along the Georgia coast. Initiated in 2012, this project is designed to examine long-term change in salt-marsh communities and determine the effects of sea-level rise on coastal habitats. Staff monitored vegetation plots along transects at nine study sites. Transects start at an upland anchor point and continue into the salt marsh until reaching Spartina alterniflora-dominated marsh. In fiscal 2017, besides collecting vegetation and salinity data, monitoring included measuring horizontal and vertical location data using a Real Time Kinematic GPS receiver. This accurate GPS data will aid in determining accretion and erosion rates along the transects. \nStaff worked with St. Simons Land Trust to complete this year's vegetation monitoring for a maritime forest restoration project on Cannon's Point Preserve. The research, a collaboration between the St. Simons Island preserve and researchers from Purdue University and New Mexico State University, is exploring the effects of weed control and deer exclusion on live oak plantings in research plots on Cannon's Point. The goal: Develop plans to restore live oak maritime forests along the coast. \nThe agency also helped with vegetation monitoring at Cay Creek Wetlands Interpretive Center. This work is associated with a wetland restoration and native planting project along a public boardwalk at the center in Midway. Staff collaborated with the Coastal Resources Division to monitor the site and identify plant species. The boardwalk at Cay Creek is one of the best publicly accessible sites on the Georgia coast to see the relationship between estuarine and freshwater tidal wetlands. \nNongame Conservation continued a vegetation monitoring project in fire-maintained uplands at Altama Plantation WMA. The focus is determining the effects of different types of management on longleaf pine restoration sites at the WMA. Restoration will include prescribed fire, tree thinning and planting longleaf pine. Gopher tortoises are present at Altama and are a major focus of restoration efforts. Monitoring will help determine if management is improving habitat for gopher tortoises and other priority species. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n29 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Restoring Mountain and Coastal Plain Bogs \nMountain bogs are one of the most critically endangered habitats of the Southern Appalachians. The bogs are typically small, from a half-acre to 5 acres, and usually associated with seeps, springs and small creeks. These early successional habitats support a variety of unique and imperiled flora and fauna, including the federally threatened bog turtle and swamp pink, possibly the state's rarest reptile and plant species, respectively. Other rare and state-protected mountain bog plants include the montane purple pitcherplant (which is petitioned for federal listing), broadleaf white meadowsweet, Carolina bog laurel, Canada burnet, Cuthbert's turtlehead and marsh bellflower. \nFor 25 years, the Nongame Conservation Section has worked to restore mountain bogs independently and as a member of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, or GPCA. In fiscal \n \nyear 2017, work focused primarily on controlling woody competition and responding to feral hog damage. In doing so, the GPCA broke last year's record number of mountain bog workdays, setting a new high of 25. \nEncroachment by woody trees and shrubs were removed from existing bog openings, boundaries of bog openings were expanded and several ecotones were \"daylighted\"  exposed to sunlight. Some bogs had not received such thorough woody control in seven to eight years. Extensive clearing was helped by the U.S. Forest Service through use of western Hotshot fire crews, as well as crews contracted by The Nature Conservancy. One bog that received extensive clearing was Brasstown Seeps, a rare mafic system in a powerline right of way supporting multiple rare-plant species and bog turtles. \nDamage from feral hogs occurred at levels unprecedented in the 22 years of GPCA's mountain bog restoration and safeguarding program. While the damage was seen \n \nthroughout the bogs, it was most severe in microsites supporting the rare purple mountain pitcherplant. It is suspected that hogs are attracted to the scent of insect-broth fermenting in the pitchers. Two-thirds of all restored bogs suffered damage from hogs, and pitcherplants were almost eliminated in one of the state's most prominent bogs. In addition to stepped-up trapping by the Forest Service and DNR, the GPCA began installing hog tents and organic fences to deter hogs. A hog tent is a flat section of hog-wire fence laid on top of rare plants, with the sides staked down and the middle propped up. (Corral-type exclosures using hog-wire have proven ineffective.) An organic fence is a barrier of woody debris (limbs and logs cut during woody control) stacked and woven in such a way as to surround rare-plant microsites. \nNongame Conservation continued its participation in the Bog Learning Network, a consortium of scientists and land managers working to advance the restoration and management of Southern \n \nWork day at mountain bog (Rebecca Byrd/DNR) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n30 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Appalachian bogs. Nongame Conservation botanist Dr. J. Mincy Moffett serves on the network's steering committee. The Bog Learning Network continued its Invasive Species Fun Field Day Series. In this work-and-learn series for professionals, volunteers and students involved in the network, participants learned about mountain bog botany, ecology and bog impacts from invasive plant species. The volunteers then provided hours of labor in tough, mucky conditions. The series came to Georgia's Hedden Creek Bog in fiscal 2017. \nThe histories of the GPCA and mountain bog restoration in Georgia are interwoven, roots chronicled in an article by Moffett and Atlanta Botanical Garden Restoration Coordinator Carrie Radcliffe in the 2016 edition of Tipularia. The article in the Georgia Botanical Society journal also provided a primer on mountain bogs (from formation to hydrology, botany and ecology) and detailed restoration approaches and techniques used by the GPCA. \nBog restoration is not limited to the mountains, however. Georgia's Coastal Plain herbaceous bogs are small but rare jewels, one of the \n \nhighest-priority habitats for rare plant conservation. These bogs face threats such as hydrologic disturbance, fire suppression and land development. Many species of southeastern Coastal Plain pitcherplant and orchid species are safeguarded by GPCA partners, with corresponding habitat restoration projects. \nIn calendar 2016, GPCA partnered with the Georgia Botanical Society to raise awareness and funds for protecting Coastal Plain pitcherplant bogs. The results included \"Year of the Bog\" field trips and restoration workdays at several of Georgia's most important bog sites, better documenting the flora and strengthening relationships with local landowners. The organizations highlighted a project that will use conservation easements to protect bogs in southeast Georgia that are the only known site for the Coastal Plain purple pitcherplant, as well as the home to four other protected plants. The Botanical Society and Oconee River Land Trust are partners in this effort. At these bogs, GPCA and the Botanical Society also worked with landowners to restore pitcherplant habitat, augment the local population of Georgia Plume, a state-protected flowering tree, and harvest and plant wiregrass seed. \n \nHabitat Improvement on State Lands and the Interagency Burn Team \nSome significant restoration projects begun in calendar year 2015 were completed in fiscal 2017. Many involved working with adjoining landowners to improve wildlife habitats on and around DNR wildlife management areas. \nIn 2016, Campbell Group and CatchMark Timber Trust, two timber companies, partnered with the DNR to conduct what may rank as the largest reforestation effort in the agency's history. About 850 acres of recent clear-cuts on land adjoining Sprewell Bluff Wildlife Management Area near Thomaston were replanted with more than a half-million longleaf pines. Groundcover plant diversity, key to pollinator conservation, was conserved during the process by using selective herbicides and at lower rates, all coordinated between DNR wildlife biologists and company foresters. A few months later, DNR bought these tracts and added them to the WMA. \nAlso, about 250 acres that were formerly part of Sprewell Bluff State Park were thinned, removing \n \nDNR-MANAGED ACRES BURNED 2008 - 2017 \nDrought played a key role in decreasing prescribed fire on DNR-managed lands in 2017.* *Totals by calendar year \n \n33,385 40,786 41,533 52,889 42,739 54,120 57,555 52,338 60,363 38,873 \nPrescribed fire at Panola Mountain State Park (Hal Massie/DNR) \n \n70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 \n2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n31 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n off-site tree species that have crowded this forest due to decades of fire suppression. This project was designed in part by working with community stakeholders, including longtime park visitors, the Thomaston-Upson Chamber of Commerce and Upson County staff involved with the adjoining county park. Multiple meetings were held and information kiosks set out before logging began. Although the logging took place along two miles of highly visible park roads, no public complaints were received. The community supported the harvest, done to help wildlife, improve habitat and restore a historic forest type. \nAdditional thins of natural forests, conducted to restore the fire ecology of these sites, and even clear-cutting of off-site or invasive tree species such as sand pine were planned during calendar 2016. This involved nearly 900 acres of timber harvest across three tracts (Sandhills Wildlife Management Area's Coleman and Black Creek tracts and on Joe Kurz Wildlife Management Area near Woodbury). Similar work on about 600 more acres is planned across four more tracts: Flat Creek Public Fishing Area, Jarrell Plantation State Historic Site, Sprewell Bluff WMA and Lawhorn Scouting Base. The latter is a Boy Scout camp of high conservation significance. \nPrescribed fire is one of the most effective tools for conserving and restoring fire-adapted habitats and helping numerous species of conservation concern. While as noted above DNR \n \nuses other land-management techniques on state lands to improve natural habitats  such as removing invasive species, planting native species and thinning timber  prescribed fire is the agency's most vital method. It is a safe way to apply a natural process, ensure ecosystem health and reduce the risk of wildfire. \nThe acreage of prescribed burns on lands managed by DNR's Wildlife Resources Division had almost doubled in the last decade, rising from 29,036 acres in calendar year 2008 to a high of 58,700 in 2016. But that total dipped in 2017 to 38,873 acres, down 35 percent from the previous year. \nIn summer 2016, drought conditions began developing across the state, conditions that persisted and even worsened during fall 2017. Continued drought and delayed moisture recovery in the first five months of 2017 resulted in unexpected fire behavior and fire effects. Prescribed fire staff had to choose burn days carefully and there were significantly fewer available days than in years past. Despite these factors and the threat of potential outbreaks of Ips bark beetles in stressed pines, the prescribed burns done on DNR lands were successful, benefitting many game and nongame species. The Wildlife Resources Division is reviewing its prescribed fire policy to ensure that burns are safe and efficient and that prescribed fire practitioners achieve burn objectives. \n \nKeeping fire line clear during north Georgia wildfires (Hal Massie/DNR) \n \nThe total acres burned by Nongame Conservation Section staff on DNR-managed lands as well as Interagency Burn Team lands also dipped in fiscal 2017. Nongame Conservation helped on 14,683 acres in 2017, half the amount in 2016 and the fewest acres in the last five years. Fiscal 2016 had set an agency record of nearly 30,000 acres. \nAs a member of the Interagency Burn Team, Nongame Conservation worked with the Georgia Forestry Commission, The Longleaf Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, The Orianne Society, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nongame staff also teamed with other Wildlife Resources Division sections and DNR's State Parks and Historic Sites Division, as well as volunteers trained to National Wildfire Coordinating Group standards. This collaboration was essential in getting those acres burned. In return, Interagency Burn Team partners played a key role in Nongame Conservation fire management. It is estimated that 90 percent of the burns carried out by the agency's fire crews included help from one or more Burn Team partners. \nSince 2009, seasonal fire crews have carried out the bulk of Nongame Conservation's prescribed fires. Always on call and working statewide, members have helped improve efficiency each year. For the fourth year, Nongame Conservation had two seasonal fire crews, one housed in southeastern Georgia at Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area near Baxley and the other in west-central Georgia at Sandhills West Wildlife Management Area near Butler. These crews typically work independently of each other, with the west-central Georgia crew focused on the Fall Line sandhills and Pine Mountain regions and the southeast Georgia crew working on properties across the Coastal Plain. The southeast Georgia crew was funded by the multistate sandhills grant focused on high-priority sandhills and gopher tortoise habitat. This is one of the many State Wildlife Grants that support conservation priorities spelled out in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. The west-central fire crew was supported by funding from the Georgia Ornithological Society and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. \nAs happened across the state, weather significantly hampered the work of the west-central Georgia fire crew. In this climate of extreme droughts  which led to large wildfires in north Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp  the 4,534 acres burned by the \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n32 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n crew registered as an accomplishment. Significant burns included 719 acres of newly acquired land adjoining Sprewell Bluff WMA, along with adjacent private property, and helping Wildlife Resources' Game Management Section burn 1,052 acres at Oaky Woods WMA, including several Black Belt prairie sites. In other work, crew members cleared about 20 acres of bog, cleared sand pine off another 200 acres of newly acquired property that is now part of Sandhills WMA, prepped two timber sales, installed a campground on Sandhills WMA, held a chainsaw class and gave a presentation at a local college. \nThe southeast Georgia crew worked with the Game Management Section's seasonal fire crew based at Altama Plantation WMA, even serving as fire mentors for the Altama crew members. The goal of the collaboration was to reintroduce fire to several high-priority conservation lands, including Altama Plantation and Sansavilla WMAs. Reintroduction of fire at Altama was successful. Although drought conditions hindered or prevented prescribed fire on many properties across the state, the low fuel moisture levels allowed crews to burn in fuels at Altama that would not normally be amenable to prescribed fire. As a result, several units with unnaturally high hardwood components due to encroachment and decades of fire exclusion were effectively burned with excellent fire effects. Dramatic habitat improvements are expected, and it is anticipated these units will burn more effectively under normal conditions in the future. The burn operations proved transformational for the landscape on a property of significant conservation value and high public visibility. \nOther high-priority conservation sites treated with prescribed fire by Nongame Conservation included Wildlife Resources Division-managed lands such as Alapaha River, Alligator Creek, Big Dukes Pond, Big Lazer Creek, Blanton Creek, Chickasawhatchee, Doerun Pitcherplant Bog, Sandhills East and West, Joe Kurz, Mayhaw, Moody Forest, Oaky Woods, Penholloway Swamp, Silver Lake, Sprewell Bluff and Townsend wildlife management areas. The agency also assisted the Interagency Burn Team on several burns. The southeast Georgia crew helped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service burn critical habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers at Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge near Round Oak. Staff assisted The Nature Conservancy at Broxton Rocks Preserve, Chattahoochee Fall Line Wildlife Management Area, Moody Forest \n \nand Ohoopee Dunes Wildlife Management Area. Nongame Conservation also helped the Interagency Burn Team with prescribed fires on private lands to support rare species, including at Buzzards Roost Mountain and properties owned and managed by The Orianne Society. \nNongame Conservation is also heavily involved with the DNR State Parks and Historic Sites' burn program. This past season, crews assisted with burns on six parks totaling 548 acres. Natural habitats were improved across the state, from longleaf forest at Seminole State Park, herbaceous bogs at Gordonia/Alatamaha State Park and xeric longleaf pine/turkey oak sandhills at George L. Smith State Park in the Coastal Plain to open pine woodlands at Mistletoe State Park and grasslands at Panola Mountain State Park in the Piedmont, as well as rare Georgia aster habitat at Pickett's Mill Battlefield State Historic Site in the edge of the mountains. The Georgia Botanical Society helped propagate important native pollinator plants that were transplanted to Panola Mountain after the fire. During burn operations, fire crew members helped inform park visitors of the benefits of fire. They also engaged with park staff and camp hosts. \nA variety of fire-dependent habitats were targeted for restoration on state parks and Wildlife Resources Division-managed lands, habitats such as aeolian dune sandhills with xeric longleaf pine/ turkey oak, Coastal Plain pitcherplant bogs, striped newt pond habitats, Fall Line sandhills, longleaf pine flatwoods, longleaf pine/wiregrass woodlands, oak woodlands and native grasslands. Many highpriority species identified in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan benefited from these efforts. \nAs sites move from restoration to the maintenance phase, Nongame Conservation has been able to conduct more growing-season burns. These ecological burns have a profound impact on species, restoring the natural balance in fire-adapted ecosystems by reducing hardwood competition and increasing native grasses and forbs. DNR has placed greater emphasis on growing-season burns. Totals have grown from 151 acres in 2003 to an agency-record 6,501 acres in 2014. For fiscal 2017, 26 burns totaling nearly 2,927 acres were done during the growing season, which officially starts April 1. \nIn another measure of prescribed fire progress, Interagency Burn Team members have moved \n \nbeyond fire management. Nongame Conservation is working closely with Orianne Society and The Nature Conservancy with the help of funding from the Longleaf Alliance. Collaborative projects include longleaf planting, removal of encroaching hardwoods and groundcover restoration on sites including Alligator Creek, Alapaha and Moody Forest wildlife management areas. Alapaha River, near Ocilla, was identified through sandhills-focused State Wildlife Grant work as a high-priority site for gopher tortoises several years ago. DNR, with help from partners and the landowner, acquired the 6,869 acres in fiscal 2016. Local colleges and other schools are taking advantage of the outdoor learning opportunities provided by the WMA's diverse habitats. Projects include beetle, herpetological and mammal surveys, forestry techniques, and adaptive management monitoring. Thanks to the prescribed burning program, a gopher tortoise survey estimated Alapaha River's population at nearly 2,400 tortoises, or two per hectare. \nNongame Conservation and the Longleaf Alliance have teamed up since 2013 to implement fire management and overall longleaf ecosystem restoration throughout southeast Georgia. With funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Longleaf Stewardship Fund, DNR contracted with the alliance to hire a coordinator for the Fort Stewart/Altamaha Longleaf Restoration Partnership, which is focused on a designated significant geographic area for longleaf under America's Longleaf Restoration Initiative. \nThe Longleaf Alliance has continued to apply for grants through the Longleaf Stewardship Fund, realizing more than $1 million in funding through fiscal 2017. The grants have provided funding for fire management positions at Nongame Conservation, including its seasonal fire crews. The grants also have helped pay for planting longleaf seedlings on hundreds of acres of DNR lands and supported fire crews and longleafrelated training. A recent grant award for calendar years 2018 and 2019 will provide $300,000 for longleaf restoration, allowing Nongame Conservation to hire a technician dedicated to Ohoopee Dunes Wildlife Management Area. This WMA in Emanuel County is changing as tracts are added. The Longleaf Alliance is helping build a management foundation for the area. \nThe Interagency Burn Team also has seen success in training partnerships, efforts in which Nongame Conservation often has taken a lead role. Fiscal \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n33 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n 2017 was a banner year for fire training. Partners held three Basic Wildland Firefighter academies. The January 2017 session was unique, training five seasonal fire crews from three agencies total, as well as an AmeriCorps crew, volunteers and staff from all sections of the Wildlife Resources Division. Wildland chainsaw safety training, ATV safety training and squad boss training also were offered. Nongame Conservation teamed with the Interagency Burn Team to hold RT130 Annual Fire Refreshers, training 185 wildland firefighters. DNR State Parks and Historic Sites had a key role, too, playing host for most of these trainings at no charge. Refresher training is tailored each year to cover current issues in fire that are relevant to DNR and other Burn Team members. \nTwo major wildfires  and even a hurricane  spurred a significant response from the Wildlife Resources Division in fiscal 2017. In the fall, fuel build-up, drought, low humidity and windy days proved key factors in the spread of wildfires across north Georgia and neighboring states. The Chattahoochee National Forest had 45 wildfires totaling 42,492 acres. The largest were the Rough Ridge and the Rocky Mountain fires. Suppression and management of those fires cost an estimated $10 million. Wildland firefighters from several agencies fought the blazes from early September through the first week of December. \nDNR provided much-needed relief to wildfire operations on the Tatum Gulf Fire near Lookout Mountain. Nongame Conservation sent nine staff members to help cover two weeks over the Thanksgiving holiday. The skills and experience gained by agency staff through prescribed burning was applicable and valuable to battling the wildfires. Nongame Conservation crews and their Type 6 and 7 engines dealt with tasks including prepping structures ahead of the wildfire, mopping up control lines, supporting burn-out operations, suppressing hotspots, directing helicopter drops, patrolling and monitoring control lines, evacuating residents, directing attack on spot fires, and initiating attacks on new fire starts. \nWhile long-term fire effects across the wildfire acres in Georgia are unknown, initial assessments suggest that effects on the understory were generally positive. It will take more time before effects on the overstory trees are fully realized. Some Nongame Conservation staff reported beneficial fire \n \nDNR wildfire crew members (Hal Massie/DNR) \n \neffects from the burnout operations as well as the areas burned in the wildfires. According to predictions, extreme weather conditions like those experienced in fiscal 2017 will become more frequent and severe as the climate changes, increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires. Prescribed burning mimics a natural process, reducing fuels and changing habitat composition. This helps prevent catastrophic wildfires and makes suppression efforts to protect communities more effective. \nSpring 2017 brought more drought conditions and a new set of wildfires. For the third time in 11 years, the Okefenokee Swamp burned. On April 6, a lightning strike in the southwestern portion of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge near the Florida line started what became known as the West Mims Fire. Prolonged drought throughout the preceding fall and winter created prime conditions in this fire-dependent ecosystem for flames to ignite and quickly spread. The Fish and Wildlife Service decided to monitor fire activity and allow it to burn within the national wildlife refuge. Efforts to refresh and improve fire breaks along the Swamp Edge Break were made immediately, and resources from across the nation were ordered to manage the fire and attack any escapes from the refuge. Ultimately, the fire grew to 152,515 acres. Most of this acreage was within the refuge, but there were several escapes onto private lands, including one during the height of the fire activity in early May that spurred \n \nevacuations in southern Charlton County. Fortunately, the escapes resulted in no fatalities or serious injuries. Fire damages were mostly to timber stands surrounding the refuge, and some minor damage to structures. The fire was fully contained by mid-June. Suppression cost an estimated $46 million. \nNongame Conservation helped with wildfire suppression on the West Mims fire. Six wildland firefighters and two Type 6 engines were used over two weeks. The primary duties: Detecting and extinguishing lingering ground fires (in duff), monitoring re-burn of needle cast due to severe scorching of timber stands, coordinating and directing heavy equipment operations, and being available for direct and initial attack response on spot fires and escapes. These crews also assisted with suppression and safety for a salvage timber cut conducted by a private landowner. \nIn October 2017, DNR deployed as part of Georgia's declared state of emergency and response to Hurricane Matthew. Activities included equipment and supply preparation before the storm, facilitating first responder access to affected areas during the storm (chainsaw and machinery debris removal) and clearing downed trees blocking roadways, including on state-managed properties. As an example of that effort, five Nongame Conservation staff worked on Ossabaw Island clearing roads for three days. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n34 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance \nThe Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, or GPCA, is an innovative network of 44 public gardens, government agencies, academic institutions, utility companies and environmental organizations committed to preserving Georgia's endangered flora. Formed in 1995 with the Nongame Conservation Section as a charter member, the GPCA initiates and coordinates efforts to protect natural habitats and endangered species through biodiversity management, public education and rare plant propagation and outplanting (i.e., safeguarding). Member organizations are engaged in recovery projects for 100 imperiled plant species. Of these, 99 are in safeguarding programs at botanical gardens, arboreta and seed banks, and 49 species have been reintroduced successfully into the wild. GPCA has 11 safeguarding partner institutions that hold and manage ex-situ collections for recovery and study. \nGPCA contributions to plant conservation since the alliance's start has amounted to an estimated $1.95 million in direct and indirect support. More than $1.55 million was supplied by non-DNR members supporting high-priority species and habitats identified in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. A significant portion of contributions came from GPCA's trained volunteers, called botanical guardians. More than 140 volunteers contributed more than 1,000 hours of conservation work during fiscal year 2017. \nThis year, the GPCA focused on growing the organization, expanding its influence within the wildlife conservation community and exporting \n \nthe GPCA model beyond Georgia to regional and national audiences. Alliances were established in Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. All five states bordering Georgia now have established plant conservation alliances modeled after GPCA. The first joint meeting of three plant conservation alliances  Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee  was held in May 2017. \nEstablishing GPCA-like organizations across the Southeast to meet the challenges of plant conservation was an essential goal of the Southeastern Partners in Plant Conservation Symposium. Held in November 2016 at Atlanta Botanical Garden, the symposium was largely an initiative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southeast Region office. The guiding ideas: Bring together botanical experts from throughout the region to share information on best practices and topics relevant to rare plant conservation, and increase capacity to meet the listing, recovery and conservation needs of an expanded list of petitioned and at-risk species. The Fish and Wildlife Service knew about the power and effectiveness of the GPCA-model through participating as a GPCA member via its state office in Athens. The promotion of the GPCA model as a focal point was no surprise, and GPCA members figured prominently in the program. The event's nearly 160 attendees, representing more than 80 organizations from 22 states (plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), learned in detail about the GPCA. \nFollowing the symposium, the Center for Biological Diversity withdrew 10 plant species, seven known from Georgia, from the group it had petitioned for federal listing. During the conference workshops and in subsequent \n \nmeetings, botanists had identified some species as not warranting inclusion on the petition list. The Center for Biological Diversity, the leading plaintiff in the lawsuit and settlement with the Fish and Wildlife Service that resulted in the expanded petition list, also took part. The organization later offered to accept recommendations from the symposium to strike some species from the petition. \nIn September 2016, the Association of Fish \u0026 Wildlife Agencies honored GPCA with a special recognition award at the association's annual meeting in Philadelphia. The award celebrated GPCA's \"outstanding contributions\" to the association and to advancing professional fish and wildlife management in North America. DNR Commissioner Mark Williams attended the presentation. \n\"GPCA has proven incredibly effective in focusing and increasing efforts to conserve Georgia's rare plant species and their habitats,\" Williams said. \"Not only is this work benefiting our state, other states are considering setting up alliances, meaning plant conservation in those states will reap from what the GPCA has sown in Georgia.\" \nDr. Wilf Nicholls, then director of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, noted that ensuring \"our state is as rich and biodiverse as the one we inherited is a lofty goal.\" \"But in a true spirit of openness and sharing,\" Nicholls said, \"the GPCA has brought together dozens of institutions and agencies all working together toward well-defined conservation goals. It has proven to be a recipe for success for which we can all be proud.\" \nThe GPCA is also involved with plant conservation on a continental and global scale. Several GPCA institutions are active members of the American Public Gardens Association, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, the Center for Plant Conservation and the national Plant Conservation Alliance. In summer 2016, these groups developed the 2016-2020 North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Plant Conservation. This document emphasizes the need for increased capacity and commitment to plant conservation on the part of botanic gardens, and recommends leveraging those collective resources to halt plant extinction and the loss of wild habitats. However, concerns about ethics, standards and quality control, \n \nGeorgia Plant Conservation Alliance meeting (Mincy Moffett/DNR) \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n35 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Ginseng (Alan Cressler) Eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Linda May/DNR) \n \nespecially regarding in-situ safeguarding (i.e., putting propagated plants back into nature), have impeded implementation of the strategy. This concern has been especially true for gardens that have little or no experience with safeguarding. GPCA member institutions, especially Atlanta Botanical Garden and the State Botanical Garden, have taken a leadership role in developing a training and mentoring program for inexperienced gardens. This includes a so-called \"twinning\" program where two gardens (one experienced, one inexperienced) pair up and work simultaneously on the same safeguarding project. The State Botanical Garden plans to hold a safeguarding training workshop for national and international horticultural partners in fiscal 2018. \nThis fiscal year, the GPCA expanded its ranks, adding as members Georgia ForestWatch in Dahlonega and Ecological Solutions Inc. in Roswell. \nGinseng Management \nExport of American ginseng is regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement administered in this country by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The export of ginseng from Georgia is authorized by that agency in combination with the Georgia Ginseng Protection Act of 1979, a state law amended in 2013. \nIn order to have a legal ginseng trade in Georgia, the Fish and Wildlife Service requires Georgia \n \nto maintain a ginseng management program that ensures compliance with federal and state regulations. The objective is to prevent this perennial forest herb from becoming endangered because of trade. Demand for ginseng is high in natural medicinal markets and in Asian medicine. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section administers the Georgia Ginseng Management Program, which monitors the harvest and sale of ginseng. Staff works with ginseng dealers, growers, the DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Game Management Section and DNR's Law Enforcement Division to make ginseng regulation a transparent and simple process. \nIn calendar 2016, the dealer-reported wild ginseng harvest in Georgia decreased 63 percent from 2015, with dealers reporting a harvest totaling 132.5 pounds dry weight. The price of wild ginseng also declined by about 30 percent. Ginseng dealers paid an average of $385 per pound. The low price was probably the major contributing factor to the small harvest, rather than any dramatic decrease in population size. Over the Georgia Ginseng Program's 27 years, there has been an overall decline in harvest and trade. \nIn fiscal 2017, Georgia's ginseng program benefited from a $65,000 grant from by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Carolina nonprofit Friends of Plant Conservation. The grant recognized DNR Law Enforcement Division efforts for the species. Nongame Conservation botanist Lisa Kruse led a collaborative effort with the Fish and Wildlife Service, Friends of Plant Conservation and DNR Law Enforcement to determine which of Georgia's highest priority actions for ginseng conservation could be funded by the grant. Kruse also worked with DNR rangers to buy equipment such as remote surveillance cameras to help them enforce ginseng regulations. \nThe cultivated ginseng trade is not significant in Georgia overall, but cultivated ginseng is encouraged in the state as one strategy to relieve pressure on wild populations. Most American ginseng harvested is exported to China, although local interest in Georgia ginseng for personal use has increased. Georgia is at the southern edge of the plant's distribution, and the trade is much smaller than in nearby states such as North Carolina and Kentucky. Ginseng exports in those states total millions of dollars a year. \n \nBiotics Database \nThe Nongame Conservation Section manages the NatureServe Biotics database, the state's most comprehensive database of occurrences of rare species and natural communities. Data in Biotics are used for many purposes: environmental site reviews, conservation planning, scientific research, habitat restoration and management plan development. The database contains more than 15,000 occurrence records for rare species in the state and provides web access to information on occurrences of special-concern species and significant natural communities. During fiscal year 2017, Nongame Conservation added 338 records and edited 1,213 existing ones. Significant efforts were made to update information on species proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Many species are under review, and updating database records allows for a more accurate process. Staff also responded to 625 formal requests for data, not counting in-house environmental reviews or data obtained by the public through the website. Lists of rare and protected plants, animals and natural communities are available at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/ species-of-concern. That page also features links to public information about rare elements and sites by county and quarter quad. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n36 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Private Land Activities \nWith more than 90 percent of Georgia lands in private ownership, conservation activities on those acres are crucial to wildlife and natural communities in the state. The Nongame Conservation Section worked with private landowners throughout Georgia on a variety of conservation activities in fiscal year 2017 (also see: Land Acquisition and Conservation Easements). \nStaff answered landowners' questions and visited sites to give management advice. Nongame Conservation made landowners aware of cost-share and grant opportunities and help them navigate procedures for using the programs. Examples included the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Environmental Quality Incentives, Conservation Stewardship, Wetlands Reserve Easements and Working Lands for Wildlife programs, the Georgia Forestry Commission's Southern Pine Beetle Cost Share Program, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Wildlife Program. \nNongame Conservation also: \nn Helped develop a \"public access\" template to be used for future conservation easements associated with the Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative. This effort contemplates that some easements will allow public access as part of wildlife management areas. \nn Identified and provided recommendations to a farmer for an erosion issue affecting the Conasauga River. \n \nn Served as an advisor to some UGA forestry students on their senior project. The group analyzed forest and habitat management alternatives on a diverse Coastal Plain property. \nn Provided threatened and endangered species training to loggers and others at quarterly Master Timber Harvester events around the state. The training includes a review of how timber harvesting affects wildlife habitat. Staff also served on the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Implementation Committee and its Private Landowner Outreach Subcommittee. Additional education activities included training sessions at Southeastern Wood Producers workshops and individually with forest products companies. \nNongame Conservation took part in Natural Resources Conservation Service State Technical Committee meetings to identify wildlife conservation priorities relevant to Farm \n \nBill programs for private landowners. Staff cooperated, as well, with the Private Lands Program of DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Game Management Section and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to coordinate four temporary biologist positions stationed at Natural Resources Conservation Service field offices in Blakely, Douglas, Swainsboro and McDonough. These biologists work with landowners to implement Natural Resources Conservation Service programs aimed at restoring and managing longleaf pine systems. Their efforts include the Working Lands for Wildlife initiative that targets gopher tortoises and addresses other conservation needs for priority species and habitats. \nAlong with Game Management and State Parks and Historic Sites personnel, staff visited DNR-held conservation easements to ensure compliance with easement terms and renew relations with landowners. \n \nFringed campion (Alan Cressler) \n \nPrivate Lands \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n37 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n 2016 Forestry for Wildlife Partners \n \nForestry for Wildlife Partnership \nThe Nongame Conservation Section plays a strong role in the DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Forestry for Wildlife Partnership. This voluntary program encourages conservation of wildlife habitat on corporate forestlands in Georgia and provides public access to privately owned wildlife management areas for hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, hiking and camping. \nCorporations participating in Forestry for Wildlife are among the largest landowners in Georgia, directly affecting wildlife habitat on approximately 1 million acres. Coordinated by Game Management and Nongame Conservation Section biologists, this public-private partnership provides opportunities to enhance wildlife conservation practices on these lands and benefit companies with recognition for their conservation achievements. Companies are evaluated on wildlife conservation planning, education and outreach, management, sensitive sites and rare-species concerns, recreation, and partnerships. \nWeyerhaeuser, CatchMark Timber Trust and Georgia Power were the Forestry for Wildlife partners for 2016. \nForestry for Wildlife conservation targets include red-cockaded woodpecker habitats, bald eagle and swallow-tailed kite nests, isolated wetlands critical to protected reptiles and amphibians, and rare \n \nremnant Coosa Valley prairies, home to endangered plants. The partnerships also provide the public with many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors through wildlife viewing, hunting and fishing. All partners are committed to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, ensuring their forest managers and loggers have completed the Master Timber Harvester workshop and continue their education to maintain certification or designation. \nHere are some of the highlights of partner companies' conservation work. \nFormer partner Plum Creek merged with Weyerhaeuser in February 2016. Weyerhaeuser was an original member of the Forestry and Wildlife Partnership and now, postmerge, returns with land ownership in Georgia. The company is committed to sustainable forestry and adhering to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative standards and continues to integrate conservation into its forests. \nA key Weyerhaeuser initiative is gopher tortoise conservation. The company focuses management for this iconic species on preferred soils with viable tortoise populations and helps with Nongame Conservation tortoise surveys. Through these surveys, Weyerhaeuser is learning more about tortoise populations on its lands and is working with DNR, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, the University of Georgia, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others to better understand how gopher tortoises respond to the shifting mosaic of suitable habitat conditions on \n \nworking forestlands. This work in Georgia is part of a larger Weyerhaeuser effort to understand gopher tortoise ecology across the company's managed lands in the southeastern U.S. \nWeyerhaeuser is also managing several unique ecological areas in northwest Georgia, including the Coosa Valley Prairie property (permanently protected under a conservation easement held by The Nature Conservancy), a cave that is home to a bachelor colony of gray bats (federally listed as endangered) and rock outcrops that shelter the cliff-dwelling green salamander. A successful prescribed burn was completed on the Coosa Valley Prairie easement in 2016 to maintain the unique flora found in this fireadapted ecosystem. Weyerhaeuser also played host to researchers examining the pollinator community and pathogens that may be affecting the federally endangered whorled sunflower. \nIn the Piedmont, Weyerhaeuser is teaming with UGA to understand effects of forest thinning, prescribed fire and herbicide use on plant communities. Although this work, funded by DNR, is directed toward northern bobwhite conservation, the results will help inform managers about the ability of these stands to maintain \"open pine\" conditions important to numerous nongame species. \nIn the lower Coastal Plain, efforts continue with Nongame Conservation on projects including managing Henslow's sparrow habitat and wood \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n38 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n stork rookeries, conserving isolated wetlands, and protecting swallow-tailed kite nesting areas. In southwest Georgia, the company is cooperating with DNR to conduct surveys for the federally endangered hairy rattleweed, an endemic species known to exist worldwide in only two Georgia counties. \nGeorgia Power is the third-largest private landowner in the state and carefully manages its undeveloped land for multiple benefits, including public recreation, timber production and conservation of rare species. Prescribed fire is applied to more than 6,000 acres annually, and more than 20,000 acres are open for public recreation through DNR's wildlife management areas program (Blanton Creek, Rum Creek and Oconee WMAs). The company is restoring longleaf pine habitat in support of conservation partner landscape goals, participates in DNR's Safe Harbor program for endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers and manages a recipient site for gopher tortoises that DNR needed to relocate from other private lands. Tortoises and their burrows are protected during timber harvest on company lands, as are several bald eagle nests. \nGeorgia Power lands and transmission right of ways provide habitat for several species of rare plants, including nine that are federally listed as threatened or endangered. A tract on the Chattahoochee River contains officially designated critical habitat for Georgia rockcress. Georgia Power participates with other partners in a Candidate Conservation Agreement for Georgia aster, a wildflower that had been a candidate for federal listing and that grows well in transmission right of ways. \nGeorgia Power is also developing a Habitat Conservation Plan for the gray bat, Indiana bat and northern long-eared bat, all of which receive federal protection. Favorable forest management practices, including maintaining travel corridors, foraging openings and roost trees, are being implemented at four properties within the ranges of these species. Forest management practices are also being used on properties within the Altamaha River system to enhance water quality and benefit freshwater mussels of conservation concern. \nConservation and wildlife habitat improvements conducted by CatchMark Timber Trust in fiscal 2017 included: \n \nSwallow-tailed kite (Todd Schneider/DNR) \n \nn Working with DNR to expand and improve Sprewell Bluff Wildlife Management Area near Thomaston. CatchMark sold 494 acres to DNR, terminated its interest in the Saunders timber deed on Alexander tract 2 and planted about 741 acres of montane longleaf on newly acquired lands. \nn Allowing The Orianne Society access to company lands in Telfair County for eastern indigo snake surveys. \nn Cooperating with Georgia Land Trust in maintaining conservation easements in Long County. These easements protect high-priority habitats identified by Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan and maintain open spaces adjacent to the U.S. Army's Fort Stewart as part of the Army Compatible Use Buffer program. \nn Continuing to work with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect habitat for the endangered fringed campion on company lands in Talbot County. \nn Continuing to practice silvicultural treatments that promote the conservation of gopher tortoises and the habitat this species needs. \nn Leasing 1,938 acres to DNR for Ocmulgee Wildlife Management Area near Cochran and leasing all of the company's available lands to the public for hunting and recreation. CatchMark also sponsors outdoor recreational hunting opportunities with groups such as Outdoors without Limits, which serves people with physical and mental challenges. \nn Continuing to allow universities access to company lands for research, including a joint \n \nUGA and DNR bear study and Virginia Tech's pine growth study. \nn Maintaining a robust pine plantation thinning program that improves wildlife habitat and forest health while helping diversify the landscape. \nn Monitoring and treating company lands for invasive species. \nn Maintaining and offering the use of several sets of portable bridges for loggers to use to minimize stream-crossing impacts. \nArmy Compatible Use Buffer Conservation \nThe Army Compatible Use Buffer program, often referred to as ACUB, is focused on protecting priority conservation lands around military installations from development that would restrict key military activities such as training. This buffering is provided primarily through permanent conservation easements. In recent years, the Nongame Conservation Section has joined with forts Stewart and Benning to identify easement priorities and draft plans to conserve critical lands adjacent to these installations. The areas include some of the best habitat in Georgia for rare or uncommon species, such as eastern indigo snakes, gopher tortoises and southeastern pocket gophers, as well as potential future habitat for red-cockaded woodpecker groups. \nNongame Conservation is involved with the Chattahoochee Fall Line Conservation Partnership, which is geared toward conserving \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n39 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Green treefrog (Linda May/DNR) \n \nlands along the eastern edge of Fort Benning. Staff involvement included teaming with land management activities to enhance gopher tortoise habitat, serving as chair of the group's steering committee and supporting efforts to bring more tracts under conservation ownership and management. \nThe new Chattahoochee Fall Line Wildlife Management Area, which includes the Fort Perry Tract in Marion County and the Almo area in Marion and Talbot counties, is an example of this partnership, which helps the Army with its mission, protects rare species and provides for public recreation. \nNongame Conservation staff participated in planning discussions and provided comments on planning for the conceptual Fort Benning Compensatory Mitigation Strategy. This multipartner project is aimed in part at determining conservation values for ACUB lands being managed for red-cockaded woodpeckers. The agency will have a role in developing a monitoring and reporting program associated with these properties. \nCommunity Wildlife Project \nThe Community Wildlife Project, an award-winning initiative of the Nongame Conservation Section and the Garden Club of Georgia, seeks to: \nn Enhance native nongame animal and plant populations and their habitats in urban, suburban and rural communities throughout the state. \nn Foster wildlife conservation stewardship and education in Georgia communities. \nn Promote respect and appreciation of wildlife in combination with community beautification. \nn Improve the quality of life for Georgians living in these communities. \nMore than 750 communities, cities and counties have been awarded full certification, with more than 600 in various stages of completing certification standards. Since 2005, the Backyard Wildlife Certification survey has added about 3,500 certified backyards, 550 of which were \n \ncertified with two or more adjoining neighboring yards for Neighborhood Backyard Certification. \nAt the start of fiscal year 2017, a Nesting/Roosting Box Certification was created to promote adding nest and roost boxes to certified backyards. The count of certified yards is up to 43. This program is in the vein of the Hummingbird Haven Certification, started in 2013 and focused on attracting hummingbirds to yards. About 385 yards have been certified as hummingbird havens. \nIn calendar 2016, a quarterly awards program was started. Each quarter, a district can potentially win \n \nan award in the form of a certificate for the greatest involvement in each of three categories: backyard habitat, hummingbird haven and nesting/roosting boxes. There is also an award for the most overall participation and the most \"full\" certifications. Full certifications are earned when an individual yard completes all requirements in the three categories. \nThe Community Wildlife Project also helps Nongame Conservation build constituency through the 11,000-member Garden Club of Georgia through habitat programs at local, state and region levels. \n \nCarolina chickadee nestlings (Linda May/DNR) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n40 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Invasive Species \n \nInvasive water hyacinth on Altamaha River (Eamonn Leonard/DNR) AmeriCorps planting native plants on Living Shoreline (Amy Schuler/Coastal Wildscapes) \n \nGeorgia's State Wildlife Action Plan emphasizes increasing efforts to detect, monitor and control invasive species to conserve native wildlife and their habitats. Invasives have negative impacts on native species and represent one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. Controlling and treating invasives can yield positive, cascading effects for many native species and for the benefits that people derive from ecosystems. \nFollowing completion of the Georgia Invasive Species Strategy in 2009, the Nongame Conservation Section sought State Wildlife Grants funding to implement invasive species assessment and management programs, with a focus on the state's coastal region. The current project is aimed at enhancing methods for assessing and controlling invasive non-native species on public and other conservation lands. Objectives also include providing land managers better technical and informational resources to help control invasives, along with promoting appropriate use of native plant species by public and private land managers. \n \nDuring fiscal year 2017, Nongame Conservation staff: \nn Continued a multiyear control project to eradicate common reed from the Altamaha River delta. Control work has been expanded to sites in Camden County and near DNR's Coastal Regional Headquarters in Brunswick. \nn Pursued the release of a biocontrol agent for water hyacinth, following the recommendations of a water hyacinth management reassessment meeting held in fiscal 2016. A permit from the U.S. Agricultural Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was obtained to transport and release the leaf hopper species Megamelus scutellaris in the Altamaha River delta. (The insect's nymphs and adults feed on the sap of water hyacinth.) \nn Coordinated the seventh annual meeting of the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area. Presenters led discussions on noxious weed list creation \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n41 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n and management in Georgia, including from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the Georgia Agriculture Department's Plant Protection Program. Agencies and groups represented at the meeting also included DNR, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy, Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, Georgia Ports Authority, Georgia Power, Jekyll Island Authority, Little St. Simons Island, Coastal WildScapes, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and the Georgia Forestry Commission. \nn Coordinated speakers for an invasive species-focused concurrent session for the DNR-led conference Prepare, Respond and Adapt: Is Georgia Climate Ready? The conference was held on Jekyll Island in November 2016. This session delved into the implications of a changing climate on threats posed by invasive species. \nn Used half of the $50,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funding awarded in fiscal 2016 to the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area to support two Student Conservation Association interns and buy herbicide and other supplies. The interns, supervised by Nongame Conservation staff, spent 15 weeks helping partners in the 11-county coastal area complete invasive species projects. Projects targeted sand pine, salt cedar, apple snails, common reed, Chinese tallow, tree of Heaven, big-leaf lantana, wisteria, flathead catfish, Chinese privet and Japanese climbing fern. Partners varied from DNR divisions to the Savannah Tree Foundation, Skidaway Audubon, Georgia Ports Authority, Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, UGA Cooperative Extension, Georgia Forestry Commission, Little St. Simons, St. Simons Land Trust, Bethesda Academy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Jekyll Island Authority and the communities of Kingsland and Pooler. \nn Used part of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funding to update the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management \n \nIntern Travis Mabe removing invasive salt cedar (Eamonn Leonard/DNR) \n \nArea website, www.coastalgeorgiacisma.org. The remaining funds went to start a private landowner invasive species management cost-share program. Funding is directed toward a 50-percent reimbursement for landowners managing one of five high-priority invasive species: salt cedar, sand pine, common reed, Chinese tallow and water hyacinth. \nn Applied for and received an AmeriCorps Corporation for National and Community Service team that worked with Nongame Conservation staff and several other partners in the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area from January \n \nthrough March on projects, including invasive sand pine seedling removal at Townsend Wildlife Management Area near Ludowici, Chinese tallow treatment on Sapelo with the Sapelo National Estuarine Research Reserve, work on trails at Cannon's Point and Musgrove Plantation with the St. Simons Land Trust, salt cedar treatment on Jekyll with the Jekyll Island Authority, and Living Shoreline planting and maintenance with DNR Coastal Resources Division and Coastal WildScapes. \nn Teamed with residents in Kingsland and Pooler on awareness, assessment and removal of invasive apple snails. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n42 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Planthoppers released as water hyacinth biocontrol (Eamonn Leonard/DNR) \n \nn Monitored invasive species treatment plots in areas of Sapelo and Ossabaw islands infested with Chinese tallow, measuring the effectiveness of control methods and recovery of natural communities. \nn Worked with contractors to remove the last remaining mature stand of sand pine from longleaf pine restoration sites at Townsend WMA. This is part of a Nongame Conservation-led plan to restore habitat for one of two known populations of the globally rare Radford's mint. As part of this effort, The Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, friends group of Nongame Conservation, awarded a grant to buy longleaf pine seedlings. The seedlings were planted with the help of volunteers in areas where sand pines were clear-cut. This is a multiyear project to safeguard the mint species while converting the remaining sand pine to a longleaf canopy. \nn Partnered with Coastal WildScapes, a nonprofit group that promotes gardening with natives, to increase volunteer opportunities in collecting native seed and identifying and removing invasives. Staff also joined with Jekyll Island Authority to grow native plants from seeds collected by volunteers and offer the plants to the public during two plant sales. \nn Led efforts to restore a 1930s-era formal garden at Altama Plantation Wildlife Management Area, acquired by the state in 2015. The goal is to restore the historic garden at the WMA near Brunswick and create a native plant pollinator garden within the formal hedges. Staff is seeking grant funding to support the work, most of which has been done with volunteers. Plant donations included a Franklin tree from the Georgia Chapter of the Colonial Dames Society and six native fringe trees from Lazy K Nurseries in Pine Mountain. Staff also helped with an Eagle Scout project to stabilize a section of a bridge near the garden. A ramp and observation platform were built to provide a safe place to view tidal forested wetlands and a former rice plantation. The garden, a treasured site for many locals, will serve as an educational tool to promote the use of native plants and Altama Plantation's ecological value. \n \nn Continued efforts with the Cannon's Point Conservation Task Force to manage invasive species according to the preserve's management plan. \nn Continued communications with the First Coast Invasive Working Group in northeast Florida to stay abreast of novel invasive species in the north Florida and south Georgia coastal region. \nn Responded to two reports of invasive cane toad  one in a Kingsland resident's yard, the other of a cane toad being sold at a Kingsland pet shop. Efforts led to an article in the local paper raising awareness of the issue and DNR rangers advising the store owner that selling the species is illegal. \n \nn Gave talks to groups varying from garden clubs to forestry experts and Coastal WildScapes members on invasive species identification, emerging threats, native plant alternatives to invasives and native plants for backyard birds. \nIn fiscal 2017, the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area was awarded a $5,000 grant from TERN to offset costs in treating more than 140 acres of salt cedar in the Altamaha delta. This is part of a regional strategy to manage this species, reducing its spread and negative effects in surrounding ecosystems. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n43 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n During fiscal year 2017, the DNR Law Enforcement Division conducted 62 commercial trawling boardings along Georgia's coast to check compliance with turtle excluder device regulations. Rangers documented four state and three federal TED violations under the Endangered Species Act. \nThe checks were part of 989 hours the Law Enforcement Division spent patrolling saltwater areas inshore and offshore. Activities included 76 hours patrolling for violations of laws protecting North Atlantic right whales and 50 hours at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Rangers also logged 78 hours on public outreach involving marine mammals and the laws and regulations protecting them. \nVessel patrol hours focused on: \nn Shrimp trawler checks for TED compliance. \nn Intercepts of recreational and commercial fishing vessels returning to Georgia seaports from fishing trips in federal waters. \n \nn Offshore patrols to Special Management Zones and Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. \nn Concentrations of fishing vessels wherever they occurred in the Exclusive Economic Zone adjacent to the state. \nn Offshore and near-shore patrols for compliance with the Atlantic Whale Take Reduction Plan. \nOther Law Enforcement Division work involving nongame included: \nn A successful investigation with North Carolina into the illegal harvest and sale of ginseng that resulted in auctioning off 430 pounds of ginseng seized from a dealer. As part of Operation Botanical, the states split the proceeds and dedicated them to ginseng conservation. The $144,000 that Georgia received was divided between the Law Enforcement and Wildlife Resources divisions. \n \nLaw Enforcement will spend its share on equipment that helps the division combat illegal trade in ginseng. (For more on ginseng management, see the Plants and Natural Habitats section.) \nn Cpl. Greg Wade, working in Region IV (west-central Georgia), found several traps used to catch birds of prey, resulting in an investigation. \nn In May 2017, Cpl. Keith Waddell, also assigned to Region IV, found two people using illegal turtle baskets in the Flint River. Waddell confiscated more than 50 baskets and dozens of turtles. \nThe division's annual reports are available at www.gadnrle.org/reports. Report poaching and the violation of protected species laws and regulations by calling the Ranger Hotline at (800) 241-4113, emailing rangerhotline@dnr.ga.gov or contacting a local game warden (search by county at www.gadnrle.org/find-ranger). \n \nLawEnforcement \n \nRanger 1st Class David Brady checks a TED's angle (Mark Dodd/DNR) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n44 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n DNR's Kathy Church instructs a youth in archery at Smithgall Woods (DNR State Parks \u0026 Historic Sites) Charlie Elliott's James Murdock leads ACE campers (DNR) \n \nEDUCATION AND OUTREACH \n \nRegional Education Centers \nThe DNR Wildlife Resources Division is charged with promoting the conservation and wise use of Georgia's natural resources. This educational mission involves cultivating an appreciation and understanding of wildlife resources, fostering wise stewardship and promoting safe and ethical natural resource-based recreation. \nThroughout its history, the Wildlife Resources Division has educated Georgia youth and families to increase awareness, engagement and stewardship regarding the state's habitats, wildlife and natural resources. These education efforts began in 1940 when Charlie Elliott, the first director of what is now DNR, started the Junior Ranger Program. In the program's first year, more than 25,000 children became involved, conducting nature surveys, planting wildlife food crops and helping \"senior rangers\"  in short, learning and practicing conservation. \n \nElliott's vision of a conservation education program is reflected through the Wildlife Resources Division's seven regional education centers, as well as the continuation of the Junior Ranger Program in DNR's State Parks and Historic Sites Division. Wildlife Resources operates the centers with local school systems, Regional \n \nEducational Service Agencies and other state and federal agencies to deliver wildlife-focused education. The centers are Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center near Mansfield, the Go Fish Education Center in Perry, Smithgall Woods near Helen, McDuffie Environmental Education Center near Dearing, Arrowhead Environmental Education Center near Armuchee, Grand Bay Wetland Education Center near Valdosta and Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve. \nVisitors learn about natural and cultural resources through hands-on experiences. More than 95,000 students and adults visited the centers in fiscal year 2017. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n45 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n At Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, day programming continued to grow. More than 14,000 people of all ages attended programs at the 6,400-acre site. From learning about birds, reptiles and amphibians to enjoying a family campfire with s'mores, the events attracted Georgians statewide. The center's annual JAKES day program (Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship) drew an estimated 940 guests. Day field trips also surged in popularity, totaling 1,452 students in fiscal 2017. Staff created new trips, including a museum and nature tour for special needs students. \nTeacher workshops at Charlie Elliott are part of Project WILD (Wildlife in Learning Design), an interdisciplinary curriculum for pre-K- through 12th-grade students that uses nature as the backdrop for the lessons. The center continues to experience success in Project WILD, training 444 teachers in 2017. Twenty-nine educators took part in the Teacher Conservation Workshop, a partnership with Georgia Forestry Commission and Project Learning Tree. This weeklong event held each June uses the forest as a window to environmental education. Foresters, wildlife biologists, educators and industry professionals lead the activities. The workshop is interdisciplinary and centered on the environmental, economic and social benefits of Georgia's forestry and wildlife communities. Educators visited Weyerhaeuser and International Paper sites, Buckelew and Gully Branch tree farms, Jordan Forest Products mills, and the Georgia Forestry Commission's Flint River Nursery. \nFor the second time, Project WILD also held its Outdoor Wildlife Leadership School II, or OWLS II, at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center. Eighteen K-12 educators took part, receiving concentrated lessons in wildlife management and biology. Unlike OWLS I, this highly praised workshop focuses on north Georgia's ecosystems. Trips with wildlife experts included Panola Mountain State Park, where educators learned about grassland bird banding and plant life on granite outcrops; Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area to explore for salamanders in caves; the Go Fish Education Center to learn more about lake sturgeon and fish habitats; and Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area to study middle Georgia's black bear population. \nDuring fiscal 2017, staff enhanced public programming at Charlie Elliott to engage guests \n \nArrowhead Environmental Education Center \nGo Fish Education Center \nGrand Bay Wetland Education Center \nin the center's plants, animals and history. The education team created and held courses including Dutch Oven Cooking, Edible Plants Hike, Art in Nature, Snakes Alive, Night of Froggery and a youth Christmas Bird Count. \nCharlie Elliott's nine Hunt and Learn programs, held primarily at the center but also at Chattahoochee Fall Line Wildlife Management Area near Geneva, introduced 87 parent-and-child pairs to the dynamics of a hunt, game animal biology and hunting as a means of conservation. These programs are a bridge to young people being taught firearm safety basics and hunting ethics. In partnership with the DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Fisheries Management Section, the center piloted a Hook and Learn program for 10 parent-child pairs. Participants not only learned basic fishing techniques, they were introduced to types of rods and reels, visited a fish hatchery and learned about competitive fishing programs. \nThe center's seven summer camps rated a success as well, averaging 17 participants each and immersing more than 110 children ages 7-16 in a week of outdoor activities. Targeted camps such as Shooting Sports and Adventures in Conservation Education continued to draw crowds. Throughout the year, Charlie Elliott played host to 132 area schoolchildren through The Outdoor Discovery School. Educators from surrounding counties also found the ecology and outdoor recreation programming beneficial \n \nSmithgall Woods Regional Education Center \nCharlie Elliott Wildlife Center \nMcDuffie Environmental Education Center \nSapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve \nto their students, and the center has seen more interest in its overnight field-trip courses than can be accommodated. \nCharlie Elliott's Outreach Program stayed busy, traveling to every corner of the state. Staff helped with Weekend for Wildlife on Sea Island, Sportsman's Day at the State Capitol, the Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, The Nature Conservancy's Earth Day celebration and events at county tag offices promoting DNR license plates. Outreach staff visited schools, ranging from kindergartens to universities, and provided presentations for civic groups and homeschoolers. Presentations focused on Georgia's physiographic regions, vertebrates, endangered species, birds of prey and reptiles. The Outreach Program also helped with the center's camps and day-use, residential and visitor programming. \nRelated to outreach, Charlie Elliott's \"Talking Nature Tuesday\" video series registered more than 5,000 unique viewers and increased engagement on the center's social media sites. An episode on granite outcrops was seen 3,020 times and recorded 400 clicks/shares. During fiscal 2018, the Charlie Elliott team plans to produce six videos highlighting some of Georgia's lesser-known ecosystems. These videos will be done using funding from The Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, friends group of the Nongame Conservation Section. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n46 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Set on 6,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Smithgall Woods Regional Education Center offers an assortment of environmental education programs for students of all ages. Programming is coordinated and conducted by a certified teacher and wildlife interpretive specialist in association with professionals from the DNR State Parks and Historic Sites and Wildlife Resources divisions and with Georgia State Parks-certified volunteers. Teachers also can choose to lead activities themselves. Financial support for programming is provided through the Wildlife Resources Division, Georgia Trout Unlimited chapters and donations. \nDuring the 2016-2017 school year, Smithgall Woods saw a large increase in constituents reached compared to the number of programs given. Although programming grew by only 5 percent (592 programs to 622), participation increased 56 percent, from 10,639 to 16,650 participants. The rise occurred, in part, as schools in large-population counties took advantage of the center's varied programming opportunities. \nSmithgall Woods' catalog of nearly 50 programs is adaptable to reach students from pre-K through college. Most programs correlate to state curriculum standards and focus on resources unique to the north Georgia mountains. This approach familiarizes students with local issues and demonstrates biological principles at work in their region. Most students served are from counties in the Wildlife Resources Division's Game Management Region II. Programming is divided into two categories: on-site and outreach. \nOnsite programs in fiscal 2017 included lessons in ecology, forestry, wildlife, aquatic habitats, archery and orienteering. While largely schoolrelated, programming is not restricted to students. Smithgall Woods offers many programs to the public, thereby allowing \"students\" of all ages to take part in environmental-themed events. The year saw a drastic change in the percentage of outreach versus on-site programming. In fiscal 2016, 91 percent of programming was on-site, compared to 49 percent in 2017. The change occurred mainly because the center had a fulltime programming coordinator for the entire fiscal year. That allowed for outreach programming throughout the year, which was not the case in 2016. Also contributing to the shift is the trend of schools moving away from field trips. They \n \ncan reach more students, at a lower cost, with outreach programming versus field trips. \nTherefore, although outreach programming comprised 51 percent of programs, it accounted for 87 percent of students involved in the center's educational programs. These 45- to 60-minute lessons extend programming into the winter months and serve schools experiencing budget cuts or logistical limitations. Outreach programming provided approximately 14,436 students  most of them middle-schoolers  opportunities to learn about animal adaptations, arachnids, birds of prey, conservation practices, genetics, Native American history and snakes and other reptiles. \nThe Georgia Council of Trout Unlimited again provided scholarship funding to support free outreach programming for seven counties in area school districts. Counties that use the opportunity tend to take advantage of it to the fullest. One goal for fiscal 2018 is to increase the number of counties reached through this funding. Digital and hard-copy flyers with details will be delivered to every school in each county at the beginning of the school year. Through increased publicity, social media and word of mouth, Smithgall Woods hopes to continue to spread wildlife educational programs throughout northeast Georgia. \nA scene and sounds from Arrowhead Environmental Education Center: \"Toxico!\" the Arrowhead naturalist chants. \"Toxico!\" the kids echo. \"Dendron!\" \"Dendron!\" \"Toxicodendron radicans!\" \"Toxicodendron radicans!\" And soon the strains of the old rock song \"Poison I-vee-ee-ee-ee-eeeee!\" are wafting through the woods as fifth-graders march along Arrowhead's nature trail, bound for the center's beaver dams and another learning opportunity. \nDuring the 2016-17 school year, students visiting Arrowhead studied the collection of live and mounted native animals, including snakes, turtles, frogs and fish. They walked through beaver habitats, along streams and through woods to observe the life cycles and food chains they study at school. In scores of outreach programs, Arrowhead teachers visited schools, bringing animals, stories and lessons. \nThrough songs, chants and stories, and sometimes armed with butterfly and stream nets, hand lenses and binoculars, and pencils and notepads, 8,441 children and adults learned about the world around \n \nthem, examining, measuring and writing about their findings while at Arrowhead or in sessions at their schools led by the center's staff. Another 5,862 people learned about the biodiversity of the region's ridges, valleys and streams at events, displays and programs involving Arrowhead. \nThrough the center's partnership with Floyd County Schools, three teachers planned and taught lessons, developed and staffed displays, and created and presented programs for pre-K through 12th-grade students. Displays and programs also were done for public events. Arrowhead staff provided storytelling, live animal encounters, educational scavenger hunts and other hands-on nature experiences at DNR's Outdoor Adventure Day, the Environmental Quiz Bowl, Trout Unlimited's Trout Expo and Ducks Unlimited's Greenwing event. \nStaff led nature-trail lessons during the year on school campuses, including every class at one school. Several classrooms and children helped feed animals at the center through Arrowhead's Adopt-an-Animal program. For the 16th year, students helped in the DNR project to restore lake sturgeon to the Coosa River basin, which was followed by lessons at the schools. Arrowhead staff visited classes at Berry College and Shorter University to teach future Georgia teachers about wildlife and how to use the environment as a context for learning. Arrowhead also teamed with the Coosa River Basin Initiative, Riverkeeper for the upper Coosa watershed, to visit each kindergarten in Floyd County Schools and teach about watersheds and water conservation. \nArrowhead worked with the Coosa River Basin Initiative to co-sponsor and hold the 2017 Coosa Basin Environmental Quiz Bowl at the center, helping teams learn about the area's ecology. Arrowhead also committed to co-sponsoring the 2017-2018 event and helped organize the fourth-grade Young Naturalists Club to expand the program. Arrowhead naturalists met with Floyd County's gifted education staff and Rome City School's academic coaches to plan the Quiz Bowl. \nWhether displaying a corn snake or box turtle and discussing adaptations at in-school outreach lessons or observing green treefrog tadpoles at Arrowhead to learn about life cycles, or through any other of the center's activities, Arrowhead naturalists tailor lessons to Georgia's educational standards and to DNR's mission, \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n47 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n using Georgia's natural systems as a context to help students in Floyd County Schools learn. \nSapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve Education Program offered a range of environmental educational programming during the 2016-2017 school year. K-12th-grade and college-level programs were held onsite and at area schools and universities. In all, 56 programs were delivered during the fiscal year, reaching 1,920 students from 15 Georgia counties. The reserve offered onsite programs three days a week, with a limit of 40 participants per program due to ferry and on-island transportation limitations. \nSapelo Island Reserve sees seasonal ebbs and flows in K-12 participation. However, data show a significant increase in student participation during the past five years, with calendar 2016 posting the highest annual enrollment since a comprehensive database was created. Calendar year 2017 shows signs of surpassing 2016. \nNo comprehensive participation database existed before calendar year 2012, but analysis of the best available student data from 2010 and 2011 indicates respective enrollments then of 576 and 312. \nThe reserve continued its student program Seeds to Shoreline during fiscal 2017 and has entered a multistate, multireserve program to expand the initiative into the Spreading the Seeds of Estuary Health program. For this Science Transfer Grantfunded program, 10 teachers will be trained to help their coastal students collect and experiment with Spartina propagation. The training also will help teachers create a new curriculum for the classroom. This program will continue to enhance students' knowledge of the scientific method and re-enforce a strong stewardship principle for young learners. A total of 340 students from five coastal counties took part in the currently funded program. \nSapelo Island Reserve also conducted programs for 308 road scholars from the national Elderhostel program. In addition, educational opportunities were provided for 148 participants from various special-interest groups, including churches, birding groups and other organizations. An additional 1,951 participants took part in the reserve's public tour program. Included were tours of the island's south and north end, plus the reserve's Christmas tour program conducted in partnership with DNR's State Parks and Historic Sites Division. \n \nSapelo Reserve students (DNR) \n \nThe Sapelo education program also conducted or partnered with other institutions to train 115 teachers through eight teacher workshops. Partners included Georgia Southern University, the Georgia Association of Marine Educators, DNR's Coastal Resources Division and the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service. Teacher workshops focused on coastal ecosystems and issues, as well as science, technology, engineering and math. In addition, Sapelo Island Reserve's education coordinator helped train 21 naturalists from the two coastal 4-H centers, instruct 31 coastal decisionmakers for the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership and educate DNR's 2017 leadership class on Sapelo. The education coordinator also took part in educating state legislators and their staff during the 2017 Coastal Day at the Capitol. \nThe education coordinator conducted four lectures for 113 participants. Topics ranged from Georgia's estuaries and fisheries to coastal fauna. The coordinator also supervised about 130 volunteers who contributed 4,277 hours to service projects on and around Sapelo. \nSapelo Island Reserve staff and volunteers had an educational booth at the annual Coastfest, an event that drew an estimated 8,000 visitors. The reserve's mainland Visitor Center reported 11,560 walk-in guests who were not associated with a state program. \nMcDuffie Environmental Education Center provides a wide range of activities designed to \n \nimmerse students, parents and teachers into the natural world to develop a lifelong appreciation for nature and conservation. Activities available for pre-K through seventh grade are aligned with Georgia educational standards and delivered by three certified teachers. \nStaffed entirely by part-time employees, McDuffie Center is open by appointment only. Reservations for school field trips begin April 1 each year. Focusing on the attributes of small group instruction, the center reached 5,549 students, teachers and parents during the 20162017 school year in onsite visits. \nMcDuffie offers experiences in three distinctive habitats: sandhills, aquatic and wetlands. For kindergarten through second grade, students explore the Longleaf Pine Trail. This path takes them through a mature longleaf pine forest habitat where observation, data collection and math skills are practiced as students search for hidden objects along the trail. Additionally, students can identify the parts of a gopher tortoise habitat and draw conclusions about camouflage and other wildlife adaptations. Students in third grade and up explore the Blackwater Creek Swamp Trail. On this hike, students compare habitats: The trail begins in typical sandhill habitat, follows the banks of McDuffie Public Fishing Area lakes and hatchery ponds and ends in a hardwood wetland habitat. The change from sandhill habitat to wetlands is so distinctive that even the youngest visitor can tell the differences. Another exciting \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n48 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n component of the Blackwater Creek Swamp Trail is an active beaver colony. Hikers walk within feet of several beaver dams and can easily recognize the impact these animals have on their environment, including providing habitat for many other forest and aquatic dwellers. Emphasis on the habitats found in the area ponds and lakes is highlighted at all grade levels, with activities varying from fish hatchery tours to macroinvertebrate studies and microscopic plankton studies. \nTo reinforce outdoor learning, programming features supplemental classroom instruction and hands-on activities, including take-home crafts. One example, the bead zipper pull for second-graders, not only uses skills in patterns but serves as a memory cue for the four stages of the butterfly life cycle. The Discovery Room exhibits offer the opportunity for students to see wildlife up close. There are displays of mounted native wildlife and an animal fur collection. Other displays include fossils, rocks and minerals, skeleton replicas and an aquarium. \nWith easy visitor access to the wetlands, one of the education center's areas of emphasis is wetland conservation. Best practices in maintaining the area's wetland are demonstrated to support this focus. Along with McDuffie Center funding, a generous grant from the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission offices in McDuffie and Columbia counties was used to complete the raised boardwalk through the Blackwater Creek Swamp Trail during winter 2017. After several years of work, the trail through the wetland section now includes 768 feet of raised boardwalk and two observation and teaching platforms. Staff from the DNR Fisheries Management Section and the education center built the boardwalk with help from volunteers. All visitors can now safely hike the entire handicap accessible trail with a minimum impact to the wetland it traverses. The value of this trail for teaching the importance of wetlands and the interrelatedness of nature is immeasurable. In October 2016, the McDuffie County Soil and Water Commission presented the center with a Conservation Education Award for promoting education and conservation practices. \nPartnering with the Hunter Development Program in Wildlife Resources' Game Management Section, the center added archery to the activities available for fifth-grade and up students. Two \n \nstaff members became certified instructors for the National Archery in the Schools Program. The program quickly became popular and is fast surpassing geocaching as one of the favorite activities at McDuffie. The center will continue working with Game Management to offer National Archery in the Schools teacher workshops during the 2017-2018 school year. \nMcDuffie does not limit its educational efforts to field trips. During the McDuffie Outdoor Adventure Day in September, staff provided tours through the education building's Discovery Room, as well as nature crafts in the classroom. At the 2017 Eco-Meet, held at the Savannah River Ecology Lab in Windsor, S.C., McDuffie continued its involvement with the Environmental Sciences Education Cooperative by operating the tiebreaker station. Students were challenged to produce a public service announcement on the general topic of conserving a local natural resource. In supporting educational partners at the Watson Brown Foundation, the center continued to assist in programming by teaching students about beavers and their adaptations at the Eco-Camps held at Hickory Hill in Thomson. \nThe Go Fish Education Center provides quality onsite environmental education programs focused on aquatic resource education and conservation. Over the past several years, the center's primary focus has been school field trips. However, the Go Fish Center also offers fish dissections, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) classes, homeschool lessons, a toddler program, and various community events. Started as a pilot, the fish dissection program has since spread to two schools, involving 405 students dissecting fish and generating more than $2,000 in revenue. \nDuring the 2016-2017 school year, Go Fish partnered with a local elementary school to help with the school's STEM certification. STEM projects were developed, including aquaponics and fish attractors. Off-site at Flat Creek Public Fishing Area, 126 fourth-graders built 70 fish attractors for use in central Georgia public waters. During fiscal 2017, Go Fish Center staff also continued the center's homeschool program. Topics included junior aquarist, junior hatchery manager and various dissections (albatross bolus, fish stomach, worms). The program featured several guest speakers. \n \nIn fiscal 2016, Go Fish started a toddler program that became an overnight sensation with 94 participants at the first session  a one-hour experience with live music, a live-animal program and hands-on activities and crafts. Since, the program has grown into four or five (depending on the season) one-hour sessions split between the theater and classroom. A city of Perry staff member volunteers to assist with the program. Recently, www.signupgenius.com has been used to streamline the registration process. The May 2017 toddler program had a record 202 participants. \nGo Fish continued the State Fish Art contest during the past fiscal year. The center received 313 entries from across Georgia. Education staff also worked to get two new state fish added to Georgia's state fish list  the red drum and Southern Appalachian brook trout. Staff also nominated a Georgia teacher for State Fish Art Teacher of the Year. Kathleen Petka of Walton High School in Marietta went on to win the National Teacher of the Year Award and receive $500 for school supplies from Wildlife Forever. \nAs part of a new push for community programming, Go Fish held its first Scuba Santa event. This included story time with Mrs. Claus, a sing-along, a lure-building demonstration and, of course, a Scuba Santa! Advertising was limited since the program was a pilot to judge participation. More than 100 people attended, and many inquired about a fiscal 2018 version of the program. \nThis fiscal year, the center played host to 8,579 education program participants. The Go Fish education program received more than $2,000 in educational supplies and financial donations. Looking to fiscal 2018, the center will continue providing quality educational programs. Goals include increasing participation numbers and revenue, exploring programming opportunities, creating and implementing an online field-trip survey, starting a community program, and developing an afterschool fishing program. \nGrand Bay Wetland Education Center, a partnership between DNR and the Coastal Plains Regional Educational Services Agency, maintained a full schedule. During the 20162017 school year, approximately 9,500 students and 3,000 adults attended day classes at the center. Primary and secondary education students participated in programs that focused \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n49 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n on native wildlife and resources in the area. All activities met Georgia Performance Standards. \nWith the support of superintendents, principals, teachers and parents in 12 school districts, Grand Bay filled its scheduling calendar for the school year in one week. Visiting primary students are immersed during the day with hands-on exercises in and out of the classroom. Students observe and learn about wildlife species and how these animals or plants affect the environment. Everything from apex carnivores such as American alligators to unusual plants such as the hooded pitcherplant are covered. Visits typically ended with a hike on the boardwalk and climbing Grand Bay's observation tower. \nTaking a different approach, secondary education students performed exercises concerning water quality, wildlife identification and collection. The students are provided with necessary lab equipment and supplies for performing scientific methodology throughout each visit. The experiments include turbidity test, pH readings, dissolved oxygen and nitrate levels, and nomenclature usage and identification. Collecting and identifying nonendangered specimens is always a bonus for these students, who spend most of their day at Grand Bay on the boardwalk performing field tests and making observations. \nWhile the busy schedule and limited staff do not allow for outreach programs during the school year, Grand Bay had a full summer in 2017. Valdosta State University and Wiregrass Georgia Technical College took part in day camps and attended lessons at the facility, as well. Students from Valdosta State's Biology Department attended sessions including ornithology, botany, dendrology and teacher education. Grand Bay staff attended the second annual Camp Timber program held at Wiregrass Tech. Lowndes County Sheriff's Department also began a partnership with Grand Bay during the summer in which students participated in Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) programs. Georgia Boy and Cub Scout troops also frequented the center during the summer. About 1,000 children and other students attended lessons during summer camps and school outreach programs concerning mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish found in south Georgia, as well as local plant communities and current environmental issues. \n \n2017 Youth Birding Competition team (Rick Lavender DNR) \n \nYouth Birding Competition \nThe Nongame Conservation Section held its 12th annual Youth Birding Competition on April 29-30, 2017. Participants again broke records for the number of bird species seen or heard within the 24-hour birdathon, with the overall winning team counting 170 species. Twenty-five teams signed up, underscoring the popularity of this annual spring event that promotes birding and conservation among young Georgians. Eight new teams competed in 2017. \nDuring the Youth Birding Competition, teams of pre-K through 12th-grade birders representing schools, Scout troops, science clubs and other groups compete with teams of similar-aged youth to identify as many bird species as they can in the state. \n \nAs part of the 2017 event, the young birders also raised $2,178 for conservation projects throughout the state, pushing the cumulative fundraising for this event to more than $22,000. The event's T-shirt Art Contest attracted 248 drawings and paintings of native Georgia birds. A blue jay by Ava Wang, a 16-year-old from Duluth, proved the grand-prize winner and adorned the competition's T-shirts. \nThe Youth Birding Competition is aimed at cultivating an interest in birds and conservation. Sponsors include TERN, friends group of Nongame Conservation; the Georgia Ornithological Society; and the Atlanta and Albany Audubon societies. The event's reach is being expanded by Race4Birds, a foundation that is helping spread the Youth Birding Competition concept. Volunteers also are key to holding the competition banquet, awards ceremony and T-shirt art contest. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n50 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Camp TALON \nThe Nongame Conservation Section held the eighth annual Camp TALON (Teen Adventures Learning Ornithology and Nature) on June 3-8, 2017. The foremost goal of the camp is to teach teens how to identify birds, but honing that skill only nicks the surface of this ecology-rich syllabus. Among other subjects, students learned about habitats and their management, threatened and endangered species, bird survey methods, coastal plants, island geology, how avian research is performed, the lives of invertebrates that live on beaches, and outdoor career opportunities. Using cabins on St. Simons Island as a base, participants traveled by bus or boat to each day's two or three birdwatching and outdoor classroom destinations. Sites included Sapelo, Little St. Simons, Andrews and Jekyll islands, as well as Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Fort Stewart and Altama Plantation Wildlife Management Area. \nLeaders included a dozen mostly volunteer teachers from state, federal and nonprofit agencies, as well as retired university faculty. The 12 students counted 125 species of birds \n \nCamp TALON at Jekyll Island (Bob Sargent/DNR) \n \nand brought home great memories. In addition to support from volunteers and from professional biologists, this camp's continued success is made possible by grants from the Georgia Ornithological \n \nGive Wildlife a Chance poster by fifth-grader Juan Diego Orduz \n \nSociety, The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation and the Atlanta Audubon Society. The 2018 camp is scheduled for June 2-7. \nGive Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest \nKindergarten through fifth-grade students submitted about 1,500 posters for the 2017 Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest. This annual program has encouraged students to explore the wonders of Georgia's native plant and animal species through art for 27 years. \nStudents from 33 public schools, private schools and homeschool groups participated in 2017, taking to heart the event's theme \"Keep Georgia Wild!\" Artwork was judged based on aspects such as theme, originality, quality and impact. \nThe posters of state-level contest winners were displayed at the State Botanical Garden in Athens and posted on the Wildlife Resources Division's Flickr site. In addition, the parents and teachers of winners were offered free wildlife license plates. \nThe contest is organized and sponsored by DNR, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), the friends group of Nongame Conservation. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n51 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Social Media \nThe DNR Wildlife Resources Division's social media sites  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr and a blog  continued to grow in popularity in fiscal year 2017, spreading awareness of the division's conservation efforts and engaging its constituents. Wildlife Resources' Facebook page recorded 110,784 likes through June 2017, the end of the fiscal year. Twitter had nearly 8,185 followers, up from 6,927 the year before. The YouTube channel has drawn 444,871 views all told. The division's blog, which has a conservation-specific section, \n \nlogged 170,930 views for calendar year 2016. Instagram grew from 4,980 to 6,227 followers during the fiscal year. \nIt is no surprise that a nongame-related video attracted the largest audiences. The Georgia Wild video series featuring Nongame Conservation Section Environmental Outreach Coordinator Linda May and produced by Public Affairs' Heidi Ferguson has been a DNR blockbuster with its informative focus on backyard wildlife. An episode on small snakes led all division videos with more than 146,000 views, 2,370 shares and nearly 100 comments on Facebook. The series' \n \nKyle Coleman was one of three bloggers for 7Days4SeaTurtles (DNR) \n \nDNR's Linda May on Georgia Wild \n \nfirst video, on ruby-throated hummingbirds, registered more than 47,000 views and won Conservation Post of the Year in the 2017 Association for Conservation Information's national contest. Other Georgia Wild topics included bats, songbird nesting and \"bumpy\" squirrels (those infested with the larvae of tree squirrel bot flies). \nOther popular posts included video of Nongame Conservation Section Program Manager Dr. Bob Sargent helping Auburn University's Southeastern Raptor Center release a rehabilitated bald eagle at West Point Lake, videos on the disentanglement of a North Atlantic right whale from commercial fishing gear, and footage a loggerhead sea turtle making her nest by day. The leading non-video post? News on Facebook about the discovery in Georgia of a wind scorpion  a small but fierce-looking arthropod. That post reached nearly 81,000 people, fielding 85 comments and 436 engagements. \nAt the close of fiscal 2017, Public Affairs and Nongame Conservation staff created a #7Days4SeaTurtles social media campaign that used images, video and text on all Wildlife Resources Division platforms, including blog posts from a sea turtle technician, to raise awareness of sea turtle conservation and celebrate loggerheads surpassing one of the species' recovery benchmarks in Georgia  2,800 nests  that summer (2016). The campaign racked up 212,011 reaches and impressions, 6,180 engagements and reactions, and 965 comments and shares. The outreach was repeated at the start of fiscal 2018. \nThe nongame e-newsletter Georgia Wild also grew in popularity, although the pace slowed compared to fiscal 2016. The number of subscribers increased by nearly 14 percent, or 11,000, to 92,400. Also, in summer 2017 Georgia Wild placed third in the external newsletter category at the annual Association for Conservation Information conference. The newsletter, which turned 10 in fiscal 2017, placed first in the national competition the year before and third in 2014. \nSocial media efforts and the e-newsletter not only broaden the reach of Nongame Conservation communications, they enhance interactivity and customer service. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n52 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Other Outreach \nBeyond youth contests, social media and the newsletter, the Nongame Conservation Section promotes awareness of nongame wildlife and issues in many ways  speaking to civic, technical and special-interest groups, informing lawmakers on rare species, showing journalists research in the field, and working with other conservation organizations, to name a few examples. \nIn fiscal year 2017, the agency staffed events varying from CoastFest in Brunswick and Endangered Species Day at Atlanta Botanical Garden to the Georgia Association of Tax Officials' spring conference in Athens, Reptile Day at Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta and the 50th annual Rattlesnake \u0026 Wildlife Festival in Claxton. Employees provided interviews about wildlife and habitats to media including the Savannah Morning News, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Atlanta's National Public Radio station WABE-FM (90.1), The Augusta Chronicle, Georgia Public Broadcasting, The Associated Press and Atlanta Magazine. Topics ranged from sea turtle nesting to surveys of white-nose syndrome, a disease plaguing bats. \nOutreach efforts are mentioned throughout this report. However, examples include: \nn Wildlife biologist Clay George, working with other DNR staff, NOAA Fisheries Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation \n \nDNR's Pete Griffin at Atlanta Botanical Garden Endangered Species Day (Linda May/DNR) \n \nCommission and Sea to Shore Alliance, helped compile and coordinate videos documenting the successful disentanglement of a North Atlantic right whale dragging more than 150 yards of commercial fishing rope and a 135-pound trap or pot. As noted in the social media section, the videos, part 1 and part 2, drew significant traffic and wide use by media. \nn Environmental Outreach Coordinator Linda May and artist Ami Flowers Staples revised the \"Exploring Georgia's Wildlife\" coloring book, correlating the content with new Georgia science standards for third-graders. Funded by \n \nBritish birders and DNR's Lisa Kruse at Big Hammock (Rebecca Byrd/DNR) \n \nThe Environmental Resources Network (TERN), friends group of Nongame Conservation, the coloring book serves as a teaching aid for conservation while also promoting Wildlife Resources Division license plates. \nn Using \"Exploring Georgia's Wildlife,\" May and DNR's Katie Flowers helped Terrell County Tax Commissioner Mary Ellen Harnage organize a wildlife coloring page contest for area children. Winners were recognized at the tax office in May 2017 with a live animal presentation, goodie bags and their entries on display. \nn The Weather Channel interviewed senior wildlife biologist John Jensen for a live segment about snakes and why they should be appreciated, not feared. In part responding to a reported rise in snake bites, Jensen also emphasized the importance of snakes on other outlets, including the 365 Atlanta Family blog. \nn Journey, the Auburn University College of Science and Mathematics magazine, profiled Dr. J. Mincy Moffett Jr.'s pilgrimage from business to botany, resulting in his current work conserving rare plants and restoring natural habitats for Nongame Conservation. \nn British birders touring Georgia's Coastal Plain received some rare insight into Big Hammock Wildlife Management Area when they happened across botanists Lisa Kruse and Rebecca Byrd at the WMA near Glennville. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n53 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Swainsboro Sci-Fries Club with DNR staff at Ohoopee Dunes (DNR) \n \nKruse and Byrd, now Atlanta Botanical Garden conservation coordinator, explained Big Hammock's natural history to Eric and Gail Hampshire and Richard and Sue Rose, all from Worcester, England. The four subscribe to the Georgia Wild e-newsletter and said their trip to Georgia had been spurred in part by what they read about the state's diverse biology and focus on wildlife conservation. \nn Moffett, Byrd and Private Lands Program biologist John Thrift of the Wildlife Resources Division Game Management Section led Swainsboro Middle School and East Georgia State College students in field trips and field work at Ohoopee Dunes Wildlife Management Area. Science teacher Deanna Ryan organized a \"sand dune exploration\" across two days for seventh-graders to learn about animals, plants and habitats. East Georgia biology students and Swainsboro Middle Sci-Fries Club members also helped plant endangered pond spice and pondberry at the WMA near Swainsboro. \nn Wildlife biologist Eamonn Leonard worked with Georgia Outdoors to feature two Student \n \nConservation Association interns, hired through the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, in a \"New Conservationists\" episode for the Georgia Public Broadcasting program. \nn Dr. Brett Albanese, now a Nongame Conservation program manager, helped create the Fishes of Georgia Photo Gallery on Flickr. Featuring photos of freshwater and commonly encountered marine fishes, the gallery helps the public identify and appreciate species found in Georgia. \nn A video profile of wildlife biologist Tim Keyes and his focus on conserving birds was highlighted in the Wildlife Resources Division's employee e-newsletter and posted on Facebook. \nn Program Manager Dr. Bob Sargent gave presentations to professional organizations and general audiences about bald eagles. Sargent was interviewed by Georgia Public Broadcasting, as well as by the Savannah Morning News and other newspapers, about conserving the species. Sargent and wildlife \n \nbiologist Todd Schneider also took part in the release of rehabilitated bald eagles at, respectively, West Point Lake and Red Top Mountain State Park. \nn News releases written by Public Affairs' Rick Lavender promoted nongame projects varying from tracking manatees on Georgia's coast to the discovery of rare bog turtles at Brasstown Valley Resort \u0026 Spa in Young Harris. The announcement with Sea Turtle Program Coordinator Mark Dodd that loggerhead sea turtles had surpassed a nesting recovery benchmark in Georgia placed first in releases in the Association for Conservation Information's national contest. \nn Nongame Conservation senior wildlife biologist Nathan Klaus shot time-lapse video of the west-central Georgia fire crew conducting a prescribed burn at Sandhills Wildlife Management Area in April. Georgia Wild featured the video. \nn Linda May and Environmental Review Coordinator Anna Yellin organized and awarded a $1,000 grant to third-grade teacher Tiffany \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n54 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Smith of Forsyth's Samuel E. Hubbard Elementary. The grant from TERN recognizes Georgia's exceptional third- through fifthgrade teachers in life sciences. \nn Wildlife biologist Steve Raper and John Thrift of the Private Lands Program staffed an information booth at the annual Southeastern Wood Producers Association meeting on Jekyll Island. In addition to general outreach topics, Raper and Thrift emphasized the protection of gopher tortoise habitats. \nn Raper, Kruse and Oconee River Land Trust held a workshop on land protection for Georgia Botanical Society members at Panola Mountain State Park. Topics included landowner relationships, habitat-protection programs, conservation easements and land trusts. \nn Wildlife biologist Katrina Morris spread the word about the importance of bats and efforts to research and combat the spread of white-nose syndrome. This outreach included talking with Gwinnett County Osborne Middle School students taking part in the First Lego League Challenge. \nn Linda May highlighted Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan and DNR conservation partnerships during a National Wildlife Day presentation for about 80 Georgia Power employees in Atlanta. Children from a neighboring day-care center were invited over when high-priority native animals, including a gopher tortoise and eastern indigo snake, were shared with the audience. \nn May and wildlife biologist Thomas Floyd helped Newton County Trails officials announce a new 15-mile rail trail, the Cricket Frog Trail. They shared live cricket frogs with the 160 attendees and drew attention to the species' \"marbletapping\" calls while on the trail. \nn The promotion of wildlife cams shared on the Wildlife Resources Division's website  Berry College's bald eagle nest cam, The Landings' osprey nest cam near Savannah and DNR's Go Fish Education Center aquarium cam  continued to help raise awareness of nongame wildlife. \nn Nongame Conservation's fiscal year 2016 report, compiled by section staff and \n \nedited by Rick Lavender, placed second in the publications category at the annual Association for Conservation Information conference. The report includes summary, comprehensive and story map versions. \nn Many biologists wrote popular articles and published research. For example, senior wildlife biologist John Jensen co-authored a study published in Southeastern Naturalist on the status of alligator snapping turtles in the Flint River nearly a quarter-century after commercial harvest was outlawed. Senior wildlife biologist Nathan Klaus' article in the Longleaf Alliance magazine described his research of new technology to measure duff moisture and resulting opportunities to burn fire-suppressed, old-growth longleaf \n \nforests. Dr. Jessica McGuire, now manager of Wildlife Resources' Private Lands Program, co-authored a paper in Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation on the discovery of snake fungal disease in a Georgia mud snake. \nn Wildlife Resources Division blog posts by Nongame Conservation staff included Assistant Chief Matt Elliott's profile of Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area, Anna Yellin's call to be on the lookout in Georgia for endangered rusty patch bumblebees, Lisa Kruse's insights into pitcherplants and their prey, wildlife technician Emily Ferrall's introduction to mussel conservation, and a discussion with Clay George about the downward trend in sightings of North Atlantic right whale calves and adults off the Georgia/Florida coast. \n \nBanding rehabilitated bald eagle before release at Red Top Mountain (Gena Flanigen) \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n55 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n L A N D ACQ U I S I T I O N A N D CO N S E RVAT I O N E AS E M E N TS \nSandhills WMA: Coleman Tract \nPaulding Forest WMA: B.M. Jones, Forestar Tracts \nPanola Mountain State Park: GDOT Tract \n \nSprewell Bluff WMA: Alexander, Beasley, CatchMark Tracts \nAlligator Creek WMA: Alligator Creek Tract \nSansavilla WMA: Sansavilla Phase 2 Tract \nMusgrove Plantation: St. Simons Land Trust Phase 2 Tract \n \nThrough its Real Estate Office, DNR acquired fee ownership of 13,207 acres for public recreation and conservation in fiscal 2017. A 90-acre conservation easement also was acquired. In all, these created a wildlife management area (Alligator Creek) and expanded five other WMAs, a state park and conservation lands on St. Simons Island. \nThe tracts were targeted in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan to increase public recreation and expand conservation efforts across DNR-managed lands. The Alexander, Beasley and CatchMark tracts added to Sprewell Bluff Wildlife Management Area near Thomaston will allow DNR to restore more \n \nmontane longleaf pine habitat, conserve golden eagle habitat and expand protection along the scenic Flint River. The donation of the Panola Mountain State Park/Georgia Department of Transportation tract increases recreational opportunities and restores riparian buffer along the South River. The Alligator Creek Tract, now a wildlife management area, protects gopher tortoise habitat and the federally threatened eastern indigo snake, among other species. The phase 2 acquisition of Sansavilla Wildlife Management Area protects frontage along the Altamaha River, as well as gopher tortoise habitat. The acquisition also assures that this WMA near Brunswick will remain available to the public for recreation. \n \nThe Forestar and Jones tracts at Paulding Forest Wildlife Management Area near Dallas permanently protect and restore additional montane longleaf pine habitat, protect the headwaters for Raccoon Creek and provide areas popular for recreation, because of the tracts' proximity to Atlanta. The Coleman Tract, at Sandhills Wildlife Management Area near Butler, protects important habitat for species like the gopher tortoise and longleaf pine. The phase 2 acquisition of the Musgrove Plantation conservation easement on St. Simons Island protects several high-priority habitats such as brackish and saltwater marsh and maritime forest, as well as species such as the federally threatened wood stork. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n56 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \nLongleaf pine at Sprewell Bluff (Nathan Klause/DNR) \n \n DNR's Simon Dilts scopes a tortoise burrow at Alligator Creek (Rick Lavender/DNR) \n \nHere is a brief description of each acquisition and a breakdown of the funding allocations. \nn Sprewell Bluff WMA \nAlexander Tract: The 2,720-acre Alexander Tract in Meriwether and Talbot counties was acquired as an addition to Sprewell Bluff. The property closed Sept. 29, 2016. The purchase price was $4,358,124. Funding included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Restoration Program grant, $2 million; DNR bond, $1,608,124; National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $375,000; and the Knobloch Family Foundation, $375,000. \nBeasley Tract: The 233-acre Beasley Tract in Meriwether County closed on Sept. 29, 2016. The purchase price was $384,936, which was supplied through a DNR bond. \nCatchMark Tract: The 494-acre CatchMark Timber Trust Tract, also in Meriwether County, closed on Sept. 29, 2016. It was acquired for $692,547. Funding came from a DNR bond, $442,547; the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $125,000; and the Knobloch Family Foundation, $125,000. \n \nn Panola Mountain State Park: GDOT Tract \nThese 167 acres in Rockdale and DeKalb counties were a donation from the state Department of Transportation. The addition to Panola Mountain State Park closed on Dec. 12, 2016. \nn Alligator Creek WMA: Alligator Creek Tract \nThe 3,087-acre Alligator Creek Tract (also known as Stanley Farms) in Wheeler County closed on Dec. 16, 2016. This purchase created Alligator Creek WMA and totaled $3,087,540. Funding included: DNR bond, $1,092,540; Fish and Wildlife Service recovery grant, $850,000; Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Restoration Program grant, $645,000; and the Knobloch Family Foundation, $500,000. \nn Sansavilla WMA: Sansavilla Phase 2 Tract \nThe 4,500-acre Sansavilla phase 2 Tract was acquired Dec. 16, 2016, as an addition to Sansavilla WMA near Brunswick. This acquisition \n \nin Wayne County resulted from a partnership between The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Marine Corps. The Marine Corps acquired an easement from The Nature Conservancy for $5,192,250, reducing DNR's purchase price to $3,842,486. Funding included: DNR bond, $3,836,821; other state funds, $5,665; and the Marine Corps, $5,192,250. \nn Paulding Forest WMA \nB.M. Jones Tract: The 391-acre B.M. Jones Tract in Paulding County was added to Paulding Forest and closed on Dec. 16, 2016, for $978,808. Funding included: Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Recovery Grant, $500,000; The Conservation Fund (Georgia Imperial Bat Fund), $353,808; and The Nature Conservancy (Stream Fund), $125,000. \nForestar Tract: The 500-acre Forestar Tract in Paulding County closed Dec. 19, 2016, for a purchase price of $1,358,904. Funding included: Fish and Wildlife Service recovery grant, $500,000; Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Restoration Program grant, $360,000; The Conservation Fund (Georgia Imperial Bat Fund), $373,904; and The Nature Conservancy (Stream Fund), $125,000. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n57 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Etowah darter from Raccoon Creek (Brett Albanese/DNR) \n \nn Sandhills WMA: Coleman Tract \nThe 1,115-acre Coleman Tract, in Taylor County, closed on Dec. 19, 2016, for $2,108,360 and was added to what is now Sandhills WMA. Funding included: Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Restoration Program grant, $850,000; DNR bond, $758,360; and the Knobloch Family Foundation, $500,000. \nn Musgrove Plantation: St. Simons Land Trust Phase 2 Tract \nSt. Simons Land Trust bought the more than 90 acres (phase 2) of Musgrove Plantation in Glynn County on Feb. 15, 2017. Using a $1 million Fish and Wildlife Service grant from the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program, DNR then acquired a conservation easement on these acres that will prevent development. \nGeorgia Conservation Tax Credit Program \nThe Nongame Conservation Section administers the Georgia Conservation Tax Credit Program in conjunction with the State Properties Commission. This program provides a tax credit for taxpayers who place conservation easements on their land or make fee-simple donations to qualified organizations. \nOf the 19 applications in 14 counties received in fiscal 2017, one was approved by the State Properties Commission and received the tax credit. Twelve of the 19 applications received pre-certification for the program and most have submitted final applications. In addition to the one certified application received in fiscal 2017, five applications received prior to the fiscal year were certified. \nThese six certifications protected a total of 2,710 acres using conservation easements donated to qualified organizations. \nThe staff managing the program is funded in part through the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. \n \nPrescribed fire at Sandhills WMA (Hal Massie/DNR) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n58 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n CO N S E RVAT I O N P L A N N I N G \n \nState Wildlife Action Plan Revision \nAs coordinator of the State Wildlife Action Plan in Georgia, the Nongame Conservation Section completed and submitted revision of the plan for review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September 2015. The revised plan, created with the help of DNR's conservation partners and updated with the most current information, was approved in September 2016. \nThe Wildlife Action Plan outlines critical areas of need, with a focus on keeping native species from declining to the point of requiring federal protection as threatened or endangered species. Developing, revising and implementing the plan are required to receive State Wildlife Grants. \nOfficially called the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy, this plan  a 10-year roadmap for conservation  is the primary guiding document for much of Nongame Conservation's work. In fiscal year 2017, DNR also continued to serve with the Fish and Wildlife Service on a regional team reviewing late-arriving revisions of State Wildlife Action Plans, including one for the U.S. Virgin Islands. \n \nRegional Conservation Partnerships \nSince 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has received three mega-petitions to list a total of 496 species under the Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service's Southeast Region is responsible for roughly 60 percent of the workload to evaluate these species. More than 100 of the species are found in Georgia, amplifying the need for up-to-date status information to help inform the service's 90-day findings and 12-month findings to determine whether a listing is warranted. \nTackling emerging issues such as megapetitions to list species under the Endangered Species Act requires innovative approaches. One is the creation of regional conservation partnerships, such as the Southeast Atrisk Species Program, capable of achieving \n \nPrescribed fire at Buzzard's Roost (Hal Massie/DNR) \n \nSavanna milkweed (Alan Cressler) \n \nsuccess that could not be accomplished by individual states. Often referred to as SEARS, the Southeast At-risk Species Program was implemented by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in cooperation with the Fish and Wildlife Service. The goal is for states to work together to preclude the need to federally list species. \nThis and other proactive measures are contributing to conservation gains. From 2011 through fiscal year 2017, the Fish and Wildlife Service, working in partnership with state fish and wildlife agencies, has determined that 97 of the petitioned species did not warrant federal listing because of research or conservation actions. Another 14 species that were federally listed have been either down-listed or delisted. \nLandscape Conservation Cooperatives are another type of regional conservation partnership developed since the first version of Georgia's Wildlife Action Plan. The aim here is using a network of resource managers and scientists from a wide range of sources to more effectively integrate science and management in addressing climate change and other landscape-scale issues across regions. DNR is represented on the steering committees for each of the three cooperatives that include parts of Georgia: South Atlantic, Appalachian and Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks. \nEarly in fiscal 2017, the South Atlantic Cooperative released Blueprint 2.1, an adaptable, spatial plan that describes the places and actions needed to conserve natural and cultural resources for future generations. The blueprint provides a consistent plan that transcends boundaries and organizations in mapping out how the conservation community can respond to change. \nThe work of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives has led, in turn, to the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy, referred to as SECAS, an initiative by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and others to knit together the conservation blueprints of cooperatives in the region. Scheduled for release in mid-October 2017, a first draft for the Southeast and Caribbean Land Conservation Cooperatives will combine conservation priorities of these cooperatives across the region into one map. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n59 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATION \n \nIncome tax checkoff 4% \n($113,606) \nDonations \u0026 other income 11% ($302,704) \n \nEarned interest 2% ($45,331) \n \nProfessional services (contracts, fees) 16% ($418,061) \n \nREVENUE \nTOTAL: $2,727,194* \n \nWeekend for Wildlife* 22% ($599,142) \n \nNongame license plates 61% ($1,666,411) \n \nDoes not include federal and other grants or $477,213 in state appropriations for the Nongame Conservation Section. \n* Includes revenue from Weekend for Wildlife that will be disbursed to the Nongame Conservation Fund through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation. \n \nEXPENDITURES \nTOTAL: $2,551,788 \n \nOperations 19% \n($469,576) \n \nPersonnel 65% \n($1,664,151) \n \nExpenditures paid through the Nongame Fund. \n \nNONGAME CONSERVATION FUND \n \nListed in millions per year \n \n12 M \n \n11 M \n \n10 M \n \nINCOME \n \nEXPENSES \n \nBALANCE* \n \n9 M \n \n8 M \n \n7 M \n \n6 M \n \n5 M \n \n4 M \n \n3 M \n \n2 M \n \n1 M \n \nFY '08 FY '09 FY '10 FY '11 FY '12 FY '13 FY '14 FY '15 FY '16 FY '17 \n*Includes revenue from Weekend for Wildlife that will be disbursed to the fund through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation. \n \nNongame Wildlife Conservation Fund \nFor the second consecutive year, the Nongame Conservation Section received state appropriations  $477,213 in fiscal 2017. However, because those appropriations made up less than 5 percent of the section's research and conservation budget, as in previous years fundraising remained a priority. \nNongame Conservation depends largely on three fundraisers: sales and renewals of nongame wildlife license plates (the bald eagle and hummingbird designs), the annual Weekend for Wildlife and the Georgia Wildlife Conservation Fund income tax checkoff. Contributions go to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation and Wildlife Habitat Acquisitions Fund, often referred to as the Georgia or Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. Created in 1989, the fund is dedicated by state law to support nongame wildlife conservation, wildlife habitat acquisition and related educational and promotional projects. \nThe Environmental Resources Network, better known as TERN, friends group of Nongame Conservation, also provides significant support. \n \nThe Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund received an estimated $2.7 million in revenue in fiscal 2017. That included $1,666,411 in license plate sales and renewals, $113,606 via the state income tax checkoff, $599,142 from Weekend for Wildlife (which will be disbursed to the fund through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation), $45,331 in earned interest and $302,704 in donations and other income. The total does not include federal and other grants. Revenue was up 18 percent from the $2.3 million raised in fiscal 2016 and has averaged $2.4 million annually over the past 10 years. \nExpenses paid through the fund in fiscal 2017 totaled $2,551,788. Sixty-five percent of that amount, or $1,664,151, went to personnel expenditures, 19 percent ($469,576) to operations and 16 percent ($418,061) to professional services, including contracts and fees. The 10-year average for spending is $3 million a year. 2017 expenditures were in line with the average over the last eight years of $2.6 million per year. \nFrom fiscal 2008 to 2017, the fund balance ranged from a high of nearly $9.2 million in 2008 to a low of $5.3 million in 2016. The balance increased to an estimated $5.5 million in 2017. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n60 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Nongame License Plates \nThe bald eagle and ruby-throated hummingbird tags are the Nongame Conservation Section's largest fundraiser, a standard of support for more than 15 years. Sales and renewals provide about two-thirds of Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund revenues each year. In fiscal 2017, license plates accounted for 61 percent of estimated revenue, down from 66 percent in 2016 but up from 55 percent in 2015 and 41 percent in 2014. Though the percentages have fluctuated, license plate revenue has gradually increased since fiscal 2014. This year's $1,666,411 marked an 8 percent, or $124,574, increase over fiscal 2016. \nThe main reason for the positive trend? In 2014, state lawmakers lowered the cost of buying and renewing DNR wildlife plates to only $25 more than a standard state tag and dedicated up to 80 percent of those fees to wildlife programs that the plates benefit. Since July 1, 2014, $19 for each eagle and hummingbird tag bought and $20 for each one renewed has gone to help conserve nongame wildlife and natural habitats. Revenue from the tags bottomed out at $841,160 in 2014 and has risen since, from $1,526,087 in fiscal 2015 to $1,541,837 in 2016 and nearly $1.7 million this year. \n \nSales and renewals had spiraled downward after 2010 legislation upped the price for most specialty plates, reduced the share going to sponsor groups to $10 a tag, and added an annual renewal fee. While those changes initially increased revenue  peaking at $1.9 million in 2011 for eagle and hummingbird tags  the higher price, less money for conservation and additional fee soon undercut sales and renewals. \nThe challenge now is twofold: continue to slow the decline in renewals while bolstering the increase in plate sales through effective marketing. Key to both areas is the redesigned eagle and U.S. flag plate released in August 2016. A smaller, less vibrant version of this iconic combo sold from 2004-2013 and still ranks as Georgia's most popular specialty plate. The new eagle-flag tag is off to a promising start, outselling the design it replaced  a flying eagle  by nearly 43 percent, 7,452 to 5,224 plates, during comparable 11-month periods in fiscal 2017 and 2016 (the most recent data available). \nSales of this WL (wildlife) series plate, plus a bump in the number of hummingbird tags issued during the fiscal year, helped offset an almost 7 percent decline in renewals of both tags from 2016 to 2017. There were 75,613 eagle and hummer \n \nplates on the road in Georgia at the close of fiscal 2017. That marks a 78 percent drop from 2010, when there were 347,401 nongame tags in circulation. One sign of progress, however, is that the rate of decline from 2016 to 2017 was about half the rate the previous year. \n(Note: Tag revenue as distributed by the state Department of Revenue can include revenue collected outside the July-June fiscal year. Yet DNR tracks total plates issued and renewed by fiscal year. The differences can affect year-to-year comparisons. Also, 25 percent of net revenue from Jekyll Island's Georgia Sea Turtle Center plate goes to DNR for conserving nongame and is reported as tag revenue.) \nNongame Conservation and the Wildlife Resources Division's Pubic Affairs office worked in fiscal 2017 to raise awareness of the new eagle plate and the reduced price and increased benefits of nongame and other DNR plates. Efforts included a contest for county tag offices, outreach to tag office staff and tax commissioners, contacts with car dealers (which can sell plates to vehicle buyers), and targeted promotions, including eagle tag advertisements at football games of Georgia Southern University's Eagles. The Environmental Resources Network, friends group of Nongame Conservation, provided a $3,000 grant in 2016 for the contest promoting wildlife plate sales and renewals at county tag offices. \nWeekend for Wildlife \nWeekend for Wildlife is one of the country's most successful fundraisers for nongame conservation, grossing more than $10 million since 2001. The annual event started in 1989 draws 200-400 guests to the prestigious Cloister at Sea Island for a weekend of outdoor trips, auctions and dining. \nThe celebration in 2017, the 29th annual Weekend for Wildlife, raised more than $1 million for the second consecutive year. Excluding event-related expenses and fees, directed giving for targeted programs and money raised by TERN, $599,142 will be disbursed through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n61 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Conservation Teacher of Year Tiffany Smith (center) of Forsyth's Samuel Hubbard Elementary (DNR) \n \nGeorgia Wildlife Conservation Fund Checkoff \nThe state income tax checkoff offers Georgians a convenient way to donate to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. Since the checkoff's creation in 1989, net contributions have averaged $282,000 and made up roughly 10 percent of Nongame Conservation Fund revenues. (This revenue is collected by calendar year.) \nFor the past two years, however, contributions to what is commonly called the Give Wildlife a Chance checkoff have hit new lows. 2017's total of $113,606 undershot the then-record $131,248 contributed in 2016. The checkoff's low before 2016 was $184,065 in 1994. This year's total represents a 53 percent drop-off from the $240,443 raised in 2015. Revenue ranged to an all-time high of $510,910 in 1991. \nThe Georgia Wildlife Conservation Fund checkoff is line 30 on the long state income tax form (Form 500) and line 10 of the short form (Form 500-EZ). \nThe Environmental Resources Network \nThe Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1992 to support Nongame Conservation Section activities. TERN, online at http://tern.homestead.com and on Facebook, raises most of its funds through membership dues and through auction, raffle and sale items at Weekend for Wildlife. \nIn fiscal 2017, TERN funded 16 project proposals, including three out-of-cycle requests, submitted by Nongame Conservation staff and totaling $58,142. Those projects included: \n \nSummer Camp ACE (Adventures in Conservation Education)  $7,000 Outdoor Wildlife Leadership School  $6,240 Youth Birding Competition  $5,500 Gopher tortoise exhibit  $2,650 Pine Mountain and western sandhills native plant propagation  $4,518 Study of the impacts of extreme high-tide events on sea turtle nesting  $4,800 Regional management of invasive salt cedar  $5,000 \"Talking Nature Tuesday\" video series  $1,974 Integrating Youth Birding Competition participants into the Breeding Bird Survey  $600 Shorebird research field equipment  $7,000 Give Wildlife a Chance poster contest  $2,250 Teacher Conservation Workshop  $2,000 Trailer for transporting prescribed burn equipment  $5,500 2017 Christmas Bird Count for young birders  $840 TERN Outstanding Teacher Award  $1,250 Camera for red-cockaded woodpecker research  $1,020 (Hoyt Funds) \nTERN provided financial support, as well, to several other projects and nongame-related conferences throughout the year. \nOfficers for the group include Brooks Schoen as president, Vice President Joey Slaughter, Secretary Kim Kilgore, Treasurer Jerry Booker, Executive Director Terry W. Johnson and Executive Secretary Wanda Granitz. \n \nFederal and Other Funding \nThe Nongame Conservation Section received more than $8.9 million in federal and other grants during fiscal year 2017 to support projects that benefit nongame wildlife species and their habitats. Those grants included $2.85 million for land acquisition. Sources varied from the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program, the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund and National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program  all administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Navy. \nUse of these targeted grants, usually matched with funds from the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund, included acquiring habitat for conservation and research, surveys, and occurrence data collection focused on at-risk species. \nAs part of that total, Nongame Conservation received $1,323,377 in State Wildlife Grants. The amount marked a $9,100 increase over fiscal 2016 and a $722,576 or 35 percent decrease from fiscal 2010, the program's funding high-point. A suite of federal conservation programs, including State Wildlife Grants, have been cut since 2010. State Wildlife Grants has bipartisan support. Its funding, however, is not sufficient for states to meet the conservation needs outlined in their State Wildlife Action Plans. \nState and Tribal Wildlife Grants is the only federal program designed to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered through voluntary, proactive \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n62 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n conservation. The DNR Wildlife Resources Division uses the funding to research and monitor species of greatest conservation need, restore habitat, acquire land, and accomplish other work identified in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. This plan, a comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy created in 2005 and revised in 2015 with partner agencies, organizations, stakeholders and the public, is required to receive State Wildlife Grants. \nConservation work spurred by the Wildlife Action Plan contributes to local and state economies by supporting the nation's more than 90 million wildlife watchers 16 years old and older, part of an outdoors recreation economy that generates more than $124 billion in tax revenue annually. In Georgia, State Wildlife Grants are critical to helping conserve wildlife and natural places for current and future generations. Wildlife viewing included more than 2.2 million Georgians and $1.8 billion in related expenditures in the state in 2011, according to a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey. \nConsidering the conservation needs identified in states' Wildlife Action Plans and the insufficiency of State Wildlife Grants to meet those needs, the push to secure dedicated funding to prevent more than 12,000 species from becoming endangered coalesced into the Alliance for America's Fish and Wildlife in fiscal 2017. The alliance grew out of the partnership developed by the Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America's Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources. Organized by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the 26-member panel  comprised of national leaders representing outdoor recreation retail and manufacturing, energy and automotive industries, private landowners, educational institutions, conservation organizations, sportsmen's groups, and state fish and wildlife agencies  worked to identify a new funding mechanism to support state fish and wildlife conservation to ensure the sustainability of wildlife. \nThe panel released its recommendations in March 2016: \nn Congress should dedicate $1.3 billion annually in existing revenue from the development of energy and mineral resources on federal lands and waters to the Wildlife Conservation Restoration Program. Without requiring a new tax, these funds would provide states with the resources needed to implement Wildlife Action Plans. Georgia's share (if fully realized \n \nthrough the proposed match ratio) would be an estimated $31 million annually, compared to the less than $1.5 million received from State Wildlife Grants. \nn A working group should be convened to examine the impact of societal changes on the relevancy of fish and wildlife conservation and make recommendations on how programs and agencies can evolve to engage and serve broader constituencies. \nAt the start of fiscal 2017, the Recovering America's Wildlife Act was introduced in the House of Representatives. As outlined in the Blue Ribbon Panel recommendations, the legislation would provide dedicated funding for the Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Program, established in 2000 as a subaccount under the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act. Pittman-Robertson, officially the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, has provided states critical funding for wildlife management and conservation funding since its passage in 1937. \nDNR's Wildlife Resources Division has helped shape the effort to identify dedicated funding for states to conserve nongame. That effort included former directors Dan Forster and David Waller taking part in the Blue Ribbon Panel's first meeting. \nLearn more about the Alliance for America's Fish and Wildlife and Recovering America's Wildlife Act at www.ournatureusa.com. \n \nDNR's Kim Morris-Zarneke with Georgia Environmental Alliance award \n \nAdministration and Personnel \nEarly in fiscal year 2017, DNR Commissioner Mark Williams appointed Rusty Garrison as director of the agency's Wildlife Resources Division, effective Aug. 1. Garrison, an 18-year DNR employee, had served most recently as manager of Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield. He previously worked as assistant chief of Wildlife Resources' Game Management Section and state coordinator of Project WILD (Wildlife in Learning Design), a wildlife-based conservation and environmental education program. Garrison filled the position left vacant by Dan Forster, who retired. \nIn other personnel news: \nn Matt Elliott was promoted from program manager at the Nongame Conservation Section's Social Circle office to assistant chief of the section. Among other work, Elliott was key in developing and implementing the State Wildlife Action Plan, leading the Gopher Tortoise Initiative and coordinating staff involvement in the Southeast At-risk Species program. \nn Dr. Brett Albanese was promoted to the vacant program manager position. Albanese, an aquatic zoologist, supervised nongame aquatic research and survey programs, and worked to prioritize research, survey and conservation efforts for imperiled aquatic fauna throughout the Southeast. \nn Kim Morris-Zarneke was named business operations senior manager at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield. Morris-Zarneke has more than 20 years of experience in environmental education and is a past president of the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia. She filled the position left vacant by Garrison, the new Wildlife Resources director. \nn At the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance Conference, Morris-Zarneke was presented an award for Outstanding Service to Environmental Education. Through her years of leadership, she has exemplified the alliance's mission to \"promote communication and enrichment among professionals\" in environmental education, according to the organization. \nn The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service honored five DNR employees with a Regional Director's \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n63 \n \n2017 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n DNR's Tim Keyes (Linda May/DNR) \n \nHonor Award for Conservation Partners in May 2017. The five included Nongame Conservation Chief Dr. Jon Ambrose, nongame Assistant Chief Matt Elliott, DNR Real Estate Chief Steve Friedman, nongame Program Manager Jason Lee and wildlife biologist Brent Womack of the Wildlife Resources Division's Game Management Section. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife Resources has taken the lead on working with partners to establish new and expanded conservation lands at strategic locations, including adding to Paulding and Sheffield Forest wildlife management areas in northwest Georgia and \"significant efforts\" to expand the lower Altamaha River conservation corridor. Former Wildlife Resources Director Dan Forster also received a Regional Director's Honor Award for his work on state, regional and national levels as \"a guiding force in Southeastern species and habitat conservation.\" \n \nn In January 1017, the conservation group One Hundred Miles named Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan as one of the 100 most significant accomplishments in coastal resource stewardship. DNR's Youth Birding Competition, started and still led by Nongame Conservation biologist Tim Keyes, was recognized in the One Hundred Miles 100 \"next generation\" category. The awards honor people and organizations that have made a significant difference for Georgia's coastal resources, according to the organization. \nn Jenifer Wisniewski, Wildlife Resources Division marketing and communications manager, was elected vice president of the Association for Conservation Information. The national organization is made up of communicators representing state and federal wildlife, parks and natural resource agencies, as well as private conservation organizations. \n \nFWS Regional Director's Honor Awards presented by Cindy Dohner (center) to, L-R, DNR's Jon Ambrose, Matt Elliott, Steve Friedman, Jason Lee and Brent Womack (USFWS) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n64 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION \nNONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \n2067 U.S. Highway 278 SE, Social Circle, GA 30025 (770) 761-3035 \nOFFICES ALSO AT: \n116 Rum Creek Drive, Forsyth, GA 31029 (478) 994-1438 2065 U.S. Highway 278 SE, Social Circle, GA 30025 (770) 918-6411 One Conservation Way, Suite 310, Brunswick, GA 31520 (912) 264-7218 \nMark Williams n Commissioner, DNR Rusty Garrison n Director, Wildlife Resources Division Jon Ambrose n Chief, Nongame Conservation Section Matt Elliott n Assistant Chief, Nongame Conservation Section Dr. Brett Albanese, Jason Lee, Bob Sargent n Nongame Program Managers \nSteve Friedman n Chief, DNR Real Estate Office Linda May n Nongame Environmental Outreach Coordinator \nRick Lavender n Report Editor Contributors: Nongame Conservation Section staff, DNR Real Estate Office, DNR Law Enforcement Division \nDesign: OM Graphic Design \nFOLLOW US /WildlifeResourcesDivisionGADNR \n/GeorgiaWild /georgiawildlife /georgiawildlife.wordpress.com, a Wildlife Resources blog /GeorgiaWildlife /photos/wildliferesourcesdivision \nAlso sign up for the Nongame Conservation Section's free e-newsletter, Georgia Wild. Subscribe under the Education tab at www.georgiawildlife.com. \nCover photo: Gopher tortoise entering burrow (Kevin Stohlgren) \n \nGroundcover under loblolly pine (Nathan Klaus) \n \n "},{"id":"dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2017-bsummary-belec-p-btext","title":"Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2017 fiscal year summary","collection_id":"dlg_ggpd","collection_title":"Georgia Government Publications","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018"],"dcterms_creator":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_date":["2017"],"dcterms_description":["Report on conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife."],"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Social Circle, Ga. : Georgia. Department of Natural Resources. Wildlife Resources Division. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section--Periodicals","Wildlife conservation--Georgia--Periodicals","Natural areas--Georgia--Periodicals"],"dcterms_title":["Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2017 fiscal year summary"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of Georgia. Map and Government Information Library"],"edm_is_shown_by":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2017-bsummary-belec-p-btext"],"edm_is_shown_at":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2017-bsummary-belec-p-btext"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["state government records","official reports"],"dcterms_extent":null,"dlg_subject_personal":null,"iiif_manifest_url_ss":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"Conserving Georgia's Nongame Wildlife \n2017 \nFISCAL YEAR SUMMARY \n \n Gopher tortoise burrow \n \nA s part of Georgia DNR's Wildlife Resources Division, our mission at the Nongame Conservation Section is conserving the more than 95 percent of native species in the state not fished for or hunted, as well as rare plants and natural habitats. These animals and plants vary from uncommon  such as gopher tortoises and many other species that use their burrows  to common, like the ruby-throated hummingbirds and northern cardinals that visit your bird feeders. All help make our state unique. And as Georgians, all of us share in the responsibility of protecting them and the wild places they need, now and for the next generation. This summary report offers only a glimpse of our agency's work as a leader in that effort. You'll find the full report at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport. I hope both versions not only inform you but that they also encourage you to join us in working to restore and conserve wildlife across our state. Thank you, \nJon Ambrose Chief, Nongame Conservation Section \nGEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES | WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION | NONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \n \n CONSERVING WILDLIFE AND RARE PLANTS R E S T O R I N G HABITAT ENGAGING GEORGIANS MAKING A DIFFERENCE \n \n Disentangling Ruffian (DNR/NOAA permit 18786) \n \n2017 H I G H L I G H T S \nThe Nongame Conservation Section... \n \nHoliday darter \n \nLed the partner-powered Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative, with results including 122 viable populations of the keystone species surveyed and 43 permanently protected in the state. \nBegan a collaborative effort to assess frecklebelly madtoms and bridled, holiday and trispot darters, work that factored into a fall 2017 decision that bridled and holiday darters do not need federal listing but the trispot does. Documented 218 occupied bald eagle nesting territories, a state record that emphasizes the resurgence of our national bird in Georgia, where there were no known nests in 1970. \n \nDisentangled a North Atlantic right whale nicknamed Ruffian from commercial fishing gear including a 135-pound crab trap, a rescue done with fellow agencies. Overall, these imperiled whales appear on the decline: Only three mothercalf pairs were seen in winter 2016-17 off Georgia and north Florida, the only known calving grounds. \nJoined with other Wildlife Resources Division staff and partners to treat nearly 40,000 acres managed by DNR with restorative prescribed fire, while also helping fight wildfires in north Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp. \nSecured funding to help acquire what is now Alligator Creek Wildlife Management Area in Wheeler County, a 3,087-acre site that syncs with Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan  protecting habitat for priority species and providing for public recreation. \n \nConserved mountain and Coastal Plain bogs  endangered habitats home to rare plants and animals  in concert with other Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance members and the Georgia Botanical Society. \n \nReached more than 95,000 youth and adults through the regional education centers that Wildlife Resources operates with schools and others, and through events like DNR's Youth Birding Competition. \n \nInformed thousands through Georgia Wild videos, including a \"small snakes\" episode that sparked 2,370 Facebook shares and another on hummingbirds chosen Post of the Year by the Association for Conservation Information. \n \n2017 Youth Birding Competition \n \n FINANCIAL OVERVIEW \n \nIncome tax checkoff 4% ($113,606) \nDonations \u0026 other income 11% ($302,704) \n \nEarned interest 2% ($45,331) \n \nProfessional services (contracts, fees) 16% ($418,061) \n \nREVENUE \nTOTAL: $2,727,194* \n \nEXPENDITURES \nTOTAL: $2,551,788 \n \nWeekend for Wildlife* 22% ($599,142) \n \nNongame license plates 61% ($1,666,411) \n \nDoes not include federal and other grants or $477,213 in state appropriations for the Nongame Conservation Section. \n* Includes revenue from Weekend for Wildlife that will be disbursed to the Nongame Conservation Fund through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation. \n \nOperations 19% \n($469,576) \n \nPersonnel 65% \n($1,664,151) \n \nExpenditures paid through the Nongame Fund. \n \nNONGAME CONSERVATION FUND \n \nListed in millions per year \n \n12 M \n \n11 M \n \n10 M \n \nINCOME \n \nEXPENSES \n \nBALANCE* \n \n9 M \n \n8 M \n \n7 M \n \n6 M \n \n5 M \n \n4 M \n \n3 M \n \n2 M \n \n1 M \n \nFY '08 FY '09 FY '10 FY '11 FY '12 FY '13 FY '14 FY '15 FY '16 FY '17 \n*Includes revenue from Weekend for Wildlife that will be disbursed to the fund through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation. \n \nNOTEWORTHY \n \nn DNR nongame license plate revenue increased 8% over 2016, with sales of the redesigned eagle/flag tag helping offset a continuing decline in renewals. \nn For a second straight year Nongame Conservation received state funding: The $477,213 made up less than 5% of the research and conservation budget. \nn Contributions to the Nongame Conservation Fund through the state income tax checkoff \n \ndipped to $113,606, undercutting what was then a record low of $131,248 in 2016. \nn The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), Nongame Conservation's friends group, funded 16 project proposals for a combined $58,142. \nn Nongame Conservation received more than $8.9 million in federal and other grants, including $2.8 million for land acquisition and $1.3 million in State Wildlife Grants. \n \nComprehensive report and interactive guide at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport. \n \n HOW YOU CAN HELP \n \nThe Nongame Conservation Section depends largely on fundraisers, grants and contributions to conserve Georgia's nongame wildlife, rare plants and the habitats these species need. \nThree agency fundraisers provide critical support through the Georgia Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund, created by state law to support nongame conservation and habitat acquisition: \nn Sales and annual renewals of DNR's eagle and hummingbird wildlife license plates. \nn The \"Give Wildlife a Chance\" state income tax checkoff. \nn The annual Weekend for Wildlife event, www.weekendforwildlife.com. \nLicense plates provide more than half of the fund's revenue. \n \nHow can you take part in conserving wildlife? Here are six key ways: \n1. Buy or renew an eagle or hummingbird plate. Each costs only $25 more than a standard tag and up to 80% goes to conserve nongame, www.georgiawildlife.com/licenseplates. \n2. Contribute through the Wildlife Conservation Fund income tax checkoff when filing your taxes or directly year-round (details at georgiawildlife.com/donations). \n3. Volunteer with DNR (gooutdoorsgeorgia.com) or support conservation organizations, such as Nongame Conservation's friends group TERN and the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation. \n4. Turn $5 into $55 for wildlife: Buy a one-day hunt/fish license. 100% of license fees support Georgia wildlife, but purchases also return much more in federal excise taxes paid by hunters and anglers, wsfrprograms.fws.gov. \n \nFOLLOW US: \nAlso sign up for Nongame Conservation's free e-newsletter, Georgia Wild. Click the red envelope at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n5. Learn about the wildlife and native plants in your area. Check out DNR social media and georgiawildlife.com for updates and profiles. \n6. Get out and enjoy Georgia's outdoors! \n \nGEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES | WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION | NONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \nCOVER: Gopher tortoise (Kevin Stohlgren). All photos are from DNR unless noted. PHOTO CREDITS: INSIDE COVER: Assessing a manatee for tracking (Sea to Shore Alliance/USFWS permit MA37808A) | Prescribed fire at Panola Mountain \nState Park | Federally listed swamp pink in mountain bog \n \n "},{"id":"dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2016-belec-p-btext","title":"Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2016 fiscal year report","collection_id":"dlg_ggpd","collection_title":"Georgia Government Publications","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018"],"dcterms_creator":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_date":["2016"],"dcterms_description":["Report on conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife."],"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Social Circle, Ga. : Georgia. Department of Natural Resources. Wildlife Resources Division. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section--Periodicals","Wildlife conservation--Georgia--Periodicals","Natural areas--Georgia--Periodicals"],"dcterms_title":["Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2016 fiscal year report"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of Georgia. Map and Government Information Library"],"edm_is_shown_by":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2016-belec-p-btext"],"edm_is_shown_at":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2016-belec-p-btext"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["state government records","official reports"],"dcterms_extent":null,"dlg_subject_personal":null,"iiif_manifest_url_ss":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"Conserving Georgia's Nongame Wildlife \n2016 \nFISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n1 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Jon Ambrose (Linda May/DNR) \n \nA s part of Georgia DNR's Wildlife Resources Division, our mission at the Nongame Conservation Section is conserving the more than 95 percent of native species not fished for or hunted, plus rare plants and natural habitats. In fiscal year 2016, we witnessed highs and lows related to that mission. Two examples: Loggerhead sea turtles shattered the previous state record with more than 3,200 nests on Georgia beaches. That far surpassed a state recovery benchmark. The take-home: These federally listed turtles are recovering. On the flip side, the disease that has killed millions of bats in North America isn't sparing Georgia. Our surveys of white-nose syndrome have documented 92 percent fewer bats in caves and mines we check each winter. These examples illustrate one thing: Conserving wildlife is long-term work, full of highs and lows. Yet most would agree that it's also vital work. And that it is our responsibility to pass on to future generations the incredible variety of wild creatures and wild places that enrich our lives now. This annual report details our agency's efforts to research, restore and protect sea turtles, bats and the scores of other native animal and plant species considered a high priority for conservation in Georgia. I hope you find this account informative, encouraging and, yes, challenging  a challenge to become involved in and support the conservation of Georgia's nongame wildlife. \nThank you, \nJon Ambrose Chief, Nongame Conservation Section \n \nCover: Loggerhead hatchling (Haley Watkins/Sea Island) \n \nGEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES | WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION | NONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n1 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n C \n \nO \n \nN \n \nT \n \nE \n \nN \n \nT \n \nS \n \nCONSERVATION \n \nn BIRDS \nn Waterbirds n Red-cockaded Woodpeckers n Surveys and Habitat \nRestoration \nMarshbirds Grassland Birds Mountain Birds Wood Stork Nests Swallow-tailed Kite Nests and Roosts Bald Eagle Nests Golden Eagles \nn AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES \nn Sea Turtles n Sea Turtle Stranding Network \nand At-sea Recovery n Bog Turtles n Gopher Tortoises and Eastern \nIndigo Snakes n Gopher Frogs n Eastern Hellbenders n Alabama Map Turtles \nn MAMMALS \nn North Atlantic Right Whales n Georgia Marine Mammal \nStranding Network n Florida Manatees n Small Mammal Conservation \n \nn FRESHWATER AQUATIC SPECIES \nn Aquatic Conservation Initiative n Robust Redhorse \nn PLANTS AND NATURAL HABITATS \nn Sandhills Conservation n Rare Plant Surveys on Public and Private Lands n Coastal Habitat and Rare Plant Conservation n Vegetation Monitoring n Mountain and Coastal Plain Bogs n Habitat Improvement on State Lands and the \nInteragency Burn Team n Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance n Ginseng Management n Biotics Database \nn PRIVATE LANDS \nn Private Land Activities n Forestry for Wildlife Partnership n Army Compatible Use Buffer Conservation n Community Wildlife Project \nn INVASIVE SPECIES ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT \nn LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR NONGAME \n \nEDUCATION AND OUTREACH \n \nn Regional Education Centers n Youth Birding Competition n Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest \n \nn Social Media n Promoting Awareness \n \nLAND ACQUISITION AND CONSERVATION EASEMENTS \nn Sansavilla WMA n Paulding Forest WMA n Altamaha VMA n Big Hammock WMA n Chattahoochee Fall Line WMA n Flat Tub WMA n Oconee WMA n Altama Plantation WMA n Alapaha River VMA n Musgrove Plantation n Georgia Conservation Tax Credit \nProgram \nCONSERVATION PLANNING \nn State Wildlife Action Plan Revision n Regional Conservation Partnerships \nFINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATION \nn Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund \nn Nongame License Plates n Weekend for Wildlife n `Give Wildlife a Chance' State \nIncome Tax Checkoff n The Environmental Resources \nNetwork n Federal and Other Funding n Administration and Personnel \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n2 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Long-billed curlew (Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center) Adding temporary signs on Little Tybee to protect beach birds (Rene Haidt) \n \nCO N S E RVAT I O N \n \nWaterbirds \nGeorgia's barrier island beaches, coastal salt marshes and freshwater wetlands support 86 species of seabirds, shorebirds and wading birds, collectively known as waterbirds. The Waterbird Conservation Initiative includes: \nn Protecting important colonial waterbird nesting habitats. \nn Conducting surveys to determine the status and habitat needs of resident, migratory and wintering waterbirds. \nn Creating partnerships for long-term conservation of wetland-dependent bird species. \nConservation efforts include protecting and managing five sand islands for beach-nesting and migratory birds. While this is especially valuable for seabirds, resident and migratory shorebirds also benefit from protected critical nesting and resting areas free from disturbances. One of the areas, a dredge-spoil island near Brunswick, supports one of the largest colonies of nesting seabirds on the South Atlantic Coast. \nOne highlight in fiscal 2016 was the development of a Beach Stewards Program, a volunteer group committed to helping protect a least tern colony on St. Simons Island. The efforts of these volunteers helped more than 100 least tern pairs fledge many chicks at one of the state's most heavily visited beaches. \n \nOn other fronts, some small colonies of waterbirds suffered depredation and tidal flooding. However, a brown pelican colony on Satilla Marsh Island proved a success, with 522 nests, and the Brunswick dredge-spoil island had 3,149 royal terns. With assistance from the DNR's Coastal Resources Division, Nongame Conservation Section used a drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle, to photograph the royal tern colony for counts. This technology offers significant benefits over ground counts and helicopter surveys. \nNongame Conservation staff and partners also tracked seabird colonies on Ogeechee Bar, Pelican Spit, St. Simons' East Beach, Brunswick Dredge Island, Satilla Marsh Island and several rooftop colonies in the St. Marys area. Significant productivity was noted on Pelican Spit and Brunswick Dredge Island. These two sites are free from mammalian predators, a factor that often leads to high productivity. \nIn other fiscal 2016 updates, Nongame Conservation: \nn Conducted American oystercatcher trapping projects. In the winter, 69 oystercatchers were caught, banded and released through the use of cannon nets. During the breeding season, another nine adults and 18 chicks were banded on nests (this time using a bow-net). American oystercatcher productivity was down from Georgia's record year in 2015, settling \n \nto about average production. In all, 120 pairs were documented and monitored on the state's coast. \nn Partnered with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute to trap and satellite-tag an Atlantic Coast long-billed curlew, a first for this population of curlews. Very few curlews winter on the Georgia coast. The project is exploring how this diminished sub-population relates to the majority of curlews that winter in coastal Texas and Mexico. \nn Coordinated the fourth year of a major migratory shorebird survey based on a regional study by shorebird researchers with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and the U.S. Geological Survey. Repeated surveys were conducted at 20 sites during fall 2015 and spring 2016. DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff, island managers and volunteers conducted the surveys, which are helping generate more \n \nBirds \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n3 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Red-cockaded woodpecker (Martjan Lammertink/USFS) \n \naccurate population and trend data for a number of Arctic-nesting shorebirds. \nn Supported, through a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant secured by staff, a graduate student experimenting with the use of predator exclosures on Wilson's plover nests on Little St. Simons Island. This project follows work that Nongame Conservation has supported involving this species at several sites. The grant also has allowed staff to partner with Virginia Tech to help analyze survey data of Georgia's migratory and wintering oystercatchers. \nn Continued with partners a sharp-tailed sparrow banding project that is providing data on the winter distribution of two species  Nelson's and saltmarsh sparrows  and five subspecies of these little-known birds. If sea-level rise projections prove accurate, saltmarsh sparrows are considered at risk of extinction over the next 50 years. \nn Continued taking part in a pilot project surveying nesting American oystercatchers. This work is helping lay the groundwork for a rangewide nesting oystercatcher survey in the near future. To date, all rangewide surveys of this species have been winter surveys, a season in which constricted ranges and communal roosting behavior make finding and counting birds easier. DNR and partners conducted 39 surveys at nine sites representing different habitat types and nesting densities. \nn Led, with several coastal partners, the Georgia Shorebird Alliance. Involving state, federal and private groups, this organization is making significant progress in management, monitoring, research and education regarding shorebirds on the Georgia coast. \nRed-cockaded Woodpeckers \nThe red-cockaded woodpecker is the only woodpecker in the U.S. that excavates cavities in living pines. The drastic loss of mature pine forests over the past 200 years has been the primary cause of this species' decline. Suitable habitat now occurs primarily on some military bases, national forests and other public lands, although red-cockaded woodpeckers still live on many private properties. \n \nIn 1999, DNR developed the nation's first statewide red-cockaded woodpecker Habitat Conservation Plan to provide management options for private landowners. The plan includes options for mitigated incidental take and for Safe Harbor. \nSafe Harbor focuses on landowners in southwest Georgia, where plantations managed for the northern bobwhite also support a significant population of red-cockaded woodpeckers. Safe Harbor involves a landowner's commitment to manage habitat beneficially for the site's \"baseline\" number of woodpecker families, or those on the site when the agreement is made. A family group refers to red-cockaded woodpeckers occupying a cluster of cavity trees. The group can vary from a single bird to a breeding pair plus one to three helpers  typically male offspring from previous years that help feed younger siblings. In exchange for maintaining this baseline number of family groups, the landowner's responsibility does not increase if the woodpecker population increases. \nIn Georgia, 176,593 acres are enrolled in Safe Harbor management agreements covering 105 baseline groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers and supporting 38 surplus groups, or additions to those woodpecker populations. Most of these properties are in the Red Hills region near Thomasville. The Red Hills region supports the largest population of red-cockaded woodpeckers on private lands. Since the inception of Safe \n \nHarbor in 2000, this population has stabilized at about 180 groups. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section worked with Safe Harbor participants and conservation partners in fiscal year 2016 to monitor nesting and population status, band woodpeckers and install artificial nest cavities. Staff also surveyed multiple Safe Harbor properties to locate new cavity trees and update property maps. \nStaff continued to work with the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center to restore the red-cockaded woodpecker population at Ichauway Plantation in Baker County. These 29,000 acres supported a single male in 1999. In part through the translocation of 71 young birds, Ichauway Plantation now has 32 family groups. \nIn 2008, DNR acquired 8,400 acres near Bainbridge to create Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area, the first state-owned property with red-cockaded woodpeckers. Silver Lake has extensive stands of mature longleaf pine habitat. In 2013, DNR entered into an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage the woodpeckers on corps land that DNR leases for Lake Seminole Wildlife Management Area. The property is adjacent to the Silver Lake population and features quality longleaf and wiregrass habitat, some of which red-cockaded woodpeckers already use as foraging habitat. In the near future, recruitment clusters will be installed in suitable places at Lake Seminole WMA to encourage the expansion of red-cockaded woodpeckers. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n4 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n To supplement the population at Silver Lake, Nongame Conservation staff translocated six red-cockaded woodpeckers from Osceola National Forest in November 2015. The WMA's population continues to grow, with 31 family groups documented in spring 2016, five more groups than the year before. Nesting success remained strong, with 41 young fledged in 2016. Through more frequent controlled burning, installation of additional recruitment clusters and careful forest management, Silver Lake WMA eventually will sustain about 50 family groups. \nAt Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area in Appling County, Nongame Conservation staff monitored a red-cockaded woodpecker cluster and banded two nestlings. Habitat management, including timber thins and prescribed fire, is helping improve and create more woodpecker habitat. Staff will install additional woodpecker clusters at Moody Forest in the coming year. \nSurveys and Habitat Restoration \nn Marshbirds \nSecretive marshbird surveys in fiscal 2016 focused on black rail, king rail and least bittern, species that are difficult to survey due to their secretive nature and use of wetland habitats that are hard to access. Surveys in late March and April at Altamaha Wildlife Management Area near Darien detected sizable numbers of least bitterns and good numbers of king rails, as well as a few purple gallinules, another rare marshbird. However, no black rails were detected during these surveys. The black rail is an extremely secretive species that has declined precipitously over the last two decades. \nLittle is known about the population status of the Florida sandhill crane, a resident subspecies that occurs only in peninsular Florida and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. Over the past five years, helicopter surveys have been conducted annually in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from March-April to count nesting pairs of Florida sandhill cranes. Starting in 2014, a standardized grid of transects has been flown to conduct the counts. Using this approach, statistically valid population estimates can be developed. \n \nThe one flight flown this year, in late April, proved highly successful, with 19 observations of active nests or adults with young. This is almost 50 percent more than the maximum number seen during any previous flight. \nn Grassland Birds \nSurveys that were started six years ago for Henslow's sparrow continued in 2016. This species is a small songbird that nests in grasslands of the Midwest and Northeast and winters in grassy areas of pine flatwoods, pitcherplant bogs and powerline corridors in the Southeast's Coastal Plain. Henslow's sparrow numbers have declined precipitously over the last several decades due to habitat loss at breeding and wintering grounds. \nThis sparrow is a species of high conservation concern because of its small population size, greatly reduced habitats and other factors. Its secretive nature and small numbers make it difficult to survey and monitor. Little is known about its distribution and populations across most of its range, including in Georgia. \nStandardized transects at Paulks Pasture WMA in Glynn County, Townsend Wildlife Management Area near Ludowici and Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area near Baxley were surveyed three times from January through March using \n \nthe same techniques (flush netting) as the previous five years. Numbers captured rebounded from a low of only 33 birds in 2015 to a new record of 90 birds in fiscal year 2016. An average of 65 birds per year have been captured and banded since this effort began. \nThe significant rebound in the number captured this year compared to 2015 highlights the fact that there can be a great deal of inter-annual variation in populations of this species, as well as shifts in use of wintering sites. Two transects at Paulks Pasture that usually have the most Henslow's had very few birds in 2016, while a few other transects at the WMA had two to three times as many as in past years. Several birds banded in the previous two seasons were recaptured. \nSurveys will continue at Paulks Pasture, Townsend and Moody Forest to track long-term population trends. Other sites with suitable habitat will be surveyed for new populations. \nThe nest box program for southeastern American kestrel continues with marginal success. Nest box use was up slightly in 2016 over 2015 and 2014. However, five clutches were lost to predation early in the season. About 40 unused boxes were removed or relocated. Nongame Conservation is working with a regional power distribution company to erect 30 boxes high on \n \nDNR's Ashley Harrington removes a young kestrel for banding (Josiah Lavender/DNR) \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n5 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n the company's transmission line towers. The hope is these more elevated nesting sites will be less susceptible to predation. \nOn a positive note, staff recorded the first successful kestrel nest on the newly acquired Chattahoochee Fall Line Wildlife Management Area near Geneva, and in a site the agency's habitat models indicated was good nesting habitat. Nesting kestrels  the subspecies hasn't been determined  also have been documented near a native grass restoration site at Panola Mountain State Park near Stockbridge. Those birds were using restored grassland at the park. \nBesides installing the additional boxes on power lines, upcoming work will include a rerun of nesting habitat models. The addition of three more years of survey data, including numerous new box placements suggested by the analysis, will help refine these models. Nongame Conservation also is cooperating with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on a genetic analysis project to investigate the subspecies status of Georgia populations. \nNative grass plantings were completed at Panola Mountain State Park. This 10-year effort restored more than 100 acres of Indian grass. While this aspect of the project is done, other work remains. For at least a few more years, exotic weeds will need to be controlled on the site as the grasses thicken and become more firmly established. Native forbs important for pollinators and other wildlife will be planted in the restored area, and rare species such as Michaux's sumac will be planted in these habitats. Canebrakes along the South River adjoining the native grass area are being restored by dozens of volunteers, and about 80 acres of adjoining forest is slated for restoration to a natural woodland. \nNative grass restoration is being done at other sites as well. This includes planting about 40 additional acres on Joe Kurz Wildlife Management Area near Woodbury in coordination with a new dove field and other habitat work on adjoining land; about 30 acres on Chattahoochee Bend State Park near Newnan; about 120 additional acres on Sweetwater Creek State Park near Lithia Springs; and, about 70 acres on Flat Creek Public Fishing Area in Houston County, all in coordination with DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Fisheries and Game Management sections. \n \nYoung wood storks (DNR) \n \nn Mountain Birds \nOn Brawley Mountain in northeast Georgia's Fannin County, habitat restoration was completed for the only remaining population of golden-winged warblers in the state. Brawley Mountain was burned with the help of Nongame Conservation's west-central Georgia fire crew in spring 2016 to enhance the habitat further. (An adjoining unit was burned in spring 2015.) However, Georgia's golden-winged warbler population has faltered. Biologists detected a lone male in 2013, no birds in 2014, one male in 2015 and two males in 2016. Whether this population can recover is in doubt. \nGeorgia is not alone, however: Other states have lost populations of this species. The goldenwinged warbler is in steep decline throughout almost all of its historic range. Despite the gloomy outlook, the Brawley Mountain project has yielded some promising results. The area has been restored to a montane oak woodland featuring especially high bird diversity, including many woodland and early successional bird species. The project site also has been invaluable as an outdoor classroom. Many field trips led by DNR and U.S. Forest Service staff have touted Brawley Mountain as a successful example of woodland restoration in the Southern Blue Ridge. \nOn a brighter note, for the second consecutive year a pair of peregrine falcons nested in a \n \nnatural setting at Tallulah Gorge State Park. In 2015, the first time a wild peregrine nest had been documented in Georgia in 80 years, this pair produced two fledglings. In spring 2016, it appeared that at least one nestling, or eyas, hatched, but it was not clear if it fledged. The nest site selected by the parents could not be seen, and observations of the eyas were rare. The northeast Georgia park temporarily banned rock climbing in the area to protect the nest. \nAs for peregrine falcon activity in Atlanta, mating was observed at the usual location on the SunTrust Plaza Tower, but the birds abandoned the site before laying eggs. A falcon pair was seen frequenting a high-rise in the Buckhead area in April, but no nest was confirmed. In early summer two sightings of a juvenile falcon with an adult pair were reported; one was seen at SunTrust. It is unclear if these were two different juveniles or two sightings of the same bird. \nOf particular note, a lone peregrine was seen at Sprewell Bluff Wildlife Management Area in May 2016, and two more were seen in the same area that September. Staff and birders will keep close watch on this site to see if perhaps a second \"wild nest\" might appear in coming years. \nn Wood Stork Nests \nWood storks were listed as endangered in 1984 following dramatic declines in breeding colonies \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n6 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n in southern Florida. Wood stork nests were first documented in Georgia in 1965. By the 1980s, the birds were nesting here in increasing numbers. \nGeorgia now supports more than 20 percent of the U.S. nesting population, which is about 9,500 breeding pairs. The recovery plan for the wood stork in Georgia includes monitoring reproductive success of nesting colonies and identifying potential threats. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section conducts aerial surveys each spring to find and monitor nesting colonies. Stork nesting effort  the number of pairs that attempt to reproduce  fluctuates annually. Calendar year 2014 was a record nesting season for wood storks in Georgia, with 2,932 nests in 22 colonies. Water levels were favorable for both nesting and foraging, and the colonies monitored for productivity had high nest success. A new small colony was also discovered in Brooks County. \nIn 2016, 2,310 stork nests were documented in 22 colonies across the Coastal Plain. While lower than the record counts in 2014, the 2016 totals fit within the trend of increasing nesting in Georgia. Productivity monitoring showed that almost all active colonies fledged young. \nMore than 75 percent of all wood stork rookeries in Georgia are on private land. Continuing the success of conservation efforts for this species depends on landowners' willingness to ensure the protection of viable freshwater-wetland nesting sites. \nn Swallow-tailed Kite Nests and Roosts \nThe swallow-tailed kite has suffered a significant range reduction since the 1880s when it bred in 21 states. These elegant raptors are now found in seven Southeastern states, where they nest in bottomland forests along some large rivers. Most nests in Georgia are on private land, particularly industrial timberlands. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section's kite project had two main focuses in 2016: encourage the public to report sightings by posting flyers at boat ramps on the periphery of the kites' known range, and revisit core nesting areas in the lower Coastal Plain. Staff also emphasized surveying areas that might be acquired or otherwise \n \nBald eagle (Jerry Turner) \n \nprotected. Many of these were along the Satilla River. \nSigns were posted upriver of known swallow-tailed kite habitat in six drainages. With newly confirmed nesting areas, the known breeding range was expanded 62 kilometers, or more than 38 miles, up \n \nthe Ocmulgee River and another 32 kilometers, or nearly 20 miles, on the Savannah River. Thirty-four nests were found during surveys, and another five areas likely had nests based on kite behavior, though nests were not spotted. Kites used several sites that had been inactive for 10-13 years, indicating the importance of long-term protection of known nesting sites, even if kites are not nesting there in some years. \nOverall, Nongame Conservation efforts include finding and monitoring nests, advising the public about reporting sightings, protecting nests from predators where possible, working with private landowners to ensure habitat viability, supporting habitat management on protected lands where kites nest and searching for previously radiotagged kites. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n7 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n An estimated 150-200 pairs of swallow-tailed kites nest in Georgia each year. Most nests are on the lower stretches of the Satilla and Altamaha rivers, but nests are also scattered throughout other south Georgia river drainages that feed into the Atlantic  such as the Savannah, Ogeechee and St. Marys  and almost all rivers that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, including the Suwannee, Alapaha, Aucilla, Flint, Little Ochlockonee and Withlacoochee. While densities are highest in the lower stretches of these rivers, kites nest well into the upper Coastal Plain on the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers. \nKite numbers appear stable in Georgia, yet little recolonization of the species' historic range has been observed. About two-thirds of confirmed and probable kite breeding areas are on private land. The remaining third are on protected lands such as wildlife management areas, national wildlife refuges and military bases. \nn Bald Eagle Nests \nOnce fairly common in Georgia, the bald eagle declined in abundance during the mid-20th century and no longer was nesting in the state by the early 1970s. But bald eagle populations rebounded here and elsewhere, helped by a ban on the use of DDT in the U.S. in 1972, habitat improvements following enactment of the federal Clean Water and Clean Air acts, protection through the Endangered Species Act, increased public awareness, and the restoration of local populations through release programs. \n \nFollowing federal de-listing in 2007, primary legal protection for eagles comes under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Georgia's ongoing conservation efforts include monitoring all known eagle nests, working with landowners to protect nest sites from disturbance, public education programs about eagle conservation and ecology, and rehabilitation of injured eagles. \nDuring the 2016 nesting season, the Nongame Conservation Section documented 201 occupied nesting territories. Of these, 149 were successful, fledging 240 eaglets. This marked the second straight year the number of occupied nesting territories in Georgia exceeded 200. There were 210 in 2015. \nBy comparison, there were 139 known nesting territories in Georgia in 2010, 55 in 2000, nine in 1990 and only one in 1980. Biologists continued to work with landowners to conserve nesting areas, including providing assistance with federal incidental take permits for development projects that might infringe on recommended buffer zones. \nNongame Conservation also continued working with partners at the University of Georgia's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the American Eagle Foundation to study avian vacuolar myelinopathy. Often referred to as AVM, this mysterious disease has caused significant mortality in American coots and bald eagles. The disease apparently is caused by an unidentified toxin produced by a cyanobacterium that grows on the surfaces of submerged plants, especially hydrilla, in some sites in middle Georgia and in a few other Southeastern states. \nJ. Strom Thurmond Reservoir, also called Clarks Hill Lake, on the Savannah River north of Augusta has been plagued with the disease since at least the late 1990s. The first AVM-killed eagle was found at this reservoir in 1998. There has been a dramatic decline in eagle nesting territories there, from a high of eight or nine in the 1990s to two or three in recent years. Fall surveys indicate that numerous wintering eagles arrive at Thurmond in October and November, probably drawn to the large numbers of coots attracted by the reservoir's extensive hydrilla beds. However, \n \nthe number of eagles dwindles by January, with the only remaining eagles associated with a few foraging territories on the northern end of the lake, farther away from the hydrilla. \nAs of fiscal 2016, satellite telemetry devices have been placed on five eaglets from three nests on the northern part of Thurmond Reservoir. In fall 2015, one of the males was shot in Pennsylvania and the other shed its transmitter. The two males outfitted with transmitters in April 2016 migrated north in June. One of them flew to the Hudson Bay area; the other spent the summer in Pennsylvania and Ohio feeding along the Great Lakes and rivers. The three remaining birds in this study will be tracked through the coming fall to determine AVM impacts. \nn Golden Eagles \nThe Nongame Conservation Section is part of a regional project exploring migration routes and habitat use of golden eagles in the eastern U.S. Started in 2006 and first aimed at exploring threats wind turbine sites pose to golden eagles, the research by Appalachian Eagles has expanded from Pennsylvania and West Virginia to as far south as Alabama as scientists learned that the eagles don't always migrate to and from Canada along Appalachian Mountain ridges. Some fly through the Midwest, according to project leader Dr. Tricia Miller of West Virginia University. \nTo fill in details about the pathways and the population's distribution, scores of camera stations are used to document golden eagles, the continent's largest bird of prey. Researchers also track eagles fitted with transmitters that post almost real-time updates to cell towers. \nA grant from The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), friends group of Nongame Conservation, was used to buy two transmitters. Both have been fitted on golden eagles trapped and released at Devil's Backbone Hunting Club, a project partner near Sprewell Bluff Wildlife Management Area in middle Georgia. \nThe first bird was trapped in February 2015, the second in February 2016. One has migrated to and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence area in Quebec, while the other has been tracked to the upper Midwest and Lake Superior. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n8 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Dawn nesting loggerhead (DNR) \n \nSea Turtles \nLoggerhead sea turtles are found in Georgia's coastal waters year-round and nest on all barrier island beaches. In accordance with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recovery plan for this species, DNR management efforts focus on surveying and protecting loggerhead nests and managing nesting beach habitat. The Nongame Conservation Section coordinates the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative, a group of volunteers, researchers and government employees that conduct nest protection and management activities on Georgia beaches. In addition, Nongame Conservation is responsible for managing the nesting projects on the state-owned islands of Sapelo and Ossabaw, including hiring and supervising seasonal technicians. \nNest management strategies such as relocating nests, installing protective screens and removing predators help ensure high nesting success. Since comprehensive surveys began in 1989, loggerhead nesting has been highly variable, with an average of 1,300 nests per year. In 2016, more than 3,200 loggerhead nests were documented on Georgia beaches, a record high for the 28 years of surveys. \n \nLOGGERHEAD NESTING IN GEORGIA Annual nest totals since comprehensive surveys began in 1989. \n3,400 3,200 3,000 2,800 2,600 2,400 2,200 2,000 1,800 1,600 1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 \n0 '89 '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 '16 \n \nWhile long-term nesting data marked a significant decline in nesting from the mid-1960s through the early '90s, more recent data shows an increasing trend of approximately 3 percent per year. The federal recovery plan includes demographic criteria that must be met before loggerheads could be considered recovered in Georgia. In 2016, loggerheads reached an important milestone \n \nby surpassing Georgia's recovery goal of an increasing trend in nesting of 2 percent annually, equaling more than 2,800 nests. Although several other recovery criteria must be met before federal agencies will consider a change in status for loggerheads, reaching the nesting recovery goal is a key step in the process of population recovery. Other conservation activities conducted \n \nAmphibians and Reptiles \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n9 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n by Nongame Conservation in fiscal year 2016 included reviewing development plans for offshore oil and gas development, conducting lighting surveys on developed nesting beaches, and monitoring the effects of harbor dredging projects on sea turtles. \nTo develop a comprehensive understanding of the number and relatedness of loggerheads nesting on Georgia beaches, DNR and the University of Georgia have developed a catalog of unique genetic profiles for Georgia's nesting female turtles. Drs. Joe Nairn and Brian Shamblin, working with DNR staff, have identified an average of 553 loggerhead females using the Georgia coast annually from 2008-2015, with a range of 347-733 turtles per year. \nOne of the significant findings of this study is that at least 80 mother/daughter pairs nest on Georgia's barrier beaches. Because it takes at least 30 years for a loggerhead to become sexually mature and begin nesting, the mothers are at least 60 years old, nesting alongside their 30-year-old daughters. \nSea Turtle Stranding Network and At-sea Recovery \nThe Nongame Conservation Section monitors sea turtle mortality through the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network. Systematic patrols of barrier island beaches provide information on the number and species of dead turtles that wash up on the Georgia coast. When possible, necropsies of stranded turtles are conducted to evaluate causes of mortality. Periodic aerial surveys are flown to \n \nDNR's Thomas Floyd checking bog turtle live-trap (Josiah Lavender/DNR) DNR and National Park Service staff with sea turtle cooperator Carol Ruckdeschel on Cumberland (DNR) \n \ndetermine distribution and abundance of marine turtles during migration. Sea turtle strandings are the primary index of threats to sea turtles in Georgia's coastal waters. \nIn fiscal 2016, 92 dead or injured turtles were documented, below the 27-year average of 191 strandings per year. Recent patterns in strandings strongly correlate with the shrimp trawling effort off Georgia's coast, suggesting that commercial fishing activity is a significant source of mortality for sea turtles. \nResults from necropsy examinations indicate that boat collisions and commercial fishery mortality are significant sources of mortality. They accounted \n \nfor, respectively, 19 and 30 percent of strandings in fiscal year 2016. \nBog Turtles \nThe federally threatened bog turtle, North America's smallest turtle species, inhabits Georgia mountain bogs generally found along slow-flowing spring creeks and seepages in low mountain valleys. \nDuring the spring and summer of 2016, Nongame Conservation Section staff continued survey efforts, deploying 168 traps in eight sites  three with known bog turtle occurrences and five potentially suitable sites. The latter were identified through use of a species distribution model as well as an extensive review of aerial photography using Geographic Information Systems software. Over the last three years, more than 210 mountain wetland sites have been ground-truthed and evaluated in the field to identify sites targeted for surveys. \nThe 2016 survey effort totaled more than 8,500 trap days. While no new populations were found, 21 captures and releases of 16 different turtles were recorded at the three sites with known populations, including seven turtles that had not been caught before. Staff also documented recruitment and recent reproduction in a population discovered in 2014 with the capture of a 4-year-old juvenile bog turtle, suggesting longterm viability for this population. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n10 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Gopher Tortoises and Eastern Indigo Snakes \nBoth the gopher tortoise  Georgia's state reptile  and the eastern indigo snake, which is federally listed as threatened, are priority species in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. \nDuring fiscal 2016, the Nongame Conservation Section tortoise survey crew completed line-transect distance surveys on nine sites, sampling aimed at estimating tortoise density and abundance. Sites included Altama Plantation Wildlife Management Area in Glynn County, Flint River Wildlife Management Area in Dooly County, the Fort Perry Tract of Chattahoochee Fall Line Wildlife Management Area near Geneva, several Nature Conservancy properties near Fort Benning, private lands in Marion County, the newly acquired Altamaha \"Connector\" or BBT Tract in Altamaha Wildlife Management Area near Darien, industrial timberlands in Brantley and Camden counties, and a large private tract in Atkinson County. Highlights included a tortoise population topping 500 at Alapaha River Ranch, a new gopher frog site discovered at a Nature Conservancy tract and indigo snakes at both the Cox Tract at Altamaha WMA and the Atkinson County tract. \nNongame Conservation began doing line-transect distance sampling for gopher tortoises in 2007. \n \nDNR's Matthew Stoddard scoping gopher tortoise burrow (DNR) \n \nHead-started (lower) and hatchling gopher tortoises released at Yuchi (Dan Quinn/SREL) \n \nSurveys have been completed on 81 sites, public and private, statewide. Survey results are incorporated into conservation strategies aimed at precluding the need to federally list the tortoise under the Endangered Species Act. \nAt Yuchi Wildlife Management Area near Waynesboro, a site with extensive suitable habitat but a small, remnant population of gopher tortoises, Nongame Conservation has been augmenting the population with adult tortoises displaced by development and with juveniles hatched and head-started from eggs collected at stable populations. In fiscal 2016, 81 juvenile tortoises were released at Yuchi. Radio transmitters were attached to a subset of the group. University of Georgia researchers are tracking the free-ranging juveniles to evaluate growth, habitat use, home range and survivorship. Additional nests at stable sites were secured for egg collection and captive rearing of hatchlings for a spring 2017 release. \nSince 2011, 273 gopher tortoises have been released at Yuchi to complement the natural population, previously estimated at 44 tortoises. These efforts will ensure the Yuchi population exceeds minimum standards developed by The Gopher Tortoise Council \n \nand the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that define a long-term viable population. \nIn another study funded and supported by Nongame Conservation, The Orianne Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving rare reptiles and amphibians, continued occupancy monitoring of imperiled eastern indigo snake habitat to determine population trends. In southern Georgia, indigos overwinter in xeric sandhill habitats, where they den in the burrows of gopher tortoises. The study is focused on the Altamaha River basin, considered a population stronghold for eastern indigos. \nOrianne staff surveyed 12 sandhill sites on public and private lands, detecting indigos at 17 percent. The degree of detections in 2016 declined significantly from the previous four years where stability in the populations was observed. However, the sites sampled in 2016 had not been surveyed in previous years and likely are not comparable. In addition, Nongame Conservation microchipped five indigo snakes at the new Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area in Irwin County. This property and others in the Alapaha and Satilla River basins will be incorporated into future occupancy monitoring for indigos. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n11 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Eastern hellbender (Thomas Floyd/DNR) \n \nGopher Frogs \nState listed as rare, gopher frogs depend on intact sandhill habitats, where adults survive within the burrows of their namesake host, the gopher tortoise. However, these frogs also require nearby fishless wetlands where they breed and their tadpoles develop. Because of widespread upland and wetland habitat alteration throughout their range, gopher frogs are now limited to fewer than 10 sites in Georgia. \nIn 2007, the Nongame Conservation Section began a project that involved collecting gopher frog eggs from healthy populations, rearing them to late-stage tadpoles or post-metamorphic froglets and releasing them at an unoccupied but high-quality protected site at Williams Bluffs Preserve in Early County, which is within the species' historical range. The goal: Establish a self-sustaining breeding population of gopher frogs, a rangewide first for this imperiled amphibian. \nThroughout the Fall Line sandhills region of the Southeast, biologists reported scant breeding by gopher frogs during the 2016 season. This observation also was the case in Georgia, where only a few egg masses were found at donor populations despite extensive searches. Portions from two egg masses were collected and raised, resulting in the release of 959 froglets at Williams Bluffs. Radio transmitters were attached to 15 of the metamorphs, and the froglets were followed for two weeks. One individual moved 752 meters, or nearly 2,500 feet, from the release wetland before settling down in a gopher tortoise burrow. Only one mortality of a tracked froglet was observed. While tracking, researchers encountered a frog from last year's release in a tortoise burrow. That frog had more than doubled in size. \nEastern Hellbenders \nThe state-protected eastern hellbender, North America's largest salamander, inhabits clear cold-water streams in the north Georgia mountains. \nDuring summer 2016, Nongame Conservation Section staff surveyed for hellbenders in 23 stream stretches in 18 streams using conventional techniques  snorkeling and \n \nflipping rocks. Researchers caught and released 80 hellbenders, weighing, measuring, photographing and marking each with a Passive Integrated Transponder, or PIT, tag for future identification. More than 500 hellbenders have been captured since the 2011 start of a longterm monitoring effort in Georgia. \nAs part of this project, 17 of the 24 stream stretches that were first surveyed in 2013 were re-surveyed as part of three-year cycle. This sampling schedule is building a long-term dataset, providing data for estimating hellbender numbers and allowing for periodic assessment of stream habitat conditions and hellbender population health. A healthy hellbender population is an indication of good water quality and a healthy environment. PIT tag scans showed that five hellbenders caught in fiscal 2016 also had been caught in 2013. \nGenetic tissue samples were collected from 72 hellbenders for the Georgia Museum of Natural History genetic archive collection and for use in other genetics research. Tissue samples also will be examined for evidence of Chytrid fungus (Bd), salamander chytrid disease (Bsal) and Ranavirus. Results from the analysis are contributing to a rangewide assessment of the species' health. Abundance, size and mass data are used to determine the health of hellbender populations. \nTen artificial hellbender nest boxes were installed in a stretch of one Georgia stream as a pilot study for a larger effort that will be conducted with conservation partners in North Carolina and Tennessee over the next few years. \n \nThis project is part of conservation efforts implemented through Competitive State Wildlife Grant funds provided to five state wildlife agencies in 2016 for hellbender conservation and research. The nest boxes augment shelter and nesting habitat where hellbender populations persist but where these components of a natural streambed are limited due to habitat degradation. The boxes also allow for surveying and monitoring and serve as a technique to increase hellbender recruitment. \nAlabama Map Turtles \nThe Alabama map turtle, found only in Mobile Bay drainages, is state listed in Georgia as rare and has been petitioned for federal listing as threatened. Because this species has been poorly studied in Georgia and in the Coosa River especially, the Nongame Conservation Section conducted a survey to determine the species' status in the Coosa to help inform the federal listing decision. \nThe Alabama map turtle was the third most abundantly observed turtle species during the survey, preceded only by the slider and river cooter. All size and age classes of Alabama map turtles were observed. The species' abundance and age distribution suggest a healthy, reproductive population in the Georgia portion of this river. \nIt is unlikely that federal listing of the Alabama map turtle is warranted based on the results of this study and a 2003 survey of inhabited Alabama streams. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n12 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n North Atlantic right whale and calf (Sea to Shore Alliance, NOAA permit 15488) \n \nNorth Atlantic Right Whales \nThe North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world. Commercial whaling in the late 1800s nearly drove the species to extinction. Since whaling was banned in 1935, the population's recovery has been slowed by mortality from ship collisions and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. \nEach winter pregnant right whales and small numbers of nonbreeding whales migrate from waters off the northeastern U.S. and Canada to calving grounds along the coast of Georgia and northeastern Florida. As of 2012, the most recent year of data available, the population numbered at least 476 whales and was increasing at a rate of 2.8 percent a year. Despite an increasing trend, however, there are still fewer than 100 breeding females. \nThe DNR collaborates with National Oceanic Atmospheric and Administration Fisheries, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Sea to Shore Alliance and others to conserve North Atlantic right whales in the Southeastern U.S. Management actions focus on reducing humanrelated mortality, monitoring the whale population and protecting right whale habitat. From December through March, aerial surveys are flown along the \n \nGeorgia and northeast Florida coast to document calf production, collect photo-identification data and warn ships about whale locations. At the same time, boat surveys are conducted to collect photoidentification data and genetics samples and to document injured and entangled right whales. \nDuring the 2015-2016 calving season, survey teams documented 34 individual right whales, including 14 calves. Annual calf counts have averaged 14 calves per year over the past five years, compared to 23 calves per year during the previous 10-year period. It remains to be seen whether this dip in calving will negatively affect population growth trends. No entangled or dead right whales were documented during the 2015-2016 season. \nIn January 2016, the Nongame Conservation Section completed the second year of a four-year project to develop and deploy minimally invasive, implantable satellite tags on North Atlantic right whales. The work is being led by researchers at the Alaska SeaLife Center and University of Alaska Fairbanks, with help from DNR, Florida Fish and Wildlife, Sea to Shore Alliance and the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Seven \n \ntags have been deployed. The longest deployment lasted 50 days and tracked one juvenile whale's migration more than 1,000 miles from Florida to Massachusetts. \nNongame Conservation also works to protect right whales and their habitat through involvement in the Right Whale Southeast Implementation Team, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team and the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. The agency receives considerable support from DNR's Coastal Resources and Law Enforcement divisions in education and outreach, policy efforts, and enforcement of federal right whale protections. (Also see: Law Enforcement for Nongame.) Most funding for DNR right whale conservation efforts is provided through NOAA Fisheries grants. The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), the friends group of Nongame Conservation, is helping fund part of the satellite tagging project. \n \nMammals \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n13 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network \nThe Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network was created in 1989 to coordinate marine mammal stranding response in the state. The Nongame Conservation Section coordinates the Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network with funding from NOAA Fisheries and help from other agencies and private organizations. \nNetwork goals include investigating human impacts on marine mammals, monitoring population health, providing rapid and humane response to live stranded marine mammals, contributing to marine mammal research, and educating the public about marine mammal conservation. \nFrom 2000 to 2015, the network documented an average of 33 stranded dolphins and whales a year. Bottlenose dolphins were the most commonly stranded species, making up 78 percent of strandings, followed by pygmy and dwarf sperm whales (13 percent combined). Other species that have stranded include Atlantic spotted dolphins, rough-toothed dolphins, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, Risso's dolphins, pygmy killer whales, false killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, humpback whales, North Atlantic right whales and beaked whales. \nThe network documented 40 strandings in calendar year 2015  34 bottlenose dolphins, two pygmy sperm whales, one short-finned pilot whale, one Atlantic spotted dolphin and one dolphin of undetermined species. Five human-related bottlenose dolphin strandings were documented: Two live dolphins were disentangled from commercial blue crab pots, two dolphin carcasses showed evidence of rope entanglements and one dolphin died apparently from a boat strike. \nFlorida Manatees \nEndangered Florida manatees inhabit tidal rivers, estuaries and near-shore ocean waters throughout coastal Georgia during the warm months of the year. The Florida manatee population numbers at least 6,000, with approximately half of the population found along Florida's Gulf Coast and the remainder along the Atlantic Coast and the St. Johns River. Each spring and summer an unknown \n \nTagged manatee TGA016 feeding with other manatees (DNR, USFWS permit MA37808A-0) \n \nnumber migrate into Georgia, returning to Florida in fall as water temperatures cool. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section cooperates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Navy and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to conserve manatees in Georgia. Management focuses on reducing human-related mortality and protecting habitat. Recovery tasks include documenting causes of mortality and injury, rescuing injured and out-of-habitat manatees, monitoring distribution and habitat use, educating boaters about watercraft impacts, and reviewing permits and policies that may impact manatees and their habitat. \nSixty manatee mortalities were documented in Georgia waters from 2000 to 2014. Of those, 28 percent were due to watercraft collisions and 20 percent were from cold stress. Less common causes of mortality included drowning in shrimp nets, gunshot and entrapment. Five manatee carcasses were found in Georgia during calendar year 2015. Three died from cold stress. The cause of death for the other two could not be determined. \nNongame Conservation began a multiyear manatee satellite-tagging project in 2015 in cooperation with the Navy, Sea to Shore Alliance, Georgia Aquarium and others. The primary objective is studying fine-scale movement of manatees around Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay to assess watercraft collision risks. Other objectives include assessing migratory behavior and identifying travel corridors. \nFive manatees were captured at Cumberland Island in June 2015 and fitted with high-accuracy, GPS-linked satellite transmitters. The manatees ranged as far as Sapelo Island to the north \n \nand Cape Canaveral, Florida, to the south. One manatee was still tagged as of Jan. 1, 2016. The other four manatees were tracked for an average of 88 days, with the days each was tracked varying from 57 to 132. \nAnother five manatees were caught, fitted with transmitters and released in May 2016. \nSmall Mammal Conservation \nA grant for bat and small mammal conservation originally secured by the Nongame Conservation Section in 2012 continued to support work on these species in Georgia. \nThe DNR, the Georgia Department of Transportation and the University of Georgia started a cooperative project in fiscal year 2014 designed to learn more about the range of cave-dwelling bats in Georgia, with a focus on Indiana and northern long-eared bats. Since the Department of Transportation, or DOT, is required under the Endangered Species Act to ensure projects do not jeopardize the existence of bat species such as Indiana and northern longeared bats, determining the accurate range and habitat specifics of myotis bats can assist DOT with project predictability, balancing federal funding by congressional district and possibly lowering project planning and construction costs. \nIn 2016, a UGA graduate student and technicians continued capturing and tracking the target species across the potential range as defined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Simultaneously, Nongame Conservation biologists and DOT contractors completed project-based surveys in the same area. During the first two years of this \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n14 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n project, 14 northern long-eared bats were captured and tracked to roost trees in north Georgia. Results from plots around these roost trees and landscapelevel analysis are expected to yield information about roost-site preferences that can better define potential habitat. If sufficient netting efforts and call analysis across an area do not yield targeted species, those areas might be removed from range maps the Fish and Wildlife Service maintains, reducing DOT's burden to do bat surveys for projects in those areas. \nNongame Conservation, the Fish and Wildlife Service and DOT staff also continued surveying for bats at bridges in fiscal 2016. Nongame Conservation refined a survey form and secured funding to develop a mobile version. The surveys of occupied bridges, continued through the winter, revealed a surprising number of bridges with bats year-round. DOT is working with DNR and the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect these populations during bridge maintenance, repairs and replacement projects. \nNongame Conservation biologists continued a project with UGA to inventory bats at several National Park Service sites in 2016. Biologists and technicians searched for roosts, set mist nets and conducted stationary Anabat surveys at Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in metro Atlanta and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield near Kennesaw. The survey crews also established North American bat sampling grids at Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon and Cumberland Island National Seashore. \n \nNongame Conservation biologists remain active in the Georgia Bat Working Group and helped plan and hold the third annual Georgia Bat Blitz. For the event at Cloudland Canyon State Park near Trenton, teams spent three nights netting in and around the park, on the Chattahoochee National Forest and at Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area. More than 50 people attended the blitz. DNR staff led a public bat program at the park. Blitz participants caught more than 130 bats of seven species, providing key data in an area where few summer surveys had been done. \nThe statewide Anabat survey continued in 2016. The project used volunteers to drive more than 30 transects across the state, collecting bat calls. Most routes were completed once or twice. In 2016, Nongame Conservation also began taking part in the North American Bat Monitoring Project, which includes stationary and mobile acoustic sampling in pre-selected grid cells across the continent. Biologists in Georgia have selected sites and will add to them over the next several years. \nResearchers used software and visual identification to analyze Anabat survey calls collected through 2013. Through such analysis, biologists are able to determine most bat species and numbers per route. The routes will be run over multiple years to build a long-term set of call data for determining bat population trends across the state. An interactive map of identified bat calls was completed for 2014 and 2015 and posted online. \nA citizen-scientist program launched in 2014 to monitor summer bat maternity roosts in the \n \nSwabbing a bat for testing (Katrina Morris/DNR) \n \nstate also was continued. This outreach encourages the public to count bats at bat houses, barns and other roosts twice each summer. The effort mirrors programs in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and allows the public to help with long-term monitoring of wildlife populations. \nA federal grant initiated in 2015 helped fund whitenose syndrome work in Georgia. As of winter 2016, Nongame Conservation had confirmed white-nose syndrome, or WNS, in 11 Georgia counties. Biologists also documented a 92 percent decline in populations at known hibernacula in north Georgia. In the Northeastern U.S., caves infected with white-nose syndrome have suffered mortality rates as high as 95-99 percent after a few years of infection. After several years of post-WNS surveys, it appears that sites in Georgia are following those trends. \nAccording to Fish and Wildlife Service estimates, this devastating disease has killed more than 5.7 million bats and been documented in 29 states and five Canadian provinces as of the close of fiscal 2016. Nongame Conservation will continue to monitor sites in winter to document the disease's spread and related mortality. Biologists also are working with the public and the caving community to promote awareness of white-nose and support for bat conservation. \nBiologists and seasonal staff began working on a spotted skunk camera-trapping project in fiscal 2016. University of Georgia and Clemson University staff met with DNR biologists to plan surveys in northeast Georgia. Skunks had been reported in that region and in nearby areas of South Carolina. Surveys revealed a number of new sites with skunk activity. This early work will help biologists determine where to focus efforts to learn more about this secretive and possibly rare high-priority species in Georgia. \nNongame Conservation staff also attended a Southeastern pocket gopher workshop at the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway, in southwestern Georgia. The workshop, attended by researchers involved in a gopher project in Georgia, Florida and Alabama, focused on providing a forum to share information about trapping techniques and research plans. It also allowed students to connect with DNR staff and gather information about the species' status in the state. Nongame Conservation will continue to help provide technical assistance on the project, as well as field assistance when needed. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n15 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Endangered shinyrayed pocketbook (Jason Wisniewski/DNR) \n \nAquatic Conservation Initiative \nGeorgia is one of the richest states in aquatic biodiversity, ranking among the top five in the number of native species of mussels (127 species), fishes (265) and crayfishes (70). Unfortunately, Georgia also ranks among the top states in imperiled aquatic species. A recent assessment recognized 152 imperiled aquatic species in Georgia, more than half of which have a significant portion of their global range within the state's boundaries. Approximately 22 percent of Georgia's freshwater fishes, 28 percent of mollusks and 36 percent of crayfishes are ranked as imperiled or critically imperiled in the state. Yet even these numbers understate the problem because they don't include an additional 48 species, most of them mollusks, considered historic or extirpated from Georgia. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section launched the Aquatic Conservation Initiative in 1998 to determine the status of Georgia's aquatic fauna and develop conservation plans for declining species. This effort is aimed primarily at identifying important populations of rare aquatic species through surveys and research, incorporating species location and status information into the DNR database, and assisting with conservation planning for rare aquatic species. \n \nNongame Conservation conducts hundreds of surveys around the state each year, documenting or monitoring important populations of highpriority aquatic species. In fiscal 2016, survey and monitoring efforts focused on sicklefin redhorse, blackbanded sunfish and mussel communities in the lower Flint and Coosa river systems. \nStaff continued annual monitoring of Etowah and Cherokee darters in Raccoon Creek in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy and Kennesaw State University. The purpose is to assess the effectiveness of stream channel and riparian restoration in a reach of the creek affected by a power line right of way and also to monitor longterm population dynamics of these two federally protected species. A record 43 Etowah darters were captured at one site in calendar year 2015, more than double the highest catch-per-unit effort documented from 2009-2014. Overall, monitoring has documented large annual fluctuations in catch rates for both species, fluctuations that likely correspond to observed variation in stream flow levels. \nPartnering with Young Harris College, staff completed fyke net sampling for sicklefin redhorse in Brasstown Creek. The fyke, which uses wing nets to direct migrating fishes into a central net chamber, captured 61 adult sicklefin redhorse in \n \nFreshwater \n \nthree days. Fish were weighed, measured, marked with a uniquely numbered tag and released in their direction of travel. \nThe sicklefin redhorse is a state-endangered species, and until fall 2016 it was a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Along with other partners, DNR entered into a Candidate Conservation Agreement to conserve this species in February 2016. Paving the way for expanded monitoring and conservation efforts over the next 10 years, the agreement also was cited as a factor in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's announcement in October 2016 that the sicklefin redhorse did not need protection as a federally listed species. \nNongame Conservation also surveyed for the state-endangered blackbanded sunfish using environmental DNA methods, often called eDNA. This is a State Wildlife Grant project with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Building on a survey that used traditional sampling methods, eDNA sampling was carried out at 30 south Georgia sites where the species has not been detected but where habitat appears suitable. Several water samples tested positive for blackbanded sunfish DNA. These sites will be targeted for additional surveys in 2017. \nNongame Conservation is also contracting with the University of Georgia for long-term monitoring of Etowah and Conasauga river fishes. These two river systems are among the most diverse in the Southeastern U.S., \n \nAquatic Species \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n16 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Sicklefin redhorse (DNR) \n \nsupporting important populations of rare fishes such as blue shiner, frecklebelly madtom, Etowah darter and Conasauga logperch. Monitoring has been ongoing since 1998. Information from these studies has been invaluable for conservation planning, species status assessments and documenting relationships between fish populations and environmental stressors. One objective is using eDNA technology to survey for the frecklebelly madtom in areas it has not been detected using traditional methods in more than a decade. \nMussel sampling continued in lower Flint River tributaries in fiscal 2016, marking the ninth year of monitoring these populations. Summer stream flows from 2013-2016 have provided the additional variability needed for assessing the impacts of low stream flows on freshwater mussel populations in these creeks. \nStaff also initiated a comprehensive survey of the upper Coosa River basin in Georgia, something not done since 1999. The upper Coosa basin historically harbored more than 40 freshwater mussel species, including several protected under the Endangered Species Act. The goal of this project is to quantitatively assess the distribution of mussels in the basin. Sampling in 2015 focused on tributaries, but efforts in fiscal 2016 centered on main-stem rivers, such as the Conasauga and Etowah. \n \nMountain madtom (Brett Albanese/DNR) \n \nSampling is expected to conclude by fall 2016, with distributional modeling following the sampling. Nongame Conservation staff presented research results at regional and national symposia and published study results in several peer-reviewed journals. Staff contributed, as well, to multistate and national efforts to assess the taxonomy, status and distribution of aquatic species in North America. \nData from survey and monitoring efforts, including data submitted through the agency's scientific \n \ncollecting permit program, are entered into the NatureServe Biotics database. Partnerships also are maintained with the Georgia Museum of Natural History and the Stream Survey Team of DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Fisheries Section. These partnerships boost the amount of data available for environmental review and conservation planning. In 2016, staff used these data, along with data contributed from other Southeastern states, to develop rangewide conservation status assessment maps for imperiled minnows and suckers. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n17 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Robust Redhorse \nThe robust redhorse is a rare sucker with wild populations occurring in limited reaches of the Oconee and Savannah rivers in Georgia and the Pee Dee River in North and South Carolina. The fish is state listed as endangered in Georgia. Prior to its collection and identification in 1991 by DNR Wildlife Resources Division fisheries biologists, this species had not been observed in more than 100 years. A team of state, federal and industry biologists organized under the Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee has done intensive work since the early 1990s to recover the species in Georgia and the Carolinas. \nA significant part of this effort has been capturing and spawning wild fish from the Oconee and Savannah rivers and producing young in hatcheries to restore stocks in rivers within the former range. In partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia Power and the University of Georgia, the Wildlife Resources Division helped develop a hatchery program in 1993. A Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances, the first of its kind for an aquatic species, was developed by DNR, the Fish and Wildlife Service and Georgia Power to help reintroduce robust redhorse into the Ocmulgee River in Georgia. \nFrom 1993-2008, about 115,700 hatcheryreared robust redhorse were stocked in the Broad, Ocmulgee, Oconee and Ogeechee rivers in Georgia. Regionally, South Carolina stocked 71,934 fingerlings in the Broad and Wateree rivers before that state's hatchery program ended in 2013. North Carolina began a project to augment its Pee Dee River population in calendar year 2014. \nBiologists documented growth and survival rates in all stocked rivers in Georgia and South Carolina. They also observed spawning behavior in fish stocked in the Broad, Ocmulgee and Ogeechee rivers. Researchers are trying to document survival of wild-spawned fish in stocked populations and their recruitment into juvenile and adult populations. Establishment of self-sustaining populations will represent a significant step toward recovery. Other recovery activities included evaluations of recruitment success and a major gravel augmentation project on the Oconee, as well as telemetry studies on \n \nthe Ogeechee, Ocmulgee, Broad, Savannah and Pee Dee rivers and a population-dynamics study on the Ocmulgee. \nRecent projects included the following: \nAn intensive electrofishing survey of the Oconee River from Sinclair Dam to Dublin  designed to assess the status of the Oconee population  was completed. Staff spent 65 hours electrofishing during April-May 2014, collecting two adult robust redhorse and spotting a third adult. As anticipated, this effort provided substantial evidence that the Oconee River population has experienced a major decline since the 1990s. Causes appear to be the long-term effects of a combination of reduced spawning habitat, unsuitable spawning and rearing flows, increased sedimentation, and the introduction of flathead catfish. A new fish community survey was proposed for this reach of the Oconee River in 2015, but low flows precluded sampling. The survey will be reattempted. The goal: Assess changes in the fish community since the early 1990s, when similar sampling was conducted. Because robust redhorse are so rare in this reach, changes in the abundance of other species groups (e.g., other sucker species) may help indicate why robust redhorse have declined. \nStaff conducted electrofishing surveys of the Ogeechee River population as part of DNR's standardized sampling program. These surveys documented only three adult robust redhorse in 2014 and none in 2015. The only known spawning site on the Ogeechee was surveyed during 2015 and 2016, but high flows precluded visual observations during the spawning season. Robust redhorse have not been observed spawning in the Ogeechee since 2012, raising significant concerns about the long-term viability of this stocked population. \nRemnant populations were searched for above Sinclair Dam (Little River and the Wallace Dam tailrace) and Wallace Dam (the Apalachee and Oconee rivers). A single adult robust redhorse was collected from the lower portion of Little River above Lake Sinclair in 2012, the product of an accidental escape of fingerlings from the Walton Hatchery in 1995. Potential spawning shoals were surveyed in Little River during 2013-2014, but no robust redhorse were observed. Additional surveys are needed in the Little and Apalachee rivers. \n \nWhile adult robust redhorse are known to have survived and found spawning habitat in the Ocmulgee, Ogeechee and Broad rivers, additional monitoring is needed to ensure recruitment. In cooperation with partners, Nongame Conservation helped develop a visual monitoring protocol that estimates the number and size distribution of adult fish observed at spawning sites each year. If sufficient recruitment is occurring, the number of small fish and the total number of fish observed at spawning sites should remain stable or increase from year to year. This protocol was implemented on the Ocmulgee and Savannah rivers in 2015, documenting about 14 and 100 adult fish, respectively. \nUnfortunately, a flood in winter 2015 deposited large amounts of sand over the Ocmulgee's only known spawning site. As a consequence, researchers were not able to document any spawning activity in the Ocmulgee during 2015. Fewer than 10 fish were documented at a Savannah River spawning site, but stream flow levels prevented staff from carrying out an adequate number of sampling events. \nJuvenile robust redhorse have proved almost impossible to detect since the onset of sampling by the Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee and its partners. Three juvenile robust redhorse were documented in the lower Savannah River's intertidal zone from 2012-2014, more than 130 miles downstream from the nearest known spawning site. DNR's Stream Survey Team collected the first juvenile from the lower Ocmulgee near Hawkinsville in 2014, an occurrence consistent with longdistance dispersal from an upstream spawning site. While low detection of juveniles probably precludes their use for recruitment monitoring, these captures are helping researchers better understand the life history and habitat needs of robust redhorse. \nGeorgia and South and North Carolina were awarded a competitive State Wildlife Grant in 2016 for a three-year project to identify and implement the most critical management actions needed to insure survival of robust redhorse across the species range. Funds will be used to increase capacity for robust redhorse conservation within DNR and to support contracts for research and monitoring. Partners include Georgia Power, Georgia Southern University, the Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Georgia and the Fish and Wildlife Service. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n18 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Large-flowered skullcap (Nate Thomas/DNR) \n \nSandhills Conservation \nTwo competitive State Wildlife Grants in Georgia and other states have benefited sandhill and upland longleaf pine habitats that support gopher tortoises. A third grant, awarded in calendar year 2015, continued that progress. \nDNR received the first grant, for $1 million, in 2009 to work with Alabama, Florida and South Carolina on restoring high-priority sandhills. DNR and state wildlife agencies in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were awarded a $981,000 State Wildlife Grant in 2011 for additional habitat restoration on the targeted habitats, referred to as phase two of the original project. In fall 2015, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana began phase three, powered by a competitive $500,000 grant awarded earlier that year. \nIn phase one, completed at the end of fiscal 2013, all states exceeded their project goals and nearly tripled the original goal for overall acreage treated (95,000 acres treated vs. the 38,600 acres proposed). In phase two, completed in fiscal 2015, restoration goals were exceeded again, with 76,666 acres treated versus an original goal of 51,575. This work is expected to yield significant habitat benefits  largely through improvements in herbaceous understory coverage  for priority species throughout the \n \nsandhills, such as the gopher tortoise and northern bobwhite. \nGoals for phase three, a two-year part of the project, include restoring or enhancing more than 33,000 acres of sandhill or upland longleaf habitat across the six states in the gopher tortoise's range. \nPartner states are using standardized methods for long-term monitoring to gauge the success of habitat treatments. Changes in vegetation and breeding bird communities were picked as key indicators of progress toward restoration objectives. In general, progress toward habitat goals has been excellent across the states. In several cases, however, fire-return intervals of greater than three years have failed to control shrubby hardwood midstories to the extent desired. Some data analysis on the response of breeding-bird communities to restoration continues, with publication of results expected in fiscal 2017. \nRare Plant Surveys on Public and Private Lands \nSurveys are conducted throughout Georgia to identify and inventory locations of rare plants and provide guidance on appropriate management activities. This work is done with consultants, private landowners, photographers and members of botanical organizations. \n \nPlants \n \nand Natural \n \nHabitats \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n19 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Growing-season prescribed fire at Silver Lake WMA (Joe Burnam/DNR) DNR and Fish and Wildlife Service survey Georgia aster (Mincy Moffett/DNR) \n \nAlso, the Nongame Conservation Section's participation in the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance allows for the exchange of information on significant discoveries and other plant conservation activities. \nDuring fiscal 2016, numerous rare plant discoveries were made on private and public lands. Here's an overview of significant finds and other important plant conservation activities, excluding those noted in the Coastal Habitat and Rare Plant section that follows. \nOrchids are always high-priority plants, since most rare ones are in need of regular monitoring. Most of these conservation projects are coordinated with Atlanta Botanical Garden. Efforts to enhance and monitor monkeyface orchid, also called white fringeless orchid, continued during the most recent fiscal year. This showy orchid is found in peat bogs scattered across the Piedmont, including in the foothills along the Tallulah River in Rabun County. Atlanta Botanical Garden assisted in the restoration of three sites and, working with state parks staff, established a safeguarding site at Chattahoochee Bend State Park near Newnan. Work to manage and safeguard all remaining populations was started in fiscal 2015. In September 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing monkeyface orchid as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. (The plant was listed in October 2016.) \n \nThe Kentucky ladyslipper, found naturally in Laurens County and safeguarded on Beaverdam Wildlife Management Area near Dublin, remains a high-priority species. In 2016, an additional population was found during a project initiated to survey hardwood ravines in central Georgia near and below the Fall Line. Other rarities found during the fiscal year included yellow milkvine and relict trillium in the Oconee River watershed and Ocmulgee skullcap in the Flint River watershed. \nSurveys continued for Georgia aster under provisions of a Candidate Conservation Agreement signed in 2014. At least 15 days' worth of surveys were conducted by Nongame Conservation staff \n \nworking with consultants and volunteers, the Georgia Department of Transportation, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service. Significant new populations of Georgia aster were found in west-central Georgia and in Bartow County along power lines. \nCoordination with partners and private landowners is critical for plant conservation. For example, in calendar 2015 a privately owned wetland with federally endangered Canby's dropwort was permanently protected by the National Resource Conservation Service's Wetland Reserve Program. In all, three Canby's dropwort sites have been protected using this program since 2010. As part \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n20 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n of the U.S. Agricultural Department, the Natural Resources Conservation Service funds restoration activities at the sites. Nongame Conservation botanists coordinate the projects with landowners. Protection for Canby's dropwort also protects critically rare cypress-savanna isolated wetlands. Other advances for Canby's dropwort in fiscal 2016 included the re-discovery of a population not seen since 1994 and seed collection across the species' range in Georgia for germination research. \nCoastal Plain pitcherplant bogs remain a special conservation concern. New populations of wiregrass dropseed, Tracy's dewthread, hooded pitcherplant and yellow flytrap were documented on a private tract in Brooks County. Wellmanaged pitcherplant bogs and nearby intact wiregrass uplands are especially rich in species of milkweed. In collaboration with the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, staff assisted collecting the seed of several milkweeds. Making propagated milkweeds available will promote the use of native plants for pollinator gardens and as host plants for numerous insects, including monarch butterflies. \nBotanists in Georgia also continued to discover and describe plants new to science. A spurge named Euphorbia georgiana was recently described by Kansas State University researchers as a new Georgia endemic of granite outcrops. The plant is known from two collections made more than 20 years ago from sites near active quarries. Nongame Conservation will conduct field surveys of likely habitats in hopes of relocating and safeguarding live specimens. Also, staff contributed to research naming the Georgia dwarf trillium (Trillium georgianum) as new to science. This showy wildflower is known from one small watershed along a tributary to the Conasauga River in north Georgia. \nOther botanical highlights in fiscal 2016 included the discovery of a large colony of bay star-vine, or climbing magnolia, on a county park in Gwinnett County; snowy orchid and wild Stokes aster on private bogs near Claxton; Vasey's trillium near the Fall Line in Crawford County; and new colonies of bottomland skullcap and purple milkweed in the Conasauga watershed in Murray County. The recent revision of Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan noted 21 plants in most critical need of conservation action. Progress was made safeguarding \n \nCarolina bishopweed with fruit (April Punsalan/USFWS) \n \nmany of these, including Carolina windflower found in the upland seepage-swamp margins of Monticello Glades, Georgia leadbush from streamside terraces along Sugar Creek in Telfair County, tawny cottongrass in a bog on Fall Line Sandhills Wildlife Management Area and cutleaf meadow-parsnip found in limestone glades near Chickamauga battlefield in Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park near Fort Oglethorpe. These latter four Georgia rarities occur only in one or two sites and involve management on private and public lands. \nCoastal Habitat and Rare Plant Conservation \nThe Nongame Conservation Section's focus on plant and habitat conservation and restoration along the Georgia coast ranged far and wide in fiscal 2016. Staff led coastal land protection efforts, including applying for acquisition grants through the North American Waterfowl Conservation Act and National Coastal Wetland Conservation Grant programs. These two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant programs have been critical in conserving fish and wildlife habitats on Georgia's coast in recent years. \n \nSpearheaded by Nongame Conservation work, in fiscal 2016 a Waterfowl Conservation Act grant for acquiring Sansavilla Wildlife Management Area phase 1 near Brunswick was awarded, as well as Coastal Wetland Conservation grants to help acquire Sansavilla phase 2, Musgrove Plantation phase 2 on St. Simons Island and the 792-acre Altamaha \"Connector\" or BBT Tract in the lower Altamaha River watershed. Each of the grants is worth $1 million and matched with funds from the state and other partners. \nStaff also completed a map of longleaf pine restoration areas on Townsend Wildlife Management Area near Ludowici. Spatial pine harvest and planting data were used to map areas where offsite pine species such as invasive sand pine were harvested and longleaf planted in the last six years. These maps will be used for restoration and management planning at Townsend. \nNongame Conservation worked with Weyerhaeuser biologists and foresters to help protect rare forest communities on Weyerhaeuser properties as part of Weyerhaeuser's Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification. During fiscal 2016, the company was in the process of taking \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n21 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n over former Plum Creek lands in a merger with the latter company. Nongame Conservation helped by familiarizing Weyerhaeuser staff with the rare habitats that occur on company lands in southeast Georgia. \nA draft management plan was completed for Altama Plantation Wildlife Management Area, 4,123 acres in Glynn County that DNR acquired in fiscal 2016. The plan includes restoration and management strategies, as well as goals for improving habitat and conserving rare species. Altama has a significant number of gopher tortoises, and this keystone species is a major component of the plan. \nStaff worked with Weyerhaeuser, Rayonier, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy and other partners to conserve federally endangered hairy rattleweed. This rare legume is found worldwide only in two counties in southeast Georgia. DNR held an annual meeting for hairy rattleweed conservation at the DNR Coastal Regional Headquarters in Brunswick and helped organize a field meeting with timber companies and the Fish and Wildlife Service. In fiscal 2017, staff will focus efforts on a rangewide survey and assessment of the species, along with landowner contacts and protection of populations. \nNongame Conservation staff rediscovered Georgia's only known population of Carolina bishopweed. The federally petitioned species, not seen in Georgia since 1966, was found in a tidal freshwater marsh near Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. Botanists are working with the Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Department of Transportation and the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance to help conserve this species in Georgia. \nStaff also conducted surveys for rare plant species in southeast Georgia. New populations of night-flowering wild petunia, snowy orchid and sandhills lily were documented. A population of Florida scrub sunrose, a plant with only one known population in Georgia, was safeguarded. Seeds were collected from the Florida scrub sunrose, also called frostweed, as well as other rare species, including hairy rattleweed, nightflowering wild petunia and Carolina bishopweed. Partner botanical gardens will try to grow these plants for restoration purposes. \n \nVegetation Monitoring \nBecause of its importance in conducting sound conservation and management, monitoring is essential to implementing Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. To meet plan goals, the Nongame Conservation Section has incorporated habitat and vegetation monitoring. Monitoring is key to tracking changes in wildlife habitat and measuring biological diversity and habitat suitability for rare wildlife species. Quantifying the changes resulting from the agency's rare-species and habitatrestoration efforts will help gauge the success or failure of conservation actions. \nNongame Conservation habitat monitoring in fiscal 2016 included a statewide fire monitoring program, sea-level rise monitoring in coastal marsh habitats and monitoring that emphasizes, in part, gopher tortoise habitat at the new Altama Plantation Wildlife Management Area near Brunswick. \nThe fire effects monitoring program addresses the need for a simple, broadly applied protocol. This program has been implemented at 25 state parks and wildlife management areas. Local staffers collect data and submit it online to a centralized repository of photos. Then the photos are organized into a chronological demonstration of fire effects for each site. The program not only helps track habitat changes, it engages staff in a collaborative effort focused on understanding prescribed fire at sites. The photos also can be used to inform the public about the importance of fire ecology. \n \nNongame Conservation continued a collaborative project with DNR Coastal Resources Division to monitor salt-marsh transects. Started in 2012, the project is designed to examine long-term change in Georgia salt-marsh communities and determine the effects of sea-level rise on coastal habitats. In 2016, staff monitored vegetation plots along transects at nine study sites. Transects start at an upland anchor point and continue into the salt marsh until reaching marsh dominated by Spartina alterniflora, or smooth cordgrass. \nStaff also began a vegetation monitoring project in fire-maintained uplands at Altama Plantation. This project is aimed at determining the effects of different types of management on longleaf pine restoration sites at the WMA. Restoration will include conducting prescribed fire, thinning trees and planting longleaf pine. Monitoring will help determine if management is improving habitat for gopher tortoises and other priority species. \nMountain and Coastal Plain Bogs \nMountain bogs are one of the most critically endangered habitats of the Southern Appalachians. The bogs are typically small, from a half-acre to 5 acres, and usually associated with seeps, springs and small creeks. These early successional habitats support a variety of unique and imperiled flora and fauna, including the federally threatened bog turtle and swamp pink, possibly the state's rarest reptile and plant species, respectively. Other \n \nMountain bog work day (Rebecca Byrd/DNR) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n22 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n rare and state-protected mountain bog plants include the montane purple pitcherplant (which is petitioned for federal listing), broadleaf white meadowsweet, Carolina bog laurel, Canada burnet, Cuthbert's turtlehead and marsh bellflower. \nFor 24 years, the Nongame Conservation Section has worked to restore mountain bogs independently and as a member of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, or GPCA. In fiscal 2016, these efforts were best described as \"more work by more people in more places.\" The GPCA had a record number of mountain bog workdays and record levels of participation  20 workdays devoted to mountain bogs with more than 200 volunteers assisting. The GPCA also added a mountain bog, called Brasstown Seeps, to its list of sites in need of restoration and management, a list now up to 11 mountain bogs. Brasstown Seeps has a number of rare plant species, including Darlington's glade spurge, large-leaved grass-ofparnassus, Loesel's twayblade orchid and roundleaf sundews, plus the federally listed bog turtle. \nDuring the past year, the state-rare broadleaf white meadowsweet was outplanted at two additional bogs. Marsh bellflower was outplanted at Hale Ridge Bog, the first time this has been done anywhere with the species. Chattahoochee Nature Center and Atlanta Botanical Garden are safeguarding both species ex-situ. \nPurple mountain pitcherplant and swamp pink continue to recruit well at outplanting sites. Pitcherplant seedlings were observed at Cooper Creek Bog for the first time. Carolina bog laurel plants outplanted at Tom's Swamp finally have begun to bolt (growing quickly before stopping to flower and seed). \nNongame Conservation continued its participation in the Bog Learning Network. This association of state and federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, academicians, private consultants, and land managers is advancing the stewardship and management of Southern Appalachian bogs by providing a forum for sharing information and resources. Nongame Conservation botanist Dr. Mincy Moffett and wildlife biologist Thomas Floyd serve on the network's steering committee. In the recent fiscal year, the Bog Learning Network began an Invasive Species Fun Field Day Series. In this work-and-learn series for professionals, volunteers and students involved in the network, participants \n \nlearned about mountain bog botany, ecology and bog impacts from invasive plant species. The volunteers then provided several hours of labor in tough, mucky conditions. The series has been held at McClure's and Pineola bogs in North Carolina and Quarry Bog in Tennessee, and it is coming to Georgia in fiscal 2017. \nBog restoration is not limited to the mountains. Georgia's Coastal Plain herbaceous bogs are small but rare jewels, one of the highest-priority habitats for rare plant conservation. These bogs face threats such as hydrologic disturbance, fire suppression and land development. A number of species of southeastern Coastal Plain pitcherplant and orchid species are safeguarded by GPCA partners, with corresponding habitat restoration projects. \nOne of the GPCA's most successful Coastal Plain bog restoration projects is taking place near Claxton at a privately owned bog that contains five state protected plants. The Interagency Burn Team has been critical to these efforts, conducting a spectacular growing-season burn at the bog in April 2016. Growing-season fires strongly mimic the effects of natural fires, opening habitat for pitcherplants, native grasses and other wildflowers. The two landowners partnering in these efforts have been thrilled with the results. In addition, monitoring revealed greater than 50 percent survival of pitcherplants outplanted at the bog in calendar year 2015, which is excellent for new plants in untended natural habitats. \nHabitat Improvement on State Lands and the Interagency Burn Team \nA number of significant restoration projects begun in calendar year 2015 were completed in 2016. Many of these successes involved working with adjoining landowners to improve wildlife habitats on and around the DNR's WMAs. \nIn a project with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and DNR Private Lands Program biologists, 200 acres of offsite loblolly pine and a sand pine plantation were clear-cut on the Hughes Tract next to Fall Line Sandhills Wildlife Management Area near Butler. After the Nongame Conservation Section burned \n \nthe site, the Natural Resources Conservation Service paid to plant the tract in longleaf pine, following Nongame Conservation site-prep recommendations to conserve groundcover plants. The additional habitat will prove critical to keeping viable populations of rare species on Fall Line Sandhills, a WMA almost surrounded by solar farms and sand mining. \nAlso in fiscal 2016, Nongame Conservation planted 50,000 longleaf pines on Camp Thunder, a 2,000-acre Boy Scouts of America property with significant old-growth longleaf. The site is near Sprewell Bluff Wildlife Management Area in Upson County. A National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant funded the planting. About 500 acres of Camp Thunder and 450 acres of Pasley Shoals, another site near Sprewell Bluff with old-growth longleaf, were burned in 2016  work that will benefit wildlife on adjoining WMAs. \nIncluding the burns at Camp Thunder and Pasley Shoals, Nongame Conservation's west-central Georgia prescribed fire crew had its most productive year, burning 14,780 acres. Crew members worked two burns that brought fire for the first time in decades to old-growth longleaf, plus a large helicopter burn on Tallulah Gorge in north Georgia and a myriad of fires in the Fall Line sandhills region (more details on prescribed fire below). Among other jobs, the crew also completed work controlling Chinese privet on Sprewell Bluff, girdled encroaching hardwoods at Sprewell Bluff and Fall Line Sandhills WMAs, erected nest boxes for southeastern American kestrels, cleared a bog on Fall Line Sandhills and planted longleaf pine on multiple properties. \nAt Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area near Bainbridge, work was started with a forestry mulcher to eliminate the extensive hardwood mid-story in several young, planted longleaf stands and numerous old loading decks in mature longleaf pine stands. This work focused on stands that will connect and improve foraging habitat for endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers. About 40 acres mulched in 2015 were burned in spring 2016 as part of the ongoing project. \nNongame Conservation planted 21,000 native grass plugs at Chickasawhatchee Wildlife Management Area near Albany. These plugs, grown in a nursery, were a mixture of species \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n23 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n of native grasses, including little bluestem, wiregrass and common Indian grass. The plugs were placed in recently thinned loblolly pine stands as a seed source that will expand coverage following growing-season burns. \nPrescribed fire is one of the most effective tools for conserving and restoring fireadapted habitats and helping numerous species of conservation concern. While Nongame Conservation uses a variety of land-management techniques on state lands to improve rare species habitats  techniques such as removing invasive species, planting native species and thinning timber  prescribed fire is vital. It is a safe way to apply a natural process, ensure ecosystem health and reduce the risk of wildfire. \nIncluding all DNR Wildlife Resources Division efforts, the acreage burned on DNR-managed lands has almost doubled in the last decade, from 31,897 acres in 2007 to 60,363 acres in 2016. By land type, most of the acres burned are on WMAs. But the \n \ngrowing trend in burning is the inclusion of property managed as natural areas and state parks. \nDuring fiscal 2016, Nongame Conservation staff applied prescribed fire to almost 30,000 acres on state, federal and private lands. As a member of the Interagency Burn Team, the agency worked with the Georgia Forestry Commission, The Longleaf Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, Orianne Society, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nongame Conservation staff also teamed with other Wildlife Resources Division sections and DNR's State Parks and Historic Sites Division, as well as volunteers trained to federal fire standards. \nSince 2009, seasonal fire crews have carried out the bulk of Nongame Conservation's burning. Always on call and working statewide, members have helped increase the acreage burned each year. A single seasonal fire crew burned 7,061 acres in 2009. In fiscal 2016, the agency's two crews combined burned 19,034 acres. For the third year, Nongame Conservation had two seasonal \n \nDNR-MANAGED ACRES BURNED 2007 - 2016* \nAcres treated with prescribed fire on DNR-managed lands has more than doubled in the last decade. *By calendar year \n \ncrews, one housed in southeastern Georgia and the other in west-central Georgia (as referenced previously in this section). Nongame Conservation also worked with the Game Management Section's first seasonal fire crew. Housed at Altama Plantation WMA near Brunswick, this coastal crew proved very productive and reintroduced fire to several high-priority conservation lands, including Altama and Sapelo Island. \nThe Nongame Conservation crews work independently  the west-central crew, for example, focused on the Fall Line sandhills region and Pine Mountain  and cooperatively on complex fires. The southeast crew was funded by a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant focused on longleaf pine. This group also helped burn rare-species habitats on priority state parks across the Coastal Plain. When not burning, members worked on projects that included marking timber, post-burn monitoring and controlling invasive species. \nNongame Conservation is also heavily involved with State Parks' burn program. This past \n \n31,897 33,385 40,786 41,533 52,889 42,739 54,120 57,555 52,338 60,363 \nDNR's Shan Cammack with shed from eastern indigo snake (DNR) \n \n70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 \n \n2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n24 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Chickasawhatchee WMA grassland restoration (Phil Spivey/DNR) \n \nburn season, prescribed fire was conducted at 12 parks and totaled almost 2,000 acres. Staff took advantage of numerous educational opportunities to inform park visitors of the benefits of fire. Park camp hosts provided important support, bringing food and drinks to the fireline, encouraging the crews and patrolling units after the burn. \nHigh-priority conservation sites treated with prescribed fire by Nongame Conservation included state-owned lands such as Altama Plantation, Chickasawhatchee, Doerun Pitcherplant Bog, Fall Line Sandhills, Joe Kurz, Mayhaw, Moody Forest, Ohoopee Dunes, Paulding Forest, Penholloway, Sansavilla, Silver Lake, Sprewell Bluff, Townsend and West Point wildlife management areas, as well as General Coffee, George L. Smith, Hard Labor Creek, Panola Mountain, Reed Bingham and Seminole state parks. Nongame Conservation also helped federal agencies with burns on the Chattahoochee and Oconee national forests and at Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge near Juliette. \nA variety of fire-dependent habitats were targeted for restoration, such as aeolian dune sandhills with xeric longleaf pine/turkey oak, Coastal Plain pitcherplant bogs, striped newt pond habitats, Fall Line sandhills, longleaf pine flatwoods, longleaf pine/wiregrass woodlands, oak woodlands and native grasslands. Many high-priority species identified in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan benefited from these efforts. \n \nConservation successes tied to the prescribed fire program include the resurrection of a pitcherplant bog at Reed Bingham State Park near Adel, the return of Bachman's sparrows to Sprewell Bluff and Joe Kurz WMAs (after being gone for decades) and evidence of new red-cockaded woodpecker activity more than a mile and a half from the established population at Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area near Baxley. \nAnother example is the restoration of ephemeral wetlands and pine savannas at Mayhaw Wildlife Management Area in Miller County. In 2015, reticulated flatwoods salamanders were found at Mayhaw. In March 2016, Nongame Conservation, state Department of Transportation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff documented almost another 20 reticulated flatwoods larvae. This endangered species had not been recorded at Mayhaw in 12 years. Habitat degradation seemed to have extirpated the salamanders, including from the known breeding pond that produced them more than a decade ago. \nSince 2004, however, restoration work has yielded some 500 acres of upland habitat and multiple ephemeral wetlands, including three ponds considered active breeding sites for flatwoods salamanders. While chemical and mechanical techniques have been used, the most critical tool was fire. Changing the timing of prescribed burns to the drier months of the year provided the greatest habitat enhancements. When completed, the Mayhaw \n \nrestoration total will provide more than 1,000 acres of pine savanna habitat  providing a home to many species of concern, including reticulated flatwoods salamanders. \nAs sites move from restoration to the maintenance phase, Nongame Conservation has been able to conduct more growing-season burns. These ecological burns have a profound impact on species, restoring the natural balance in fire-adapted ecosystems by reducing hardwood competition and increasing native grasses and forbs. DNR increased its growingseason burns from 151 acres in calendar 2003 to an agency-record 6,501 acres in 2014. Thirty burns totaling nearly 4,400 acres were conducted in the 2016 growing season. \nGeorgia Plant Conservation Alliance \nThe Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, or GPCA, is an innovative network of more than 40 public gardens, government agencies, academic institutions, utility companies and environmental organizations committed to preserving Georgia's endangered flora. Formed in 1995 with the Nongame Conservation Section as a charter member, the GPCA initiates and coordinates efforts to protect natural habitats and endangered species through biodiversity management, public education, and rare plant propagation and outplanting (i.e., safeguarding). Member organizations are engaged in recovery projects for 100 imperiled plant species. Of these, 99 are in safeguarding programs at botanical gardens, arboreta and seed banks, and 49 species have been reintroduced successfully into the wild. GPCA has 11 safeguarding partner institutions that hold and manage ex-situ collections for recovery and study. \nGPCA contributions since the alliance's inception amounted to an estimated $1.7 million in direct and indirect support for plant conservation. More than $1.2 million was supplied by non-DNR members supporting high-priority species and habitats identified in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. A significant portion of contributions came from GPCA's trained volunteers, who are called botanical guardians. More than 140 volunteers contributed more than 1,000 hours of conservation work during fiscal 2016. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n25 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Member institutions also contributed substantially to the revised State Wildlife Action Plan, especially the Plants Technical Team Report, which identifies high-priority plant species, habitats and conservation actions. Approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September 2016, the revised Wildlife Action Plan will be the guiding strategy for the GPCA for the next decade. All GPCA projects are designed to address high-priority species, habitats and conservation actions identified in the plan. \nDuring 2016, the GPCA continued its mission of encouraging the start of other plant conservation alliances in the U.S. The focus this year: Tennessee and Kentucky. GPCA representatives travelled to both states for presentations and meetings. A plant conservation delegation from Tennessee was invited to Georgia, with the group attending a GPCA project planning meeting and touring partners' safeguarding facilities. \nThe importance and benefit of establishing GPCAlike organizations across the Southeast to meet the challenges of plant conservation was a focus of the Southeastern Partners in Plant Conservation Symposium, held in November 2016 at Atlanta Botanical Garden. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, principal sponsor of the symposium, is trying to build capacity to address the listing, recovery and proactive conservation needs of a recently expanded list of petitioned and at-risk species. \n \nIn September 2016, the Association of Fish \u0026 Wildlife Agencies honored GPCA with a special recognition award at the association's annual meeting in Philadelphia. The award celebrated GPCA's \"outstanding contributions\" to the association and to advancing professional fish and wildlife management in North America. \nDNR Commissioner Mark Williams was on hand for the presentation. \"GPCA has proven incredibly effective in focusing and increasing efforts to conserve Georgia's rare plant species and their habitats,\" Williams said. \"Not only is this work benefiting our state, other states are considering setting up alliances, meaning plant conservation in those states will reap from what the GPCA has sown in Georgia.\" \nDr. Wilf Nicholls, director of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, noted that ensuring \"our state is as rich and biodiverse as the one we inherited is a lofty goal.\" \"But in a true spirit of openness and sharing,\" Nicholls said, \"the GPCA has brought together dozens of institutions and agencies all working together toward well-defined conservation goals. It has proven to be a recipe for success for which we can all be proud.\" \nThe GPCA expanded its own ranks in 2016 as well, adding two members: Beech Hollow Farms in Oglethorpe County and East Georgia State College in Swainsboro. \n \nThe alliance's fall symposium in fiscal 2016 focused on milkweed conservation and production. The Georgia Milkweed Initiative, launched in 2013 under the broader Georgia Native Plant Initiative, was designed to get Georgia milkweeds (multiple ecotypes of the Asclepias species occurring in Georgia) into cultivation. A State Botanical Garden of Georgia project endorsed by the GPCA, this initiative was driven by national and local interest in monarch butterfly and bee conservation, renewed interest in native landscaping, and  later  by federal Farm Bill programs encouraging \"pollinator strips.\" With new federal mandates for producing milkweeds came increasing pressure to collect native seed. The GPCA worked in 2016 to develop Georgia-specific guidelines for milkweed seed collection and outplantings for use in gardening, restoration and monarch conservation by agencies, museums, industry professionals and land managers. \nA survey of member institutions first conducted in summer 2015 and updated in 2016 yielded impressive results regarding plant conservation and general conservation, education, outreach and promotional activities. As reported by the alliance's coordinating office, during 2011-2016 member institutions provided a minimum of 303 public and professional presentations; staffed or led 339 classes, programs and field trips; authored or were the subjects of 134 articles in popular literature and scientific journals; \n \nGPCA award from AFWA celebrated with Gov. Deal \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n26 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n DNR's Greg Krakow managing Biotics database (Linda May/DNR) \n \ndeveloped or made 107 contributions to social media websites and blogs; developed and designed 41 brochures, field guides and posters; and arranged or were the subjects of 44 radio, television and video interviews. \nIn winter 2016, the Association of Fish \u0026 Wildlife Agencies invited DNR and GPCA to present a webinar on \"Plant Conservation and State Wildlife Action Plan Implementation.\" The presentation provided an opportunity to demonstrate the benefit of including plants in State Wildlife Action Plans, as well as providing a case study of GPCA's instrumental role in developing and implementing Georgia's Wildlife Action Plan. Another purpose of the webinar was to encourage other states to work toward including plants in the revision of their plans and to consider building their own plant conservation alliance. \nThe GPCA is also involved with plant conservation on a continental and global scale. Several member institutions are integral in the American Public Gardens Association, the Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Center for Plant Conservation and national Plant Conservation Alliance. In summer 2016, these organizations signed a memorandum for active collaboration and developed the 2016-2020 North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Plant Conservation. This document recognizes the increased capacity and commitment to plant conservation on the part of botanic gardens, and attempts to leverage those collective resources to halt plant extinction and the loss of wild habitats. \nGinseng Management \nExport of American ginseng is regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement administered in this country by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The export of ginseng from Georgia is authorized by that agency in combination with the Georgia Ginseng Protection Act of 1979, a state law amended in 2013. \nIn order to have a legal ginseng trade in Georgia, the Fish and Wildlife Service requires Georgia to maintain a ginseng management program that ensures compliance with federal and state regulations. The objective is to prevent this perennial forest herb from becoming endangered \n \nbecause of trade. Demand for ginseng is high in natural medicinal markets and in Asian medicine. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section administers the Georgia Ginseng Management Program, which monitors harvest and sale of ginseng. Staff works with ginseng dealers, growers, the DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Game Management Section and DNR's Law Enforcement Division to make ginseng regulation a transparent and simple process. \nIn calendar 2015, the dealer-reported Georgia wild ginseng harvest was 345.7 pounds dry weight. This was higher than the 10-year average of 308.8 pounds. The reported harvest was 33 percent lower than last season's ginseng harvest in the state, a dry weight of 517.3 pounds. Over the Georgia Ginseng Program's 27 years, there has been an overall decline in harvest and trade. \nIn fiscal 2016, Nongame Conservation continued to field many questions about growing and selling live, cultivated ginseng. However, the number of registered dealers and growers declined in 2015 from 41 to 26. \nOverall, the cultivated ginseng trade is not significant in Georgia, but cultivated ginseng is encouraged in the state as one strategy to relieve pressure on wild populations. Nongame Conservation worked with the Georgia Department of Agriculture to develop permits for a grower to sell cultivated, live bare root seedlings nationwide. \nMost American ginseng harvested is exported to China, although local interest in Georgia ginseng for personal use has increased. Georgia is at the \n \nsouthern edge of the distribution of ginseng, and the trade is much smaller than in nearby states such as North Carolina and Kentucky. Ginseng exports in those states total millions of dollars a year. \nBiotics Database \nThe Nongame Conservation Section manages the NatureServe Biotics database, the state's most comprehensive database of occurrences of rare species and natural communities. Data in Biotics are used for many purposes: environmental site reviews, conservation planning, scientific research, habitat restoration and management plan development. \nThe database contains more than 15,000 occurrence records for rare species in the state and provides web access to information on occurrences of special-concern species and significant natural communities. During fiscal year 2016, Nongame Conservation added 1,116 records and edited 2,003 existing ones. Significant efforts were made to update information on species proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Many species are under review, and updating database records allows for a more accurate review of species. \nStaff also responded to 510 formal requests for data, not counting in-house environmental reviews or data obtained by the public through the website. Lists of rare and protected plants, animals and natural communities are available at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/ species-of-concern. Range maps are at www. georgiawildlife.com/about_rare_species_range_ maps. Staff has developed a draft web portal for accessing Georgia rare-species information. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n27 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Private Land Activities \nWith more than 90 percent of Georgia lands in private ownership, conservation activities on private lands are crucial to wildlife and natural communities in the state. The Nongame Conservation Section worked with private landowners throughout Georgia on a variety of conservation activities in fiscal year 2016 (also see \"Land Acquisition and Conservation Easements\"). \nStaff answered landowners' questions and visited sites to give management advice. Nongame Conservation worked to make landowners aware of cost-share and grant opportunities and help them navigate procedures for using the programs. Examples include the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Environmental Quality Incentives, Conservation Stewardship, Wetlands Reserve Easements and Working Lands for Wildlife programs, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Wildlife Program. \nNongame Conservation also: \nn Participated in Project Pine Snake, a Reinhardt University-led effort to better understand the range and habits of the northern pine snake, a subspecies of pine \n \nsnake considered of conservation concern. Activities by agency staff concentrated on landowner education about snake habitat needs and management. \nn Helped develop the Upper Little Tennessee River Watershed Management Plan. This plan provides communities in Georgia's portion of the watershed a roadmap that defines and will help them address watershed pollution through management strategies. The cooperative planning effort involved DNR's Wildlife Resources and Environmental Protection divisions, Coweta Hydrologic Laboratory, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Mainspring Conservation Trust (formerly Land Trust for the Little Tennessee), Rabun County and its municipalities, Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Broadfork Consulting, and others. The plan already has \n \nled to a major landowner in the area making livestock watering improvements on an ecologically important stream. \nn Provided threatened and endangered species training to loggers and others at quarterly Master Timber Harvester events around the state. The training includes a review of how timber harvesting affects wildlife habitat. Staff also served on the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Implementation Committee and its Private Landowner Outreach Subcommittee. Additional education activities included training sessions at Southeastern Wood Producers workshops. \nNongame Conservation was involved in Natural Resources Conservation Service State Technical Committee meetings to identify wildlife conservation priorities relevant to Farm Bill programs for private landowners. Staff \n \nPrivate Lands \n \nFemale pearl crescent (Linda May/DNR) \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n28 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Gov. Deal recognizes 2015 Forestry for Wildlife Partners \n \ncooperated, as well, with the Game Management Section's Private Lands Program and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to coordinate four temporary biologist positions stationed at Natural Resources Conservation Service field offices in Blakely, Douglas, Swainsboro and McDonough. These biologists work with local landowners to implement National Resources Conservation Service programs aimed at restoring and managing longleaf pine systems, including the Working Lands for Wildlife initiative that targets gopher tortoises and addresses other conservation needs for priority species and habitats. \nAlong with Game Management and State Parks and Historic Sites personnel, staff visited DNR-held conservation easements to ensure compliance with easement terms and renew relations with landowners. \nForestry for Wildlife Partnership \nThe Nongame Conservation Section plays a strong role in the DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Forestry for Wildlife Partnership. This voluntary program encourages conservation of wildlife habitat on corporate forestlands in Georgia and provides public access to privately owned wildlife management areas for hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, hiking and camping. \nCorporations participating in Forestry for Wildlife are among the largest landowners in Georgia, directly affecting wildlife habitat on approximately 1 million acres. \nCoordinated by Game Management and Nongame Conservation Section biologists, this public-private partnership provides opportunities to enhance wildlife conservation practices on these lands and benefit companies with public recognition \n \nfor their conservation achievements. Companies are evaluated on wildlife conservation planning, education and outreach, management practices, sensitive sites and rare-species concerns, recreation and partnerships. \nGeorgia Power, Weyerhaeuser (which merged with former partner Plum Creek) and CatchMark Timber Trust were the Forestry for Wildlife partners for 2015. \nForestry for Wildlife conservation targets include red-cockaded woodpecker habitats, bald eagle and swallow-tailed kite nests, isolated wetlands critical to protected reptiles and amphibians, and rare remnant Coosa Valley prairies, home to endangered plants. The partnerships also provide the public with many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors through wildlife viewing, hunting and fishing. All partners are committed to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, ensuring that their forest managers and loggers have completed the Master Timber Harvester workshop and continue their education to maintain certification or designation. \nHere are some of the highlights of partner companies' conservation work. \nGeorgia Power burns more than 6,000 acres a year through its prescribed fire program and participates in DNR's Safe Harbor program for endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers. The company has worked with The Nature Conservancy and other partners to establish a test plot for federally endangered hairy rattleweed on a Georgia Power right of way. Overall, company power lines and rights of way are home to nine federally listed plant species. Designated as special management areas, activities can be restricted in these rights of way. \nGeorgia Power also has initiated bat habitat surveys on its lands to aid in supporting \n \nconservation plans to improve those habitats; provided more than 20,000 acres to DNR for use as wildlife management areas; and, along with eight other partners, worked to protect Georgia aster and its ecosystem as part of a 2014 Candidate Conservation Agreement. In part because of the agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Service decided not to list Georgia aster, an uncommon wildflower, under the Endangered Species Act. \nThe company has helped relocate gopher tortoises displaced by development to the company's Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro. And in 2016, Georgia Power converted 221 acres from loblolly to longleaf pine stands, increasing to 471 the number of acres changed to longleaf over the last two years. \nFormer partner Plum Creek merged with Weyerhaeuser in February 2016. Weyerhaeuser continues to integrate conservation into its working forests, now as part of the Forestry for Wildlife Partnership. A key Weyerhaeuser initiative is gopher tortoise conservation. The company focuses management on preferred soils with viable tortoise populations and helps with Nongame Conservation tortoise surveys. Through the surveys, Weyerhaeuser learned more about tortoise populations on these tracts, and the company is working with DNR, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement and the University of Georgia to better understand the response of gopher tortoises to the shifting mosaic of suitable habitat conditions on working forestlands. \nThe company also is managing several unique habitats in northwest Georgia, including the Coosa Valley Prairie property (permanently protected under a conservation easement held by The Nature Conservancy), a cave that is home to a bachelor colony of gray bats (federally listed as endangered) and rock outcrops that shelter the cliff-dwelling green salamander. A successful prescribed burn was completed on the Coosa Valley Prairie easement in fiscal 2016 to maintain the unique flora found in this fire-adapted ecosystem. Weyerhaeuser also played host at the site to researchers examining the pollinator community and pathogens that may be affecting federally endangered whorled sunflower. \nIn the lower Coastal Plain, work continues with Nongame Conservation on projects, including managing Henslow's sparrow habitat and wood \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n29 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n stork rookeries, preserving isolated wetland habitats, and protecting swallow-tailed kite nesting areas. Weyerhaeuser is also engaged in cooperative conservation of hairy rattleweed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and DNR. Hairy rattleweed is a federally endangered plant species known to exist in only three counties in Georgia. \nConservation and wildlife habitat improvements by CatchMark Timber Trust in fiscal 2016 included working with the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect habitat for federally endangered fringed campion on company lands, playing host to a Fish and Wildlife Service bat survey on CatchMark property, allowing Nongame Conservation to conduct prescribed burns on native montane longleaf habitat, and planting longleaf pine at Sprewell Bluff on Pine Mountain. Company staff members were trained by Nongame Conservation regarding gopher tortoises and silvicultural treatments that improve tortoise habitat. \nCatchMark leases more than 4,000 acres to the DNR Wildlife Resources Division for Ocmulgee Wildlife Management Area near Cochran. Overall, the company leases 100 percent of its available lands to the public for hunting and recreation. CatchMark also sponsors Outdoor without Limits hunts, providing outdoor recreational opportunities for people with physical and mental challenges. \nThe company allows universities access to company lands for research. Projects include a University of Georgia study of pine decline and root rot, DNR research on black bears, and a Columbia University seismic imaging study. CatchMark supports a program of robust thinning on pine plantations, improving wildlife habitat and diversifying the landscape; monitors and treats its lands for invasive species; and maintains portable bridges for loggers to use, minimizing the impact of stream crossings. \nArmy Compatible Use Buffer Conservation \nThe Army Compatible Use Buffer program, often referred to as ACUB, is focused on protecting priority conservation lands around military installations from development that would restrict key military activities such as training. This buffering is provided primarily through permanent conservation easements. In recent years, the Nongame Conservation Section has joined with \n \nPine warble at suet feeder (Linda May/DNR) \n \nforts Stewart and Benning to identify easement priorities and draft plans to conserve critical lands adjacent to these installations. The areas include some of the best habitat in Georgia for rare or uncommon species, such as eastern indigo snakes, gopher tortoises and southeastern pocket gophers, as well as potential future habitat for red-cockaded woodpecker groups. \nNongame Conservation Section is involved with the Chattahoochee Fall Line Conservation Partnership, which also is geared toward conserving lands along the eastern edge of Fort Benning. Staff involvement included teaming with land management activities to enhance gopher tortoise habitat, serving as chair of the group's steering committee and supporting efforts to bring more tracts under conservation ownership and management. \nThe new Chattahoochee Fall Line Wildlife Management Area, which includes the Fort Perry Tract in Marion County and the Almo area in Marion and Talbot counties, is an example of this partnership, which helps the Army with its mission, protects rare species and provides for public recreation. \nCommunity Wildlife Project \nThe Community Wildlife Project, an award-winning initiative of the Nongame Conservation Section and the Garden Club of Georgia, seeks to: \n \nn Enhance native nongame animal and plant populations and their habitats in urban, suburban and rural communities throughout the state. \nn Foster wildlife conservation stewardship and education in Georgia communities. \nn Promote respect and appreciation of wildlife in combination with community beautification. \nn Improve the quality of life for Georgians living in these communities. \nMore than 750 communities, cities and counties have been awarded full certification, with more than 600 in various stages of completing certification standards. Since 2005, the Backyard Wildlife Certification survey has added about 3,200 certified backyards, 550 of which were certified with two or more adjoining neighboring yards for Neighborhood Backyard Certification. \nAt the start of fiscal 2016, a Nesting/Roosting Box Certification was created to promote adding nest and roost boxes to certified backyards. The count of certified yards is up to 35. This program is in the vein of the Hummingbird Haven Certification, started in 2013 and focused on attracting hummingbirds to yards. About 320 yards have been certified as hummer havens. \nThe Community Wildlife Project also helps Nongame Conservation build constituency through the 11,000-member Garden Club of Georgia via habitat programs at local, state and region levels. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n30 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan, the 2005 original and 2015 revision, emphasizes increasing efforts to detect, monitor and control invasive species to conserve native wildlife and their habitats. Invasives have negative impacts on native species and represent one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. Controlling and treating invasives can yield positive, cascading effects for many native species and for the benefits that people derive from ecosystems. \nFollowing completion of the Georgia Invasive Species Strategy in 2009, the Nongame Conservation Section sought State Wildlife Grants funding to implement invasive species assessment and management programs, with a focus on the state's coastal region. The current project is aimed at enhancing methods for assessing and controlling invasive nonnative species on public and other conservation lands. Objectives also include providing land managers better technical and informational resources to help control invasives, along with promoting appropriate use of native plant species by public and private land managers. \nDuring fiscal 2016, Nongame Conservation staff: \nn Continued a multiyear control project to eradicate common reed from the Altamaha River delta. New sites found this year are being added to the control program. \nn Coordinated a meeting to reassess management of water hyacinth in coastal Georgia, with the result being to focus on source populations and explore potential biocontrols. The meeting followed several years of herbicide treatments and volunteer \nInvasive Species Assessment and \nManagement \n \nInvasive species work is helping rare native plants such as Radford's mint (Eamonn Leonard/DNR) \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n31 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Monitoring invasive Chinese tallow on Ossabaw (Eamonn Leonard/DNR) \n \npulls on the Altamaha and Satilla rivers that had only a moderate effect on water hyacinth populations. \nn Coordinated the fifth annual meeting of the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, or CISMA. This joint meeting with Coastal WildScapes featured participants' species management projects. More than 100 people attended, including representatives from government agencies, nonprofits and citizen groups. \nn Using National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funding, supported a co-coordinator for the region's Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, two Student Conservation Association interns and herbicide and other supply purchases. Supervised the interns, who spent 15 weeks helping partners in the 11-county coastal area complete invasive species projects. Partners varied from DNR divisions to Savannah Tree Foundation, Little St. Simons, St. Simons Land Trust, Bethesda Academy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Jekyll Island Authority and the communities of Kingsland and Pooler. The interns worked on projects targeting sand pine, salt cedar, apple snails, common reed, Chinese tallow, tree of Heaven, big-leaf lantana, wisteria, flathead catfish, Chinese privet and Japanese climbing fern. \nn Worked with residents in Kingsland and Pooler on awareness, assessment and removal of invasive apple snails. \nn Monitored invasive species treatment plots in areas of Sapelo and Ossabaw islands infested with Chinese tallow, measuring the effectiveness of control methods and recovery of the natural communities. \nn Worked with Nature Conservancy staff and a Job Corps team to focus on removing sand pine from longleaf pine restoration sites at Townsend Wildlife Management Area near Ludowici. Nongame Conservation also took the lead in developing a restoration plan to remove at Townsend the remaining mature sand pine surrounding one of two known populations of rare Radford's mint. This is a multiyear project to safeguard the species while converting the remaining sand pine to a longleaf canopy. \n \nApple snails from volunteer work day in St. Marys (Eamonn Leonard/DNR) \n \nn Collaborated with University of Florida researchers on collecting samples of common reed in coastal Georgia. The samples will be used in a study to determine the genetic diversity of common reed along the East Coast. Nongame Conservation also worked with a University of Florida post-doc researcher to collect samples of surviving, large red bay trees on St. Simons. The cuttings will be grown and incorporated into resistance trials. Surviving red bays are being monitored in situ by a College of Coastal Georgia assistant professor and students in his coastal ecology class. \nn Released more than 600 alligator weed flea beetles at Cay Creek Wetlands Interpretive \n \nCenter in Midway in April to reduce the biomass of aquatic invasive alligator weed. \nn Directed a College of Coastal Georgia intern in her work on a remote sensing project to map the extent of apple snail in coastal Georgia. \nn Worked with Coastal Wildscapes, a nonprofit group that promotes gardening with natives, to increase volunteer opportunities in collecting native seed and identifying and removing invasives. Staff also teamed with the Jekyll Authority to grow native plants from seeds collected by volunteers and offer the plants to the public at two plant sales. \nn Continued efforts with the Cannon's Point Conservation Task Force to manage invasive species according to the preserve's management plan. \nn Assisted First Coast Invasive Working Group in northeast Florida with the detection and management of novel invasive species in the north Florida/south Georgia coastal region. \nIn fiscal 2016, the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area was awarded another $50,000, two-year grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Funds will be used to pay two Student Conservation Association interns for the next two years. Also, about $25,000 will be allocated to establish a private landowner costshare program focused on managing one of five high-priority species: salt cedar, Chinese tallow, common reed, water hyacinth or sand pine. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n32 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Law Enforcement for Nongame \n \nRangers prepare to check trawler for TED compliance (Mark Dodd/DNR) \n \nDuring fiscal year 2016, the DNR Law Enforcement Division conducted 49 commercial trawling boardings along Georgia's coast to check compliance with turtle excluder device regulations. Rangers documented four state and two federal TED violations under the Endangered Species Act. \nThe checks were part of nearly 700 hours the Law Enforcement Division spent at sea this year. Activities included 50 hours patrolling for violations of laws protecting North Atlantic right whales and 66 hours at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Rangers also logged 104 hours on public outreach involving marine mammals and the laws and regulations protecting them. \nVessel patrol hours focused on: \nn Shrimp trawler checks for TED compliance. \nn Intercepts of recreational and commercial fishing vessels returning to Georgia seaports from fishing trips in federal waters. \nn Offshore patrols to Special Management Zones and Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. \nn Concentrations of fishing vessels wherever they occurred in the Exclusive Economic Zone adjacent to the state. \nn Offshore and near-shore patrols for compliance with the Atlantic Whale Take Reduction Plan. \n \nOther Law Enforcement Division work involving nongame included: \nn A Brunswick man caught a second time stealing sea turtle eggs pleaded guilty. A DNR technician noticed eggs missing from a Sapelo Island nest July 6. Rangers arrested Lewis Jackson the next day as he tried to leave the island with a cooler full of loggerhead sea turtle eggs. Convicted for the same crime in 2012, he faced a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. \nn Cpl. Greg Wade of Tift County was named North America's top ranger, receiving the 2015 Conservation Law Enforcement Award from the Association of Fish \u0026 Wildlife Agencies. Cpl. Jason Roberson, who is based on Lake Lanier, was named the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators' Boating Officer of the Year. \nn A search with Pickens County Sheriff's Office deputies following a home invasion led to charges in a case involving a large amount of illegally obtained ginseng. Charges included burglary, digging ginseng without permission, child endangerment, trespass and possession of marijuana. \nn Rangers teamed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for separate investigations after two bald eagles were found shot to death, one in \n \nBanks County in September 2015 and the other in Polk County in February 2016. \nn As part of a Decatur County Sheriff's Office drug investigation, Cpl. Tony Cox charged a suspect with multiple wildlife violations, including the taking of alligator snapping turtles, a protected species in Georgia. During an interview with Cox, the suspect admitted to the violations but said most of the wildlife in question had been taken in Florida. That led to Florida officials also citing him. \nn Responding to a complaint about an angler keeping a sea turtle at the Sapelo Island ferry dock, Sgt. Damon Winters and Ranger Jay Bright found that the man had the live immature turtle in a cooler. The turtle was turned over to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for rehabilitation; the fisherman was cited for taking a protected species. \nThe division's annual reports are available at www.gadnrle.org/annual-reports. Report poaching and violations of protected species laws and regulations by calling the Ranger Hotline, 1-800-241-4113, or emailing rangerhotline@dnr.ga.gov. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n33 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n EDUCATION AND OUTREACH \n \nStudents seining in a Sapelo education program (Adam Mackinnon/DNR) Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center's Pete Griffin at work (Linda May/DNR) \n \nRegional Education Centers \nThe DNR Wildlife Resources Division is charged with promoting the conservation and wise use of Georgia's natural resources. This educational mission involves cultivating an appreciation and understanding of wildlife resources, fostering wise stewardship of these resources, and promoting safe and ethical natural resourcebased recreation. \nThroughout its history, the Wildlife Resources Division has educated Georgia youth and families to increase awareness, engagement and stewardship regarding the state's habitats, wildlife and natural resources. These education efforts began when Charlie Elliott, first director of what is now DNR, started the Junior Ranger Program in 1940. In its first year, more than 25,000 children became involved in the program, conducting nature surveys, planting wildlife food crops and helping \"senior rangers\"  in short, learning and practicing conservation. \nElliott's vision of a conservation education program is reflected through the Wildlife Resources Division's seven regional education centers, as well as the continuation of the Junior Ranger Program in DNR's State Parks \u0026 Historic Sites Division. Wildlife Resources operates the centers with local school systems, Regional Educational Service Agencies and other state and federal agencies to deliver wildlife-focused education. The centers are Charlie Elliott Wildlife \n \nCenter near Mansfield, the Go Fish Education Center in Perry, Smithgall Woods near Helen, McDuffie Environmental Education Center near Dearing, Arrowhead Environmental Education Center near Armuchee, Grand Bay Wetland Education Center near Valdosta and Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve. \nVisitors learn about natural and cultural resources through hands-on experiences. More than 93,700 students and adults visited the centers in fiscal 2016. \nAt Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, day programming continued to grow. More than 2,038 people of all ages attended programs \n \nat the 6,400-acre facility. From learning about birds, reptiles and amphibians to enjoying a family campfire with s'mores, the events attracted Georgians from across the state. The center's annual JAKES day program (Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship) drew an estimated 1,650 guests, the secondmost at a JAKES event since its start in 2000. Day field trips also surged in popularity, totaling more than 1,300 students in fiscal 2016. Among the new trips created by staff was a museum and nature tour for special needs students. \nHelping support this interest, the Brooke Ager Discovery Area was renovated by Charlie Elliott's spring 2016 seasonal naturalists. The room \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n34 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n now features updated information, interactive stations and exhibits that target Georgia's five major ecoregions. \nTeacher workshops at Charlie Elliott are part of Project WILD (Wildlife in Learning Design). This is an interdisciplinary curriculum for students in pre-K through 12th grade that uses nature as the backdrop for the lessons. The center continues to experience success in Project WILD, training 525 teachers in 2016. Thirty educators took part in the Teacher Conservation Workshop, a partnership with Project Learning Tree and Project WET, or Water Education for Teachers. This weeklong event held each June uses the forest as a window to environmental education, with activities led by foresters, wildlife biologists, educators and industry professionals. The workshop is interdisciplinary and centered on the environmental, economic and social benefits of Georgia's forestry and wildlife communities. Educators visited sites including the lands of Plum Creek (which merged with Weyerhaeuser in 2016), Barkaloo Farm and Gully Branch, plus lumber mills and the Georgia Forestry Commission's Flint River Nursery. \nFor the second time, Project WILD also held its Outdoor Wildlife Leadership School II, or OWLS II, at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center. Eighteen K-12 educators took part, receiving concentrated lessons in wildlife management and biology. Unlike OWLS I, this highly praised workshop focuses on North Georgia's ecosystems. Trips with wildlife experts included Panola Mountain State Park, where educators learned about grassland bird banding and plant life on granite outcrops; Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area to explore for salamanders in caves; the Go Fish Education Center to learn more about lake sturgeon and fish habitats; and Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area to study middle Georgia's black bear population. \nOn the residential side of Charlie Elliott, there were significant changes in fiscal 2016. The center's education team helped create and expand several environmental education courses that, along with regular programming, will be offered to the public and visiting school groups. Those programs include a Lake Margery Canoe Eco-tour, a Native American History Hike, Dutch Oven Cooking and History, and an Edible and \n \nMedicinal Plants Hike. The year already had been a busy one for residential programming. \nCharlie Elliott's nine Hunt and Learn programs, held primarily at the center but also at Chattahoochee Fall Lines Wildlife Management Area near Geneva, introduced more than 100 parent-and-child pairs to the dynamics of the hunt, game animal biology and hunting as a means of conservation. These programs are a bridge to young people being taught firearm safety basics and hunting ethics. \nThe center's five summer camps were a success as well, averaging 20 participants each and immersing more than 100 children  mainly middle school-aged  in a week of outdoor activities. Targeted camps such as Shooting Sports and ACE continue to draw a crowd. Throughout the year, Charlie Elliott played host to 240 area schoolchildren through The Outdoor Discovery School. Educators from surrounding counties also found the ecology and outdoor recreation programming beneficial to their students, and the center has seen more interest in its overnight field-trip courses than can be accommodated. \nCharlie Elliott Wildlife Center's Outreach Program stayed busy, too. Staff helped with CoastFest in Brunswick, Weekend for Wildlife on Sea Island, events at the governor's mansion and promotions to help DNR Public Affairs market the Wildlife Resources Division's license plates. Assignments also included Outdoor Adventure Days, JAKES Day and programming for the University of Georgia's agricultural department and Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Outreach staff traveled to schools, ranging from kindergarten to universities, and provided presentations for civic groups and homeschoolers. \nIn all, an estimated 26,000-plus students, teachers and other participants were involved in the center's outreach efforts. Those programs included Georgia's five physiographic regions, vertebrates, endangered species, birds of prey and reptiles. The Outreach Program also helped with the center's camps and day-use, residential and visitor programming. Related to outreach, Charlie Elliott's \"Talking Nature Tuesday\" video series was continued in spring 2016, drawing viewers and increasing engagement on the center's social media outlets. Plans are to explore more wildlife conversation topics in fiscal 2017. \n \nSet on 6,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Smithgall Woods Regional Education Center offers an assortment of environmental education programs for students of all ages. Smithgall was established in 1997 as an outdoor classroom in which students and teachers can learn to evaluate environmental impacts and make sound ecological decisions. Adding to the educational value of the instruction provided, programs are led by professionals associated with DNR's State Parks and Historic Sites and Wildlife Resources divisions and Georgia State Parks-certified volunteers. Teachers also can choose to lead activities themselves. Financial support for programming is provided through the Wildlife Resources Division, donations and Georgia Trout Unlimited chapters. \nDuring the fall 2015 and spring 2016 semesters, approximately 11,000 students took part in 589 educational programs. Of these, more than 3,000 students visited Smithgall's living laboratory to learn the importance of managing, protecting, preserving and conserving Georgia's natural, historic and cultural resources. \nSmithgall Woods' diverse catalog of nearly 50 programs is adaptable to reach students from pre-K through college. Although broad in age range, most programs correlate to Georgia Performance Standards and focus on resources unique to the north Georgia mountains. This approach familiarizes students with local issues and demonstrates biological principles at work in their region. Most of the students served are in school districts belonging to the Pioneer Regional Education Service Agency. Programming is divided into two categories: on-site and outreach. \nOn-site programs in fiscal 2016 included lessons in ecology, forestry, wildlife, aquatic habitats, archery and orienteering. While largely school-related, programming is not restricted to students. Smithgall Woods offers many programs to the general public. These opportunities allow \"students\" of all ages to take part in environmental-themed events. However, on-site field trips requested by schools are a large portion of Smithgall's programming. Approximately 91 percent of all educational programs presented this fiscal year were given at the center, a 35-percent increase from 2015 that is mostly due to more out-of-region field trips to the park. The number \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n35 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n of on-site, out-of-region students reached increased by 122 percent. This increase may be due to more homeschool groups using the park for field trips. \nOutreach programming accounted for only 9 percent of the programs given but 70 percent of the students involved in educational programs. These lessons lasting 45 to 60 minutes extend programming into the winter months and serve schools experiencing budget cuts or logistical limitations. This outreach gave approximately 7,320 students  most of them from middle schools  opportunities to learn about animal adaptations, arachnids, birds of \n \nprey, conservation practices, genetics, Native American history and snakes and other reptiles. \nThe Georgia Council of Trout Unlimited again provided scholarship funding to support free outreach programming for seven counties in Pioneer Regional Education Service Agency school districts. Although schools in those counties took advantage of the funding, several that participated the previous school year did not book programs this year. This change can be accounted for as a misunderstanding in the schools. The retirement of the previous interpretive specialist at Smithgall Woods was mistaken as the end of available programming, a misperception staff then worked to correct. \n \nGlynn Middle School students in Sapelo Seeds to Shoreline program (Adam Mackinnon/DNR) \n \nDespite outreach programming suffering decreased numbers this year, on-site attendance increased by 16 percent. As mentioned, employee changes can account for the decline in outreach programming, while the introduction of regular homeschool and school-break programs can explain the increase in on-site programming. The addition of a new interpretive ranger in March 2016 holds promise for an increase in overall programming. With more available programming providers, fiscal 2017 should see an increase in attendance and numbers of programs. The public can expect more opportunities to experience beloved programs such as Stream Ecology, Animal Adaptations and Snakes Alive! \nAt Arrowhead Environmental Education Center, anyone following fifth-graders along one of the paths through the center's 350 acres may hear the naturalist chant, \"Toxico!\" \"Toxico!\" The students echo. \"Dendron!\" \"Dendron!\" \"Toxicodendron radicans!\" \"Toxicodendron radicans!\" And soon the gleeful strains of the old rock song \"Poison I-vee-eeee-ee-eeeee!\" is wafting through the woods. \nVisitors might also see a third-grader standing before his peers and gradually donning the adaptations of a beaver: lotion to represent waterproofing oils, goggles to represent nictitating membranes over the eyes and swim fins to remind onlookers of webbed feet. Or a group of kindergartners gather around a plant to observe its seeds and imagine how they travel to find the right spot to grow: cockleburs on dogs, cattail fluffs in the wind, sycamore balls floating down the creek. \nDuring the 2015-16 school year, students came to Arrowhead to study the collection of live Georgia snakes, turtles, frogs, fish and other live or mounted specimens. They walked through beaver ruins, along streams and through woods to observe life cycles, habitats and food chains studied at school. And in hundreds of outreach lessons, Arrowhead teachers brought animals, stories and lessons to schools. \nThrough songs, chants and stories, sometimes armed with nets, pet-pals, hand lenses and binoculars, measuring tapes, pencils and notepads, 8,966 youth and adults learned in and from Arrowhead about the world around them. Another 1,700 learned about the biodiversity \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n36 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n of northwest Georgia's lush ridges, valleys and streams at special events, displays and programs where Arrowhead was involved. \nThrough the center's partnership between DNR and Floyd County Schools, three teachers planned and taught lessons, developed and staffed displays, and created and presented programs for pre-K through 12th-grade students, as well as provided displays and programs for public events. Some highlights: \nn DNR's Outdoor Adventure Day, Trout Unlimited's Trout Expo, Duck's Unlimited's GreenWings day, outdoor PTO (parent-teacher organization) programs and other special events included Arrowhead's storytelling, live animals, educational scavenger hunts and hands-on activities focused on nature. \nn Nature-trail lessons were led on school campuses, including for every class at one school. \nn Several classrooms and individual children helped feed Arrowhead animals through the center's Adopt-An-Animal program. \nn For the 14th year, students helped with the DNR project to restore lake sturgeon to the Coosa River basin, with follow-up lessons held at the schools. \nn Arrowhead staff visited classes at Berry College and Shorter University to teach future Georgia teachers about wildlife and how to use the environment as a context for learning. \nn Arrowhead joined with the Coosa River Basin Initiative, the upper Coosa Riverkeeper, to visit each kindergarten in Floyd County Schools, teaching about watersheds and water conservation. \nn The center also worked with the Coosa Basin Initiative to hold the 2016 Environmental Quiz Bowl at Arrowhead. \nn Arrowhead Director Vivian Davis was presented the 2016 Environmental Educator of the Year Award by the initiative. Storyteller and naturalist Terrell Shaw earned the group's Margie T. Harbin Environmental Advocacy Award. \nWhether displaying an alligator and discussing adaptations in schools or observing green \n \ntreefrog tadpoles at Arrowhead to learn about life cycles, in fiscal 2016 Arrowhead teachers tailored lessons to Georgia's educational standards and the center's mission  using Georgia's natural systems as a context to help students in Floyd County Schools learn. \nSapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve Education Program offered a range of environmental educational programming during 2015-2016. School programs (K-12th grade and college-level programs) were held on-site and at local schools and universities. In all, 54 programs were delivered during this reporting period, reaching 2,406 students. This total included students from nine Georgia counties and four states. Programs were offered three days a week, with a limit of 40 participants per program due to ferry and on-island transportation limitations. \nSapelo Island Reserve sees seasonal ebbs and flows in K-12 participation. Data show a significant increase in student participation during February and April due to additional offsite programs conducted in the regional schools. \nOverall, Sapelo Island Reserve's K-12 participation numbers appear to be growing, with calendar year 2016 numbers  at 1,614  already surpassing 2015's participation total of 1,504 students. No comprehensive participation database existed prior to calendar 2012, when enrollment was an estimated 871. \nStaff began a new student program during fiscal 2016 called Seeds to Shoreline. For this EPA grant-funded program, 10 teachers were trained and sent back into the classroom to enable coastal students to collect and experiment with Spartina propagation. (Spartina, or cordgrass, is the genus of grass commonly found in coastal salt marshes.) Students then were allowed to plant their seedlings in the salt marsh at designated \"living\" shoreline and restoration sites. Not only did this prove a superb application of the scientific method, the program also re-enforced a strong stewardship principle for young learners. A total of 235 students from five coastal counties took part. This novel program was conducted in partnership with South Carolina and North Carolina national estuarine research reserves, the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service and DNR's Coastal Resources Division. \n \nSapelo Island Reserve also conducted programs for 396 road scholars from the national Elderhostel program. In addition, educational opportunities were provided for 213 participants from various specialinterest groups on and off the island, including churches, birding groups and other organizations. An additional 511 people took part in tours of the island's north end and the reserve's Christmas tours. \nThe Sapelo education program also conducted or partnered with other institutions to train 135 teachers through seven teacher workshops. Partners included Georgia Southern University, the Georgia Association of Marine Educators, the Coastal Resources Division and the UGA Marine Extension Service. These teacher workshops focused on coastal ecosystems and issues, as well science, technology, engineering and math. In addition, Sapelo Island Reserve's education coordinator served as an Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership instructor for 31 Georgia decision-makers. \nThe reserve offered a variety of programming to the general public, such as regular public tours, outreach events and a lecture series highlighting coastal issues and Georgia's rich coastal ecosystems. In all, 1,664 people were given ecological- and historical-based tours of the reserve and surrounding property on Sapelo. \nThe program's education coordinator conducted four lectures for 81 participants. Topics included Georgia's coastal changes and a selection of coastal organisms. A special Crab and Shrimp Day held by the Sapelo education program highlighted the life history and management of Georgia's crabs and shrimp. Fifty people attended this on-island event. The education coordinator also supervised about 130 volunteers who contributed 2,483 hours to service projects on and around Sapelo. \nSapelo Island Reserve staff worked several outreach events such as CoastFest, Sapelo's Culture Day, Coast Day at the Capitol and Beach Week, engaging an estimated 9,500 participants. The island's Visitor Center reported 10,880 walk-in guests who were not associated with a state program. \nMcDuffie Environmental Education Center provides a range of activities designed to fully immerse students, parents and teachers in the natural world in order to develop a lifelong \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n37 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n appreciation for nature and conservation. Activities available for grades K-7 are aligned with Georgia educational standards and delivered under the direction of three experienced statecertified teachers. Reservations for school field trips begin on April 1 each year. During the 20152016 school year, attendance reached 5,471 students and teachers for on-site visits. The high demand resulted in a waiting list for would-be visitors in case of cancellations. \nMcDuffie offers firsthand experiences in three distinctive habitats: sandhills, water and wetlands. Younger students explore the Longleaf Pine Trail, which leads through a mature pine forest. By third grade, students are hiking the Blackwater Creek Swamp Trail, which starts in a typical sandhill habitat and then follows the banks of McDuffie Public Fishing Area lakes and hatchery ponds to a hardwood wetland habitat. \nOne of the education center's areas of emphasis is wetlands conservation. Best practices in maintaining the area's wetland are demonstrated to support this focus. The Blackwater Creek Swamp Trail is a combination of raised boardwalks and compacted ground covered in leaf litter. A generous grant from the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commissions of McDuffie and Columbia counties was used to build additional boardwalk through the trail's wetland section. The new boardwalk connects two existing sections, reduces the impact of the trail through the sensitive wetland, provides a platform for observation and instruction, and allows easier accessibility for the disabled. DNR Fisheries Management and education center staff at McDuffie built the new section. Additional boardwalk and trail work on the Blackwater Creek Swamp Trail is planned for completion in early 2017. The value of this trail for teaching the importance of wetlands and the interrelatedness of nature is immeasurable. \nMcDuffie does not limit its educational efforts to field trips. Staff took part in the McDuffie Outdoor Adventure Day in September, touring visitors through the education building's Discovery Room and providing nature crafts in the classroom. At the 2015 Eco-Meet, held at Phinizy Nature Park in Augusta, McDuffie continued its involvement with the Environmental Sciences Education Cooperative by providing a competition station on animal tracking. \n \nThe Go Fish Education Center provides quality on-site environmental education programs focused on aquatic resource education and conservation. The center met several goals in 2015-2016 that helped boost education program opportunities and increase participation. Students varying from preschool to college levels took part in unique activities that met Georgia Performance Standards and creatively used classroom presentations, aquarium tours and the center's hunting and fishing simulators. Go Fish staff also conducted off-site fish dissections at a local middle school. The dissection program reached 300 seventh-graders and brought in roughly $1,500 in revenue over four days. \nDuring the 2015-2016 school year, the Go Fish Center partnered with a local elementary school to assist with the school's certification in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Throughout the year, staff conducted 13 specialized programs for 245 students from the school. The school earned its STEM certification and asked to continue this program during the 2016-2017 school year. \nIn addition to school field trips, several unique fishing-related programs were held for a local school's fishing club. Topics included fish identification, fish anatomy, angler ethics and conservation, fishing regulations, and making lures. \nStaff continued the center's homeschool program, which included various programs highlighting seasonal topics such as owl pellets in winter and severe weather in the spring. Also during 2015-2016, Go Fish began a toddler program. The first program had 10 registered participants the day before it opened. The day of the program, 94 toddlers and their parents and guardians filled the classroom and theater at Go Fish. Such popularity has resulted in the addition of four more toddler sessions. \nGo Fish initiated its community programming with a public seminar in fiscal 2016. Led by DNR fisheries biologist Tim Bonvechio, the seminar focused on Bonvechio's experiences mitigating invasive flathead catfish in Georgia waterways such as the Satilla River. \nStaff educators also attended seven promotional outreach events across the state during the year. And Go Fish saw a dramatic increase in \n \nState Fish Art entries, a change attributed to the social media and online marketing push from the center's educator. \nLooking ahead to fiscal 2017, Go Fish will continue providing quality education programs for the public, with goals set at increasing opportunities, offering a variety of program choices for school field trips, creating and implementing an online field-trip survey, and using the Internet for reserving groups. The staff also plans to work with the local elementary school again to complete a new STEM project focused on fish attractors and aquaponics, which merges growing fish with growing plants in water. \nGrand Bay Wetland Education Center, a partnership between DNR and the Coastal Plains Regional Educational Services Agency, maintained a full schedule this year. During the 2015-2016 school year, approximately 9,500 students and 3,000 adults attended day classes at the center. With the support of superintendents, principals, teachers and parents in 12 school districts, Grand Bay filled its scheduling calendar for the school year in one week. \nWhile the busy schedule and limited staff do not allow for outreach programs during the school year, Grand Bay had a full summer program in 2016. Valdosta State University and Wiregrass Technical College took part in day camps and attended lessons at the facility as well. About 1,000 children and students attended lessons during camps and school outreach programs concerning mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish found in south Georgia, as well as local plant communities and current environmental issues. All activities met Georgia Performance Standards. \nYouth Birding Competition \nThe Nongame Conservation Section held the 11th annual Youth Birding Competition on April 22-23, 2016. Participants again broke records for the number of bird species seen or heard within the 24-hour birdathon, with the overall winning team counting 170 species. Twenty-five teams signed up, underscoring the popularity of this annual spring event that promotes birding and conservation among young Georgians. Ten new teams competed in 2016. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n38 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Grand-prize winner in Youth Birding Competition Art Contest (Linda May/DNR) Georgia Wild enewsletter (Ryan Holt/DNR) \n \nDuring the Youth Birding Competition, teams of pre-K through 12th-grade birders representing schools, Scout troops, science clubs and other groups compete with teams of similar-aged youth to identify as many bird species as they can in the state. \nAs part of the 2016 event, the young birders also raised almost $1,700 for conservation projects throughout the state, pushing the cumulative fundraising for this event to more than $20,000. The event's T-shirt Art Contest attracted 163 drawings and paintings of native Georgia birds. A male Anna's hummingbird by Anna Zhu, a 14-yearold from Alpharetta, proved the grand-prize winner and adorned the competition's T-shirts. \nThe Youth Birding Competition is aimed at cultivating an interest in birds and conservation. Sponsors include TERN, friends group of Nongame Conservation; the Georgia Ornithological Society; and the Atlanta and Albany Audubon societies. The event's reach is being multiplied by Race4Birds, a foundation that is helping spread the Youth Birding Competition concept. Volunteers also are key to holding the competition banquet, awards ceremony and T-shirt art contest. \nGive Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest \nKindergarten through fifth-grade students submitted about 1,450 posters for the 2016 Give \n \nWildlife a Chance Poster Contest. This annual event has encouraged students to explore the wonders of Georgia's native plant and animal species through art for 26 years. \nStudents from 23 public schools, private schools and homeschool groups participated in 2016, taking to heart the event's theme \"Every Species Matters!\" Artwork was judged based on aspects such as theme, originality, quality and impact. \nThe posters of state-level contest winners were displayed at the State Botanical Garden in Athens and posted on the Wildlife Resources Division's Flickr site. In addition, the parents and teachers of winners were offered free wildlife license plates. \n \nThe contest is organized and sponsored by DNR, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), the friends group of Nongame Conservation. \nSocial Media \nThe DNR Wildlife Resources Division's social media sites  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr and a blog  continued to grow in popularity, spreading awareness of the division's conservation efforts and engaging constituents. Wildlife Resources' Facebook page had recorded 90,048 likes through June 2016, the end of the fiscal year. Twitter had nearly 6,927 followers, up from 4,900 the year before. The YouTube channel drew 107,499 views during the fiscal year, compared to about 93,500 in 2015. \nThe division's blog, which has a conservationspecific section, racked up 68,398 views for calendar year 2015. Instagram grew from 3,500 to 4,980 followers all-time. \nPublic Affairs posted and helped produce videos on nongame-related topics, most using footage taken in the field by biologists. The most popular video during the fiscal year was a clip of loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings scrambling for the ocean: Its Facebook reach exceeded 123,100. \nThe most popular post, however, didn't involve video, only a very unusual photograph. Provided by the public, it showed a northern watersnake caught in the valves of a southern rainbow mussel  a seldom-seen standoff that likely proved fatal for both creatures, according to \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n39 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n DNR's Tom Patrick interviewed by Atlanta's WABE-FM (Rick Lavender/DNR) \n \nwildlife biologists. That Facebook post, which also provided the foundation for a story in DNR's Georgia Wild e-newsletter, compiled a reach topping 131,200. \nJust after the close of fiscal 2016, Public Affairs and Nongame Conservation staff created a #7Days4SeaTurtles social media campaign that used images, video and text on all Wildlife Resources Division platforms, including blog posts from a sea turtle technician, to raise awareness of sea turtle conservation and celebrate loggerheads surpassing one of the species' recovery benchmarks in Georgia  2,800 nests. The campaign racked up 212,011 reaches and impressions, 6,180 engagements and reactions, and 965 comments and shares. \nEnvironmental Outreach Coordinator Linda May also teamed with Public Affairs' Heidi Ferguson, Wildlife Resources social media and outreach coordinator, to begin producing a Georgia Wild video series focused on backyard wildlife. With the first video airing in early fiscal 2017, early results showed promise. The \"Little Snakes\" episode had more than 121,000 views and nearly 640 likes on Facebook. \nThe increasing circulation of the nongame e-newsletter Georgia Wild was encouraging as well. The number of subscribers grew by nearly 35 percent to more than 80,000. Public Affairs also redesigned the newsletter in fall 2015, improving the look and making issues easier to read on phones and other mobile devices. Reader response to the redesign was positive. In summer 2016, Georgia Wild won first in the external newsletter category at the annual Association for Conservation Information conference. The DNR e-newsletter, which turned 9 in fiscal 2016, placed third in the national competition the year before. \nGeorgia Wild remains an effective platform for delivering nongame news and raising awareness. Features and videos are cross-promoted on the division's social media sites, increasing the size of the audience and potential impact of the conservation information. \nIn all, social media efforts and the e-newsletter not only broaden the reach of the Nongame Conservation communications, they enhance interactivity and customer service. \n \nRabun Gap-Nacoochee School students thrilled by a hellbender (Johnathan BySura/Rabun Gap-Nacoochee) \n \nPromoting Awareness \nBeyond youth contests and social media, the Nongame Conservation Section promotes awareness of nongame wildlife and issues in a myriad of ways  speaking to civic, technical and special-interest groups, informing lawmakers on rare species, showing journalists research in the field, and working with other conservation organizations, to name a few examples. \nIn fiscal 2016, the agency staffed events varying from CoastFest in Brunswick and Endangered \n \nSpecies Day at Atlanta Botanical Garden to the Georgia Association of Tax Officials' spring conference in Athens, the Atlanta Science Festival Environmental Education Day and the Rattlesnake \u0026 Wildlife Festival in Claxton. Employees provided interviews about wildlife to media, including The Weather Channel, Savannah Morning News, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Augusta Chronicle, Georgia Public Broadcasting and The Associated Press. Topics varied from sea turtle nesting and summer snake activity to a satellite-tracking project focused on endangered manatees. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n40 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n DNR's Jordan Wallace at Endangered Species Day (Rebecca Byrd/DNR) \n \nWhile outreach efforts are mentioned throughout this report, other examples include: \nn Environmental Outreach Coordinator Linda May and Georgia artist Ami Flowers created a children's coloring book for Nongame Conservation. \"Exploring Georgia's Wildlife\" doubles as a promotion of Wildlife Resources Division license plates and a teaching aid regarding wildlife and conservation. Funded by The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), \n \nfriends group of Nongame Conservation, and released at the 2016 Weekend for Wildlife, the book has been praised by First Lady Sandra Deal. \nn May and Anna Yellin, Nongame Conservation's environmental review coordinator, organized and awarded a $1,000 grant to fifth-grade teacher Melanie Hartfield of Unity Grove Elementary in Locust Grove as part of a TERN-sponsored grant to recognize Georgia's \n \nWeather Channel's Jim Cantore with DNR's Linda May and indigo (Chris May) \n \nexceptional third- through fifth-grade teachers in life sciences. \nn Promotion of wildlife cams shared on the Wildlife Resources Division's website  Berry College's bald eagle nest cam and the Savannah-area great-horned owl nest cam provided by The Landings  plus the agency's peregrine falcon and Go Fish Education Center cams, helped the division land second in the Association for Conservation Information 2014 awards category \"Supporting conservation and increasing online engagement.\" The award was given in summer 2015. \nn Nongame Conservation biologist Steve Raper and DNR Private Lands Program Manager Dr. Jessica McGuire set up and staffed an information booth at the annual Southeastern Wood Producers Association meeting in Valdosta. In addition to general outreach topics, they emphasized gopher tortoise habitat protection as part of the effort to avoid federal listing of the tortoise. \nn Raper also helped update a landowner information package provided to private landowners in Georgia interested in forest certification. The package is produced by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. He worked, as well, with Nongame Conservation botanist Lisa Kruse to help a land trust develop a fundraising brochure for a land-protection project in southeastern Georgia, providing information about natural communities at the site and land-protection strategies. \nn Nongame Conservation Assistant Chief Mary Pfaffko and botanist Dr. Mincy Moffett teamed with Jennifer Ceska, conservation coordinator of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, to present a webinar on plant conservation and State Wildlife Action Plans to Association of Fish \u0026 Wildlife Agencies members. \nn Moffett and fellow DNR botanist Tom Patrick helped with a long-range lesson on cotton, providing teacher Missy Biddinger of St. Joseph Consolidated School in Hamilton, Ohio, details on cotton biology and ecology, and even plants, for early American history lessons on natural resources and trade. \"The kids loved it!\" Biddinger wrote, noting that fellow teachers also used the plants with their students. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n41 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n n Nongame Conservation wildlife biologist Eamonn Leonard gave lectures about invasive species to professional organizations, garden clubs and volunteer groups. Leonard also set up an outreach booth on invasives at the 2015 CoastFest. The annual event drew more than 7,500 people to DNR Coastal Regional Headquarters in Brunswick. \nn Leonard helped coordinate and plant 20 wildflower plots along Ga. 99 north of Darien to promote native pollinators. Nongame Conservation, Ashantilly Center, McIntosh County 4-H and Coastal WildScapes seeded 14 of the plots with species native to coastal Georgia and collected locally. \nn Linda May was featured on The Weather Channel in a Facebook Q\u0026A and a live segment about snakes and why the public should not fear them. \nn Wildlife biologist Katrina Morris worked with media outlets to publicize the plight of Georgia's bats during DNR's annual white-nose syndrome surveys. Coverage included reports such as this one on WSB-TV in Atlanta. \nn Wildlife biologist Thomas Floyd updated DNR's Venomous Snakes of Georgia brochure for a fourth printing. The popular guide, funded largely by TERN and available online, features new range maps, occurrences and regulation details. \nn Many biologists wrote popular articles and published research. Examples include: Senior wildlife biologist John Jensen worked with Dirk Stevenson (The Orianne Society), Elizabeth Schlimm (Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway) and Matt Moore to publish a review of records on the distribution, habitat and status in Georgia of the imperiled spotted turtle. Jensen also co-wrote with Private Lands Program Manager Dr. Jessica McGuire a paper on disease dynamics of red-spotted newts and their prey in the journal Disease of Aquatic Organisms. For River Research and Applications, malacologist Jason Wisniewski co-authored with former DNR employee Andrew Gascho Landis and Sandy Abbott (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) an evaluation of augmenting stream flows as a short-term strategy to conserve mussels. Assistant Chief Mary Pfaffko teamed with Jonathan Mawdsley and Mark Humpert of \n \nDNR's Nate Thomas shows large-flowered skullcap (Rick Lavender/DNR) \n \nthe Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to write an article on State Wildlife Action Plans for Wildlife Professional, journal of The Wildlife Society. Senior wildlife biologist Nathan Klaus wrote a Georgia Forestry Today article exploring research insights into conserving groundcover when planting longleaf pine. Steve Raper coauthored with Game Management's Eric Darracq a cover article in the same magazine describing the Forestry for Wildlife Partnership. \nn Wildlife Resources Division blog posts by Nongame Conservation staffers featured wildlife technician Nate Thomas' work with local groups and governments to conserve rare large-flowered skullcap in the Resaca area, Georgia Botanical Society's \"Year of the Bog\" spotlight on Coastal Plain bogs, Sara Weaver's insights during the #7Days4SeaTurtles social media campaign on her work as a Sapelo Island sea turtle tech, and a partnership with Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in a State Wildlife Grants project to help conserve hellbenders in northeast Georgia. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n42 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n L A N D ACQ U I S I T I O N A N D CO N S E RVAT I O N E AS E M E N TS \nCorley, Johnny Monk, Tidwell Tracts \n(Paulding Forest WMA) \n \nGriffith Tract (Oconee WMA) \n \nBrown Brothers Tract (Chattahoochee Fall Line WMA) \n \nLentile Tract (Alapaha River WMA) \n \nPlum Creek Donation (Flat Tub WMA) \n \nTillman Tract (Big Hammock WMA) \nSansavilla Tract (Sansavilla WMA) \nBBT Tract (Altamaha WMA) Altama Tract (Altama Plantation WMA) Musgrove \n \nGopher tortoise (Joe Burnam/DNR) \n \nThrough its Real Estate Office, DNR acquired fee ownership of 18,790 acres for public recreation and conservation as well as a 58-acre conservation easement in fiscal 2016. Acquisitions expanded ownership in seven wildlife management areas: Sansavilla, Paulding Forest, Altamaha, Big Hammock, Chattahoochee Fall Line, Flat Tub and Oconee. Also, two new WMAs, Altama Plantation and Alapaha River, were formed from acquisitions. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n43 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Sansavilla WMA \n(Sansavilla Tract, Phase I) \nThe Sansavilla Tract covers 19,500 acres in Wayne and Glynn counties. Since 1972, DNR has leased the majority of Sansavilla each year as a wildlife management area. The Conservation Fund bought the property in 2014 and, while leasing 16,379 acres to DNR, is selling it to the agency in stages as funding becomes available. \nFor Phase I, DNR acquired fee ownership of 3,012 acres. The agency expects to acquire Phase II late in calendar year 2016 and the remaining acreage as Phase III in mid-2017. \nSansavilla has a large population of gopher tortoises, a candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The property also has federally threatened eastern indigo snakes and intact longleaf pine forests, as well as areas suitable for restoring longleaf pine. \nPaulding Forest WMA \n(Johnny Monk, Corley and Tidwell tracts) \nDuring fiscal 2016, DNR acquired the 1,432-acre Johnny Monk Tract, the 217-acre Corley Tract and \n \nthe 80-acre Tidwell Tract, adding 1,729 acres to Paulding Forest WMA in Paulding and Polk counties. \nThese tracts increase the recreational value of Paulding Forest, while also improving management options and allowing DNR to restore the tracts' montane longleaf pine habitat. Within Paulding and nearby Sheffield Forest WMA, DNR manages more than 30,000 acres. These WMAs are very popular due to their proximity to Atlanta. Both are available for hunting, fishing, hiking, bike riding and wildlifewatching pursuits such as birding. \nAltamaha WMA \n(BBT Tract) \nThe BBT Tract in McIntosh County is within the Altamaha River floodplain and surrounded on three sides by Altamaha WMA. DNR acquired 792 acres featuring high-quality floodplain forests, flatwoods and xeric longleaf pine uplands. \nThe combination and closeness of these habitats creates tremendous biological diversity, including habitat for the gopher tortoise, eastern indigo snake and swallow-tailed kite. This property is sometimes referred to as the Altamaha \"Connector\" Tract. \n \nPrescribed fire crew at Altama Plantation (DNR) \n \nBig Hammock WMA \n(Tillman Tract) \nBig Hammock WMA and the Tillman Tract in Tattnall County support diverse habitat for wildlife along the Altamaha River. Of particular importance is the regeneration of longleaf pine and the preservation of species such as the gopher tortoise and eastern indigo snake. Protecting enough habitat to preclude the need to federally list the gopher tortoise is a priority for DNR. \nThe Tillman Tract adjoins Big Hammock and totals 323 acres. \nChattahoochee Fall Line WMA \n(Brown Brothers Tract) \nThe Brown Brothers Tract is a strategic site within a buffer area around Fort Benning, important to protect for reasons that include national security and the region's economy. The 277-acre Talbot County site adjoins the 7,495-acre Almo Tract, which was acquired in 2014 and became Chattahoochee Fall Line WMA. Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan includes the Brown Brothers Tract within a high-priority zone for protection, important for recreation and for conservation because it has gopher tortoises. \nAs a partner in the acquisition, The Nature Conservancy retained a conservation easement on the Brown Brothers Tract that greatly reduced the purchase price for DNR. \nFlat Tub WMA \n(Plum Creek donation) \nIn 2005, DNR partnered with The Nature Conservancy and Plum Creek Timber Co. to protect 3,653 acres and 3.5 miles of Ocmulgee River frontage. A portion of this property was bought in 2005, and 1,661 acres in Jeff Davis and Coffee counties that would eventually be donated to the state were placed in a mitigation bank and leased to DNR as part of Flat Tub WMA. \nWith the mitigation bank monitoring requirements met in 2015, the donation was completed in fiscal 2016. Plum Creek has since merged with Weyerhaeuser. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n44 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Hatchling Florida pine snake (Matt Moore/DNR) \n \nOconee WMA \n(Griffith Tract) \nThe Griffith Tract is a donated inholding within Oconee WMA. In December 2001, Georgia Power Co. donated 430 acres to DNR for the WMA. This acquisition in Putnam County included property along Lake Oconee's southern shore, but it did not include an undeveloped 0.86-acre lot. Development of that lot would have negatively affected the WMA. \nThe owner of the inholding donated the property to the state for a tax credit. \nAltama Plantation WMA \n(Altama Tract) \nAcquiring the Altama Tract in Glynn County permanently preserved 4,123 acres for a new WMA. The tract is home to a vast ecosystem of plant and animal life, including longleaf pine and gopher tortoises. The Nature Conservancy acquired the property and then sold a restrictive easement to the U.S. Marine Corps via the Navy. This restrictive easement reduced the purchase price for DNR and provided the Marines a buffer to Townsend Bombing Range in McIntosh County. \n \nDNR partnered with The Nature Conservancy to allow the conservation organization to use houses and other structures on the property for conservation research. \nAlapaha River WMA \n(Lentile Tract) \nAcquisition of the Lentile Tract in Irwin County formed the new Alapaha River WMA. While known locally as an exceptional recreational tract for hunting, fishing, hiking and wildlife watching, the 6,869-acre site is also prized for its conservation value. \nThe Lentile Tract has the third-largest population of gopher tortoises in the state. Georgia's state reptile is a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. It's also a keystone species. More than 300 other animal species use the burrows tortoises dig for shelter, underscoring the importance of the gopher tortoise's impact on the ecosystem. \nLentile also provides habitat for the federally threatened eastern indigo snake; the striped newt, a candidate for federal listing; and five species petitioned for federal listing  \n \nalligator snapping turtle, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, Florida pine snake, gopher frog and Say's spiketail, a dragonfly. \nMusgrove Plantation \n(Phase 1) \nDNR acquired a 58-acre conservation easement on St. Simons Island's Musgrove Plantation in fiscal 2016. Although targeted for development, the property has habitats identified in the State Wildlife Action Plan as a high priority for conservation, including brackish and saltwater marsh, maritime forest, coastal hammocks, pine flatwoods, and tidal rivers. A number of high-priority bird species, such as the federally endangered wood stork, use these habitats for foraging. \nSt. Simons Land Trust bought the 58 acres, known as Phase I of the 465-acre Musgrove Plantation, and sold a conservation easement to the state. \nGeorgia Conservation Tax Credit Program \nThe Nongame Conservation Section administers the Georgia Conservation Tax Credit Program in conjunction with the State Properties Commission. This program provides a tax credit for taxpayers who place conservation easements on their land or make fee-simple donations to qualified organizations. \nOf the 13 applications in 12 counties received in fiscal 2016, six were approved by the State Properties Commission and received the tax credit. Four of the 13 applications received pre-certification for the program and most have submitted final applications. In addition to the six certified applications received in fiscal 2016, 18 applications received prior to the fiscal year were certified. \nThese 24 certifications protected a total of 10,732 acres with conservation easements and fee-simple donations. \nThe staff managing the program is funded in part through the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. The funding was continued for fiscal 2016. The Legislature extended the program for five more years. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n45 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n CO N S E RVAT I O N P L A N N I N G \n \nState Wildlife Action Plan Revision \nAs coordinator of the State Wildlife Action Plan in Georgia, the Nongame Conservation Section completed and submitted a draft of the 2015 revised plan for review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September 2015 and approved a year later. The Wildlife Action Plan outlines critical areas of need, with a focus on keeping native species from declining to the point of requiring federal protection as threatened or endangered species. Developing, revising and implementing the plan are required to receive State Wildlife Grants. \nWith the help of DNR's conservation partners, this 10-year roadmap for conservation was updated with the most current information. The Fish and Wildlife Service approved the revised plan in September 2016, after which DNR and its partners began putting the updated strategy into action. Many of the conservation successes accomplished through the Wildlife Action Plan are described elsewhere in this report, but highlights from regional conservation efforts are discussed in the following section. \nAlso in fiscal 2016, DNR continued to serve with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on a Regional Review Team to review each of the revised 2015 State Wildlife Action Plans in the Southeast. \nRegional Conservation Partnerships \nSince 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has received three mega-petitions to list a total of 496 species under the Endangered Species Act. In 2011, the service reached a settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians under a national multidistrict litigation to evaluate and make listing decisions on petitioned and candidate species. The Fish and Wildlife Service's Southeast Region is responsible for roughly 60 percent of the workload to evaluate these species. More than 100 of the species are found in Georgia, amplifying the need for up-to-date status information to help inform the service's 90-day findings and 12-month findings to determine whether a listing is warranted. \n \nMonitoring prairie restoration at Oaky Woods WMA \n \nTackling emerging issues such as megapetitions to list species under the Endangered Species Act requires innovative approaches. One is the creation of regional conservation partnerships, such as the Southeast At-risk Species Program, that are capable of achieving success that could not be accomplished by individual states. Often referred to as SEARS, the Southeast At-risk Species Program was implemented by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in cooperation with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wildlife Management Institute. The goal is to preclude the need to federally list species. \nIn fiscal 2016, the southeastern association's Wildlife Diversity Committee, of which DNR is a member, marked its first year in the SEARS grant program. This program is funded by pooling a portion of State Wildlife Grants and other funds from participating states in the Southeast. Grants support research, surveys and restoration projects to inform listing decisions and conserve petitioned species before they require protection under the Endangered Species Act. \nThis and other proactive measures are contributing to conservation gains. Since 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service, working in partnership with state fish and wildlife agencies, has determined that 72 of the petitioned species did not warrant federal listing as a result of research or conservation actions. Another 12 species that were federally listed have been either downlisted or delisted. \n \nLandscape Conservation Cooperatives, or LCCs, are another type of regional conservation partnership developed since the first version of Georgia's Wildlife Action Plan. The aim here is using a network of resource managers and scientists from a wide range of sources to more effectively integrate science and management in addressing climate change and other landscape-scale issues across regions. DNR is represented on each of the three cooperatives that include parts of the state: the South Atlantic, Appalachian, and Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks LCCs. In June 2016, Nongame Conservation Chief Dr. Jon Ambrose was elected vice chair of the South Atlantic LCC Steering Committee. \nEarly in fiscal 2017, the South Atlantic LCC released Blueprint 2.1, an adaptable, spatial plan that describes the places and actions needed to conserve natural and cultural resources for future generations. The blueprint provides a consistent plan that transcends boundaries and organizations in mapping out how the conservation community can respond to change. \nThe work of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives has led, in turn, to the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy, referred to as SECAS, an initiative by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and others to knit together the conservation blueprints of LCCs in the region. Scheduled for release in mid-October 2017, a first draft for the Southeast and Caribbean LCCs will combine conservation priorities of LCCs across the region into one map. \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n46 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATION \n \nREVENUE \nTOTAL: $2,311,192* \n \nDonations \u0026 other income 7% ($159,874) \nIncome tax checkoff 6% \n($131,248) \nWeekend for Wildlife* 20% ($456,654) \n \nEarned interest 1% ($21,579) \nNongame license plates \n66% \n($1,541,837) \n \nEXPENDITURES \nTOTAL: $2,491,544 \nProfessional services (contracts, fees) 4% ($97,234) \nOperations 20% \n($507,078) \nPersonnel 76% \n($1,887,232) \n \nDoes not include federal and other grants or $429,318 in state appropriations. \n* Includes estimated revenue from Weekend for Wildlife that will be disbursed through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation. \n \nThrough Nongame Fund. \n \nNONGAME CONSERVATION FUND Listed in millions per year. \n \n12 M \n \n11 M \n \n10 M \n \nINCOME* \n \nEXPENSES \n \nBALANCE* \n \n9 M \n \n8 M \n \n7 M \n \n6 M \n \n5 M \n \n4 M \n \n3 M \n \n2 M \n \n1 M \n \nFY '07 FY '08 FY '09 FY '10 FY '11 FY '12 FY '13 FY '14 FY '15 FY '16 \n* Includes estimated revenue that will be disbursed through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation. \n \nNongame Wildlife Conservation Fund \nFor the first time in years, the Nongame Conservation Section received state appropriations in fiscal 2016. The General Assembly budgeted $429,318 for the agency. However, because those appropriations made up only about 6 percent of the section's research and conservation budget, fundraising remained a priority. \nNongame Conservation depends largely on three fundraisers: the nongame wildlife license plates, Weekend for Wildlife and the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff. Contributions go into the Nongame Wildlife Conservation and Wildlife Habitat Acquisitions Fund, often referred to as the \n \nGeorgia or Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. (Learn more about these fundraisers at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/support.) \nThe Environmental Resources Network (TERN), the friends group of Nongame Conservation also provides significant support. \nIn fiscal 2016, the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund totaled an estimated $2.3 million in revenue  including an estimated $456,654 raised at Weekend for Wildlife that will be disbursed through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation to the fund  and not counting federal and other grants. Expenses paid through the fund totaled $2.49 million. In addition to the three primary fundraisers, revenue included $21,579 in earned interest and $159,874 in donations and other income. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n47 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Nongame License Plates \nThe bald eagle and ruby-throated hummingbird tags are the Nongame Conservation Section's largest fundraiser, a standard of support for more than 15 years. Sales and renewals average more than half the annual revenue for the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. In fiscal 2016, these license plates accounted for 66 percent of the fund's estimated revenue, up from 55 percent in 2015 and 41 percent in 2014. \nOne reason for the increase is 2014 legislation that lowered the cost of buying or renewing all DNR wildlife plates to only $25 more than a standard design tag and dedicated up to 80 percent of those fees ($19 per sale and $20 of each renewal) to the wildlife programs the plates benefit. Since July 1, 2014, $19 for each eagle and hummingbird tag bought and $20 for each renewed has gone to help conserve nongame wildlife and natural habitats. \nSales and renewals of nongame plates exceeded $1.5 million in both fiscal 2016 and 2015, compared to $841,160 in 2014. However, the number of eagle and hummingbird tags in circulation continues to shrink. From 2010 to the close of fiscal 2016, the total declined 78 percent, from 347,401 to 77,700 plates, and there were 4,169 fewer plates in circulation in 2016 than the previous year. \nThe drop in tag numbers and, before 2015, tag revenue trailed 2010 legislation that raised the price for these and most specialty plates, \n \nreduced to $10 the share going to sponsor groups, and added an annual renewal fee. While the renewal fee initially increased revenue  eagle and hummingbird tag sales and renewals peaked at $1.88 million in 2011  the price increase and additional fee undercut sales and the rate of renewals. \nDNR Wildlife Resources Division Public Affairs and The Environmental Resources Network, friends group of Nongame Conservation, have worked to reverse those trends. In 2016, those efforts included: \nn Working with the state Revenue Department to bring online a new plate featuring a bald eagle and the U.S. flag. This iconic combo, created by Wildlife Resources graphic artist Ryan Holt, is a redesign of DNR's smaller eagle-and-flag tag sold from 2004-2013 and considered Georgia's most popular specialty plate. The tag replaces the flying eagle design introduced in 2013. Early results are promising: 68 percent more eagle plates were sold in August 2016 than in August 2015. \nn Continuing to raise awareness of the 2014 pricing change and the support that plates provide nongame conservation. County tag offices and car dealers (which can sell plates to vehicle buyers) were contacted. TERN provided a $3,000 grant for a tag office contest. Wildlife Resources targeted promotions, including eagle tag advertisements at football games of Georgia Southern University's Eagles. \n \nWeekend for Wildlife \nWeekend for Wildlife is one of the country's most successful fundraisers for nongame conservation, grossing more than $10 million since 2001. The annual event started in 1989 draws 200-400 guests to the prestigious Cloister at Sea Island for a weekend of outdoor trips, auctions and dining. \nThe celebration in 2016, the 28th annual Weekend for Wildlife, raised more than $1 million, a record for the event. Excluding some event-related expenses and fees as well as directed giving for targeted programs, an estimated $456,654 will be disbursed through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. \n`Give Wildlife a Chance' State Income Tax Checkoff \n \nThe state income tax checkoff offers Georgians a convenient way to contribute to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. Since the checkoff's creation in 1989, net contributions have averaged about $300,000. In fiscal 2016, however, contributions hit a new low of $131,248. \nThat total undershot the previous low of $184,065 in 1994. In 1991, the checkoff hit an all-time high, raising $510,910. 2016 marked a 45 percent decline from the previous year's contributions of $240,443. \nThe Give Wildlife a Chance checkoff is line 26 on the long state income tax form (Form 500) and line 10 of the short form (Form 500-EZ). \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n48 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n The Environmental Resources Network \n \nThe Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1992 to support Nongame Conservation Section activities. TERN, online at http://tern.homestead. com and on Facebook, raises most of its funds through membership dues and through auction, raffle and sale items at Weekend for Wildlife. \n \nIn fiscal 2016, TERN funded 20 project proposals submitted by Nongame Conservation staff and totaling $69,918. Those projects included: \n \nSummer Camp ACE (Adventures in Conservation Education) $8,000 \n \nOutdoor Wildlife Leadership School $7,800 \n \nYouth Birding Competition \n \n$7,400 \n \nRevitalizing the Big Hammock \n \nWMA nature trail \n \n$7,200 \n \nManatee satellite telemetry equipment $6,100 \n \nStudy of the impacts of extreme high-tide events on sea turtle nesting $4,800 \n \nAutomated recorders for anuran \n \nsurvey and monitoring \n \n$4,500 \n \nAdditional transmitters for study of ranges and potential habitat of cavedwelling bat species in north Georgia $4,445 \n \nCamp TALON (youth birding camp) \n \n$3,000 \n \nTag office contest to promote DNR \n \nnongame license plates \n \n$3,000 \n \nGive Wildlife a Chance poster contest $2,600 \n \nTeacher Conservation Workshop \n \n$2,000 \n \nHellbender informational signage \n \nand education/outreach poster \n \n$1,890 \n \n2016 Christmas Bird Count for \n \nyoung birders \n \n$1,640 \n \nTERN Outstanding Teacher Award \n \n$1,250 \n \nFestival booth activities for Nongame \n \nConservation outreach \n \n$1,150 \n \nNongame Conservation prescribed \n \nfire equipment \n \n$1,000 \n \nRadford's mint habitat restoration \n \nat Townsend WMA \n \n$805 \n \nFurniture upgrades at Forsyth \n \nNongame Conservation office \n \n$763 \n \nEquipment for red-cockaded \n \nwoodpecker restoration \n \n$575 \n \nSea turtle hatchling on Cumberland (DNR) \n \nTERN provided financial support, as well, to several other projects and nongame-related conferences throughout the year. \nOfficers for the group include Brooks Schoen as president, Vice President Joey Slaughter, Secretary Leigh Callan, Treasurer Eva Persons, Executive Director Terry W. Johnson and Executive Secretary Wanda Granitz. \nIn fiscal 2016, Executive Director Johnson started a blog called Backyard Wildlife Connection. The blog features Johnson's insights into nature, from rose-breasted grosbeaks to flying squirrels to butterflies and native plants that benefit wildlife. Johnson is the former manager of what was DNR's Nongame Conservation Program. \nFederal and Other Funding \nThe Nongame Conservation Section received nearly $10.1 million in federal and other grants during fiscal year 2016 to support projects that benefit nongame wildlife species and their habitats. The grants included $7 million for land acquisition. Sources varied from the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program, the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund and National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program  all administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Navy. \n \nUse of these targeted grants, usually matched with funds from the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund, included acquiring habitat for conservation and research, surveys and occurrence data collection focused on at-risk species. \nAs part of that total, Nongame Conservation received $1.3 million in State Wildlife Grants. That amount marked a slight increase over fiscal 2015, yet still registered 36 percent or $731,000 less than in fiscal 2010, the program's funding high-point. A suite of federal conservation programs, including State Wildlife Grants, have been cut since 2010. State Wildlife Grants, which has bipartisan support, saw an overall funding increase in fiscal 2014 and remained stable in 2015. However, the funding is not sufficient for states to meet the conservation needs outlined in their State Wildlife Action Plans. \nState and Tribal Wildlife Grants is the only federal program designed to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered through voluntary, proactive conservation. The DNR Wildlife Resources Division uses the funding to research and monitor species of greatest conservation need, restore habitat, acquire land, and accomplish other work identified in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. This plan, a comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy created in 2005 and revised in 2015 with partner agencies, organizations, stakeholders and the public, is required to receive State Wildlife Grants. \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n49 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n Conservation work spurred by the Wildlife Action Plan contributes to local and state economies by supporting the nation's more than 90 million wildlife watchers 16 years old and older, a group that spends some $55 billion a year on wildliferelated recreation, according to the Teaming with Wildlife Coalition and a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey. \nIn Georgia, State Wildlife Grants are critical to helping conserve wildlife and natural places for current and future generations. Wildlife watching included more than 2.2 million Georgians and $1.8 billion in related expenditures in the state in 2011, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service survey. \nIn February 2016, DNR Wildlife Resources Division leaders spread the word about nongame conservation and key funding at the Teaming with Wildlife Fly-in in Washington, D.C. The annual event is an opportunity to inform members of Congress about how federal programs such as State Wildlife Grants help prevent wildlife from potentially becoming rarer or too costly to restore, though more resources are needed. Teaming with Wildlife is a national coalition working to support State Wildlife Grants and secure dedicated funding to prevent America's wildlife from becoming endangered. \nIn fiscal 2016, that work was highlighted by recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America's Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources that led to introduction of federal legislation to provide critical funding for states to conserve species of greatest conservation need, as determined by their Wildlife Action Plans. Panel members  national leaders representing outdoor recreation retail and manufacturing, energy and automotive industries, private landowners, educational institutions, conservation organizations, sportsmen's groups, and state fish and wildlife agencies  were charged with identifying a new funding mechanism to support state fish and wildlife conservation to ensure the sustainability of wildlife. \nTheir recommendation, announced in spring, was twofold: \nn Congress should dedicate $1.3 billion annually in existing revenue from the development of energy and mineral resources on federal lands and waters to the Wildlife Conservation \n \nRestoration Program. Without requiring a new tax, these funds would provide states with the resources needed to implement Wildlife Action Plans. Georgia's share would be an estimated $31 million annually, compared to less than $1.3 million from State Wildlife Grants. \nn Second, a working group should be convened to examine the impact of societal changes on the relevancy of fish and wildlife conservation and make recommendations on how programs and agencies can evolve to engage and serve broader constituencies. \nIn July, at the start of fiscal 2017, the Recovering America's Wildlife Act of 2016 was introduced in the House of Representatives. As outlined in the Blue Ribbon Panel's recommendations, H.R. 5650 would provide dedicated funding for the Wildlife Conservation Restoration Program, which was established as a subaccount under the PittmanRobertson Wildlife Restoration Act in 2000. \nThe Wildlife Resources Division has helped lead the effort to identify dedicated funding for states to conserve nongame. That effort included former directors Dan Forster and David Waller taking part in the Blue Ribbon Panel's first meeting. \nAdministration and Personnel \nIn early fiscal 2017, Rusty Garrison was named director of the DNR Wildlife Resources Division. The 18-year DNR employee had served most recently as manager of Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield. Garrison previously worked as assistant chief of the Game Management Section and state coordinator of Project WILD (Wildlife in Learning Design), a wildlife-based conservation and environmental education program. On Aug. 1, he took the position left vacant by retiring Director Dan Forster. \nDr. Bob Sargent became program manager at the DNR Nongame Conservation Section's Forsyth office in January 2016. He replaced Jim Ozier, who retired and now works with Georgia Power Co. Sargent formerly worked as Robins Air Force Base natural and cultural resources manager and served eight years as Georgia Ornithological Society president. \nIn other personnel news: \n \nDNR's Clay George was awarded National Marine Fisheries Service's Team Member of Year \n \nWildlife Resources Division Director Rusty Garrison \n \nn Wildlife biologist Clay George earned the National Marine Fisheries Service's Team Member of the Year Award in summer 2015. George, who leads Nongame Conservation's work with North Atlantic right whales and other marine mammals, was recognized by peers at the federal agency for his \"contributions to the nation toward the stewardship of living marine resources.\" \n \nCONSERVING GEORGIA'S \n \n50 \n \nNONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n DNR's Melissa Hayes with Garden Club of Georgia Seal of Honor \n \nn The Garden Club of Georgia presented its Seal of Honor to Melissa Hayes, who handles administrative support at Nongame Conservation's Forsyth office. Hayes was honored at an April 2016 banquet for her dedication in helping Georgians manage wildlife habitat in their yards, neighborhoods and communities for Community Wildlife Project certification, an initiative of the Garden Club and Nongame Conservation. \nn Dan Forster, retired Wildlife Resources Division director, received the Seth Gordon Award from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in September 2016. Named for a noted wildlife conservationist, the honor is the highest given by the organization and recognizes lifetime achievements of natural resources administrators. Forster began work with DNR in 1990. He is now the Archery Trade Association's government relations director. \n \nn Longtime DNR educator Sheila Humphrey of Smithgall Woods Regional Education Center retired in fiscal 2016. Humphrey taught more than 150,000 children and teens about wildlife conservation and the environment. \nn Todd Holbrook, former DNR deputy commissioner and Wildlife Resources assistant director, received the 2015 Clarence W. Watson Award, considered the most prestigious honor given by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Holbrook's late father, Duff Holbrook, also received the award in 1988. \nn The Southwest Georgia Sportsmen's Club named DNR wildlife technician Russ Singletary its Habitat Manager of the Year. Game Management Section staff with DNR's Wildlife Resources Division nominated the Thomasville resident, who in 2005 began work at River Creek, the Rolf \u0026 Alexandra Kauka Wildlife Management Area, shortly after the state acquired the property. \n \nAFWA President Dave Chandra, left, presents the Seth Gordon Award to Dan Forster (AFWA) \n \nFISCAL YEAR \n \n51 \n \n2016 ANNUAL REPORT \n \n GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION \nNONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \n2067 U.S. Highway 278 SE, Social Circle, GA 30025 (770) 761-3035 \nOFFICES ALSO AT: \n116 Rum Creek Drive, Forsyth, GA 31029 (478) 994-1438 2065 U.S. Highway 278 SE, Social Circle, GA 30025 (770) 918-6411 One Conservation Way, Suite 310, Brunswick, GA 31520 (912) 264-7218 \nMark Williams  Commissioner, DNR Rusty Garrison  Director, Wildlife Resources Division Jon Ambrose  Chief, Nongame Conservation Section Mary Pfaffko  Assistant Chief, Nongame Conservation Section Matt Elliott, Jason Lee, Bob Sargent  Nongame Program Managers \nSteve Friedman  Chief, DNR Real Estate Office Linda May  Nongame Environmental Outreach Coordinator \nRick Lavender  Report Editor Contributors: Nongame Conservation Section staff, DNR Law Enforcement Division \nFOLLOW US: /WildlifeResourcesDivisionGADNR \n/GeorgiaWild /GeorgiaWildlife /georgiawildlife /photos/wildliferesourcesdivision /georgiawildlife.wordpress.com, a Wildlife Resources blog \nAlso sign up for the Nongame Conservation Section's free e-newsletter, Georgia Wild. Click the red envelope at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \nChild explores ABAC's Turner County pitcherplant bog (Lisa Kruse/DNR) \n \n "},{"id":"dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2016-bsummary-belec-p-btext","title":"Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2016 fiscal year report summary","collection_id":"dlg_ggpd","collection_title":"Georgia Government Publications","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018"],"dcterms_creator":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_date":["2016"],"dcterms_description":["Report on conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife."],"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Social Circle, Ga. : Georgia. Department of Natural Resources. Wildlife Resources Division. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section--Periodicals","Wildlife conservation--Georgia--Periodicals","Natural areas--Georgia--Periodicals"],"dcterms_title":["Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2016 fiscal year report summary"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of Georgia. Map and Government Information Library"],"edm_is_shown_by":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2016-bsummary-belec-p-btext"],"edm_is_shown_at":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2016-bsummary-belec-p-btext"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["state government records","official reports"],"dcterms_extent":null,"dlg_subject_personal":null,"iiif_manifest_url_ss":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"Conserving Georgia's Nongame Wildlife \n2016 \nFISCAL YEAR REPORT SUMMARY \n \n A s part of Georgia DNR's Wildlife Resources Division, our mission at the Nongame Conservation Section is conserving the more than 95 percent of native species not fished for or hunted, plus rare plants and natural habitats. In fiscal year 2016, we witnessed highs and lows related to that mission. Two examples: Loggerhead sea turtles shattered the previous state record with more than 3,200 nests on Georgia beaches. That far surpassed a state recovery benchmark. The take-home: These federally listed turtles are recovering. On the flip side, the disease that has killed millions of bats in North America isn't sparing Georgia. Our surveys of white-nose syndrome have documented 92 percent fewer bats in caves and mines we check each winter. These examples illustrate one thing: Conserving wildlife is long-term work, full of highs and lows. Yet most would agree that it's also vital work. And that it is our responsibility to pass on to future generations the incredible variety of wild creatures and wild places that enrich our lives now. This summary report offers a glimpse of our agency's efforts to research, restore and protect sea turtles, bats and the scores of other native animal and plant species considered a high priority for conservation in Georgia. The full report is available at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport. I hope you find this account informative, encouraging and, yes, challenging  a challenge to become involved in and support the conservation of Georgia's nongame wildlife. \nThank you, \nJon Ambrose Chief, Nongame Conservation Section \nGEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES | WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION | NONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \n \n CONSERVING WILDLIFE AND RARE PLANTS R E S T O R I N G HABITAT \nENGAGING GEORGIANS MAKING A DIFFERENCE \n \n Celebrating coloring book with First Lady Sandra Deal (Jasmine King) \n \n2016 H I G H L I G H T S \n \nPlayed a key role in DNR's Wildlife Resources Division almost doubling the amount of restorative prescribed fire on DNR-managed lands since 2007, \n \nfrom 31,897 to 60,363 acres in 2016. \n \nWe led the revision of Georgia's State Wildlife \n \nAction Plan, now approved and guiding DNR \n \nand partner efforts to keep native species from \n \ndeclining to the point they need federal protection. \n \nCoordinated the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative, which documented loggerhead sea turtle nesting that is increasing about 3% a year in Georgia and easily topped a recovery milestone of 2,800 nests. \n \nCreated a popular children's coloring book using a grant from the nongame friends group TERN and designed to help teach conservation and promote Wildlife Resources license plates. \n \nSwabbing bat \n \nConfirmed that white-nose syndrome  the disease deadly to bats  has spread to 11 counties and caused a steep decline in populations at known bat hibernacula in north Georgia. \n \nProvided surveys DNR used in acquiring 18,790 acres for recreation and wildlife, including Alapaha River and Altama Plantation WMAs in south Georgia and 1,700 acres for Paulding Forest WMA near Atlanta. \n \nPromoted the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, leading to an Association of Fish \u0026 Wildlife Agencies' award recognizing the alliance for its outstanding contributions to professional wildlife management. \n \nWorked to form a St. Simons Island Beach Stewards Program, a volunteer group that helped more than 100 pairs of federally endangered least terns fledge chicks on one of Georgia's most popular beaches. \n \nThrough Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, one of seven education centers Wildlife Resources operates with schools and others, trained 525 teachers in Project WILD environmental education courses. \n \nSicklefin redhorse \n \nSupported DNR as a signatory to a Candidate Conservation Agreement to conserve sickelin redhorse, an agreement later cited with helping keep this rare fish off the federal endangered species list. \n \nHelped develop an upper Little Tennessee watershed plan and recognize 2015 Forestry for Wildlife Partners Georgia Power, Weyerhaeuser and CatchMark Timber Trust, which collectively manage 1 million acres. \n \n FINANCIAL OVERVIEW \n \nREVENUE \nTOTAL: $2,311,192* \n \nEXPENDITURES \nTOTAL: $2,491,544 \n \nDonations \u0026 other income 7% ($159,874) \nIncome tax checkoff 6% ($131,248) \nWeekend for Wildlife* 20% ($456,654) \n \nEarned interest 1% ($21,579) \nNongame license plates \n66% ($1,541,837) \n \nProfessional services (contracts, fees) 4% ($97,234) \nOperations 20% \n($507,078) \nPersonnel 76% \n($1,887,232) \n \nDoes not include federal and other grants or $429,318 in state appropriations. \n* Includes estimated revenue from Weekend for Wildlife that will be disbursed through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation. \n \nThrough Nongame Fund. \n \nNONGAME CONSERVATION FUND Listed in millions per year \n \n12 M \n \n11 M \n \n10 M \n \nINCOME \n \nEXPENSES \n \nBALANCE* \n \n9 M \n \n8 M \n \n7 M \n \n6 M \n \n5 M \n \n4 M \n \n3 M \n \n2 M \n \n1 M \n \nFY '07 FY '08 FY '09 FY '10 FY '11 FY '12 FY '13 FY '14 FY '15 FY '16 \n* Includes estimated revenue that will be disbursed through the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation. \n \nNOTEWORTHY \n \nn As in fiscal 2015, sales and renewals of DNR nongame license plates exceeded $1.5 million in 2016; yet, the number of eagle and hummingbird tags in circulation continued to decline. \nn Nongame Conservation received state appropriations for the first time in years, the $429,318 making up about 6% of the agency's research and conservation budget. \nn Contributions to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund through the \"Give Wildlife \n \na Chance\" state income tax checkoff hit a record low of $131,248, 45% less than in fiscal 2015. \nn The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), Nongame Conservation's friends group, funded 20 nongame project proposals for a combined $69,918. \nn Nongame Conservation received nearly $10.1 million in federal and other grants, including $7 million for land acquisition and $1.3 million in State Wildlife Grants. \n \nFind our full report and an interactive guide at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport. \n \n HOW YOU CAN HELP \n \nThe Nongame Conservation Section depends largely on fundraisers, grants and contributions to conserve nongame wildlife, rare plants and the habitats these species need. \nThree agency fundraisers provide critical support through the Georgia Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund, created by state law to support nongame conservation and habitat acquisition: \nn Sales and annual renewals of DNR's eagle and hummingbird license plates. \nn The \"Give Wildlife a Chance\" state income tax checkoff. \nn The annual Weekend for Wildlife event, www1.gadnr.org/wfw. \nLicense plates provide more than half of the fund's revenue. \nShortly after the close of fiscal 2016, DNR introduced a redesigned eagle and U.S. flag tag, a sharp new look for an iconic combo that has been one of the most popular specialty plates in Georgia. \n \nHow can you support wildlife conservation? \n1. Buy or renew an eagle or hummingbird plate. Each costs only $25 more than a standard peach plate and up to 80% of that fee goes to conserve nongame. \n2. Make a direct contribution to the Wildlife Conservation Fund. Learn more at www.georgiawildlife.com/ conservation/support. \n3. Explore ways to take part in wildlife work, whether by volunteering through agencies or joining conservation organizations such as TERN, friends group of Nongame Conservation. (DNR volunteer details are at www.georgiawildlife.com/getinvolved/ volunteer.) \n4. Learn about the wildlife and plants in your yard, region and state. Check out DNR social media and www.georgiawildlife.com for updates and species profiles. \n5. Last but certainly not least, get out and enjoy Georgia's outdoors! \n \nFOLLOW US: \n \nAlso sign up for Nongame Conservation's free e-newsletter, Georgia Wild. Click the red envelope at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \nGEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES | WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION | NONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \n \nCOVER: Loggerhead hatchling (Haley Watkins/Sea Island). All photos are from DNR unless noted. PHOTO CREDITS: PAGE 2: Surveying Georgia aster | Gopher tortoise at Doerun WMA \nRabun Gap-Nacoochee School students thrilled by hellbender (Johnathan BySura/Rabun Gap-Nacoochee) | Bald eagle (Jerry Turner) \n \n "},{"id":"dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2013-belec-p-btext","title":"Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2013 fiscal year report","collection_id":"dlg_ggpd","collection_title":"Georgia Government Publications","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018"],"dcterms_creator":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_date":["2013"],"dcterms_description":["Report on conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife."],"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Social Circle, Ga. : Georgia. Department of Natural Resources. Wildlife Resources Division. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section--Periodicals","Wildlife conservation--Georgia--Periodicals","Natural areas--Georgia--Periodicals"],"dcterms_title":["Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2013 fiscal year report"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of Georgia. Map and Government Information Library"],"edm_is_shown_by":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2013-belec-p-btext"],"edm_is_shown_at":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2013-belec-p-btext"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["state government records","official reports"],"dcterms_extent":null,"dlg_subject_personal":null,"iiif_manifest_url_ss":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"Conserving Georgia's Nongame Wildlife \nGeorgia is rich in wildlife. Yet more than 1,000 native plant and animal species in our state are species of conservation concern. Of those, 318 are protected by federal or state law. Our mission at the Department of Natural Resources' Nongame Conservation Section is to conserve these and Georgia's other native nongame wildlife, or species not legally fished for or hunted. We do this through research, surveys, conservation programs, education, land acquisition and habitat management. The work is critical and wide-ranging. It varies from studying ways to protect American oystercatcher nests on the coast to restoring sandhills habitat with prescribed fire just southwest of Macon and monitoring north Georgia caves where biologists found a disease fatal to bats in early 2013. Our guide is the State Wildlife Action Plan. This comprehensive strategy is focused on keeping native Georgia wildlife from declining to the point of needing federal protection as threatened or endangered species. We developed the State Wildlife Action Plan in 2005. Now we're working to update it. This effort includes other agencies, conservation groups, businesses and private landowners. All have a stake. Our challenge at the Nongame Conservation Section is that we don't receive state appropriations for nongame work. Instead, we depend on direct donations, fundraising initiatives and grants. That support has taken a significant hit because of funding formula changes associated with the eagle and hummingbird license plates, our No. 1 fundraiser. You'll learn more in this report. Please view or download a copy  there's also a six-page summary  and let me know what you think at mike.harris@dnr.state.ga.us. This is a conservation mission that affects all of us, from protecting our drinking water to strengthening our economy and providing places where our children  and their children  can experience nature. Thank you for your interest in conserving nongame wildlife and natural habitats. \nMike Harris, Nongame Conservation Section chief \n2013 \nFISCAL YEAR REPORT \nGeorgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division \nNongame Conservation Section \n \n CONSERVATION \n \nn BIRDS \nn Waterbird Conservation Initiative n Red-cockaded Woodpecker Recovery n Partners in Flight n Bird Surveys \nWood Stork Nests Bald Eagle Nests Swallow-tailed Kite Nests and Roosts \nn REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS \nn Sea Turtle Conservation and Research n Sea Turtle Stranding Network and \nAt-sea Recovery n Bog Turtle Conservation n Gopher Tortoise and Eastern Indigo \nSnake Surveys n Gopher Frog Restoration n Eastern Hellbender Conservation \nSurveys n North American Amphibian \nMonitoring Program n Striped Newt Restoration \nn MAMMALS \nn North Atlantic Right Whale Conservation \nn Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network \nn Florida Manatee Conservation n Bottlenose Dolphin Contaminants \nProject n Small Mammal Conservation \n \nn FRESHWATER AQUATIC SPECIES \nn Aquatic Conservation Initiative n Robust Redhorse Conservation \nn PLANTS AND NATURAL HABITATS \nn Sandhills Conservation n Rare Plant Surveys on Public and \nPrivate Lands n Coastal Habitat Conservation n Restoration of Mountain and Coastal \nPlain Bogs n Habitat Improvement on State Lands \nand the Interagency Burn Team n Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance n Ginseng Management Program n Biotics Database Development \nn PRIVATE LANDS \nn Private Land Activities n Forestry for Wildlife Partnership n Army Compatible Use Buffer \nConservation n Community Wildlife Project \nn INVASIVE SPECIES ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT \nn LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR NONGAME \n \nEDUCATION AND OUTREACH \nn Regional Education Centers n Youth Birding Competition n Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest n Social Media n Promoting Awareness \nLAND ACQUISITION AND CONSERVATION PLANNING \nn Altamaha River  Boyles Island n Flat Tub WMA  Redstripe Tract n Conservation Planning \nFINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATION \nn Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund n Weekend for Wildlife n `Give Wildlife a Chance' State Income \nTax Checkoff n TERN n Nongame License Plates n Federal and Other Funding n How You Can Help \n \nContents Photocreditsforcover: Seining aquatics on Talking Rock Creek (GaDNR) Bat with WNS in Sittons Cave (Pete Pattavina/USFWS) American oystercatcher nest (Tim Keyes/GaDNR) First adult gopher frog at Williams Bluffs (Vanessa Kinney Terrell/UGA) Outreach at Metter Elementary (Linda May/GaDNR) Swallow-tailed kite (Todd Schneider/GaDNR) \n \n2 CONSERVING GEORGIA'S NONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Seaside sparrow (Todd Schneider/GaDNR) Ruddy turnstone feeding on dead horseshoe crab (Evan Schneider) \n \nCONSERVATION \n \nWaterbird Conservation Initiative \nGeorgia's barrier island beaches, coastal salt marshes and freshwater wetlands support 86 species of seabirds, shorebirds and wading birds, collectively known as waterbirds. The Waterbird Conservation Initiative includes: \n Protecting important colonial waterbird nesting habitats. \n Conducting surveys to determine the status and habitat needs of resident, migratory and wintering waterbirds. \n Creating partnerships for long-term conservation of wetland-dependent bird species. \nConservation efforts include protecting and managing five sand islands specifically for beachnesting and migratory birds. While this effort is especially valuable for seabirds, resident and migratory shorebirds also benefit from protecting critical nesting and resting areas that are free from disturbances. One of the areas, a dredge-spoil island near Brunswick, supports one of the largest colonies of nesting seabirds on the South Atlantic Coast. \nFor beach-nesting birds, the summer of 2013 proved better than 2012. There were fewer extreme tide events and storms during nesting season, allowing for higher productivity among most beach-nesting birds. Little Egg Island bar had no nesting seabirds. A colony of 300 brown pelicans used a marsh island behind Little Cumberland Island, but numbers of pelicans nesting in the state were low in 2013  \n \n313 compared to 790 in 2012 and 1,892 in 2011. Nongame staff tracked active seabird colonies on St Catherines Island Bar and Pelican Spit, with the largest colony on the Brunswick dredge-spoil island. \nCreated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2007 and owned by the state, the dredge-spoil island near the Brunswick shipping channel is an important nesting site for waterbirds. In 2013, 5,755 royal tern nests were documented on the island, along with 42 sandwich tern, 40 black skimmer, 39 gull-billed tern, 35 least tern and 200 laughing gull nests. The Nongame Conservation Section is working with the corps to keep the site vegetation-free to promote beach-nesting seabirds and discourage nesting by gulls. \n \nIn other updates: \n DNR and partners including the University of Georgia, St. Catherines Island, Little St. Simons Island and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were awarded a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant to control predators at a number of key nesting sites for American oystercatchers. This project not only led to higher nest productivity for oystercatchers than DNR has documented recently, but should provide an adaptive management tool to help managers determine when predator control efforts are needed. The grant allowed the Nongame Conservation Section to hire two trappers. They removed 134 raccoons, 438 feral hogs, two armadillos and 13 opossum from Little St. Simons, Little Egg Island Bar and St. Catherines. Thanks in part to those efforts, most of the 29 oystercatcher chicks documented during 2013 are presumed to have fledged. (Also, while survey efforts have increased, that was the most American oystercatcher chicks confirmed in Georgia.) \n DNR coordinated a major new migratory shorebird survey based on a regional study by shorebird researchers with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and the U.S. Geological Survey. The first series of surveys was conducted during spring 2013 at 23 sites. A combination of DNR and Fish and Wildlife Service staff, island managers, and volunteers conducted the surveys, which will help generate more accurate population and trend data for a number of Arcticnesting shorebirds. \n Researchers documented 119 pairs of American oystercatchers on the Georgia coast. DNR and its partners documented 29 chicks and banded 26, most of which fledged. \n Two graduate students completed their second field season working with Wilson's plover during summer 2013. The students studied nesting ecology, including how males and females share \n \nBirds \n \nFISCAL YEAR 2013 REPORT 3 \n \n nest care and how managing for American oystercatchers may benefit Wilson's plover. The hope is the projects lead to specific management guidelines for the species. Wilson's plover productivity was higher in 2013 compared to 2012, and many chicks were seen on almost all of barrier islands, including Jekyll and St. Simons. \n Four whimbrels were radio-tagged for tracking by satellite in spring 2013, thanks to support from The Environmental Resources Network (TERN) and help from other partners. Five whimbrels tagged in Georgia are being tracked. Researchers are learning about whimbrels' use of the Southeast's coast, as well as the tremendous migrations the birds repeat annually. A Georgia-tagged whimbrel nicknamed Wolf flew 3,300 miles without resting, flying from Arctic nesting grounds to the British Virgin Islands. (Follow the flights.) \n DNR and partners continued a sharp-tailed sparrow banding project, providing data on the winter distribution of two species  Nelson's and saltmarsh sparrows  and five subspecies of these little-known birds. Blood samples from seaside sparrows were also collected for an analysis of mercury contamination. \n DNR and several coastal partners continued leading the Georgia Shorebird Alliance. Involving \n \nstate, federal and private groups, the new organization is making significant progress in management, monitoring, research and education regarding shorebirds on the Georgia coast. \nRed-cockaded Woodpecker Recovery \nThe red-cockaded woodpecker is the only woodpecker in the U.S. that excavates cavities in living pines. The drastic loss of mature pine forests over the past 200 years has been the primary cause of this species' decline. Suitable habitat now occurs primarily on some military bases, national forests and other public lands, although there are still red-cockaded woodpeckers on a number of private properties. \nIn 1999, Georgia DNR developed the nation's first statewide red-cockaded woodpecker Habitat Conservation Plan to provide management options for private landowners. The plan includes options for mitigated incidental take and for Safe Harbor. \nSafe Harbor targets landowners in southwest Georgia, where plantations managed for the northern bobwhite also support a significant population of red-cockaded woodpeckers. Safe Harbor involves a landowner's commitment to beneficially manage habitat for the site's \"baseline\" number of woodpecker family, those on the site when the \n \nagreement is made. A family group refers to the redcockaded woodpeckers occupying a cluster of cavity trees. The group can range from a single bird to a breeding pair plus one to three helpers  typically male offspring from previous years that help feed younger siblings. In exchange for maintenance of this baseline number of family groups, the landowner's responsibility will not increase if the woodpecker population increases. \nIn Georgia, 160,713 acres are enrolled in Safe Harbor management agreements covering 105 baseline groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers and supporting 38 surplus groups, or additions to the woodpecker populations. Most of these properties are in the Red Hills Region near Thomasville. The Red Hills support the largest population of red-cockaded woodpeckers on private lands. Since the inception of Safe Harbor in 2000, the Red Hills population has grown from about 175 family groups to a population that has stabilized at about 180 groups. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section continued work with Safe Harbor participants in 2013 to monitor and band woodpeckers and install artificial nest cavities. \nIn cooperation with the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, the red-cockaded woodpecker population at Ichauway Plantation in Baker County is also being restored. These 29,000 acres supported a \n \nAmerican oystercatchers (Tim Keyes/GaDNR) \n \n4 CONSERVING GEORGIA'S NONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Red-cockaded woodpecker (Jimmy Watkins/U.S.Army) Henslow's sparrow (Todd Schneider/GaDNR) \n \nsingle male in 1999. Through the translocation of 65 young birds, the property now has 25 family groups. \nIn 2008, DNR acquired 8,400 acres near Bainbridge to create Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area, the first state-owned property with red-cockaded woodpeckers. Silver Lake has extensive stands of mature longleaf pine habitat. In 2013, DNR entered into an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage the woodpeckers on corps land that DNR leases for Lake Seminole Wildlife Management Area. The property is adjacent to the Silver Lake population and has quality longleaf and wiregrass habitat, some of which red-cockaded woodpeckers already use as foraging habitat. Over the coming years, recruitment clusters will be installed in suitable places at Lake Seminole WMA to encourage the expansion of red-cockaded woodpeckers. \nTo supplement the red-cockaded woodpecker population at Silver Lake, Nongame Conservation staff translocated six woodpeckers from Fort Stewart to the WMA in 2013. Silver Lake has 28 family groups, three more than the previous year. Also in 2013, 30 young woodpeckers successfully fledged there. \nThrough more frequent controlled burning, installation of more recruitment clusters and careful forest management, Silver Lake WMA will eventually sustain about 50 family groups. \n \nPartners in Flight \nIn Georgia, the international bird conservation effort Partners in Flight continued to focus on the 33 priority bird species identified in the State Wildlife Action Plan. Research and survey questions and conservation needs identified during stakeholder meetings in 2008 were condensed into programs for bird conservation funded by a State Wildlife Grant. \nIn the most recent fiscal year, Nongame Conservation Section projects involved the following: \nA third year of marshbird surveys yielded similar results to the previous two survey years, indicating that these birds are fairly common on some state properties in suitable habitats. \nThree species of secretive marshbirds  the black rail, king rail and least bittern  are high-priority species in the State Wildlife Action Plan due to factors including small numbers, habitat loss and alteration, and a lack of sufficient information about the birds' distribution and population trends in Georgia. \nIn spring 2013, the Nongame Conservation Section conducted a third year of standardized surveys using the Continental Marsh Bird Monitoring Program survey protocol. This standardized methodology allows data collected to be shared, aggregated and analyzed at many different levels, including by habitat or wetland type, physiographic province, state, region, country and continent. \nSites surveyed in 2013 included Altamaha and Silver Lake wildlife management areas in south Georgia. Several places that had been surveyed were dropped due to lack of suitable habitat or no detections of these species during the previous two years. Surveys were conducted at 37 survey points known as stations. Because these birds are very secretive, three replicate surveys were conducted at each station to increase the chances of detecting any birds present. \nStaff documented a significant number of king rails and least bitterns at Altamaha WMA near Darien and several least bitterns at Silver Lake WMA. No black rails were detected at any of the sites. \nSpecial surveys for black rails were initiated this year as part of an intensive effort to try to determine their distribution and habitat preferences in the state. \n \nSurveys started three years ago for Henslow's sparrow continued in 2013. Henslow's sparrow is a small songbird that nests in grasslands of the Midwest and Northeast and winters in grassy areas of pine flatwoods, pitcherplant bogs and powerline corridors in the Southeast's Coastal Plain. Over the past several decades, the species has declined precipitously, likely due to habitat loss on its breeding and wintering grounds. \nThis sparrow is a species of high conservation concern because of its small population size, greatly reduced habitats and other factors. Its secretive nature and small numbers make it difficult to survey and monitor, and little is known about its distribution and populations across most of its range, including in Georgia. \nTo better understand the species' status in the state, the Nongame Conservation Section has monitored Henslow's sparrows since winter 2010-2011. Birds were captured in mist nets along several powerline corridors at Paulks Pasture Wildlife Management Area in Glynn County, Townsend Wildlife Management Area near Ludowici and Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area in Appling County. Staff and volunteers used a technique called flush netting. The birds were banded with numbered leg bands for identification. \nFrom December 2012 through early March 2013, 66 Henslow's sparrows were captured and banded. In addition, six individuals banded the previous year were recaptured at the three WMAs, and one bird \n \nFISCAL YEAR 2013 REPORT 5 \n \n originally banded two years ago was also recaptured. As observed last year, most recaptured birds were caught very close to where they were originally banded  less than 200 meters from the original capture location. However, one bird banded at Paulks Pasture was recaptured five days later at Townsend WMA, 17 miles away. \nSurveys will continue for at least a few more years at these sites. Other sites with suitable habitat will be surveyed as well to look for new populations. In addition, work will be started to identify microhabitat, determine site fidelity and gauge the species' response to habitat management. \nMore than 40 new nest boxes were erected for southeastern American kestrels, bringing to 110 the total number of nest boxes monitored by the Nongame Conservation Section. Work with kestrels included a third year of surveys by ground and air of known populations across the state. The population was estimated at about 142 breeding pairs, a slight decline from previous years. \nSurvey data was used to develop habitat models to search for additional populations. These models led researchers to what apparently is a substantial population of kestrels in the western sandhills, on private land in Harris County. The models also guided efforts on where to put up additional nest boxes. \nThe number of kestrel nest attempts increased slightly from 2012, but in spite of this the birds had a rough year. Nest success was poor  down about 50 percent compared to previous years. \nA cooperative effort has been started to install kestrel boxes on Fort Benning following a pilot project that detected at least four nesting pairs on the Army base near Columbus. Students from the Columbus area built 50 nest boxes. Nongame staff worked with Fort Benning to install about 30 of the boxes in fall 2013. The remainder will be put up by summer 2014. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section also continued its involvement in the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Areas Program. Projects included native grass restoration and monitoring, loggerhead shrike telemetry, and a barn owl box program. \nNative grass restoration efforts continued at Joe Kurz Wildlife Management Area near Woodbury and Panola Mountain State Park near Stockbridge, with 80 acres planted on Joe Kurz in 2013. At Panola Mountain State Park, 2012 plantings are going strong, with excellent growth of Indiangrass and almost total elimination of exotic invasive species \n \non the 45 acres planted. About 300 plugs of native forbs raised by parks staff from nearby seed sources were added to the restoration areas to enhance habitat for birds and butterflies. \nWork at these sites has yielded a large number of rare birds and attracted bird watchers. The habitat value of native grasses also has been recognized in the hunting community, garnering wider public support for restoration projects. \nOn Brawley Mountain in northeast Georgia's Fannin County, habitat restoration was completed for the only remaining population of golden-winged warblers in the state. Most of the habitat will be too young for golden-winged warblers to use until 2014. \nThe bad news: Georgia's golden-winged warbler population has faltered. Biologists detected one lone male in 2013, meaning it is likely this species will be extirpated from Georgia in the coming year. Efforts are underway to \"shortstop\" migrating golden-winged warblers at suitable habitat. Two solar-powered play-back devices have been deployed in suitable habitat in the north Georgia mountains in an attempt to attract additional warblers. This technique has lured other species into novel habitats. However, golden-winged warbler populations are in such steep declines throughout their range the technique is considered a long shot. It is unlikely there are \"excess\" birds in the eastern U.S. looking for new habitats. \nThe Brawley Mountain project, however, will provide almost 300 acres of early succession habitat. This controversial project on the Chattahoochee National Forest  controversial largely because it involved logging  had been in the planning process for more than 10 years. During that time, Georgia's golden-winged warblers dwindled from five populations to one. \n \n6 CONSERVING GEORGIA'S NONGAME WILDLIFE \n \nAmerican kestrel (Linda May/GaDNR) \n \nBird Surveys \nn Wood Stork Nests \nWood storks were listed as endangered in 1984 following dramatic declines in breeding colonies in southern Florida. Wood stork nests were first documented in Georgia in 1965. By the 1980s, the birds were nesting here in increasing numbers. \nGeorgia now supports about 20 percent of the U.S. nesting population, which is about 9,500 breeding pairs. The recovery plan for the wood stork in Georgia includes monitoring reproductive success of nesting colonies and identifying potential threats. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section conducts aerial surveys each spring to identify and monitor nesting colonies. Stork nesting effort  the number of pairs that attempt to reproduce  fluctuates annually. During 2013, 1,873 nests were documented in 20 colonies in Georgia. A wet winter led to the formation of many smaller colonies in natural wetlands, while several of the largest colonies had slightly fewer nests. A new small colony was discovered in Brooks County. \nWith more than 75 percent of all wood stork rookeries located on private land, the success of conservation efforts for this species will depend on landowners' willingness to ensure the protection of viable freshwater wetland nesting sites. \n \nGeorgia State Parks naturalist Cate Ruka with a juvenile wood stork at Gilman rookery (Tim Keyes/GaDNR) \n \n Bald eagle eaglets (Jim Ozier/GaDNR) Swallow-tailed kite (Todd Schneider/GaDNR) \n \nn Bald Eagle Nests \nOnce fairly common in Georgia, the bald eagle declined in abundance during the mid-20th century and was no longer nesting in the state by the early 1970s. But, bald eagle populations rebounded here and elsewhere, helped by a ban on the use of DDT in the U.S. in 1972, habitat improvements following enactment of the federal Clean Water and Clean Air acts, protection through the Endangered Species Act, increased public awareness, and the restoration of local populations through release programs. \nFollowing federal de-listing in 2007, primary legal protection for nesting eagles comes under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Georgia's ongoing conservation efforts include monitoring all known eagle nests and working with landowners to protect nest sites from disturbance. \nDuring the 2013 nesting season, the Nongame Conservation Section documented 171 occupied nesting territories. Of these, 129 were successful, fledging 193 \n \neaglets. In comparison, there were 55 known nesting territories in 2000, nine in 1990 and only one in 1980. Biologists worked with landowners to manage nesting areas, including assistance with federal incidental take permits for development projects that might infringe on recommended buffer zones. \nNongame continues to work with partners at the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, the Army Corps of Engineers, Henry County Water Authority, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the American Eagle Foundation to study avian vacuolar myelinopathy, a mysterious disease that has caused significant mortality in American coots and bald eagles. Often referred to as AVM, the disease is apparently caused by an unidentified toxin produced by a cyanobacterium that grows on the surfaces of submerged plants, especially hydrilla, in some sites in middle Georgia and in a few other Southeastern states. \n \nn Swallow-tailed Kite Nests and Roosts \nThe swallow-tailed kite has suffered a significant range reduction since the 1880s when it bred in 21 states. These elegant raptors are now found in seven Southeastern states, where they nest in bottomland forests along some large rivers. Most nests in Georgia are on private land, particularly industrial timberlands. \nNongame Conservation Section conservation efforts include finding and monitoring nests, protecting nests from predators where possible, working with private landowners to assure habitat viability, and searching for previously radio-tagged kites. \nStaff has focused on searching for swallow-tailed kites at the western and northern edges of their range in southwest and south-central Georgia. Kites were documented in 2013 on the Alapaha, Little, Ochlockonee, Withlacoochee and Aucilla rivers. They were also found on Griffin Ridge, Horse Creek and Bullard Creek wildlife management areas, and likely nested  though nesting was not confirmed  on Beaverdam, River Bend and River Creek wildlife management areas. While only 11 nests were monitored for productivity, those nests had higher than average success rates, fledging one chick per nest, on average. \nAn artificial nest platform/decoy array erected in 2010 at Griffin Ridge WMA near Ludowici was used by two pairs of kites during 2013, as in 2012. The closest known historical nest is approximately two miles away, a much longer distance from known nests than any other artificial platform kites have used. \n \nFISCAL YEAR 2013 REPORT 7 \n \n Loggerhead nester on St. Simons Island (Mark Dodd/GaDNR) \n \nSea Turtle Conservation and Research \nThe loggerhead sea turtle is found in Georgia's coastal waters year-round and nests on all barrier island beaches. In accordance with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and federal recovery plan for loggerheads, Georgia DNR management efforts focus on surveying and protecting loggerhead nests and managing nesting beach habitat. The Nongame Conservation Section coordinates the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative, a group of volunteers, researchers and government employees that conducts nest protection and management activities on Georgia beaches. \nNest management strategies such as nest relocation, installation of protective screens and \n \nremoval of predators help ensure high nesting success. Since comprehensive surveys began in 1989, loggerhead nesting has been highly variable, with an average of approximately 1,100 nests per year. In 2013, 2,291 loggerhead nests were documented on Georgia beaches, more than twice the long-term average. According to the recovery plan by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Fisheries, loggerheads may be considered recovered if the population shows a 2 percent annual increase for 50 years resulting in a statewide total of 2,800 nests annually. Cooperators found 1,992 and 2,241 nests in 2011 and 2012, respectively. \nTo develop a comprehensive understanding of the number and relatedness of loggerheads nesting on Georgia beaches, DNR and the University of Georgia have developed a catalog of unique \n \ngenetic profiles for Georgia's nesting female turtles. A UGA researcher working with DNR has identified more than 2,448 loggerhead females using the Georgia coast for nesting. \nOne of the significant findings of this study is that there are at least 30 mother/daughter pairs nesting on our barrier beaches. Because it takes at least 30 years for a loggerhead to begin nesting, that means no fewer than 30 of our turtles are at least 60 years old, nesting alongside their 30-yearold daughters. \nSea Turtle Stranding Network and At-sea Recovery \nThe Nongame Conservation Section monitors sea turtle mortality through the Sea Turtle Stranding \n \nReptiles and \n \nAmphibians \n \n8 CONSERVING GEORGIA'S NONGAME WILDLIFE \n \n Gopher tortoise by burrow (Linda May/GaDNR) \n \nand Salvage Network. Systematic patrols of barrier island beaches provide information on the number and species of dead turtles that wash up on the Georgia coast. When possible, necropsies of stranded turtles are conducted to evaluate causes of mortality. Periodic aerial surveys are flown to determine distribution and abundance of marine turtles during migration. Sea turtle strandings are the primary index of threats to sea turtles in Georgia's coastal waters. \nIn 2013, 165 dead or injured turtles were documented on Georgia beaches, slightly below the 24-year average of 200 strandings per year. Recent patterns in strandings strongly correlate with shrimp trawling effort off the Georgia coast, suggesting that commercial fishing activity is a significant source of mortality for sea turtles. \nResults from necropsy examinations indicate that boat collisions and disease are also significant sources of mortality, accounting, respectively, for 21 percent and 24 percent of strandings in 2013. \n \nBog Turtle Conservation \n \nThe federally threatened bog turtle  North \n \nAmerica's smallest turtle species  inhabits \n \nGeorgia mountain bogs generally found along \n \nslow-flowing spring creeks and seepages in low mountain valleys. \n2013's wetter than average summer made bog turtle surveys a challenge, with rain temporarily \n \nGopher Tortoise and Eastern Indigo Snake Surveys \n \nnumber the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has established as the minimum to ensure a longterm, sustainable population. \nIn another study funded and supported by DNR, \n \nflooding targeted bogs. Still, Nongame \n \nBoth the gopher tortoise  Georgia's state reptile \n \nThe Orianne Society, a nonprofit organization \n \nConservation Section staff in cooperation with \n \n and the eastern indigo snake, which is federally \n \ndedicated to conserving rare reptiles and \n \nUGA's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural \n \nlisted as threatened, are priority species in the \n \namphibians, continued occupancy monitoring of \n \nResources and Odum School of Ecology deployed \n \nState Wildlife Action Plan. \n \nthe imperiled eastern indigo snake to determine \n \n140 traps at six known bog turtle sites. Totaling \n \npopulation trends. In southern Georgia, indigos \n \nat least 7,500 trap nights, the effort resulted in \n \nDuring the most recent fiscal year, the Nongame \n \noverwinter in xeric sandhill habitats where they \n \n33 captures at five sites and 16 different bog \n \nConservation Section funded gopher tortoise \n \nden in the burrows of gopher tortoises. The \n \nturtles  about 20 percent of all bog turtles \n \npopulation inventories at 19 sites to determine \n \nstudy is focused on the Altamaha River basin, \n \nknown from the wild in Georgia. \n \ntortoise population sizes and demographics. As \n \nconsidered a population stronghold for this \n \nMammals This work marked the third year of a study in which researchers are identifying the trapping effort necessary to determine bog turtle presence in a potential bog wetland. The findings will be used to assess sites and search for new bog turtle populations in Georgia and across the species' range in the Southern Appalachians in \n \nwith previous years' inventories, line transect distance sampling was used to derive tortoise density and abundance. Sites were also evaluated for habitat suitability and potential as areas where gopher tortoises could be relocated to augment the population. \nThree of the sites surveyed in 2012-2013 had \n \nimperiled snake. \nOver the three-year study, staff surveyed 40 sandhill sites on public and private lands in the basin, detecting eastern indigo snakes at 43 percent of the sites. The degree of detections in 2013 did not differ significantly from that in previous years, suggesting that the population \n \nsummer 2014. \n \nestimated populations exceeding 250 tortoises, a \n \nremains stable in the study area. \n \nFISCAL YEAR 2013 REPORT 9 \n \n First adult gopher frog at Williams Bluffs (Vanessa Kinney Terrell/UGA) Hellbender survey (Brant Sanderlin/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) \n \nGopher Frog Restoration \nState-listed as rare, gopher frogs depend on intact sandhill habitats where adults survive within the burrows of their namesake host, the gopher tortoise. However, these frogs also require nearby fishless wetlands where they breed and their tadpoles develop. Because of widespread upland and wetland habitat alteration throughout their range, gopher frogs are now limited to fewer than 10 sites in Georgia. \nIn 2007, the Nongame Conservation Section began a project that involved collecting gopher frog eggs from healthy populations, rearing them to latestage tadpoles or post-metamorphic froglets, and releasing them at an unoccupied but high-quality protected site at Williams Bluffs Preserve in Early County, which is within the species' historical range. The goal: Establish a self-sustaining breeding population of gopher frogs, a range-wide first for this imperiled amphibian. \nIn 2013, in partnership with Atlanta Botanical Garden, the University of Georgia, The Nature Conservancy, Zoo Atlanta, the U.S. Department of Defense (Fort Benning) and the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, 1,305 juvenile gopher frogs were released, bringing the seven-year total released at Williams Bluffs to 5,621 individuals. While previous years of drought prevented mature gopher frogs the opportunity to breed in the release pond  and biologists' ability to assess the success of the project  2013 finally provided sufficient rainfall to fill the wetland basin. \nIn early February, multiple male gopher frogs were heard calling in the pond and on Feb. 20 the first egg mass of the species was discovered. Late 2012 camera surveys of gopher tortoise burrows in the uplands surrounding the wetland showed juvenile and adult gopher frogs using the burrows. Together, these discoveries indicate that released juveniles are surviving to adulthood in the uplands and successfully breeding in the wetland. \n \nEastern Hellbender Conservation Surveys \nThe state-protected eastern hellbender  North America's largest salamander  inhabits clear cold-water streams in the north Georgia mountains. \nHellbender sampling proved difficult in 2013 due to higher than average rainfall. Some areas within the species' distribution in Georgia received an extra 18 inches or more of rain during spring and summer 2013, making for high water levels, strong currents and cloudy water  conditions that on many days prevented successful surveys for hellbenders. \nDespite the conditions, researchers sampled 19 streams (including 27 segments), captured 90 hellbenders and collected data from 84 individuals. Work during the summer revealed that hellbenders were present in 13 north Georgia streams with historical occurrences and in three segments where this salamander had not been documented before. \nEach hellbender captured was weighed, measured, photographed and marked with a Passive Integrated Transponder tag for future identification. Genetic tissue samples were taken \n \n10 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \nfrom the 84 hellbenders for the Georgia Museum of Natural History genetic archive collection and for use in other genetics research. Chytrid fungus (Bd) and Ranavirus samples were also collected from each individual. Results from the analysis of these and future samples will help in a range-wide assessment of the health of hellbenders. \nAbundance, size and mass data are used to determine the health of hellbender populations. \nA status assessment of Georgia populations based on these data was provided to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, part of an assessment of the species' range-wide status in response to a petition to list eastern hellbenders under the federal Endangered Species Act. \nNongame Conservation Section staff initiated a research project with UGA's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory to determine the impact of various loads of fine sediment suspended in the water column on the ability of larval and juvenile hellbenders to absorb oxygen from the water. Nongame staff also helped Smithsonian Institution researchers collect blood samples from wild hellbenders as part of a study of the effects of climate change on these salamanders. \nHellbender surveys and population monitoring are featured in this DNR video. \n \n Striped newt eft at Apalachicola National Forest (Ryan Means/Coastal Plains Inst \u0026 Land Conservancy) Striped newt work group at Fall Line Sandhills WMA (Jim Ozier/GaDNR) \n \nNorth American Amphibian Monitoring Program \nThe Nongame Conservation Section coordinates the state's participation in the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, which is directed nationally by the United States Geological Survey. Patterned after the highly successful Breeding Bird Survey, the amphibian monitoring program is structured to use data collected largely by \"citizen scientists\" to analyze population trends of frogs and toads on state, regional and national levels. State coordination involves recruiting and retaining volunteers, training, and compiling data. \nVolunteers are asked to drive pre-established routes (73 in Georgia) three times a year, record the number of frog species heard and assign each an index of abundance at 10 wetland stops along the way. To ensure that volunteers are qualified to recognize frog species by their unique vocalizations, participants must pass an online quiz that challenges them to identify species from mixed-species choruses in a number of recordings. \nIn 2013, 62 surveys were conducted with 20 volunteers submitting data. While the monitoring project is relatively young in Georgia, the public can review the richness of frog species on these state routes marked with a frog symbol. \n \nStriped Newt Restoration \nNongame conservation efforts by DNR have even extended beyond Georgia's state border. Fall Line Sandhills Wildlife Management Area in Taylor County harbors what is believed to be the only healthy population of \"western clade\" striped newts, a candidate for federal listing under the Endangered Species Act. Efforts to repatriate this highly imperiled salamander to areas of Florida where it once flourished rely on a captive propagation, rearing and release project led by the Coastal Plains Institute, the Memphis and Jacksonville zoos, and other partners, including the Nongame Conservation Section. \n \nA small number of striped newt larvae collected from the Fall Line Sandhills breeding pond by Nongame Conservation staff and others were added to stock collected earlier at the site to increase the genetic diversity of the captive population. As a result, 57 larvae produced in captivity were released in an Apalachicola National Forest wetland in May 2013. Researchers later documented emigration of fully developed land-bound newts. \nBoth the release and emergence of striped newts produced in captivity marks a first for this species and hopefully the beginning of its recovery in the region. \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 11 \n \n Right whale No. 3294 (Equator) with calf (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/NOAA Permit 15488) \n \nNorth Atlantic Right Whale Conservation \nThe North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world, with a population of approximately 450 individuals. Commercial whaling in the late 1800s led to a drastic decline in right whale abundance. Since whaling was banned in 1935, the population's recovery has been limited by mortality from ship collisions and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. \nEach winter, right whales migrate from waters off the northeastern U.S. and Canada to calving grounds along the coast of Georgia and northeastern Florida. An average of 22 calves has been documented each year since 2001, compared with 11 calves per year from 1980-2000. Nineteen calves were documented during the 2013 calving season. \nWhile the population is increasing at an annual rate of 2.6 percent, there are still fewer than 100 breeding females in the population. \nFor more than two decades, DNR has collaborated with various federal, state and private \n \nMammals \n \norganizations to conserve North Atlantic right whales. Management actions have focused on reducing human-related mortality and protecting right whale habitat. Aerial surveys are flown December through March to document calf production and warn ships about whale locations. DNR's Nongame Conservation Section participates in various on-the-water management and research efforts, including whale disentanglement, photo-identification studies, genetics sampling and injury/mortality investigations. The Nongame Conservation Section, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and NOAA Fisheries staff have collected genetics samples from 68 percent of all right whale calves since 2006. Genetics samples were collected from 17 of 19 calves documented during the 2012-2013 season. \nSince 2004, staff has helped disentangle 10 right whales entangled in commercial fishing gear \n \n(YouTube video) and participated in seven injury/ mortality investigations. Most of the fishing gear removed from right whales in the southeastern U.S. appears to be from trap/pot fisheries in the northeastern U.S. and Canada. Entanglement in gillnet and longline gear has also been documented. \nNongame staff also works to protect right whales and their habitat through involvement in the Right Whale Southeast Implementation Team, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team and the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. The Nongame Conservation Section receives considerable support from the DNR Coastal Resources Division and what is now the Law Enforcement Division in education and outreach, policy efforts, and enforcement of federal right whale protections. (Also see the Law Enforcement for Nongame section.) \n \n12 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \n Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network \nThe Georgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network was created in 1989 to coordinate marine mammal stranding response in Georgia. The Nongame Conservation Section coordinates the Marine Mammal Stranding Network with help from NOAA Fisheries and other federal, state and private organizations. \nNetwork goals are to investigate human impacts on marine mammals, monitor population health, provide rapid and humane response to live stranded marine mammals, contribute to marine mammal research and educate the public about marine mammal issues. \nFrom 2001 through calendar year 2012, the network documented 365 marine mammal strandings, ranging from 13 to 46 a year. Bottlenose dolphins are the species that most often strands in Georgia, making up 75 percent of strandings, followed by pygmy and dwarf sperm whale (15 percent combined). Other species documented include Stenella dolphins, rough-toothed dolphins, Risso's dolphins, pygmy killer whales, false killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, humpback whales, North Atlantic right whales and beaked whales. Humanrelated causes of mortality and injury include commercial fishery entanglements, watercraft collisions and ingestion of marine debris. \nCheck out this video of staff from DNR, Little St. Simons Island and NOAA Fisheries using an ancient fishing method called hukilau to rescue two dolphins caught in a pool behind a bridge on Little St. Simons. \nFlorida Manatee Conservation \nEndangered Florida manatees inhabit tidal rivers, estuaries and near-shore ocean waters throughout coastal Georgia during the warm months of the year. The Florida manatee population numbers at least 5,000, with approximately half of the population found along Florida's Gulf Coast and the remainder along the Atlantic Coast. Each spring, an unknown number of manatees migrate into Georgia and return to Florida in the fall as water temperatures cool. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section cooperates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Navy and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to conserve manatees in Georgia. \n \nManagement actions focus on reducing humanrelated mortality and protecting manatee habitat. Specific recovery tasks include documenting causes of manatee mortality and injury, rescuing injured and out-of-habitat manatees, monitoring manatee distribution and habitat use, educating boaters about watercraft impacts, and reviewing permits and policies that may impact manatees and their habitat. \nFifty manatee mortalities were documented in Georgia waters from 2000 to 2012. Of those, 16 manatees  or 32 percent  were due to watercraftrelated impacts. Less common causes of mortality include drowning in commercial fishing gear and hypothermia when manatees fail to migrate south during winter. Four manatee mortalities were documented during calendar year 2012. \nSince 2007, the Nongame Conservation Section has conducted aerial surveys with funding from \n \nthe U.S. Navy to estimate manatee abundance and habitat use in waters surrounding Cumberland Sound and Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base. Peak abundance was estimated as high as 40 manatees during May and June 2007. From 2009-2012, sightings averaged 38 manatees observed per survey season, with sightings ranging from one to 22 manatees. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section collects photoidentification images of manatees and contributes images to the U.S. Geological Survey's Manatee Individual Photo-Identification catalog. Photos are taken during aerial, boat and land-based surveys, and solicited from the public. The catalog is the primary means of estimating manatee survival rates and other population metrics. Digital images of 103 manatees were collected in calendar 2012 alone. Some manatees have been sighted repeatedly in Georgia for 20 years or more. \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 13 \n \nManatee mother and young (Clay George/GaDNR) \n \n Bottlenose Dolphin Contaminants Project \nThe bottlenose dolphin is Georgia's only year-round resident marine mammal, inhabiting estuaries and near-shore ocean waters. Bottlenose dolphins are ideal sentinels for coastal ecosystem health because they are long-lived predators and tend to accumulate persistent environmental contaminants in their lipid-rich blubber. Since 2006, the Nongame Conservation Section has cooperated with NOAA Fisheries, the National Ocean Service and other organizations to measure contaminants in bottlenose dolphins in the Brunswick and Sapelo areas. \nFindings indicated that concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in Brunswick dolphins were 10 times higher than those previously documented in other locations. PCBs in the Brunswick and Sapelo dolphins were consistent with a unique PCB mixture known as Aroclor 1268 that was used at a contaminated industrial site in Brunswick. \nNongame staff helped with a mark-recapture photo-identification study in the Brunswick and Sapelo areas during 2008 and 2009 to estimate dolphin abundance and residence patterns. The study indicated that many of the dolphins are residents, raising questions about dolphin health and contaminant transport in the environment. \nThis project culminated in a two-week dolphin capture and health assessment during summer 2009. Twenty-nine dolphins were captured, examined (samples were collected for contaminant analysis) and tagged with VHF transmitters to track habitat use and distribution. Many of the dolphins had high PCBs levels consistent with Aroclor 1268 exposure. Those with high PCB levels had low thyroid hormone levels, several dolphins were smaller than expected for their age and 26 percent were anemic. \nNongame Conservation resumed photoidentification monitoring in the Brunswick area during 2011, with the goal of estimating dolphin calf survival. This effort will likely require at least five years to complete. Assistance has been provided by DNR's Coastal Resources Division, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and the National Ocean Service, with funding and analytical support provided by NOAA Fisheries. \n \nSmall Mammal Conservation \nA grant supporting bat and small mammal conservation was secured in 2012 to continue work on bat and other small mammal species in the state. This grant also included funding for a graduate project investigating northern yellow bats. \nResearch continued, as well, on a study to evaluate genetic variation in two fox squirrel subspecies, the southeastern and Sherman's. These fox squirrels are difficult to differentiate in the field and questions remain as to whether they are distinct subspecies. Sherman's fox squirrel is considered a species of concern in Georgia but its status is unknown because of the taxonomic questions surrounding the subspecies. \nA UGA graduate student began collecting genetic samples from fox squirrels in Georgia in 2010. The samples were analyzed to determine if there are two distinct fox squirrel subspecies in Georgia, and if there are populations that require additional management to conserve the genetic diversity of the species. The study is nearing completion. Initial results suggest there are not distinct subspecies in the state. \nOther small mammal work completed in Georgia included trapping for eastern woodrats. The woodrats project began in the winter of 2010. To identify potential sites, Nongame Conservation Section biologists worked with Piedmont College faculty conducting concentrated field inventories of potential rattlesnake hibernacula and gestation locations (rattlesnakes and woodrats often occupy similar habitats). Two hundred potential sites were identified through the presence of suitable rocky habitat. \nSite surveys have been conducted since 2011. Another 10 woodrat areas have been confirmed and more than 40 other potential sites identified during ground-truthing of the original 200. Infrared trail cameras placed at each site for a minimum of three nights have been used to determine the presence or absence of woodrats. Findings from this study \n \nBat with WNS in Sittons Cave (Pete Pattavina/USFWS) \n \nwill allow researchers to focus on occupied sites in future projects. \nWhite-nose syndrome, or WNS, was confirmed in winter 2013 in three Georgia counties, the first time the disease had been documented in the state. No significant mortality from WNS has been seen yet but bat deaths are expected to increase over the next few seasons. In the northeastern U.S., caves infected with WNS can see mortality rates as high as 95-99 percent after a few years of infection. \nAccording to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates, this devastating disease had killed 5.7 million to 6.7 million bats and been documented in 22 states and five Canadian provinces as of the close of fiscal year 2013. DNR staff will continue to monitor sites in the winter to document the spread of the disease and related mortality. Biologists have focused on educating the public and the caving community to promote awareness of WNS and support for bat conservation efforts. \nWork continued on a second and final field season to investigate yellow bats. Very little is known about the yellow bat throughout the species' range. It is a species of concern in several states and Georgia has few records. Project objectives are to characterize roosts of the northern yellow bat at tree, plot and landscape levels and conduct acoustic monitoring to examine the species' habitat selection for foraging. \nThirty-nine bats were tagged and tracked to roosts on Sapelo and Little St. Simons islands. This represents the largest study of its kind for northern yellow bats across the species' range. The majority of the bats roosted in Spanish moss clumps in live oak trees. Further analysis should help determine the best factors for roost site selection and landscape-level habitat characteristics. \nThe statewide Anabat survey also continued in 2013. The project used volunteers to drive 32 transects across the state, collecting bat calls. Most routes were completed once or twice. An aquatic transect was added in 2013 on the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta. National Park Service staff helped the DNR run the route in May, yielding significant results in an area that is difficult to sample. \nResearchers used software to complete an initial analysis of calls collected in 2012. New versions of the software will be used for future analysis to determine bat species and numbers on each route. The routes will be run over multiple years to build a long-term set of call data for determining bat population trends across the state. \n \n14 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \n Finelined pocketbook (Anakela Popp/GaDNR) Holiday darter (Anakela Popp/GaDNR) \n \nFreshwater Aquatic Species \n \nAquatic Conservation Initiative \nGeorgia is one of the richest states in aquatic biodiversity, ranking among the top five in the number of native species of mussels (125 species), fishes (265) and crayfishes (70). Unfortunately, Georgia also ranks among the top states in imperiled aquatic species. About two-thirds of the state's freshwater mussels are extinct, endangered or threatened with extinction. Approximately 30 percent of Georgia's freshwater fishes and 45 percent of crayfishes fall under similar categories. While no comprehensive assessment exists for the state's freshwater snails, many species have already disappeared from Georgia waters. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section launched the Aquatic Conservation Initiative in 1998 to determine the status of Georgia's aquatic fauna and develop conservation plans for declining species. The effort is aimed primarily at identifying important populations \n \nof rare aquatic species through surveys and research, incorporating species location and status information into the DNR database, and assisting with conservation planning for rare aquatic species. \nStaff completes hundreds of surveys around the state each year, documenting or monitoring important populations of high-priority aquatic species. In the past year, surveys focused on species considered for listing under the Endangered Species \n \nAct, such as the broadstripe shiner in the middle Chattahoochee River system near Columbus and the holiday darter in the Coosa drainage of northwest Georgia. While the broadstripe shiner was detected at numerous locations throughout its historic range, holiday darters were absent at many sites and have an extremely limited distribution. \nAdditional surveys in South Chickamauga Creek near Ringgold resulted in the first documented occurrence of the federally threatened snail darter in Georgia since 1980. Twelve snail darters were observed, the largest collection ever recorded in Georgia. \nStaff also continued annual monitoring of Etowah and Cherokee darters in Raccoon Creek. The purpose of this monitoring is to assess the effectiveness of stream channel and riparian restoration in a reach of the creek affected by a powerline right of way. Unfortunately, extreme drought conditions in summer 2012 resulted in a large reduction in the density of Cherokee and Etowah darters within and upstream of the \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 15 \n \n restoration site. Depending on funding, researchers hope to continue this monitoring to determine the long-term effect of stream restoration and drought on populations of these two rare darters. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section also continued annual monitoring of sicklefin redhorse, a stateendangered sucker species known to occur in only a single stream within Georgia. Staff began monitoring this population in 2005, but data have been highly variable due to variation in the timing of the annual spawning migration. To improve the monitoring data, Nongame is partnering with Young Harris College to expand the number of sites and surveys carried out each year. \nNongame Conservation contracts with the University of Georgia to conduct long-term monitoring of Etowah and Conasauga river fishes. These two river systems are among the most diverse in the southeastern U.S. and support important populations of rare fishes such as the blue shiner, frecklebelly madtom, trispot darter and Conasauga logperch. This monitoring has been ongoing since 1998. Information from these studies has been invaluable for conservation planning, species status assessments and documenting relationships between fish populations and environmental stressors. \nHistoric data and results from recent surveys carried out by Nongame staff were used to assess the conservation status and habitat use of the federally threatened goldline darter. Within Georgia, this species is restricted to the Coosawattee River system. The strongest populations occur in the Ellijay, Cartecay and Coosawattee rivers and Mountaintown Creek. Researchers found that goldline darter populations are stable upstream of Carters Lake, but rare or possibly extirpated in the lower Coosawattee River and Talking Rock Creek. Study findings were documented in an article published in the journal Ecology of Freshwater Fish (article available upon request from brett.albanese@ dnr.state.ga.us). \nNongame hired a second mussel biologist in 2013 to coordinate aquatic conservation efforts in the lower Flint River Basin. Monitoring in tributaries to the lower Flint was continued in 2012-2013. The focus is to assess the impacts of extreme low flows on survival and recruitment of mussel populations. \nResearchers also continued monitoring the response of mussel populations to experimentally augmented flows in a reach of Spring Creek near Colquitt \n \nin Miller County. More than 4,000 mussels have been tagged in the area, including the federally endangered shinyrayed pocketbook and oval pigtoe. \nA project to assess the status and distribution of imperiled species in the ApalachicolaChattahoochee-Flint river basin began in spring 2013 with sampling tributaries to the mainstem Flint and in Lake Blackshear. Apalachicola floaters were collected from several sites in Blackshear. Work on this project will continue in the upcoming year. \nNongame staff presented results of research at regional and national symposia, and published study results in several peer-reviewed journals. Staff also contributed to multi-state and national efforts to assess the taxonomy, status and distribution of species in North America. \nData from survey and monitoring efforts are entered into the NatureServe Biotics database. Partnerships are also maintained with the Georgia \n \n16 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \nMuseum of Natural History and the Stream Survey Team of DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Fisheries Section, greatly expanding the amount of data available for environmental review and conservation planning. The Nongame Conservation Section is recording population-level information on 133 fishes, 72 freshwater mussels and snails, and 24 crayfish species. In the past year, more than 180 new records of aquatic species were added to the database and more than 500 existing records were updated. \nThe database is being used to develop conservation status maps for all rare aquatic species in Georgia. By color-coding watersheds by the date of the last observation of a species, maps will quickly show areas with current populations, as well as areas that need to be re-surveyed. These maps will help researchers more consistently assess the conservation status of species as Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan is updated in 2014. \n \nSampling mussels in Spring Creek (Jason Wisniewski/GaDNR) \n \n Robust Redhorse Conservation \nThe robust redhorse is a rare sucker with wild populations occurring in limited reaches of the Ocmulgee, Oconee and Savannah rivers in Georgia and the Pee Dee River in North and South Carolina. The fish is listed as endangered in Georgia. Prior to its collection and identification in 1991 by DNR Wildlife Resources Division fisheries biologists, this species had not been observed for more than 100 years. A team of state, federal and industry biologists organized under the Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee has done intensive work since the early 1990s to recover this species in Georgia and the Carolinas. \nA major part of this effort has been capturing and spawning wild fish from the Oconee and Savannah rivers and producing young in hatcheries for restoration of stocks in rivers within the former range. In partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia Power and the University of Georgia, DNR's Wildlife Resources Division helped develop a hatchery program in 1993. A Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances, the first of its kind for an aquatic species, was developed by DNR, the Fish and Wildlife Service and Georgia Power to help reintroduce robust redhorse into the Ocmulgee River in Georgia. \nFrom 1993-2008, about 115,700 hatchery-reared robust redhorse were stocked into the Broad, Ocmulgee, Oconee and Ogeechee rivers in Georgia. South Carolina DNR stocked some 60,000 fingerlings in the Broad and Wateree rivers from 2004 through 2013. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources' hatchery program was ending in 2013. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission spawned robust redhorse experimentally for the first time in 2013 and plans to begin augmentation of the Pee Dee River population below Blewett Falls Dam in 2014. \nBiologists have documented growth and survival rates in all stocked rivers in Georgia and South Carolina and observed spawning behavior in fish stocked in the Broad, Ocmulgee and Ogeechee rivers. Researchers are trying to document survival of wild-spawned fish in stocked populations and their recruitment into the juvenile and adult population. Establishment of additional selfsustaining populations will represent a significant \n \nstep toward recovery. Other recovery activities have included evaluations of recruitment success and a major gravel augmentation project on the Oconee, as well as telemetry studies on the Ogeechee, Ocmulgee, Broad, Savannah and Pee Dee rivers, and a population dynamics study on the Ocmulgee. \nThe Oconee River gravel augmentation project is designed to improve the abundance and quality of spawning habitat. Recent monitoring suggests that three sites have been substantially enhanced by the addition of more than 1,000 tons of gravel. More intensive monitoring for spawning activity at these new sites was planned for spring 2013, but high flows precluded observations of gravel bars during the spawning season. Additional monitoring is planned for 2014. \nOther activities planned in Georgia for 2014 include: \n \n An intensive electrofishing survey of the Oconee River from Sinclair Dam to Dublin designed to assess the current status of the Oconee population. \n An electrofishing survey of the Ogeechee River population associated with DNR's standardized sampling program. \n A search for remnant populations above Sinclair Dam (Little River, Wallace Dam tailrace) and above Wallace Dam (Apalachee and Oconee rivers). A single adult robust redhorse was collected from the lower portion of Little River above Lake Sinclair in 2012, the product of an accidental escape of fingerlings from the Walton Hatchery in 1995. A limited survey was conducted to assess the status of this stocked population in 2013. A more intensive search upriver will be conducted in 2014. \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 17 \n \nDNR biologist Jimmy Evans with robust redhorse (GaDNR) \n \n Fall Line Sandhills WMA pond (Hal Massie) Juvenile gopher tortoise at Moody Forest (Tom Sayward/Ga DNR) \n \nPlants and Natural Habitats \n \nSandhills Conservation \nSandhill and upland longleaf pine habitats supporting gopher tortoises in Georgia and other states have benefited from two competitive State Wildlife Grants. DNR received a $1 million grant in 2009 to work with Alabama, Florida and South Carolina on restoring high-priority sandhills across the region. DNR and state wildlife agencies in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were awarded a $981,000 State Wildlife Grant in 2011 \n \nfor additional habitat restoration on sandhills and upland longleaf pine habitats, work referred to as phase two of the original project. \nRestoration targets exceed 51,000 acres across the five states, and more than 18,000 acres in Georgia. At the end of fiscal 2013, Georgia was well over halfway toward achieving its goal. \nWhile work continues on phase two of sandhills restoration, the phase one grant  closed out at the end of fiscal 2013  saw Georgia, Alabama and Florida far exceed all goals except in planting longleaf. (South Carolina completed restoration activities but did not use the federal funds allocated. Those state acreages are not included in the project summary.) Total acres affected topped 95,000, compared to the proposed objective of about 38,600. \nGeorgia documented 17,490 acres of prescribed fire (the original target was 9,950) and treated \n \n18 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \n1,253 acres of invasive hardwoods and sand pines, nearly four times the goal. DNR and partners, including private landowners, planted 1,810 acres of longleaf pine. \nIn addition, baseline gopher tortoise population surveys were completed for an array of sites, as well as pre- and post-treatment avian and vegetation monitoring. Highlights of the tortoise surveys include a population of nearly 800 adult tortoises at Townsend Wildlife Management Area, the largest population on state lands in Georgia. Vegetation and avian monitoring revealed reductions in canopy cover and hardwood midstories in treated stands, and increases in northern bobwhite, blue grosbeak, common ground-dove, indigo bunting and other targeted species. \nWith continued prescribed fire, it is expected that herbaceous understory components in treated stands will also increase, further benefiting gopher tortoises and bird species such as bobwhite quail. \n \n Rare Plant Surveys on Public and Private Lands \nSurveys are conducted throughout the state to identify and inventory locations of rare plants and provide guidance on appropriate management activities. The Nongame Conservation Section does this work with consultants, landowners and botanical organizations, as well as through participation in the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, enhancing the exchange of information on discoveries, natural area management and plant conservation activities. \nIn 2013, numerous rare plant discoveries resulted from surveys conducted by DNR staff and contractors, nature photographers, and field botanists, including Jim Allison, Steve Bowling, Alan Cressler, Max Medley, Richard Reaves and Matt Richards. A high-elevation boulderfield on Brasstown Bald was found to harbor a small population of blue-bead lily, a plant of high elevations in the southern part of its range and not seen at this site or even in Georgia since 1947. A remnant heath bald, also on Brasstown Bald, was found that had a small population of three-tooth cinquefoil. Rush quillwort, a Georgia endemic found in seasonal pools in hardwood bottoms near Tifton, was observed again at the site it was first collected, thanks to heavy spring rains. On a private preserve near Lula Lake atop Lookout Mountain in Walker County, a large stand of Lyon's purple turtlehead was discovered on a talus  or rocky  slope. \nJim Allison completed a detailed study of Lithonia gneiss outcrops as a baseline for future site conservation work. Among discoveries were nine new sites for federally listed pool sprite, 29 for Louisiana bluestar, 24 for Alexander's rock aster, 19 for granite stonecrop and 13 new flatrock onion outcrops. A newly described granite outcrop endemic known as granite hedge-hyssop, known only from South Carolina and Georgia, was reported from 15 sites. \nSafeguarding activities, where rare plants are established at new protected sites, are conducted throughout the state. For Georgia plume on Burks Mountain in Columbia County  this plant is found only in Georgia  saplings were fenced to prevent browsing damage, flowers cross-pollinated to promote seed production \n \nand cuttings taken for propagation. A new site for Radford's sedge, known only from marble ravines in Stephens County and adjacent South Carolina, was sampled and live plants collected for propagation at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. One site for Carolina trefoil, a plant found only in the Piedmont, was augmented by planting seed harvested in 2012. \nA special effort to locate ten-lobe purple foxglove proved successful at Cloudland Canyon State Park, near Rising Fawn. This showy annual, which is closely related to federally listed sandplain foxglove from the Northeast, was officially documented as a state record and represents yet \n \nanother example of the diversity found in meadowlike habitats in well-maintained powerline right of ways. Exploration of Cedar Cliffs in Rabun County provided new information on sand myrtle, granite dome bluets and granite dome goldenrod  all uncommon in the Georgia mountains. \nPitcherplant bogs remain of special conservation concern. A few new bogs investigated in Wheeler and Turner counties had exceptional new stands of parrot pitcherplant and wiregrass dropseed. Safeguarding efforts include rescued pitcherplants and associates from a construction site near Statesboro and propagation material gathered for bog St. Johnswort and cottongrass. \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 19 \n \nJeremy Kicklighter (L) and Jimmie Lee III help rescue pitcherplants at a Statesboro bog (GaDNR) \n \n Volunteers plant pogonia at a Coastal Plain bog (Lisa Kruse/GaDNR) \n \nCoastal Habitat Conservation \nNongame Conservation Section staff aided in the conservation of Cannon's Point Preserve, 608 acres on St. Simon's Island. The St. Simons Land Trust bought the property in September 2012. The Nature Conservancy holds a restrictive conservation easement that protects the site's important conservation values while allowing for naturecentered recreation and education. Nongame staff served on the Cannon's Point Conservation Task Force and helped create an Easement Documentation Report for the property. Staff also helped update a site management plan for the preserve. \nNongame staff served, as well, on the Little St. Simons Island Ecological Advisory Council. The council is creating a management plan for the island. The group also makes management recommendations and reviews research proposals for the island to determine if projects meet the conservation and management goals. Nongame also helped Little St. Simons staff establish a long-term photo monitoring project in each ecosystem on the island. The project will be used to examine ecosystem changes. \nNongame biologists began a collaborative project with DNR's Coastal Resources Division to establish salt marsh monitoring transects along the Georgia \n \ncoast. Staff used remote sensing to select nine study sites. Transects were established at each site, starting at an upland reference point and continuing into the salt marsh until reaching Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh. Vegetation and elevation data are collected for each distinct salt marsh community type encountered along each transect. The project goal is to examine long-term change in Georgia salt marsh communities and determine the effects of sea-level rise on coastal habitats. \nNongame staff conducted surveys for rare natural communities and plants on the coast. Efforts were focused on a previously undescribed calcareous bottomland forest endemic to Camden and Charlton counties. This seasonally-flooded vegetation is dominated by laurel oak, sugarberry, hawthorn and Cherokee sedge. A coast-wide survey of hydric hammock communities was also initiated. These unique communities have characteristics of both uplands and wetlands and are in need of better description in Georgia. \nNongame botanists worked with staff at Atlanta Botanical Garden staff, a DNR partner, to survey for rare orchids on the coast. Atlanta Botanical Garden's conservation program focuses much of its work on the conservation of orchids and other rare plant species in Georgia. \n \n20 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \nRestoration of Mountain and Coastal Plain Bogs \nMountain bogs are one of the most critically endangered habitats of the Southern Appalachians. The bogs are typically small  from a half-acre to 5 acres  and usually associated with seeps, springs and small creeks. These are early successional habitats that support a variety of unique and imperiled flora and fauna, including the federally threatened bog turtle and swamp pink, possibly the state's rarest reptile and plant species, respectively. Other exceptionally rare and state-protected mountain bog plants include the montane purple pitcher plant (which has been petitioned for federal listing), Carolina bog laurel, Canada burnet and Cuthbert's turtlehead. \nFor 21 years, the Nongame Conservation Section, working independently and as a member of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, has engaged in mountain bog restoration that includes: \n Locating mountain bogs with restoration potential. \n Restoration at eight bog sites. \n Propagating and outplanting rare mountain bog plants. More than 5,000 individuals of five rareplant species have been propagated during the last 20 years, with 1,000 outplanted (in-situ) into appropriate habitats. The remaining plants are in conservation holdings (ex-situ) at Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance gardens. Seedling recruitment has been documented for swamp pink and purple mountain pitcherplant at two restored bogs. \nThe natural disturbance factors needed to maintain mountain bog habitats are now largely missing from the landscape, and the few remaining bog habitats must be maintained by mimicking these natural effects using techniques such as manual clearing and prescribed fire. \nA field experiment was initiated in 2007 to test various restoration protocols, with final research plots established in 2010. The goal is maximizing effectiveness and efficiency, thus saving the Nongame Conservation Section and its partners time and expense in maintaining mountain bogs. Three sites were treated with prescribed fire as part of this research in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service. \n \n In the Coastal Plain, Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Natural Area features one of Georgia's crown-jewel pitcherplant bogs, with three species of pitcherplants and other carnivores of the plant world such as sundews and butterworts. Restoration work continues at this Colquitt County site with an emphasis on prescribed fire and invasive species control. \nBecause bogs often occur in small patches on private property, much pitcherplant bog conservation depends on work with private landowners. For example, cooperative work with landowners for management and conservation continues at a complex of privately owned bogs near Claxton. These bogs include the only known occurrence of the Coastal Plain purple pitcherplant, in addition to eight other tracked plants. The bogs are contiguous to diverse sandhill habitat, with occurrences of gopher tortoises. \nConservation efforts are focused on restoring prescribed fire, raising awareness of the site and preventing destruction caused by off-road vehicles. Monitoring and pitcherplant population augmentation is done by a local volunteer steward. \n \nHabitat Improvement on State Lands and the Interagency Burn Team \nMany sites across Georgia have experienced a return of rare plants and animals as a result of DNR habitat conservation on state lands, including natural areas, wildlife management areas and state parks. For example, Bachman's sparrows are singing again on Fall Line Sandhills Wildlife Management Area and the woods are filled with the whistle of northern bobwhites. Both species had tiny populations when the state acquired this Taylor County property less than a decade ago. Loggerhead shrikes and red-headed woodpeckers, absent from Fall Line Sandhills for years, have returned. Gopher frogs had one of their best years in more than a decade; now it's not uncommon to find these frogs on the WMA. \nThe changes are the result of several years of hard work by the Nongame Conservation Section restoring this habitat. That work has included thinning timber or clearcutting on 380 acres, planting more than 150,000 plugs of \n \nnative grasses, conducting prescribed burns on thousands of acres, working with neighboring landowners to improve their habitats through prescribed fire and helping them enroll in conservation cost-share programs, and planting hundreds of thousands of longleaf pine to restore the ecosystem upon which all this depends. \nTo better ensure frequent juvenile recruitment of gopher frogs, striped newts and other amphibians at Fall Line, Nongame Conservation also built three artificial wetlands to allow dispersal and inhabitation across a greater area and increase the amphibians' overall population on the property. \nIsolated, fishless ponds provide critically important breeding sites for more than 50 percent of the amphibian species found in the Coastal Plain of Georgia, including the state-threatened striped newt and gopher frog. These wetlands have become increasingly rare through land conversion, and further separated from the upland foraging habitats needed during the amphibians' nonbreeding season. Based on observed and predicted climate trends of longer and more frequent droughts in the southeastern U.S., the availability \n \nDigging pond at Fall Line Sandhills WMA (John Jensen/GaDNR) \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 21 \n \n Prescribed fire at pitcherplant bog (GaDNR) \n \nof inundated isolated wetlands will become even more critical for the persistence of pond-breeding amphibians. \nFall Line Sandhills is just one success story. On Mayhaw and Chickasawhatchee wildlife management areas in southwest Georgia, the Nongame Conservation Section has restored hundreds of acres of longleaf and wiregrass with similar results. Nongame has also played a significant role on Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area near Bainbridge, treating woody encroachment in the understory and conducting thousands of acres of growing-season fires. The result: The number of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers has continued to increase. \nOn Panola Mountain State Park near Stockbridge, more than 100 acres of native grassland have been restored. Grassland birds and secretive marsh birds such as eastern meadowlark, grasshopper sparrow, king rail, black rail, sedge wren and sandhill cranes are now found in the shadow of metro Atlanta. Nongame Conservation also has begun safeguarding rare plants in Panola's restored grasslands. One species, Michaux's sumac, has only two natural populations remaining in Georgia. At Sprewell \n \nBluff Wildlife Management Area near Thomaston, researchers are safeguarding a plant that is even rarer in the state, American barberry. The Sprewell Bluff site is only the second population documented in Georgia. Also, in longleaf forests across south Georgia, pitcherplant bogs are thriving and expanding, like at Moody Forest Natural Area near Baxley and Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Natural Area near Moultrie. \nThe take-home: Habitat restoration is paying dividends for rare species. After years of hard work to restore habitats, rare species are returning. As these habitats improve, game species also benefit. \nPrescribed fire is vital to this restoration effort. As noted, the Nongame Conservation Section uses a variety of land-management techniques to improve rare species habitats on state lands, from removing invasive species to planting native species, and from thinning timber to prescribed burning. However, prescribed fire remains the most effective tool for conserving and restoring fire-adapted habitats that support numerous species of conservation concern. \nSimply put, prescribed fire is a safe way to employ a natural process to ensure ecosystem health \n \n22 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \nand reduce the risk of wildfire. Working with Interagency Burn Team partners, Nongame Conservation applied prescribed fire to key habitats on state, federal and private lands in 2013. Burn team partners include the Georgia Forestry Commission, The Nature Conservancy, The Orianne Society, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. \nNongame staff led or helped on prescribed burns totaling almost 27,050 acres in 2013. This work involved staff from other Georgia Wildlife Resources Division sections and DNR's State Parks and Historic Sites Division, as well as volunteers trained by the Nongame Conservation Section to federal fire standards. \nA seasonal fire crew carried out the bulk of burning in the dormant season. The crew's dedicated efforts led to more acres burned  9,882 acres in 2013 compared to 6,003 in 2012. In addition to the seasonal fire crew, Nongame Conservation burn crew members helped the Interagency Burn Team. The team also offered training opportunities for partners and conducted public outreach, with press releases, newspaper articles and outreach during burns on high-profile areas. \n \n The Nongame Conservation Section burned at many high-priority conservation sites across the state. Highlights include state-owned lands such as Big Hammock, Chickasawhatchee, Clybel, Doerun Pitcherplant Bog, Fall Line Sandhills, Flint River, Joe Kurz, Lake Seminole, Mayhaw, Moody Forest, Oaky Woods, Ohoopee Dunes, River Creek, the Rolf \u0026 Alexandra Kauka, Silver Lake and Sprewell Bluff wildlife management areas, Black Creek Natural Area, Rocky Hammock tract, Kolomoki Mounds Historic Park, and General Coffee, George L. Smith, Hard Labor Creek, Little Ocmulgee, Panola Mountain, Reed Bingham and Seminole state parks. \nOther prescribed burn sites included preserves owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy  the Almo, Ingram and Lewis tracts, Broxton Rocks, Buck property, Little Pine Knot, North Meade, Rovig and Williams Bluff. Private lands were also burned  including montane longleaf tracts adjacent to Sprewell Bluff and sandhills where DNR holds a conservation easement  as well as federal land in Oconee National Forest. \nA wide variety of fire-dependent habitats were targeted for restoration, including aeolian dune sandhills with xeric longleaf pine/turkey oak, Coastal Plain pitcherplant bogs, Coosa flatwoods, fall line sandhills, longleaf pine flatwoods, longleaf pine/wiregrass woodlands, oak \n \nwoodlands, native grasslands, pond pine/mixed shrub flatwoods and shortleaf pine/mixed oak woodlands. Many high-priority species identified in the State Wildlife Action Plan benefitted from these restoration efforts. \nAs sites move from restoration to the maintenance phase, Nongame Conservation has been able to conduct more growing-season burns. These ecological burns have had a profound impact on species, restoring the natural balance in fire-adapted ecosystems by reducing hardwood competition and increasing native grasses and forbs. DNR has increased its growing-season burns from 151 acres in 2003 to 2,639 acres in 2013, although the unseasonably wet spring and summer in 2013 resulted in a reduction in burned acres compared to the previous year. (Crews conducted a record 4,804 acres of what many call lightningseason burns in 2012.) \nGeorgia Plant Conservation Alliance \nThe Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, or GPCA, is an innovative network of 27 public gardens, government agencies, academic institutions, utility companies and environmental organizations committed to preserving Georgia's endangered flora. Formed in 1995 with the Nongame Conservation Section as a charter member, \n \nGPCA initiates and coordinates efforts to protect natural habitats and endangered species through biodiversity management, public education, and rare plant propagation and outplanting (i.e., safeguarding). \nGPCA's member organizations are engaged in recovery projects for 72 imperiled plant species. Fifty-five of these are in safeguarding programs at botanical gardens, arboreta and seed banks. Twenty-seven species have been successfully introduced back into the wild. \nCalculating time and expertise volunteered and equipment used, GPCA efforts have amounted to an estimated $1.35 million in direct and indirect support for plant conservation since the organization was formed. More than $1 million of this was accounted for by non-DNR members supporting high-priority species and habitats in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. \nTrained GPCA volunteers known as botanical guardians  there are 140  contributed more than 1,000 hours of conservation work during calendar year 2012. GPCA has assisted the research of 10 graduate students who have gone on to full-time careers in plant conservation in the southeastern U.S. GPCA also has mentored several states that are trying to establish similar statewide plant conservation alliances, including Alabama, North \n \nUniversity of Montana Grizzly Crew member helps monitor a prescribed fire in Georgia (Jim Riddering) \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 23 \n \n GPCA mountain bog work crew (GPCA) \n \nCarolina, Texas, Arizona, Colorado and, most recently, Kentucky. \nThe GPCA received the 2013 Award for Program Excellence at the American Public Gardens Association annual meeting in Phoenix, Ariz. Each year, the association honors one of its 500 members for innovation in developing programs and pioneering horticultural disciplines. Considered an innovator at the national level, GPCA joins award recipients such as Missouri Botanical Garden, Smithsonian Institution and Chicago Botanic Garden. \nFrom research, habitat restoration and management to hands-on stewardship projects with elementary schools, the resources, expertise and outreach strategies of GPCA members provide powerful tools for plant conservation. \nGinseng Management Program \nExport of American ginseng is regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement which is administered in this country by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The export of ginseng from Georgia is authorized by this federal authority in combination with the Georgia Ginseng Protection Act of 1979, a state law amended in 2013. \nIn order to have a legal ginseng trade in Georgia, the Fish and Wildlife Service requires Georgia to maintain a Ginseng Management Program that ensures compliance with federal and state \n \nregulations. The objective is to prevent this perennial forest herb from becoming endangered due to trade. Demand for ginseng is high in natural medicinal markets and in Asian medicine. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section administers the Georgia Ginseng Management Program, which monitors harvest and sale of ginseng. Staff works with ginseng dealers, growers, the Game Management Section and DNR's Law Enforcement Division to make ginseng regulation a transparent and simple process. \nMost American ginseng harvested is exported to China. Georgia is at the southern edge of the distribution of ginseng and Georgia's ginseng trade is much smaller than in nearby states such as North Carolina and Kentucky, where millions of dollars in ginseng is exported every year. Over the Georgia Ginseng Program's 26 years there has been an overall decline in ginseng harvest and trade. \nThe reported wild Georgia ginseng harvest in 2012 was 361.3 pounds dry weight. This topped the 10-year average by 80 pounds, and marked a 127 percent increase from 2011. Two variables that likely contributed to the surge are increases in the number of dealers and the price of ginseng. \nRecent research on ginseng biology has demonstrated that seed germination depends on full ripening of the plant's berries. To promote sustainable ginseng harvest and maintain consistency with other states' regulations, the Nongame Conservation Section worked with the Georgia Legislature to pass legislation moving the start of the state's harvest season from Aug. 15 to Sept. 1. \n \n24 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \nIn 2013, Nongame and Game Management biologists held a public information meeting on American ginseng biology and ginseng trade regulations in Georgia. Presenters included experts from Atlanta Botanical Garden and the U.S. Forest Service. Georgia ginseng dealers and agency personnel were well-represented and discussed topics such as how to address ginseng poaching and how to encourage sustainable ginseng harvest and export. \nBiotics Database Development \nThe Nongame Conservation Section manages the NatureServe Biotics database, the state's most comprehensive database of occurrences of rare species and natural communities. Data in Biotics are used for many purposes: environmental site reviews, conservation planning, scientific research, habitat restoration and management plan development. \nThe database contains more than 13,500 occurrence records for rare species in the state and provides web access to information on occurrences of special-concern species and significant natural communities. \nDuring 2013, staff added 732 new records and edited 4,023 existing records. Significant efforts were made to update information on species proposed for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. Many species are under review and updating database records helps with the process and allows for a more accurate review of species. \nStaff also responded to 350 formal requests for data, not counting in-house environmental reviews or data obtained by the public through the website. \nNew computer applications for field entry of rare species data are being tested. These tools allow biologists to use standard consumer mobile devices such as tablet computers to update and add data for element occurrence records and field surveys while in the field. This provides for real-time record updates and improves the overall efficiency of data entry. \nLists of rare and protected plants, animals and natural communities are available at www. georgiawildlife.com/conservation/species-ofconcern. \n \n Jimmy Rickard (USFWS), Tom Patrick (DNR) and Kyla Cheynet (Plum Creek) at quillwort pool created by Plum Creek (Stefanie Stricklan) \n \nPrivate Land Activities \nBecause some 93 percent of the Georgia landscape is privately owned, conservation activities on private lands are crucial to wildlife and natural communities in the state. The Nongame Conservation Section worked with private landowners throughout Georgia on a variety of conservation activities in fiscal year 2013 (also see \"Land Acquisition and Conservation Planning\"). \nStaff fielded phone calls, answered landowners' questions and visited sites to give management advice. Nongame Conservation also worked to make cost-share and grant opportunities known to landowners and help them navigate procedures for using the programs. Examples include the Natural Resources Conservation Services' Environmental Quality Incentives and Working Lands for Wildlife programs, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' Partners for Wildlife Program. \nStaff updated the web version of the popular \"Landowner's Guide to Conservation Incentives in Georgia\" to reflect the ever-changing details of these incentives. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section also provided threatened and endangered species training to loggers and others at quarterly Master Timber Harvester events around the state. This training includes a review of how timber harvesting affects \n \nwildlife habitat. Nongame staff served on the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Implementation Committee and its Private Landowner Outreach Subcommittee. Additional education activities included training sessions at Southeastern Wood Producers workshops. \nNongame Conservation also took part in Natural Resources Conservation Service State Technical Committee meetings to identify wildlife conservation priorities relevant to Farm Bill programs for private landowners. \nStaff cooperated with the Game Management Section's Private Lands Program and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to establish four temporary biologist positions stationed at Natural Resources Conservation Service field offices in Blakely, Douglas, Swainsboro and McDonough. Duties include promoting and implementing Farm Bill programs to benefit species and habitats of conservation concern as defined in the State Wildlife Action Plan. Nongame continues to support a fifth cooperative biologist in Fitzgerald using a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Southern Company. In all, these biologists work with local landowners to implement National Resources Conservation Service programs aimed at restoring and managing longleaf pine systems, including the Working Lands for Wildlife initiative that targets gopher tortoises. \n \nAlong with Game Management and Parks personnel, staff also visited all 25 DNR-held conservation easements to ensure compliance with easement terms and to renew relations with landowners. \nForestry for Wildlife Partnership \nThe Nongame Conservation Section plays a strong role in the DNR Wildlife Resources Division's Forestry for Wildlife Partnership. This voluntary program encourages conservation of wildlife habitat on corporate forestlands in Georgia and provides public access to privately owned wildlife management areas for hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, hiking and camping. \nCorporations participating in Forestry for Wildlife are among the largest landowners in Georgia, directly affecting wildlife habitat on more than 974,000 acres. \nBy working closely with Nongame Conservation and Game Management Section biologists, this public/private partnership provides opportunities to enhance wildlife conservation practices on these lands and benefit companies with public recognition for their conservation achievements. Participating companies are evaluated on wildlife conservation planning, education and outreach, management practices, sensitive sites and rarespecies concerns, recreation, and partnerships. \n \nPrivate Lands \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 25 \n \n Plum Creek, Georgia Power and Wells Timberland, the newest partner (known since September 2013 as CatchMark Timber Trust), were the 2012 Forestry for Wildlife partners. \nConservation efforts benefiting from Forestry for Wildlife include endangered red-cockaded woodpecker habitats, bald eagle and swallowtailed kite nesting, isolated wetlands critical to protected reptiles and amphibians, and rare remnant Coosa Valley prairie and Black Belt prairie habitats containing endangered plants. The partnerships also provide the public with many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors through wildlife viewing, hunting and fishing. \nHighlights of partners' conservation work during fiscal 2013 included: \n Plum Creek maintained important habitat at Paulks Pasture Wildlife Management Area near Brunswick for Henslow's sparrows, a secretive songbird. \n Plum Creek converted nearly 400 acres of loblolly stands to longleaf and is monitoring and mapping gopher tortoise locations on company lands. The company is also working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and State Botanical Garden of Georgia to establish populations of mat-forming quillwort on granite outcrops in Greene County. \n Georgia Power helped the DNR relocate and monitor gopher tortoises displaced by development, including restoring 300 acres of longleaf pine as a future site for tortoises. The company has an active prescribed fire program, burning more than 5,000 acres a year, and participates in the Safe Harbor program for red-cockaded woodpeckers. \n Georgia Power worked with the DNR to relocate and protect relict trillium from developmental threats. Also, company powerlines and right of ways are home to nine federally listed plant species. \n Wells Timberland, or CatchMark Timber Trust, worked with the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect habitat for rare fringed campion on company lands in Talbot County, and thinned and burned pine plantations to allow native understory plants to grow and benefit wildlife. \n Wells Timberland also partnered with the National Wild Turkey Federation to burn and restore longleaf pine in sandhill habitats in \n \nMarion County. The company did not convert any bottomland hardwood forest and continued to monitor and treat invasive species on company lands. \nArmy Compatible Use Buffer Conservation \nThe Army Compatible Use Buffer program, or ACUB, seeks to protect priority conservation lands surrounding military installations from incompatible development, primarily through permanent conservation easements. In recent years, the Nongame Conservation Section has partnered with Fort Stewart and others to conserve critical lands in the Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield area, including some of the best eastern indigo snake habitat in Georgia. \nNongame Conservation is also involved with the Chattahoochee Fall Line Conservation Partnership, which is geared toward conserving lands along the eastern edge of Fort Benning. Staff's involvement included partnering with land management activities to enhance gopher tortoise habitat, serving on the group's steering committee and joining efforts to bring more tracts under conservation ownership and management. \n \n26 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \nCommunity Wildlife Project \nThe Community Wildlife Project, an initiative of the Nongame Conservation Section and the Garden Club of Georgia, seeks to: \n Enhance native nongame animal and plant populations and their habitats in urban, suburban and rural communities throughout the state. \n Foster wildlife conservation stewardship and education in Georgia communities. \n Promote respect and appreciation of wildlife in combination with community beautification. \n Improve the quality of life for Georgians living in these communities. \nMore than 750 communities have been awarded full certification, with more than 600 in various stages of completing certification standards. Since 2005, the new Backyard Wildlife Certification survey has added about 2,500 certified backyards, 500 of which were certified with two or more adjoining neighbor's backyards to attain a Neighborhood Backyard Certification. \nIn summer 2013, a new certification application was created. The Hummingbird Haven Certification centers on attracting hummingbirds to yards. \n \nGray catbirds fighting over suet (Terry W. Johnson) \n \n Invasive Species Assessment and \nManagement \n \nAmeriCorps crew removing sand pines at Townsend WMA (Eamonn Leonard/GaDNR) \n \nGeorgia's State Wildlife Action Plan emphasizes the need for increasing efforts to detect, monitor and control invasive species in order to conserve native wildlife and their habitats. Invasive species have negative impacts on native species and are noted for being one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. Effective control and treatment of invasive species can have positive cascading effects for many species and ecosystem services. \nFollowing completion of the Georgia Invasive Species Strategy in 2009, the Nongame Conservation Section sought State Wildlife Grants funding to implement invasive species assessment and management programs, with a focus on the coastal region. The primary objective of the current project is to enhance \n \nmethods for assessing and controlling invasive nonnative species on public and other conservation lands. A second objective is providing land managers better technical and informational resources to help control invasive species. A third objective is promoting appropriate use of native plant species by public and private land managers. \nDuring 2013, Nongame Conservation staff funded by this grant: \n Continued a three-year control project to eradicate common reed from the Altamaha River delta. \n Coordinated a volunteer pull of water hyacinth using a 10-member AmeriCorps National \n \nCivilian Community Corps team in the Altamaha River and funded applications of herbicide to treat water hyacinth in and around Butler Island waterfowl impoundments. \n Brought together representatives from more than 40 state, federal and county agencies, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups for the second annual meeting of the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, or CISMA, for Georgia's coastal region. Participants developed a prioritized list of invasive plants and animals for the 11-county coastal region. \n Received two years of funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for a \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 27 \n \n Native hibiscus grandiflora on Jekyll Island (Eamonn Leonard/GaDNR Removing water hyacinth on Altamaha (GaDNR) \n \nspecies according to the management plan for Cannon's Point on St. Simons Island. \n Held five volunteer work days to help Coastal Wildscapes and the city of Midway in removing Chinese tallow and Japanese honeysuckle from the Cay Creek Wetlands Interpretive Center. \n Worked with the First Coast Invasive Working Group in northeast Florida on a salt cedar removal project in the north Florida/south Georgia coastal region. \n \n Gave talks on invasive species assessment and management to garden clubs, the student Chapter of Society of Conservation Biology at UGA, Coastal Wildscapes, the Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council and others. \nIn separate work involving invasive species, Nongame staff monitored and treated Japanese climbing fern and crotalaria on 500 acres at Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area in southwest Georgia. This work will continue in 2014. \n \nco-coordinator for the Coastal Georgia CISMA and a Student Conservation Association intern, and to buy herbicide and field supplies for control and monitoring work. \n Coordinated an AmeriCorps team and helped direct Student Conservation Association interns with The Nature Conservancy on invasives projects with partners varying from mapping species to treating salt cedar on Andrews Island in Brunswick and removing sand pine to help the rare Radford's mint at Townsend Wildlife Management Area near Ludowici. \n Installed vegetation monitoring plots in areas of Sapelo and Ossabaw islands infested with Chinese tallow to measure the effectiveness of different control methods and the recovery of the natural communities. \n Held citizen science programs in the Brunswick and Savannah areas to teach people how to identify and map locations of invasive species in coastal Georgia using EDDMapS, the Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System developed by the UGA Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. \n Worked with Coastal Wildscapes, a nonprofit group that promotes gardening with natives, to increase volunteer opportunities in collecting native seed and identifying and removing invasive species. In addition, staff worked with the Jekyll Island Authority to grow native plants from seeds collected by volunteers and make these plants available to the public at two plant sales. \n Continued work with the Cannon's Point Conservation Task Force to manage invasive \n28 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \n During 2012-2013, rangers with what is now the DNR Law Enforcement Division conducted 40 commercial vessel boardings along Georgia's coast to check for compliance with turtle excluder device, or TED, regulations. Rangers issued seven state TED-related warnings, 10 state citations, one federal warning and one federal citation. \nThe TED checks were part of 423 hours the Law Enforcement Division spent at sea in fiscal 2013. Activities also included 75 hours patrolling for violations of laws protecting North Atlantic right whales and 145 hours at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Four federal warnings were given for feeding dolphins. \nIn May 2012, rangers had foiled an attempt to poach sea turtle eggs from nests on Sapelo Island. Using \n \na DNR K-9 trained to sniff out wildlife contraband, officers found 156 sea turtle eggs in the baggage of a passenger leaving Sapelo on the island's ferry. \nSea turtle eggs are prized by some as a purported aphrodisiac and a food delicacy. All sea turtle species that nest on Georgia beaches are protected by state and federal laws. Penalties for illegal possession of sea turtle eggs can include up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine. \nBecause of the potential federal violations, the case was turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. \nSuspect Lewis Jackson of Brunswick pled guilty in April 2013. He was fined $468 and sentenced to six months in federal prison, two years of \n \nprobation under federal supervision and 156 hours of community service  to be served at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. \nRanger also handled other nongame-related cases, as well as one osprey rescue. \nWhile training in a boat operator course at Lake Walter F. George in June, rangers Jordan Crawford, Mark Puig and Patrick Gibbs were returning to the marina when they spotted three juvenile ospreys sitting in the remains of a nest in the water. Storms that morning had apparently blown the nest into the lake. The rangers caught the birds and put them in a new nest that other rangers built in a nearby tree. \"The next day,\" Puig wrote, \"we observed the mother going to nest to feed the ospreys. Success!\" \n \nLaw Enforcement for Nongame \n \nDNR rangers rescue young ospreys at Lake Walter F. George (Jay Bright/GaDNR) \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 29 \n \n EDUCATION AND OUTREACH \n \nDNR's Kim Kilgore at Metter Elementary (Linda May/GaDNR) \n \nRegional Education Centers \nThe DNR Wildlife Resources Division is charged with promoting the conservation and wise use of Georgia's natural resources. The division's educational mission involves cultivating an appreciation and understanding of wildlife resources, fostering wise stewardship of these resources, and promoting safe and ethical natural resource-based recreation. \n \nThroughout its history, the Wildlife Resources Division has educated the state's youth and families to increase awareness, engagement and stewardship regarding Georgia habitats, wildlife and natural resources. These education efforts began when Charlie Elliott, first director of what is now Georgia DNR, started the Junior Ranger Program in 1940. Children in the program conducted nature surveys, planted wildlife food crops and helped \"senior rangers.\" In its first year, more than 25,000 children became involved in learning and practicing conservation. \n \n30 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \nElliott's vision of a conservation education program continues today through the Wildlife Resources Division's seven regional education centers, as well as the continuation of the Junior Ranger Program in DNR's State Parks \u0026 Historic Sites Division. As growth and development increasingly require stewardship and conservation, the need for wildlife education is paramount. \nWildlife Resources operates the regional education centers in partnership with local school systems, Regional Educational Service Agencies and other state and federal agencies to deliver wildlifebased education to students, adults and families. The centers are Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center near Mansfield, the Go Fish Education Center in Perry, Smithgall Woods near Helen, McDuffie Environmental Education Center near Dearing, Arrowhead Environmental Education Center near Armuchee, Grand Bay near Valdosta and Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve. \nVisitors learn about conservation and wise use of natural and cultural resources through hands-on experiences. More than 64,000 students and adults visited the centers in fiscal year 2013, a 4 percent increase over the previous year. \n2013 highlights include: \nCharlie Elliott Wildlife Center shepherded a Project WILD program that trained a growing number of teachers, 633 compared to 474 the previous year. Project WILD is an interdisciplinary curriculum that schools teachers in teaching wildlife and conservation while still covering curriculum standards in math, reading and science. \nProject WILD offered basic educator workshops, Growing Up WILD workshops targeted early childhood teachers and Flying WILD workshops reached middle school teachers. Project WILD conducted advanced programs for teachers, partnering in 2013 with Project Learning Tree to offer a Longleaf Pine Workshop. \nCharlie Elliott Wildlife Center also continued the Outdoor Wildlife Leadership School. Through OWLS, teachers throughout the state learned about wildlife habitats in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain by canoeing in Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, learning about mammals at \n \n Salamander pond at Ohoopee Dunes Natural Area (Linda May/GaDNR) \n \nDauset Trails Nature Center and hiking at Ohoopee Dunes Wildlife Management Area. \nThe center expanded shooting programs, banking on a new shotgun range as well as the rifle and pistol ranges. Family Day at the Range programs taught shotgun, rifle and pistol safety to beginners. A new archery range also built in 2013 features a static and a field archery range, allowing Charlie Elliott staff to expand Family Day at the Range to include archery. Visitors can learn not only how to shoot but also how to care for archery equipment. \nThe center's Hunt and Learn program started in 2011 is expanding still. Five programs were offered last year, with nine planned for fiscal 2014. The Wildlife Resources Division's shooting sports program is also offering two additional Hunt and Learn programs in each region. Hunt and Learn teaches children hunting skills and conservation knowledge. The program is part of a Wildlife Resources Division effort that, through shooting sports and Hunter Education, served more than 39,000 people in 2013. Hunt and Learn programs teach hunting skills including for deer, squirrels, turkeys, quail and rabbits. \nCharlie Elliott Wildlife Center and Project Wild also continued improving their websites, \n \nwww.CharlieElliott.org and www.GAProjectWILD. org. Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center has a popular Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ CharlieElliottWildlifeCenter. \nSmithgall Woods' education department continued to offer a variety of onsite and outreach programs for students and adults. During the fall and spring semesters, approximately 20,000 students from adjacent counties to as far away as Jacksonville, Fla., participated in 680 programs that highlighted the beauty and resources at Smithgall Woods. \nDemand was high for \"in-school field trips\" during the 2012-2013 school year. Through word of mouth, new contacts in several counties were added, boosting outreach numbers to almost 18,000 students and adults. \"Snakes Alive\" remained the most requested program, with \"Animal Adaptations\" running a close second. Outreach remains the mainstay for the education department, accounting for 86 percent of students reached during the recent year. \nSheila Humphrey, wildlife interpretive specialist, was named Georgia Project WET Educator of the Year for 2013. This was due in part to the vast number of aquatic programs conducted \n \nat Smithgall Woods, as well at the variety of stream-based workshops and presentations for Trout Unlimited chapters in northeast Georgia. To enhance educational opportunities for youth, the Georgia Council of Trout Unlimited donated scholarship money to Humphrey to provide free outreach to seven counties surrounding Smithgall Woods Education Center. \nThrough a wide range of activities, McDuffie Environmental Education Center continued to promote appreciation and enthusiasm for nature and conservation among students and their parents. The number of classes coming to the center remained fairly constant despite the economic difficulties experienced by local schools. In support of the local community and schools, McDuffie Environmental Education staff also provided programs for Career Night and Leadership McDuffie, and served as judges for the local 4-H. The center represented DNR as an exhibitor at the Central Savannah River Area Earth Day Celebration held at Phinizy Swamp Nature Park in Augusta. Staff also supported McDuffie Public Fishing Area's Outdoor Adventure Day by providing exhibits and programming. \nIn May 2013, the McDuffie Environmental Education Center played host to the 13th annual Eco-Meet. Sponsored by the Central Savannah River Area Environmental Sciences Education Cooperative, Eco-Meet is an environmental education competition for middle-schoolers that is modeled after the North American Envirothon. Thirty teams from schools competed in the daylong event. Staff pitched in from Game Management, McDuffie Fisheries and the Environmental Protection Division to help the education center hold a successful competition. \nIn June 2013, McDuffie and the Watson-Brown Foundation held a three-day teacher workshop called Get Natural. This unique workshop, developed by staff at the education center and Watson-Brown, was approved by the Georgia Department of Education. Teachers completing the course earned two professional learning units, which can be used toward teacher recertification. The workshop allowed teachers to experience the diverse educational resources available at McDuffie Environmental Education Center and the Watson-Brown Foundation while participating in activities designed to demonstrate how standards can easily be taught beyond the classroom. \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 31 \n \n DNR's Pete Griffin discusses bald eagles with school students. (Linda May/GaDNR) \n \nArrowhead Environmental Education Center, a partnership between DNR and Floyd County Schools, focuses its outreach programs and field trips on educating pre-K through 12thgraders about northwest Georgia's environment, habitats and wildlife. During the 2012-2013 school year, 11,644 people were reached. \nStudents of all ages came to field trips at Arrowhead. Also, by leading outreaches, Arrowhead staff visited students in their classrooms, bringing live animals for demonstration and making a concerted effort to tie content to national education standards. \nFor the 11th consecutive year, local students helped release lake sturgeon into the Coosa River basin. Students look forward to the release each year, and the outreach provides a hands-on opportunity for them to learn about Georgia's river systems. \nAs exhibitors, Arrowhead shared with thousands in the community by participating in local events such as the Trout Unlimited Chili Cook-off sponsored by the Coosa Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited. A portion of proceeds are donated to support the environmental education center. Arrowhead also was \n \ninvolved in DNR's Outdoor Adventure Day, held annually on National Hunting and Fishing Day. \nArrowhead represented the statewide environmental education community by having a representative on the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia advisory committee. Staff served on the organization's Monarchs Across Georgia committee and participated in the 2013 Claxton Wildlife Festival. Arrowhead also helped with the 2013 Weekend for Wildlife, a key fundraiser for the Nongame Conservation Section. \nGrand Bay Wetland Education Center, a partnership between DNR and Coastal Plains Regional Educational Services Agency, maintains a full schedule each year. During the 2012-2013 school year, 9,076 students and adults visited the center. While the busy schedule and limited staff do not allow for outreach programs during the school year, Grand Bay had a full summer program in 2013, both at Valdosta State University and with day camps. \nSummer day-camp programs included 50 Taiwanese middle-school students, 30 student teachers from Czechoslovakia, 1,000 children at Valdosta State University Science Saturday and 600 children \n \n32 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \nfrom the Lowndes County Boys and Girls Club, Sheriff's Boys Ranch and the DARE program. The camps featured lessons on mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish found in south Georgia, as well as local plant communities and current environmental issues. \nThe education program at Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve finished modernizing its education facilities in 2013. New monitors were bought for use with new microscopes and handheld digital microscopes. An interactive white board was installed and the auditorium has a new overhead digital projector. Nature signs incorporating QR code technology designed for smart device users were added along the island's nature trail. A new education website lists all Sapelo programs. \nThe Sapelo education and research programs also partnered with Georgia Southern University to develop a teacher workshop focusing on Science Technology Engineering and Math, or STEM. The workshop received national publicity through quarterly newsletters of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and NOAA's office of Ocean and Coastal Research Management. \nThe Go Fish Education Center provides quality on-site environmental education programs focused on aquatic resource education and conservation. During 2013, students from preschool to college levels participated in hands-on activities incorporating Georgia Performance Standards and Project WILD and WET activities. Customized programs on water resources, economic impacts of freshwater fishing in Georgia and fish dissection were designed for middle school students. Classes in LEED building design at local colleges have made annual visits to study the facility. \nThe center's 2013-14 calendar will include on-site school field trips, monthly homeschool programs, a State Fish Art Camp during Houston County's winter break, monthly weekend Fish and Learn classes and other monthly public programs. Also, summer fish camps will be offered for the first time at Go Fish. \nEducation volunteers have become an integral part of the center's school and public programs. Because training is vital to their continued participation and support, a volunteer education handbook is being developed. Staff presentations to the Houston County Retired Teachers Association, Master Gardeners of Central Georgia and Bibb County Extension Master Naturalists have been a crucial tool in recruiting adult volunteers who have a passion and understanding regarding Georgia native plants, wildlife and natural resources. \n \n 2013 Youth Birding Competition winners the Chaotic Kestrels (Chris May) 2013 Youth Birding Competition T-shirt Art Contest winner (Carolina chickadee by Anna Hamilton) (GaDNR) \nWinning Give Wildlife a Chance poster by Andrew Edwards (Division 2) (Linda May/GaDNR) \n \nYouth Birding Competition \nThe 2013 Youth Birding Competition had the second-most number of registrants since the Nongame Conservation Section began the competition eight years ago. Twenty-eight teams totaling 128 members signed up, underscoring the popularity of an event that is promoting birding and conservation among young Georgians. For this 24-hour birding contest, teams of pre-K through 12th-grade birders representing schools, Scout troops, science clubs and other groups compete with teams their age to identify as many bird species as they can in the state. During the spring 2013 competition, young birders from pre-school ages to teens saw or heard some \n \n200 species (the top team reported 136) and raised more than $1,100 for conservation projects throughout the state. In addition, the event's T-shirt Art Contest attracted 132 drawings and paintings of native Georgia birds. \nThe Youth Birding Competition is sponsored by The Environmental Resources Network (TERN), Audubon Society, Georgia Ornithological Society and others. \nGive Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest \n \nKindergarten through fifth-grade students submitted nearly 1,800 posters for the 2013 Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest. That total was up from the previous year. This annual event has successfully encouraged students to explore the wonders of Georgia's native plant and animal species through art for 23 years. Fifth-graders from 20 public schools, private schools and homeschool groups took part in 2013. \nThe posters of state-level contest winners were displayed at the Go Fish Education Center in Perry. \nThe contest is organized and sponsored by DNR, The State Botanical Garden of Georgia and The Environmental Resources Network, or TERN. \nSocial Media \nThe DNR Wildlife Resources Division's social media sites  Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and a blog  grew in popularity, spreading awareness of conservation and the division's work. Facebook recorded 17,213 likes through June 30, 2013, the end of the fiscal year. Twitter had 2,800 followers and the YouTube channel had 55,202 views and 162 subscribers. \nThe division's blog, which has a conservationspecific section, registered 33,446 views. \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 33 \n \n Lisa Kruse at Atlanta Botanical Garden's Endangered Species Day (Linda May/GaDNR) \n \nAtlanta peregrine falcon feeding chick (GaDNR) \n \nCirculation for the nongame e-newsletter Georgia Wild increased slightly, to nearly 16,500 subscribers. Key newsletter features and videos are cross-promoted on the division's social media sites, increasing the size of the audience and potential impact of the conservation information. \nThe online ventures and the e-newsletter not only broadened the reach of the Nongame Conservation Section's communications efforts, they enhanced interactivity and customer service. \nPromoting Awareness \nBeyond youth contests, social media and news releases, the Nongame Conservation Section promotes awareness of nongame wildlife and related issues in many other ways. \n \nEmployees responded to requests from schools, civic groups and other agencies for information about rare species and habitats in 2013. \nThey gave presentations to citizens and scientific audiences, answered emails and provided advice by phone. Staff worked events varying from CoastFest in Brunswick and the Rattlesnake \u0026 Wildlife Festival in Claxton to the Georgia Association of Tax Officials' spring conference and Endangered Species Day at Atlanta Botanical Garden. They also provided interviews on wildlife to multiple media outlets, including Savannah Morning News, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Athens Banner-Herald, Georgia Public Broadcasting and The Associated Press. \nA few more examples: \n \n34 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \n At Oconee County Middle School in north Georgia, botanist Dr. Mincy Moffett and Anna Yellin, Nongame's environmental review coordinator, walked about 300 seventh-graders through the use of key natural history websites and ways to learn about citizen science projects. \n Yellin and Linda May, Nongame's environmental outreach coordinator, organized and awarded a $1,000 grant to Athens science teacher Halley Page as part of a TERN-sponsored grant to recognize exceptional teachers in life sciences. The program continued in fiscal 2014. \n Nongame live-streamed a peregrine falcon nest in Atlanta, with help from DNR Information Technology, McKenna Long \u0026 Aldridge law firm and Georgia Public Broadcasting's \"Georgia Outdoors.\" The HD video, broadcast from March through May on Ustream (www.ustream.tv/ georgiawildlife), drew more than 136,000 views and provided a forum for three hour-long online chats between Nongame Program Manager Jim Ozier and viewers, including two East Coweta sixth-grade classes. TERN, McKenna Long \u0026 Aldridge and The Garden Club of Georgia provided financial and other support. The nest will be live-streamed again in 2014. \n The \"Calls of the Wild\" CD featuring vocalizations of Georgia frog species and Nongame's \"Venomous Snakes of Georgia\" brochure were updated and re-produced by Public Affairs and Nongame biologists John Jensen and Thomas Floyd. TERN provided grants for both projects. The snakes brochure was also supported by the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, the Georgia Southern University Center for Wildlife Education and Southeastern Reptile Rescue. \n \n LAND ACQUISITION AND CONSERVATION PLANNING \n \nThe Nongame Conservation Section facilitated two land conservation projects for the acquisition of 5,903 acres of wildlife habitat in 2013. Both projects, detailed below, conserve priority habitats identified in Georgia's State Wildlife Action Plan. \nStaff also helped the Georgia Forestry Commission close a perpetual conservation easement on an ecologically important 1,000-acre site on Pine Mountain in Harris County. The tract is adjacent to 14,800 acres of permanently protected land and contains examples of at least five State Wildlife Action Plan high-priority habitats, eight high-priority plant species and five high-priority animal species. Nongame and the Georgia Forestry Commission are providing habitat management advice and other assistance at the landowner's request. \nAltamaha River  Boyles Island \nThe Boyles Island acquisition in Wayne County protects 5,102 acres of the lower Altamaha River floodplain, which has extensive forested wetlands and is one of the most valuable ecological corridors in Georgia. Boyles Island has several uplands that become \"islands\" during the Altamaha's annual high flow events. These uplands are dominated by a rare natural community type called southern Coastal Plain oak dome and hammock that is found on uplands in large river floodplains. \nBoyles Island also provides breeding and wintering habitat for four priority species of waterfowl and indirectly benefits another 12 waterfowl species. \nPartners in the acquisition, closed on Dec. 18, 2012, included The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Knobloch Family Foundation. The Nature Conservancy gave the state $880,000 to acquire the site, while the Marine Corps provided $3.1 million to acquire a restrictive easement over the tract, the Fish and Wildlife Service provided a $1 million Coastal Wetlands Grant and the Knobloch Family Foundation, with the \n \nRedstripe Tract Boyles Island \n \nGeorgia Conservancy's help, provided a $200,000 grant. \nThis project is the first part of a nearly 6,300-acre planned acquisition. The Nature Conservancy purchased the property from Rayonier and sold it to the DNR in two phases. \nBoyles Island will be managed as part of Penholoway Wildlife Management Area, providing public outdoor recreational opportunities such as hunting and birdwatching, while also buffering the Marine Corps' Townsend Bombing Range. The 5,183acre range is used by all branches of the military and from bases in 40 states. \nFlat Tub WMA  Redstripe Tract \nThis acquisition conserves 801 acres along the Ocmulgee River in Jeff Davis County. Due to the unique geology and topography of this area, the plant community is one of the richest and most diverse in the state. Preservation of the Redstripe Tract will \n \nalso protect habitat for the eastern indigo snake, a federally listed species, and the gopher tortoise, Georgia's state reptile and a candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act. \nThe Redstripe Tract includes a significant amount of native groundcover that the Wildlife Resources Division will enhance through the use of prescribed fire. \nPurchased Jan. 23, 2013, the tract connects with Flat Tub Wildlife Management Area and is across the Ocmulgee from Horse Creek Wildlife Management Area. The property also adjoins Broxton Rocks, a conservation tract owned in part by the Georgia Forestry Commission and The Nature Conservancy. Collectively, more than 16,000 acres are preserved along this stretch of the Ocmulgee corridor due to private and public conservation efforts. \nProject partners included The Conservation Fund, which sold the property, and the Fish and Wildlife Service, which provided a PittmanRobertson grant of $1,296,000. \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 35 \n \nBoyles Island (Wade Harrison/The Nature Conservancy) \n \n Conservation Planning \nGeorgia's State Wildlife Action Plan, a vital roadmap for conservation, was completed in 2005 and provides guidance for wildlife conservation efforts by Georgia DNR and its partners. The plan outlines critical areas of need, with a focus on keeping Georgia's native species from declining to the point of requiring federal protection as threatened or endangered species. \nLike all state wildlife agencies, DNR made a commitment to review and revise its State Wildlife \n \nAction Plan, better known as SWAP, within 10 years. The revision process began in 2010. \nThe plan is being revised to reflect the most current assessment of Georgia's wildlife conservation needs, with emphasis on the development of proactive strategies that address wildlife conservation needs from a state and regional context. Participation in recently formed partnerships known as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives will be instrumental in shaping these regional conservation strategies. \nDevelopment of climate change adaptation strategies is another area of emphasis. The Wildlife Action Plan \n \nrevision will incorporate information on potential impacts of climate change on species and habitats in Georgia and the Southeast, and outline conservation programs that provide options for maintaining natural diversity in the face of changing climatic conditions. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section staff is coordinating the revision process with help from other DNR staff and representatives of a wide variety of government agencies, non-governmental conservation organizations, landowner groups and private corporations. The revision is scheduled for completion in fall 2014. \n \nBoyles Island (Wade Harrison/The Nature Conservancy) \n \n36 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \n FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATION \n \nNongame Wildlife Conservation Fund \nThe Nongame Conservation Section receives no state appropriations for nongame wildlife conservation, depending instead on grants, fundraising and direct contributions. With fundraising a necessity, the section has three primary avenues: the nongame wildlife license plates, Weekend for Wildlife and the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff. \nAll contributions go into the Nongame Wildlife Conservation and Wildlife Habitat Acquisitions Fund, often referred to as the Georgia or Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. \nThe Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, the Nongame Section's friends group, also provides significant support. \nFor fiscal 2013, the Nongame Conservation Section totaled $2.17 million in income from the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund (not counting federal and other grants) and $2.44 million in expenses. The fund had a balance of $6,788,853 million at the end of the fiscal year. \n \nFiscal Year 2013 Funding \n \nEARNED INTEREST \u0026 OTHER INCOME \n8% $175,233 \n \nINCOME TAX CHECKOFF \n10% \n$204,482 \nWEEKEND FOR \nWILDLIFE \n27% \n$593,629 \n \nNONGAME PLATES \n55% \n$1,198,068 \n \nNongame Wildlife Conservation Fund \nListed in millions per year \n \n12 M \n \n11 M \n \nTOTAL INCOME \n \n10 M \n \nEXPENSES \n \n9 M \n \nBALANCE \n \n8 M \n \n7 M \n \n6 M \n \n5 M \n \n4 M \n \n3 M \n \n2 M \n \n1 M \n \nFY '04 FY '05 FY '06 FY '07 FY '08 FY '09 FY '10 FY '11 FY '12 FY '13 \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 37 \n \n Kestrel at 2013 Weekend for Wildlife (Linda May/GaDNR) \n \nWeekend for Wildlife \nWeekend for Wildlife is one of the country's most successful fundraisers for conservation, grossing nearly $9 million since its start in 1989. The annual event draws 200-400 guests to the prestigious Cloister at Sea Island for a weekend of outdoor trips, auctions and dining. The 2013 celebration, the 25th annual Weekend for Wildlife, grossed $593,629. \n`Give Wildlife a Chance' State Income Tax Checkoff \nThe state income tax checkoff offers Georgians a convenient way to contribute to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. Since the checkoff's creation in 1989, net contributions have averaged $304,000, with a high of $510,910 collected in 1991 and a low of $184,065 in 1994. The revenue received for fiscal year 2013 slumped to $204,482, a decrease of about $83,000 from the previous fiscal year and near the checkoff's record low. The Give Wildlife a Chance checkoff is line 26 on the long state income tax form (Form 500) and line 10 of the short form (Form 500-EZ). \n \nThe Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, a nonprofit organization founded to support DNR's nongame conservation activities, funded 20 proposals totaling $89,002 in 2013. TERN raised the funds primarily through membership dues and through auction and raffle items at the annual Weekend for Wildlife. \nThe nonprofit funded requests including environmental education workshops for teachers and students, the annual Youth Birding Competition, the Give Wildlife a Chance poster contest, a bat condominium and supplies, workshops and awards to facilitate conservation education efforts. The complete list of projects funded: \n \nTeacher conservation workshop Advanced training for environmental educators in Georgia Adventures in Conservation Education (Camp ACE) Outdoor Wildlife Leadership School (OWLS) Ninth annual Youth Birding Competition Freshwater mussel survival in low-flow conditions Indigo snake sign reprint \"Venomous Snake of Georgia\" brochure update and reprint Hellbender survey equipment Box cannon net for shorebird capture Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area equipment GPS cameras for plant community surveys and monitoring 24th annual Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest Red-cockaded woodpecker cavity tree management equipment Outstanding teacher award Bald eagle AVM research and monitoring at Lake Thurmond Digital camera for surveys, monitoring, documentation and education F.D. Roosevelt State Park community bat roost and signs UGA Museum of Natural History new collection transport Safety equipment for eco-burner volunteers \n \n$2,000 $1,500 $5,646 $11,992 $7,900 $4,902 $1,500 $1,137 $3,500 $2,000 $5,000 $3,200 $4,600 $525 $1,250 $10,000 $650 $7,200 $5,000 $9,500 \n \nTERN, online at http://tern.homestead.com and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/TheEnvironmentalResourcesNetwork), raises money through membership fees, donations, and the sale of raffle tickets, gifts and silent and verbal auctions at Weekend for Wildlife. \n \n38 C O N S E R V I N G G E O R G I A ' S N O N G A M E W I L D L I F E \n \n Nongame License Plates \nThe bald eagle and ruby-throated hummingbird automobile tags remain the Nongame Conservation Section's largest funding source. Sales and renewals of the plates provide more than half the revenue for the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund each year. Affirming that critical role, in June 2013 the Wildlife Resources Division introduced designs that feature new, compelling artwork across the entire plate for the eagle tag and the two tags benefiting the Wildlife Resources Division's bobwhite quail and trout programs. \nYet, financial support from the nongame plates  new and old  and funding projections have changed significantly since the Georgia Legislature changed the fee and revenuesharing structure for these and other specialty plates. The legislation, which began being implemented in May 2010 and took full effect by September of that year, reduced the share of the purchase price that goes to sponsor groups and added an annual renewal fee. Now, $10 of each wildlife plate sale and renewal goes to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. \nWhile adding an annual renewal fee increased revenue  by $1 million from fiscal 2010 to 2011  the price increase and additional fee resulted in a sharp drop in sales of eagle and hummingbird plates, coupled with low renewal rates. The Nongame Conservation Section had 347,401 plates in service before the changes. At the close of fiscal 2013, that total had plunged by nearly 77 percent to slightly more than 101,805 plates. \n \nThe introduction of the new eagle plate in June did not increase sales significantly, and the decline in issuances of new plates loomed large. New plate sales during April-June 2013 dropped 93 percent compared to February-April 2010, the three months prior to the change in fees. \nIn fiscal 2013, license plates revenue for the Wildlife Conservation Fund totaled $1.19 million, down from $1.46 million in 2012 and $1.88 million in 2011. (Revenue peaked in fiscal 2011, the first full year of new fees, and has decreased since.) As income dropped  36 percent from two years ago  the percentage of fund revenue provided by the plates slid to 55 percent. From 1997 through 2013, the plates averaged 60 percent of fund revenues. \nIf these trends and the Wildlife Conservation Fund's current share of fees continues, annual revenue from the plates will soon dip below $1 million, then slide even further, undermining what has been a standard of support for conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife for more than 15 years. \n \nHOW YOU CAN HELP \nIn conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife, we're making a difference, learning more and raising awareness. But our financial challenge is significant. \nHow we answer that challenge will affect the wildlife and wild places that make our state special. \nThese creatures and habitats also affect our well-being and our economy. And they will for generations come. \nHere's how you can help: \nn Purchase or renew a nongame wildlife license plate. n Contribute through the state income tax checkoff  line 26 on Form 500 \nand line 10 on Form 500-EZ. n Attend Weekend for Wildlife, held each winter at Sea Island. n Donate directly to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. n Join TERN, http://tern.homestead.com. \nLearn more about supporting wildlife conservation at georgiawildlife.com/ conservation/support. \n \nFederal and Other Funding \nThe Nongame Conservation Section received $4.9 million in federal and other grants during fiscal 2013. \nNotable funding included a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Cooperative Endangered Species Fund for work with Florida. The multi-year project will fund status assessments for 23 at-risk species that occur in both states. \nSince 2006, the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants program has been the most important source of federal funding for conserving nongame wildlife that are not federally listed. Yet, budget cuts have sliced State and Tribal Wildlife Grants by almost a third since fiscal 2010. A suite of federal conservation programs including State Wildlife Grants has been cut by 25 percent, and all have faced repeated House subcommittee proposals to eliminate funding. \nSince 2000, the State Wildlife Grants program has been the main federal funding source to help keep states common species common and protect others before they become critically imperiled and more costly to recover. That work contributes to local and state economies by supporting the nation's more than 90 million wildlife watchers 16 years old and older, a group that spends some $55 billion a year on wildlife-related recreation, according to State Wildlife Grants advocate Teaming with Wildlife and a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey. \nIn Georgia, State Wildlife Grants are critical to helping the state conserve wildlife and natural places for current and future generations. Likewise, the state is big on wildlife watching, with more than 2.2 million Georgians and $1.8 billion in related expenditures in the state in 2011, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service survey. \nThe Wildlife Resources Division supports Teaming With Wildlife, a national coalition working to support State Wildlife Grants and find new funding to prevent America's wildlife from becoming endangered. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section received $175,233 in interest and other income in fiscal 2013. \n \nBald eagle (Curtis Compton/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Southern hognose snake (John Jensen/GaDNR) \n \nF I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 1 3 R E P O R T 39 \n \n GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION \nNONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \n2070 U.S. Highway 278 S.E., Social Circle, Ga. 30025 (770) 761-3035 \nOFFICES ALSO AT: 116 Rum Creek Drive, Forsyth, GA 31029 (478) 994-1438 2065 U.S. Highway 278 S.E., Social Circle, GA 30025 (770) 918-6411 One Conservation Way, Suite 310, Brunswick, GA 31520 (912) 264-7218 \nMark Williams  Commissioner, DNR Dan Forster  Director, Wildlife Resources Division Mike Harris  Chief, Nongame Conservation Section Jon Ambrose  Assistant Chief, Nongame Conservation Section Matt Elliott, Rusty Garrison, Jason Lee, Jim Ozier  Nongame Program Managers Steve Friedman  Chief, Georgia DNR Real Estate Office Linda May  Nongame Environmental Outreach Coordinator \nRick Lavender  Report Editor Contributors: Nongame Conservation Section staff \nFollow the Wildlife Resources Division: /WildlifeResourcesDivisionGADNR /GeorgiaWild /GeorgiaWildlife photos/wildliferesourcesdivision \n/georgiawildlife.wordpress.com, a Wildlife Resources blog \nSign up for nongame's free enewsletter, Georgia Wild. Click the red envelope at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n "},{"id":"dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2013-bsummary-belec-p-btext","title":"Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2013 fiscal year report summary","collection_id":"dlg_ggpd","collection_title":"Georgia Government Publications","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018"],"dcterms_creator":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_date":["2013"],"dcterms_description":["Report on conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife."],"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Social Circle, Ga. : Georgia. Department of Natural Resources. Wildlife Resources Division. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section--Periodicals","Wildlife conservation--Georgia--Periodicals","Natural areas--Georgia--Periodicals"],"dcterms_title":["Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2013 fiscal year report summary"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of Georgia. Map and Government Information Library"],"edm_is_shown_by":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2013-bsummary-belec-p-btext"],"edm_is_shown_at":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2013-bsummary-belec-p-btext"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["state government records","official reports"],"dcterms_extent":null,"dlg_subject_personal":null,"iiif_manifest_url_ss":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"Conserving Georgia's Nongame Wildlife \nGeorgia is rich in wildlife. Yet more than 1,000 native plant and animal species in our state are species of conservation concern. Of those, 318 are protected by federal or state law. Our mission at the Department of Natural Resources' Nongame Conservation Section is to conserve these and Georgia's other native nongame wildlife, or species not legally fished for or hunted. We do this through research, surveys, conservation programs, education, land acquisition and habitat management. The work is critical and wide-ranging. It varies from studying ways to protect American oystercatcher nests on the coast to restoring sandhills habitat with prescribed fire just southwest of Macon and monitoring north Georgia caves where biologists found a disease fatal to bats in early 2013. Our guide is the State Wildlife Action Plan. This comprehensive strategy is focused on keeping native Georgia wildlife from declining to the point of needing federal protection as threatened or endangered species. We developed the State Wildlife Action Plan in 2005. Now we're working to update it. This effort includes other agencies, conservation groups, businesses and private landowners. All have a stake. Our challenge at the Nongame Conservation Section is that we don't receive state appropriations for nongame work. Instead, we depend on direct donations, fundraising initiatives and grants. That support has taken a significant hit because of funding formula changes associated with the eagle and hummingbird license plates, our No. 1 fundraiser. You'll learn more in this summary report. It provides highlights of our work with rare species and other nongame, and how, together, we can address key issues facing Georgia wildlife. This is a conservation mission that affects all of us, from protecting our drinking water to strengthening our economy and providing places where our children  and their children  can experience nature. Thank you for your interest in conserving nongame wildlife and natural habitats. I welcome your comments at mike.harris@dnr.state.ga.us. For a more detailed look at 2013, including video, visit www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport. \nMike Harris, Nongame Conservation Section chief \n2013 \nFISCAL YEAR REPORT \nGeorgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division \nNongame Conservation Section \n \n WE'RE MAKING A DIFFERENCE \nHere's one example: \nThe red-cockaded woodpecker is the only woodpecker in the U.S. that carves its nest cavities out of living pine trees. But these chisel-billed birds with a heart for pine landed on the endangered species list largely because of the loss of mature southern pine forests over the past 200 years. \nIn 1999, at Georgia DNR we developed the nation's first statewide red-cockaded woodpecker Habitat Conservation Plan to provide management options for private landowners. By 2013, the plan's Safe Harbor program included more than 160,700 acres and 140 family groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers. \nOur biologists work closely with Safe Harbor participants to monitor woodpeckers and maintain habitat by installing and replacing nest cavities. \nWe also use prescribed fire to maintain and restore habitat. Prescribed fire is a safe way to employ a natural process to ensure ecosystem health and reduce the risk of wildfire. \nAt Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area near Bainbridge, staff with DNR's Nongame and Game Management sections have rejuvenated woodpecker habitat by treating woody encroachment in the understory and conducting thousands of acres of growing-season fires. \nBiologists also moved six birds from Fort Stewart, which has a strong population, to Silver Lake. In 2013, we documented the successful fledging of 30 young red-cockaded woodpeckers and a Silver Lake total of 28 family groups, three more than the previous year. \n \nGopher tortoise (Linda May/DNR) Holiday darter (Anakela Popp/DNR) \n \nMore prescribed fire, more recruitment clusters and careful forest management will boost those numbers. So will an agreement last year with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage red-cockaded woodpeckers and longleaf pine and wiregrass habitat on adjacent Lake Seminole Wildlife Management Area. Our goal is to more than double the number of family groups at Silver Lake, a key step in the recovery of this rare bird in Georgia. \nWE'RE LEARNING MORE \nFrom gopher tortoises to rare plants rooted in granite, we gained a better understanding of the variety and status of our wildlife and natural habitats in 2013. Along with work to restore south Georgia sandhills, we inventoried populations of gopher tortoises, our state reptile and a candidate for federal listing under the Endangered Species Act. The research revealed where gopher tortoises are going strong  Townsend Wildlife Management Area near Ludowici has nearly 800  while providing data on other priority creatures such as eastern indigos, North America's longest snake and a frequent user of tortoise burrows. \n \nIn north Georgia, mountain streams running high and murky from a wet spring and summer didn't stop us from surveying populations of the continent's largest salamander  the eastern hellbender. We caught 90, confirming this cryptic creature survives in 13 streams where it had been documented before and three stretches where it hadn't. \nWe also used seines, shocking equipment and snorkels to complete hundreds of surveys for high-priority fishes. \nIn South Chickamauga Creek near Ringgold, we found federally threatened snail darters for the first time in Georgia since 1980. Searches spurred by petitions to list species also documented broadstripe shiners throughout the middle Chattahoochee River system, but only a limited distribution for holiday darters in the Coosa drainage. \nOn higher ground, our botanists and agency partners fanned out across the state looking for rare plants. One project focused on Lithonia gneiss outcrops as a baseline for future conservation work. Finds included nine new sites for the federally listed pool sprite and 15 for a newly described granite outcrop endemic  granite hedge-hyssop  known only from South Carolina and Georgia. \nThese discoveries and complex surveys underscore a simple truth: \nKnowing what's there, where and how rare it is  or isn't  is critical to effective conservation. \n \nRed-cockaded woodpecker (Jimmy Watkins/U.S. Army) \n \nThese four themes defined Georgia wildlife conservation during fiscal year 2013... \n \nComprehensive 2013 report at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport \n \n Removing water hyacinth on Altamaha (DNR) \n \nWE'RE RAISING AWARENESS \nThe Nongame Conservation Section is informing Georgians so you and your children and grandchildren can enjoy the wildlife and wild places that make our state special. \nWe're also engaging conservation partners, combining efforts to amplify the impact on critical projects. \nTake invasive species. As a threat to Georgia wildlife, nonnative plants and animals such as fire ants rank second only to habitat loss. They also cost our economy millions, particularly in agriculture losses. \nThe Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area spearheaded by Nongame is fighting back. CISMA covers 11 counties and 40-plus agencies, nonprofits and citizen groups. In 2013, members developed a priority list of invasive plants and animals, and focused funding and people on efforts such as mapping invasives. \nAround the state, the Wildlife Resources Division operates seven regional education centers in cooperation with local \nschool systems, Regional Educational Service Agencies and other organizations. Those centers taught more than 64,000 students and adults about natural resources  4 percent more than in 2012. \n \nAlso in public outreach, our Georgia Wild e-newsletter kept nearly 16,500 subscribers in the know about nongame. Videos we made (such as a dolphin rescue by hukilau) or developed from supporters' clips (including a popular kingsnake meets turtle video) tapped new groups. Wildlife Resources Division social media spread the word further, chalking up 17,213 Facebook likes, 2,800 Twitter followers and 55,202 YouTube views. \nWe even raised awareness from atop an Atlanta high-rise. \nHelped by TERN, the McKenna Long \u0026 Aldridge law firm and the Garden Club of Georgia, we live-streamed peregrine falcons nesting outside the firm's offices. Our first try at global streaming drew 110,000 views and provided a forum for online chats between Nongame raptor expert Jim Ozier and viewers. \nIncluded in the audience were two East Coweta sixth-grade classes whose teacher used the cam as a learning tool. \nWE'RE FACING A TEST \nYou already know we don't receive state appropriations for conserving nongame. We depend instead on grants and money we raise. \nBut you may not know that the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants program is our most important source of federal grants for conserving nongame species that are not federally listed. And over the past three fiscal years, that program budget has been cut by almost a third. \nThe outlook is challenging on the home front, too. \n \nSales and renewals of bald eagle and hummingbird license plates provide more than half the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund revenue each year. Following 2010 legislative changes that raised tag prices, reduced the share provided to the fund and added annual renewal fees, plate sales plunged. Renewal rates have not reached the levels needed. \nAt the close of fiscal 2013, less than a third of wildlife tags in circulation before the changes were still on cars. \nA new eagle plate has not increased sales significantly. If these trends continue, revenue will not be sufficient to support conservation of Georgia's nongame wildlife. \nAlso in 2013, revenue from the Wildlife Conservation Fund state income tax checkoff  our No. 2 fundraiser  slumped to a near all-time low. \nAll of the above limit our ability to conserve wildlife. Yet, you value these creatures. So does our state economy. In 2011, 2.2 million Georgians took part in wildlife watching, ringing up a whopping $1.8 billion in expenditures!* \nWhat can you do? Buy or renew a nongame tag. Give through the state income tax checkoff or directly to Nongame. \nWe need your support. Help us conserve wildlife and natural places, for Georgia's future and yours. Details at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/support. \n* 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlifeassociated Recreation \n \nGreat egret (Hal Massie) \n \nEndangered Species Day (Linda May/DNR) \n \nOssabaw Island (Eamonn Leonard/DNR) \n \nComprehensive 2013 report at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport \n \n American oystercatcher (Tim Keyes/DNR) \"Equator\" with calf (Fla. Fish \u0026 Wildlife Conservation Commission/NOAA Permit 15488) Finelined pocketbook (Anakela Popp/DNR) \n \nn BIRDS \nA predator-control project at key American oystercatcher nest sites led to the highest productivity we've seen in recent years  nearly 30 chicks  and new insight into how we and project partners UGA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Little St. Simons and St. Catherines islands can manage predation of these staterare shorebirds. \nSwallow-tailed kites were documented at the edges of their range in southwest and south-central Georgia, from as far west as the Ochlockonee River north to Beaverdam Wildlife Management Area near Dublin, where these elegant raptors likely nested. \nn AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES \nLoggerhead sea turtles continued their recovery with 2,219 nests, the state's fourth consecutive nesting record and the most in a quarter-century of comprehensive surveys by the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative. \nA partner-powered effort to reintroduce rare gopher frogs at The Nature Conservancy's Williams Bluffs Preserve in Early County gained ground: Male gopher frogs were heard calling and the first egg mass was found, signs that released juveniles are surviving to adulthood. \n \nn MAMMALS \nWhite-nose syndrome, which has killed some 6 million bats, was confirmed for the first time in Georgia, underscoring the need to continue monitoring caves and informing cavers and the public about this looming threat to our bat populations. \nTeaming with other agencies, we documented 19 North Atlantic right whale calves off the Georgia/Florida coast and collected genetic samples from 17, part of DNR work to manage and protect these endangered whales on their only known calving grounds. \nn PLANTS \nWe worked with landowners and volunteers to conserve and manage a complex of privately owned bogs near Claxton  bogs that contain the only known occurrence of the Coastal Plain purple pitcherplant, as well as eight other tracked plants. \nFor its innovative efforts to preserve native flora, the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance received the American Public Gardens Association's Award for Program Excellence, placing the network we helped charter among the likes of the Smithsonian Institution and Chicago Botanic Garden. \n \nn AQUATICS \nOur staff added 180 new records of fishes, crayfish and freshwater mussels and snails to the NatureServe Biotics database we maintain, a trove of information being used to develop status maps for Georgia's rare aquatic species and inform environmental reviews and conservation plans. \nKeeping tabs on rare mussels in Spring Creek where flows are being experimentally augmented is easier because we've helped search the stream reach near Colquitt to tag more than 4,000 mussels, including the federally endangered shinyrayed pocketbook and oval pigtoe. \nn HABITAT RESTORATION \nBachman's sparrows, bobwhites, loggerhead shrikes and southeastern American kestrels are thriving again on Fall Line Sandhills Wildlife Management Area in Taylor County, after years of work such as thinning timber, conducting prescribed burns, planting longleaf pines and planting native grasses. \nAs part of the Interagency Burn Team restoring fire-dependent ecosystems, we also led or helped on prescribed burns totaling almost 27,050 acres  including 2,639 acres of growing-season burns that have had a profound impact on plants and animals. \n \nLoggerhead on St. Simons (Mark Dodd/DNR) Mountain bog work crew (GPCA) Prescribed fire at south Georgia bog (DNR) \n \nComprehensive 2013 report at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport \n \nBoyles Island (Wade Harrison/The Nature Conservancy) \n \n Boyles Island upland (Wade Harrison/The Nature Conservancy) Youth Birding Competition T-shirt Art winner (DNR) Educational outreach (Linda May/DNR) \n \nn LAND ACQUISITION \nThe state bought Boyles Island in Wayne County, a 5,102-acre tract in the Altamaha River floodplain that supports priority waterfowl species and unique habitats such as the rare southern coastal plain oak dome and hammock community. The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Knobloch Family Foundation were key contributors in what will eventually be a nearly 6,300-acre acquisition. \nFlat Tub Wildlife Management Area in Jeff Davis County added the 801-acre Redstripe Tract, Ocmulgee River property that sports one of the most diverse plant communities in the state, in addition to gopher tortoises and eastern indigo snakes. Partners included The Conservation Fund and the Fish and Wildlife Service. \nRedstripe Tract \nBoyles Island tract \n \nn PRIVATE LANDS \nA Nongame-funded biologist, working in cooperation with the DNR Game Management Section's Private Lands Program, helped landowners implement federal National Resources Conservation Service programs aimed at restoring and managing longleaf pine forests and related wildlife such as gopher tortoises. \nWe also provided training about threatened and endangered species to loggers and others at Master Timber Harvester events around the state. \nn OUTREACH \nOur Youth Birding Competition signed up 128 birders  second-most since the competition began eight years ago  and the Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest attracted nearly 1,800 entries, affirming the impact of these popular events sponsored in large part by the Nongame friends group TERN. \nWith TERN's help, we updated \"Calls of the Wild\"  a CD featuring profiles and vocalizations of Georgia frogs  and teamed with \n \nthe UGA Cooperative Extension, Georgia Southern University's Center for Wildlife Education, and Southeastern Reptile Rescue to reprint and distribute \"Venomous Snakes of Georgia,\" a popular and informative brochure. \nn EDUCATION \nRegional education center highlights included Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center training 633 teachers in the Project WILD program (compared to 474 the previous year), Smithgall Woods' Sheila Humphrey being named Georgia Project WET Educator of the Year and McDuffie Environmental Education Center playing host to Eco-Meet, an environmental education competition for Central Savannah River Area middle-schoolers. \nNongame staff taught 300 seventh-graders in Oconee County how to research natural history and citizen science projects online. We also provided a $1,000 grant for a Georgia teacher in a TERN-funded effort to recognize exceptional educators in life sciences. \n \nSnapshots \n \nfrom the field \n \nComprehensive 2013 report at www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport \n \n n FINANCIAL \n \nNONGAME CONSERVATION FUND \n \nIt bears repeating: The Nongame Conservation 12 M Section receives no state appropriations 11 M \n \nfor conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife, rare 10 M \n \nnative plants and natural habitats. \n \n9 M \n \n8 M \n \nEARNED INTEREST \u0026 OTHER INCOME \n \n7 M \n \n8% $175,233 \n \n6 M \n \nListed in millions per year \n \nTOTAL INCOME EXPENSES BALANCE \n \n5 M \n \nINCOME TAX CHECKOFF \n10% $204,482 \nWEEKEND FOR WILDLIFE \n27% \n \nNONGAME PLATES \n55% \n$1,198,068 \n \n4 M 3 M 2 M 1 M \nFY '04 FY '05 FY '06 FY '07 FY '08 FY '09 FY '10 FY '11 FY '12 FY '13 \n \n$593,629 \n \nn FORESIGHT \n \nThe chart above profiles our main fundraisers: \n \nWe're already working on 2014 priorities such as: \n \nAmerican kestrel (Linda May/DNR) \n \n Nongame wildlife license plates (sales and renewals of the new bald eagle plate and the ruby-throated hummingbird, plus renewals of the older eagle plate). \n The Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff. \n Weekend for Wildlife, held at Sea Island each winter. \nContributions go to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation and Wildlife Habitat Acquisition Fund, created by state law to support wildlife conservation. \nThe Environmental Resources Network, our friends group, also provides significant support. TERN funded 20 proposals totaling $89,002 in 2013. And, during fiscal 2013 we received $4.9 million in federal and other grants. Matching dollars from the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund made these grants possible. Help us conserve wildlife. Details at georgiawildlife.com/conservation/support. \n \n Updating the State Wildlife Action Plan. This comprehensive conservation strategy is scheduled for revision by fall 2014. \n Monitoring for white-nose syndrome impacts on our bats. We're also following up on 2013 sightings that suggest a maternity colony of endangered Indiana bats in Georgia  a state first. \n Surveying wildlife species petitioned for federal listing. To help determine if listing is needed, we've teamed with Florida to assess 23 at-risk species found in both states. \n Reaching across borders to conserve wildlife. We're active in the South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, a federal-state-private partnership preserving natural and cultural resources from Alabama to Virginia. \nFollow the Wildlife Resources Division: /WildlifeResourcesDivisionGADNR /GeorgiaWild /GeorgiaWildlife photos/wildliferesourcesdivision /georgiawildlife.wordpress.com, a Wildlife Resources blog \nSign up for nongame's free enewsletter, Georgia Wild. Click the red envelope at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \nGEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES WILDLIFE RESOURCES DIVISION NONGAME CONSERVATION SECTION \n2070 U.S. Highway 278 S.E., Social Circle, Ga. 30025 (770) 761-3035 \nOFFICES ALSO AT: 116 Rum Creek Drive, Forsyth, GA 31029 (478) 994-1438 2065 U.S. Highway 278 S.E., Social Circle, GA 30025 (770) 918-6411 One Conservation Way, Suite 310, Brunswick, GA 31520 (912) 264-7218 \nMark Williams Commissioner, DNR \nDan Forster Director, Wildlife Resources Division \nMike Harris Chief, Nongame Conservation Section \nJon Ambrose Assistant Chief, Nongame Conservation Section \nMatt Elliott, Rusty Garrison, Jason Lee, Jim Ozier Nongame Program Managers \nSteve Friedman Chief, Georgia DNR Real Estate Office \nLinda May Nongame Environmental Outreach Coordinator \nRick Lavender Report Editor \nContributors: Nongame Conservation Section staff \nComprehensive 2013 report at: www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation/AnnualReport \n \nPHOTO CREDITS FOR COVER: \nSeining aquatics on Talking Rock Creek (DNR) / Bat with WNS in Sittons Cave (Pete Pattavina/USFWS) American oystercatcher nest (Tim Keyes/DNR) / First adult gopher frog at Williams Bluffs (Vanessa Kinney Terrell/UGA) Outreach at Metter Elementary (Linda May/DNR) / Swallow-tailed kite (Todd Schneider/DNR) \n \n "},{"id":"dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2008-s2009-belec-p-btext","title":"Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2008-2009 report","collection_id":"dlg_ggpd","collection_title":"Georgia Government Publications","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018"],"dcterms_creator":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_date":["2008/2009"],"dcterms_description":["Issue for 2011 includes a separate summary.","Print version record."],"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Social Circle, GA : Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, Nongame Conservation Section"],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["Georgia. Nongame Conservation Section--Periodicals","Wildlife conservation--Georgia--Periodicals","Natural areas--Georgia--Periodicals","Natural areas","Wildlife conservation"],"dcterms_title":["Conserving Georgia's nongame wildlife 2008-2009 report"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of Georgia. Map and Government Information Library"],"edm_is_shown_by":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2008-s2009-belec-p-btext"],"edm_is_shown_at":["https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bn200-pg2-bs1-bc64-b2008-s2009-belec-p-btext"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["state government records","official reports"],"dcterms_extent":null,"dlg_subject_personal":null,"iiif_manifest_url_ss":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"Conserving Georgia's Nongame Wildlife \n2008-2009 \nREPORT \nGeorgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division \nNongame Conservation Section \n \n CONSERVING \n \nG E O R G I A' S \n \nNONGAME \n \nWILDLIFE \n \nThe Nongame Conservation Section of Georgia DNR's Wildlife Resources Division is charged with conserving nongame wildlife. Nongame means animals not legally hunted, fished for or trapped, as well as rare plants and natural habitats. \nOur work at NCS is wideranging. It varies from studying southeastern American kestrels in the Fall Line sandhills to \n \nstrategy for conserving Georgia's biological diversity, guides all of our conservation actions. \nThat plan shows there are many conservation priorities. More than 1,000 of Georgia's plant and animal species are considered species of conservation concern; 318 are listed as rare, unusual, threatened or endangered, and protected by law. \n \nOur Mission \n \nContents \nConservation ............................. 3 \nEducation, Outreach \u0026 Recreation .............................13 \nLand Acquisition \u0026 Conservation Planning ....15 \nFinancial......................................18 \nOutlook .......................................19 \nPHOTO CREDITS \nCover main AWZdS`:OYSE;/8]V\\;6OZZ Cover snapshots 2WO[]\\RPOQYbS``O^W\\/\\R`Se5`]aaS 4`W\\USRQO[^W]\\ AVW\\Sg`OgSR^]QYSbP]]Y 0OZRSOUZS1c`bWa1][^b]\\ /bZO\\bO8]c`\\OZ1]\\abWbcbW]\\ This Page EWZa]\\a^Z]dS` 3OabS`\\W\\RWU]a\\OYS2W`Y8AbSdS\\a]\\ 0`W[ZSgaQV]`caT`]U 2`OU]\\g All photos are from Georgia DNR unless noted \n \nmonitoring sea turtle nesting on barrier islands, from surveying the Toccoa River for rare fish to restoring habitat for a mint found worldwide only in south Georgia, and from encouraging appreciation of wildlife through the annual Youth Birding Competition to spreading news by Twitter of successful efforts to disentangle North Atlantic right whales from fishing gear. \nI hope through this report you gain a better understanding of that effort and the value of conserving our state's nongame wildlife. \nDuring fiscal 2008 and 2009, the Nongame Conservation Section mapped coastal and sandhills habitats in regional projects, documented data on native animals from bats to bottlenose dolphins to improve species management, helped acquire more than 17,000 acres of priority habitat, and funded regional education centers that reached about 100,000 students. \nThese are only some of the highlights. The State Wildlife Action Plan, a comprehensive \n \nYou  contributors to nongame conservation in Georgia  are critical to achieving those priorities. The Nongame Conservation Section receives no state general funds. We depend on your financial support, particularly through nongame license plate sales and the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff. \nThose contributions are leveraged with federal and other grants. For the period covered in this report, the ratio of Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund expenditures used to match grants was 1-to-4, or 25 cents for every $1 in grants. \nYou can find out more in these pages, through our Web sites and e-newsletter, or by contacting us directly. The Web links are below. Contact details are on the back. \nThank you for your support of Georgia's nongame wildlife and rich natural heritage. \nMIKE HARRIS \n1VWST\u003c]\\UO[S1]\\aS`dObW]\\ASQbW]\\ \neeeTOQSP]]YQ][ eeeg]cbcPSQ][caS`5S]`UWOEWZRZWTS eeebeWbbS`Q][5S]`UWOEWZR eeeWQY`Q][^V]b]aeWZRZWTS`Sa]c`QSaRWdWaW]\\ eeeUS]`UWOeWZRZWTSQ][\\SeaS\\SeaZSbbS`a \n \n2 \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n /RcZbZ]UUS`VSORaSObc`bZS \n \nC \n \nO \n \nN \n \nS \n \nE \n \nR \n \nV \n \nA \n \nT \n \nI \n \nO \n \nN \n \nThe loggerhead sea turtle is found in Georgia's coastal waters year-round and nests on barrier island beaches during spring and summer. In accordance with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Marine Fisheries Service recovery plan, DNR focuses on surveying and protecting loggerhead nests and managing nesting beach habitat. The agency also coordinates the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative, made up of volunteers, researchers and government employees who help monitor and manage nests. Strategies include relocating nests, installing protective screens and removing predators. \n \nSea Turtle \n \nConservation and Research \n \n89 \n \n675 \n \n90 \n \n1.031 \n \n91 \n \n1.101 \n \n92 \n \n1.048 \n \n93 \n \n470 \n \n94 \n \n1.360 \n \n95 \n \n1.022 \n \n96 \n \n1.096 \n \nLoggerhead Nesting in Georgia \n2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 - \n0 - \n \n97 \n \n789 \n \n98 \n \n1.055 \n \n99 \n \n1.406 \n \n00 \n \n1.060 \n \n01 \n \n852 \n \n02 \n \n1.028 \n \n03 \n \n1.504 \n \n04 \n \n368 \n \n05 \n \n1.207 \n \n06 \n \n1.400 \n \n07 \n \n688 \n \n08 \n \n1.646 \n \n09 \n \n997 \n \nSince comprehensive surveys began in 1989, loggerhead nesting has varied widely. The average is about 1,000 nests a year. Cooperators found 997 nests on Georgia beaches in 2009 and a record 1,646 in 2008. According to the recovery plan, loggerheads may be considered recovered if the population increases 2 percent annually for 50 years, resulting in a state total of 2,800 nests a year. \nGenetics: To develop a comprehensive understanding of the number and relatedness of loggerheads nesting in Georgia, DNR and the University of Georgia developed a genetic profile of nesting female turtles. \n \nThis work has provided a genetic \"fingerprint\" of the turtles, revealing  among other things  that at least 20 mother/daughter pairs nest on our barrier beaches. Because it takes at least 30 years for a loggerhead to begin nesting, that means at least 20 of these turtles are 60 years or older, nesting alongside their 30-year-old daughters. \nStrandings: Green, Kemp's ridley, leatherback and hawksbill turtles -- all federally endangered or threatened -- are also found in Georgia's coastal waters. With NOAA's support, DNR monitors marine turtle mortality through the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network. Strandings are the primary index for threats to turtles in coastal waters. Barrier island beaches are patrolled, aerial surveys are flown to help determine distribution and abundance of marine turtles during migration, and, when possible, necropsies of stranded turtles are done to evaluate the cause of death. \nThe network documented 87 dead or injured turtles in 2008 and 132 in 2009. Strandings averaged 107 from 2007 to 2009, the lowest three-year average since surveys began in 1989. The most likely causes of the decline are increased enforcement of turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, and a decline in shrimp fishing. \n \nBOYW\\UUS\\SbWQaO[^ZSaT`][\\SabW\\Ubc`bZS \n \n:]UUS`VSORVObQVZW\\U \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n3 \n \n CONSERVING \n \nG E O R G I A' S \n \nNONGAME \n \nWILDLIFE \n \nThe North Atlantic right whale is one of the world's most endangered marine mammals. The population is estimated at about 400 whales. Commercial whaling in the late 1800s decimated the whales. Since whaling was banned in 1935, mortality from ship collisions and entanglement in commercial fishing gear has limited the population's recovery. \nEach winter, right whales migrate from waters off the northeastern U.S. and Canada to calving grounds along Georgia and northeastern Florida. An average of 24 calves has been documented each year since 2001, compared with 11 calves a year from 1980-2000. A record 39 calves were documented in winter 2008-2009. While the increase is encouraging, the number of breeding females in the population is less than 100. \n \nwhales. Management actions focus on reducing humanrelated mortality and protecting habitat. From December through March each year, the Nongame Conservation Section and Wildlife Trust conduct extensive aerial surveys to document calf production and warn ships about whale locations. NCS also takes part in management and research efforts, including whale disentanglement, genetic sampling, whale tagging studies and injury/mortality investigations. \nSince 2004, staff have helped disentangle eight right whales and participated in five injury/ mortality investigations. The 2008-2009 season proved particularly busy with five right whales migrating to Georgia wrapped in line consistent with that used in fixed-gear fisheries in north Atlantic waters. \n \nFor more than two decades, DNR has collaborated with federal, state and private organizations to conserve North Atlantic right \n \nNCS also works to protect right whales and their habitat through the Right Whale Southeast Implementation \n \nNorth Atlantic Right Whale \n \nConservation \n \nTeam and the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. The section receives strong support from the DNR Coastal Resources Division and the Wildlife Resources Division's Law Enforcement Section in education and outreach, policy efforts, and enforcement of federal right whale protections. \n \nAlso... \nBottlenose Dolphin Contaminants Project Research involving NCS, NOAA Fisheries, the National Ocean Service and others found PCB concentrations 10 times higher in Brunswick-area bottlenose dolphins than those documented at other sites. A 2008-2009 photo-identification study off Brunswick and Sapelo Island indicated many dolphins in this area are year-round residents. In summer 2009, the project culminated in the two-week capture and health assessment of 29 dolphins. Contaminants, abundance and VHF tracking analyses are due in 2010. \nGeorgia Marine Mammal Stranding Network NCS coordinates this network, which monitors the numbers and species of animals that strand on Georgia beaches, with help from NOAA Fisheries and others. Strandings from 1999-2008 totaled 270 (13 to 46 per year). The most common species stranded in Georgia: bottlenose dolphins, followed by pygmy and dwarf sperm whales. \nFlorida Manatee Conservation Georgia DNR works with the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Navy and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to reduce humanrelated deaths of Florida manatees and protect habitat for this endangered species. 2007-08 aerial surveys of manatee abundance and habitat use in Cumberland Sound and Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base indicated peaks of 15-30 manatees during spring and early summer. \n \n0`SOQVW\\U`WUVbeVOZS \n \n4 \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n 2\u003c@a0`OREW\\\\eWbVOb`O\\a[WbbS`QO``gW\\U[O`PZSRU]ReWb \n \nC \n \nO \n \nN \n \nS \n \nE \n \nR \n \nV \n \nA \n \nT \n \nI \n \nO \n \nN \n \nGeorgia's barrier island beaches, coastal salt marshes and freshwater wetlands support 86 species of seabirds, shorebirds and wading birds, collectively known as waterbirds. The Waterbird Conservation Initiative includes protecting important colonial waterbird nesting habitats, identifying other habitats vital for these species, and conducting surveys to determine habitat needs of other resident, migratory and wintering waterbirds. \nWaterbird Conservation Initiative \nFive sand islands are managed for beach-nesting and migratory birds. While primarily valuable for seabirds, resident and migratory shorebirds also benefit from the protection of critical nesting and disturbance-free resting areas. \n \nLittle Egg Island Bar has supported one of the largest colonies of nesting seabirds on the South Atlantic coast. \nA new dredge-spoil island near the Brunswick shipping channel has become an important nesting site for waterbirds. Created by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in 2007 and owned by the state of Georgia, the island supported large numbers of black skimmers, least terns, gull-billed terns and royal terns in 2009. And while much of the coast was hit by washing storm tides in 2009, the dredge island was high enough to keep these rare ground-nesting birds above flooding tides. \nSurveys of migrant and wintering shorebirds documented the continued importance of staging areas for red knots in late summer and fall, spring staging of whimbrels that may include a significant portion of the Atlantic flyway population, the single largest concentration of wintering semipalmated plovers in the U.S., and an important Atlantic Coast concentration of wintering piping plovers from all three breeding populations. \n \nA cooperative project involving marbled godwits used satellite telemetry to identify breeding and migration habitat. Marbled godwits wintering in Georgia spend nine months here every year and breed in North and South Dakota. \n \n/[S`WQO\\]gabS`QObQVS` \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n5 \n \n CONSERVING \n \nG E O R G I A' S \n \nNONGAME \n \nWILDLIFE \n \nRed-cockaded Woodpecker \nRecovery \nDue to the drastic loss of mature pine forests on most private lands, habitat for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker  the only woodpecker in the U.S. that excavates cavities in living pines  is mainly found on military bases, national forests and other public lands where large tracts of pine forest are managed for multiple uses. However, a few birds remain on private lands. \nIn 1999, Georgia DNR developed the nation's first statewide Red-cockaded Woodpecker Habitat Conservation Plan to provide management options for private landowners. The plan includes provisions for mitigated incidental take and Safe Harbor. Under Safe Harbor, a site's number of woodpecker family groups and the landowner's level of management responsibility is determined. If the woodpecker population increases, the landowner's obligation to provide habitat does not. The program has been especially successful in southwestern Georgia, where quail plantations support a significant population of the woodpeckers. \nAs of 2009, 157,469 acres are enrolled in Safe Harbor management agreements. These cover 107 baseline and 32 surplus groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers. Most of the acreage is in the Red Hills Region near Thomasville, an area with the largest population of the rare woodpeckers on private land. Since the start of Safe Harbor in 2000, the Red Hills population has grown from about 175 family groups to more than 190. The Nongame Conservation Section also has teamed with the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center to restore the red-cockaded woodpecker population at Ichauway Plantation in Baker County. The 29,000-acre site had a single male in 1999. Through the translocation of 54 young birds, Ichauway now supports 20 family groups. \nIn 2008, NCS began managing red-cockaded woodpeckers at Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area. Habitat improvements included hardwood control on 200 acres, prescribed fire on 5,200 acres, replacement \nof 30 artificial nesting cavities, and creation of 17 new artificial cavities. Silver Lake has 19 red-cockaded woodpecker groups and 44 adult birds. \n \nAlso... \n \nWood Stork Nest Surveys Georgia supports about 20 percent of the U.S. nesting population for this endangered species, and the recovery plan calls for monitoring reproductive success of nesting colonies and identifying potential threats. Surveys documented 26 colonies and a record 2,292 nests in 2008, and 19 colonies with 1,676 nesting pairs in 2009. (Wide annual fluctuations are likely due to hydrologic conditions at nesting and feeding sites.) More than 75 percent of Georgia's stork rookeries are on private land. \n \nBald Eagle Nest Surveys DNR monitors all known nests and works with landowners to protect nest sites from disturbance. In 2008 and 2009, 112 and 126 occupied nesting territories, respectively, were documented, a 257 percent increase over the past decade. NCS biologists participated in a nationwide post-delisting monitoring effort to help determine eagle nest detection rates. Within Georgia's best habitat along the coast, five, 10-kilometer-square blocks were searched by air. One new nest site was discovered in Camden County, but it likely represented a previously known territory \n \n2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 \n \nOccupied Territories 55 61 73 81 83 82 96 114 112 126 \n \nSuccessful Nests 47 53 51 63 67 62 81 91 85 100 \n \nYoung Fledged \n \n78 95 84 97 107 94 125 143 134 164 \n \nSwallow-tailed Kite Nest and Roosting Surveys The breeding range of these elegant raptors is down to seven Southeastern states. DNR surveys marked 21 nests in 2008 and 22 in 2009. Three nests failed and 29 young fledged in 2008  a good year  while 2009 yielded 15 fledglings and 11 failed nests, a drop likely due to heavy rains in May. In the first range-wide roost survey, biologists counted 204 kites in two days of flying in July 2009. DNR also monitored radio-tagged kites and held workshops to help landowners learn how to manage and conserve nesting habitat. Most nests are on industrial timberlands. \nPainted Bunting Survey NCS participated in a 2007-2009 survey of breeding painted buntings along the coast and interior Coastal Plain. While analysis is incomplete, it appears that the number of eastern painted buntings is higher than previously thought and there is a larger interior population along the Savannah River Basin. \n \n@SRQ]QYORSRe]]R^SQYS`PSW\\UPO\\RSR \n \n6 \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n Ac`dSgW\\UT]``O`SaVSaW\\bVSB]QQ]O@WdS` \n \n2\u003c@a0`Sbb/ZPO\\SaSeWbVOaWQYZS\\`SRV]`aS \n \nC \n \nO \n \nN \n \nS \n \nE \n \nR \n \nV \n \nA \n \nT \n \nI \n \nO \n \nN \n \nGeorgia DNR launched the Aquatic Conservation Initiative in 1998 to determine the status of Georgia's aquatic fauna and develop conservation plans for declining species. \nThe Nongame Conservation Section has completed hundreds of surveys since 2007, documenting or monitoring populations of high-priority species such as the Altamaha spinymussel, Savannah lilliput, bluefin killifish and sicklefin redhorse. As part of the development of a monitoring baseline for rare fishes, staff surveyed 30 sites spanning the entire Toccoa River from Suches to the Tennessee line, documenting populations of the state-endangered tangerine darter, wounded darter and blotched chub. In a workshop, landowners were presented results, plus details on riparian zone management and conservation opportunities. A 2009 survey along the Cartecay, Ellijay and Coosawattee rivers recorded many new and updated occurrences of the federally threatened goldline darter. One unexpected find: eastern hellbenders in the Cartecay, the first record of this large aquatic salamander in the Mobile River basin. \nAquatic \n \nData are entered into the Biotics Database and data partnerships maintained with the Georgia Museum of Natural History and the Wildlife Resources Division's Stream Survey Team. The partnerships greatly expand the information available for environmental review and conservation planning. The database has more than 2,200 distribution records representing important populations of 283 rare aquatic species around the state. \nIn other partnerships, NCS staff worked with the Conasauga River Alliance and the Tennessee Aquarium to remove sediment from a spring supporting the state-endangered coldwater darter. The section collaborated with Wildlife Resources' Game Management Section, Georgia Power and The Nature Conservancy to monitor Etowah and Cherokee darters in sections of Raccoon Creek targeted for stream restoration. To assess the impact of extreme drought on mussels, NCS biologists also led sampling efforts in droughtaffected waters in Georgia and Florida. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was given technical assistance in drafting a drought contingency plan for conserving the Southeast's rare and endangered mussels. \n \nConservation Initiative \n \nAO[^ZW\\UT]`[caaSZa]\\1]]ZSSeOVSS1`SSY \n \n/ZbO[OVOa^W\\g[caaSZ \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n7 \n \n 5ObW\\U1VWQYO[OcUO1OdSb]^`]bSQbPOba \u003e`SaQ`WPSR`S \n \nCONSERVING \n \nG E O R G I A' S \n \nNONGAME \n \nWILDLIFE \n \nA State Wildlife Grant project initiated in 2008 is funding field surveys and management efforts for Georgia's bat species. DNR hired biologists to complete emergence counts at caves containing summer roosts for gray bats and Southeastern myotis. Surveys are also being completed on wildlife management areas throughout the state. Two interns, funded in part by Bat Conservation International, surveyed Coastal Plain sites in summer 2009 and found numerous new roosts for Rafinesque's bigeared bats, state-listed as rare. \nAt Chickamauga Cave near Ringgold, NCS staff handled planning and labor for building a gate at the private cave, site of Georgia's only known maternity colony of federally endangered gray bats. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided a Partners for Fish \u0026 Wildlife Grant for the gate, which was finished in spring 2009. \n \nAlso... \nFishes of Georgia Atlas The Fishes of Georgia Atlas went online in March 2009 (http://fishesofgeorgia.uga.edu/), meeting the need for comprehensive, updated information on the state's rich fish fauna. The site features range maps and photographs for 337 coastal and freshwater species. The project compiled large amounts of data from sources including DNR and the Georgia Museum of Natural History. \n \nNCS biologists also prepared for the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network's 2010 Bat Blitz at Fort Mountain State Park, near Chatsworth. DNR and the U.S. Forest Service will serve as hosts. Through the blitz, Georgia agencies will receive help from bat researchers across the Southeast in a rapid survey of the area for bats. The event will also provide information on bat communities in the park and surrounding forestland, and support future bat conservation efforts for the region. \nStaff also began planning for the possible arrival in Georgia of white nose syndrome, which is deadly to bats and had spread as far south as Virginia by late 2009. The syndrome is expected to reach deeper into the South in winter 2009-2010. Surveys are in the works to compile more baseline information before Georgia is affected. \n \nHabitat Improvements on State Lands To conserve and restore habitats on dozens of public tracts, NCS applied prescribed fire to more than 29,170 acres. Fire leaders trained staff, partners and volunteers in prescribed burning. The NCS fire crew, hired seasonally through the Student Conservation Association, worked statewide on short notice. Other habitat improvements on about 20 sites included planting more than 850 acres of native groundcover, thinning 1,500 acres-plus of upland forest and planting several hundred acres of longleaf pines. Invasive exotic plants such as kudzu, sand pine and Chinese privet were removed from several sites. Wiregrass seed was also harvested and wire grass nurseries prepared. \nRobust Redhorse Conservation The multi-agency Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee has led intensive efforts since the 1990s to recover this rare sucker in Georgia and the Carolinas. About 115,000 have been stocked in the Broad, Ocmulgee, Oconee and Ogeechee rivers in Georgia, and 54,000 in South Carolina's Broad and Wateree rivers. Both states have documented healthy growth and survival rates. Spawning behavior has been observed in the Ocmulgee and Broad. Survival and recruitment of wild-spawned fish in stocked populations is being studied. Recent projects include tracking adult robust redhorse by telemetry and adding gravel to increase spawning habitat on the Oconee. \n \nBat Conservation \n \n8 \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n C \n \nO \n \nN \n \nS \n \nE \n \nR \n \nV \n \nA \n \nT \n \nI \n \nO \n \nN \n \nMany publicly owned lands and private sites with habitat for rare plant populations have not been adequately surveyed. Yet, inventories are important to locate new populations so their habitats can be protected. Surveys also help ensure that proposed public-land developments such as roads, trails and buildings do not inadvertently harm rare species. Nongame Conservation Section botanists continue to explore state lands, with a focus on newly acquired properties. Surveys are done throughout the state to identify and inventory locations of rare plants and provide guidance on appropriate management activities. \nAmong the 2008-2009 highlights, staff partnered with the Atlanta Botanical Garden to locate populations of rare native terrestrial orchids. New sites for purple-fringed orchids were verified on Chattahoochee National Forest, and seeds were collected and placed in tissue \nRare Plant Surveys \non Public and Private Lands \nculture to perfect propagation techniques. Several other orchids are being studied, including species representing significant new discoveries from private lands. Chapman's orange-fringed orchid and smooth-lipped Eulophia were found in Camden County, and \n \nsmall white-fringed orchid was documented in Marion County. Three-birds orchid was verified at Pickett's Mill Battlefield Historic Site. \nNCS staff and Georgia Botanical Society volunteers documented about 450 vascular plants from Pickett's Mill. Insight into the management of historic oldfield sites with remnant savanna or prairie-like vegetation is another result of intensive plant surveys. Additional examples of montane longleaf pine forest and Piedmont granite outcrops were verified from the state's newest park, Chattahoochee Bend. \nSeveral discoveries of populations of federally listed plants were made: pond spicebush on Mayhaw Wildlife Management Area in Miller County, relict trillium on private property in Wilkinson County and additional sites for Tennessee yellow-eyed grass in Bartow County. Remarkably, 47 sites representing nine population centers of American chaffseed were documented in a detailed survey throughout Georgia's wiregrass country. At least 40 sites were linked to increased use of prescribed burning on large quail plantations and DNR lands, particularly Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Natural Area in Colquitt County. \nPlant species new to Georgia were also documented: Florida milkvine in a pristine, beechmagnolia-spruce pine forest in Thomas County and Bartram's rose gentian in Charlton County. Swamp post oak was collected in Camden and Charlton counties in a unique willow oak wetland discovered during the ongoing coastal vegetation survey. \n \nAmerican chaffseed \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n9 \n \n CONSERVING \n \nG E O R G I A' S \n \nNONGAME \n \nWILDLIFE \n \nMountain bogs are one of the most critically endangered habitats in the Southern Appalachians. Typically small and usually associated with seeps, springs and small creeks, these bogs support unique and imperiled flora and fauna, including the federally threatened bog turtle and swamp pink, possibly the state's rarest reptile and plant species, respectively. Other exceptionally rare and state-protected mountain bog plants include the montane purple pitcher plant, Carolina bog laurel and Cuthbert's turtlehead. \nFor 17 years, NCS, working both independently and as a Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance member, has been engaged in mountain bog restoration. This has involved finding bogs with restoration potential, restoration at eight sites, rearing and outplanting rare plants, and creating a bog turtle \"headstart\" and population establishment program that includes Chattahoochee Nature Center and the Tennessee Aquarium. (Seventeen captive-reared bog turtles have been released in restored bogs.) \nIn the last two years, NCS has initiated a robust field experiment to test restoration protocols. The natural disturbance factors needed to maintain these early successional habitats are largely missing from the landscape, and remaining bogs must be maintained by mimicking these natural effects through techniques like manual clearing and prescribed fire. The research goal is maximizing effectiveness and efficiency, saving the NCS and its partners time and expense. \n \nAlso... \nGeorgia Plant Conservation Alliance The network of 20 public gardens, government agencies, academic institutions and environmental groups protects natural habitats and endangered species through biodiversity management, rare plant propagation and outplanting, and public education. In one example, the alliance helped the U.S. Forest Service and NCS, a charter member, restore six oak/ pine mafic woodland sites in the northern Piedmont, clearing woody vegetation and outplanting almost a thousand rare plants. The group's wildland firefighters aided the Forest Service in burning nearly 2,000 acres of this imperiled, fire-dependent habitat in the last three years. \nPartners in Flight In Georgia, Partners in Flight has focused on the 33 top-tier bird species in the State Wildlife Action Plan. Stakeholder meetings in 2008 identified research and survey questions and conservation needs for these species, information used in developing an ambitious series of landbird conservation programs funded by a State Wildlife Grant. Target species span the state. Survey and monitoring efforts included helicopter searches for swallow-tailed kite nests, monitoring breeding populations of golden-winged and cerulean warblers in the Blue Ridge, and banding and radio-tracking loggerhead shrikes (pictured) in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Thousands of acres were burned on state-managed lands including Sprewell Bluff, Tallulah Gorge and Moody Forest to benefit these and other rare species. \n \nInteragency Burn Team This partnership between Georgia DNR, The Nature Conservancy, the Georgia Forestry Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service greatly benefits fire management. The Interagency Burn Team is a publicprivate group of qualified personnel that conducts prescribed burns on lands that need fire for rare species or fire-dependent ecosystems. The team also addresses training and statewide fire issues. \nMountain Bog \n \nRestoration \n \n0]Ubc`bZS \n \n10 \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n AO\\RVWZZaOb=V]]^SS2c\\Sa\u003cObc`OZ/`SO;O`Q2SZAO\\b`] 5]^VS`b]`b]WaS8W[4Zg\\\\3OabS`\\W\\RWU]a\\OYS2W`Y8AbSdS\\a]\\ \n \nC \n \nO \n \nN \n \nS \n \nE \n \nR \n \nV \n \nA \n \nT \n \nI \n \nO \n \nN \n \nIn 2006, the Nongame Conservation Section began a project to inventory sandhills habitats in the state. These habitats include longleaf pineturkey oak ecosystems along the Fall Line and larger streams in southern Georgia, as well as similar habitats associated with former barrier islands in inland coastal Georgia. The areas harbor a number of rare species including the Southeastern pocket gopher, gopher tortoise, indigo snake, gopher frog, Bachman's sparrow and striped newt. \nThe inventory, now complete, met all objectives. Staff produced a map of Georgia's sandhills and sandhills- \n \nassociated habitats; conducted a field-based assessment of ecological condition, rare and other priority species, and restoration potential; and developed estimates of gopher tortoise populations on selected sites. \nNearly 100 public and private sandhills sites representing more than 12,000 acres of habitat were visited. Approximately two-thirds had active gopher tortoise populations, accounting for approximately 2,600 tortoise burrows. Tortoise population \n \nestimates also were obtained for 20 mainly state-owned conservation properties through a contract with the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway. \nNCS is following up the inventory with ecological restoration on a number of lands. In cooperation with Alabama, Florida and South Carolina, Georgia received a $1 million competitive State Wildlife Grant in early 2009 to assist with prescribed burning and other restoration efforts at high-priority sandhills sites. \n \nSandhills \n \nInventory \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n11 \n \n 8OQ]PBV][^a]\\]T2\u003c@e]`YW\\U]\\VOPWbObOaaSaa[S\\bAO\\RQ]`RU`OaaeSbZO\\R]\\AO^SZ]7aZO\\RW\\aSb \n \nCONSERVING \n \nG E O R G I A' S \n \nNONGAME \n \nWILDLIFE \n \nThe Coastal Habitat Assessment project encompasses 11 counties and is part of the greater Coastal Georgia Land Conservation Initiative, a collaboration of the Georgia Conservancy, Association County Commissioners of Georgia and DNR. County governments, municipalities and conservation organizations can use the habitat assessment and the larger initiative to maximize conservation of critical and imperiled natural communities and wildlife habitat, while balancing development concerns and growth. \nThe habitat assessment entails aerial photo interpretation of ecological community types based on the U.S. National Vegetation Classification System and accompanied by data collected in the field. Since work began in December 2007 with the hiring of two natural resource biologists, three counties have been assessed and more than 75 plant associations discovered. \nSignificant findings include the discovery of two previously undescribed natural communities and bottomland post oak (?cS`QcaaW[WZWa), which had never been recorded in Georgia. More than half of the communities from the habitat assessment fall into G3-G1 categories, ranking them from globally vulnerable to extinction to critically imperiled. \n \n@]aSP`SOabSRU`]aPSOYa \n \n0`]e\\bV`OaVS` \n \nAlso... \nBreeding Bird Atlas From 1994-2001, the Breeding Bird Atlas project collected more than 150,000 records to document the range of 182 species that breed in Georgia. The effort produced a baseline to gauge changes in species distribution. Data collected are critical to conservation planning and provide a starting point for many monitoring efforts. In February 2010, the University of Georgia Press (www.ugapress.edu) will release \"The Breeding Bird Atlas of Georgia,\" a book documenting the results. Included are species accounts, photographs and range maps for each species. \nLaw Enforcement for Nongame DNR wildlife law enforcement officers investigated 24 violations involving nongame during 2008 and 2009. Incidents varied from taking and possessing protected species to possessing wildlife without a rehabilitator permit. Species included gopher tortoises; red-tailed and Cooper's hawks; black rat and Eastern milk snakes; alligator snapping turtles; and cowbirds, pileated woodpeckers, brown thrashers, turkey vultures and red-winged blackbirds. \nCommunity Wildlife Projects Created by NCS and the Garden Club of Georgia, the Community Wildlife Project has awarded more than 750 communities full certification. Another 600 are completing certification standards. The new Backyard Wildlife Certification survey has added more than 1,600 certified backyards since 2005, with 300 earning Neighborhood Backyard certification (two or more adjoining backyards). The program enhances native nongame and habitats in communities, fostering conservation, awareness and community beautification. \n \nCoastal Habitat Assessment \n \n12 \n \nSf^O\\RSR\u003c1A`S^]`bOb www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n E D U C AT I O N , \n \nOUTREACH \n \n\u0026 \n \nR E C R E AT I O N \n \nThe Wildlife Resources Division's educational mission involves cultivating an appreciation and understanding of wildlife resources, fostering wise stewardship of these resources, and promoting safe and ethical natural resource-based recreation. The need for wildlife education is paramount as growth and development make stewardship and conservation even more critical. \nRegional Education Centers \n \nWildlife Resources operates six regional education centers in partnership with school systems, Regional Educational Service Agencies, and other state and federal agencies. The centers  Charlie Elliott, Smithgall Woods, McDuffie, Arrowhead, Grand Bay and Sapelo Island  provide wildlife-based education to students, adults and families. About 50,000 Georgia students visit each year, learning about conservation and wise use of natural and cultural resources through hands-on experiences. \n \nThe Nongame Conservation Section provided more than $210,000 to Smithgall Woods, McDuffie and Arrowhead for staff salaries and programming in 2008 and 2009. Local cooperators also provided financial assistance. \n \n2\u003c@a:W\\RO;OgZSORa1VO`ZWS3ZZW]bbEWZRZWTS1S\\bS`e]`YaV]^ \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n13 \n \n Ab`W^SR\\Seb2W`Y8AbSdS\\a]\\ \n \nCONSERVING \n \nG E O R G I A' S \n \nNONGAME \n \nWILDLIFE \n \nAmphibians and Reptiles of Georgia \nThe University of Georgia Press (www.ugapress.edu) released \"Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia\" in April 2008. NCS helped compile the nearly 600-page guide to the state's more than 170 species of frogs, snakes, salamanders, lizards, crocodilians and turtles. A senior NCS wildlife biologist served as lead editor and a program manager as another of the four editors. Years in the making and aimed at a wide audience, the authoritative reference includes nearly 500 color photographs, range maps showing distribution by counties and species accounts done by 54 experts. More than 2,100 copies have been sold. \n \nYouth Birding Competition \nThe Youth Birding Competition is a 24-hour birding event in which teams from schools and groups such as Scout troops, 4-H clubs and science clubs compete with others their age to identify as many bird species as they can in Georgia. In its third year, the 2008 statewide count drew 126 participants, ranging in age from 3 to 18. In 2009, 140 boys and girls ages 4-18 took part. \nEach year, the young birders counted more than 200 bird species and raised more than $4,800 for conservation projects throughout the state. In addition, almost 285 children and teens contributed paintings or drawings to a Youth Birding Competition T-shirt art contest. \n \nSocial media \n \nWildlife Resources Division staff created Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube sites, spreading awareness of conservation and the division's work to a wider audience. The Web sites quickly attracted fans, friends and views, and marked Wildlife Resources as one of the conservation agency leaders in social media. In January 2008, staff also started a monthly e-mail newsletter, Georgia Wild. The subscriber base grew to more than 4,200 by June 2009. \nThe online ventures and the e-newsletter expanded the reach of NCS communications efforts while also enhancing interactivity and customer service. \n \nWatchable Wildlife and Recreation \nWildlife Viewing Area Improvements: The Nongame Conservation Section provides grants for watchable wildlife and education projects on properties managed by the Wildlife Resources Division. A total of $16,674 was provided in 2008 for nature trail interpretive signs at Hugh Gillis Public Fishing Area, osprey nesting platforms at Lake Lanier, botanical interpretive signs at Paradise PFA, longleaf pine interpretive materials at McDuffie Environmental Education Center, and bird education materials at Smithgall Woods Conservation Park. Grants were not available in 2009 because of budget constraints. \nState Parks \u0026 Historic Sites Interpretive Projects: A similar grants program, also sidelined in 2009, targets wildlife viewing opportunities at State Parks and Historic Sites. In 2008, $24,555 was awarded for wetland habitat enhancement at Panola Mountain State Park, a boardwalk and viewing platform at Skidaway Island, bird observation resources at Unicoi State Park, and a backyard habitat demonstration area at Victoria Bryant State Park. \n \n14 \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n LAND \n \nACQUISITION \n \nAND \n \nCO N S E RVAT I O N \n \nPLANNING \n \nAWZdS`:OYSE;/8]V\\;6OZZ \n \nLand Acquisition \n \nBVS\u003c]\\UO[S1]\\aS`dObW]\\ ASQbW]\\Q]]^S`ObSReWbV[O\\g partners in fiscal 2008 and 2009 b]Q]\\bW\\cSQ]\\aS`dW\\U^`W]`Wbg VOPWbObaWRS\\bWSRW\\5S]`UWOa AbObSEWZRZWTS/QbW]\\\u003eZO\\7\\ OZZ%!##OQ`SadOZcSROb\\SO`Zg '#[WZZW]\\eS`SOQ_cW`SR BVSQ]\\aS`dObW]\\dOZcSWac\\b]ZR BVSOQ_cWaWbW]\\aeWZZPS\\Sb a^SQWSaT`][U`SS\\aOZO[O\\RS`a b]`SRQ]QYORSRe]]R^SQYS`a O\\R\\Obc`OZVOPWbObaOadO`WSR Oa`WdS`W\\SaO\\RVWZZaOZ]\\UbVS /ZbO[OVOO\\R[]\\bO\\SZ]\\UZSOT ^W\\ST]`SabW\\\u003eOcZRW\\U1]c\\bg \nBVS^`]XSQbaW\\d]ZdSRaWU\\WQO\\b ^O`b\\S`aVW^aeWbVbVS5S]`UWO :O\\R1]\\aS`dObW]\\\u003e`]U`O[ Z]QOZU]dS`\\[S\\baTSRS`OZ OUS\\QWSaO\\RQ]\\aS`dObW]\\ ]`UO\\WhObW]\\a;O\\geS`S \\Se^O`b\\S`aVW^aT]`\u003c1A O\\R5S]`UWO2\u003c@=bVS`a represented the continuation of Z]\\UbS`[Q]ZZOP]`ObWdSSTT]`ba \n6S`SaOQZ]aS`Z]]Y \n \nSilver Lake Wildlife Management Area \nSilver Lake WMA was acquired in three transactions beginning in fiscal 2008. The final parcel closed in fiscal 2009. International Paper managed this property in Decatur County for more than 50 years as part of the Southlands Experimental Forest. Silver Lake WMA includes 8,398 acres with mature longleaf pine, mixed pine, hardwoods and wetlands. The site supports 19 groups of redcockaded woodpeckers, a significant population of Bachman's sparrows, gopher tortoises, nesting bald eagles and many other priority species. \nThe Conservation Fund served as the key partner by purchasing the tract from International Paper and holding it until DNR arranged funding. Other partners included the Georgia Land Conservation Program, Decatur County, Association County Commissioners of Georgia, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Georgia Forestry Commission, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (through the Longleaf Legacy Program), Kirbo Foundation, Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund, Georgia Ornithological Society, Woodruff Foundation, Wildlife Endowment Fund, Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. \nIn addition to its conservation value, Silver Lake offers outstanding opportunities for hunting, fishing, birding, hiking and other recreation. \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n15 \n \n CONSERVING \n \nG E O R G I A' S \n \nNONGAME \n \nWILDLIFE \n \nPaulding Forest Wildlife Management Area \n \nConservation Lands \n \nThe fiscal 2008 acquisition of Paulding Forest, in collaboration with Paulding County, resulted in the conservation of 6,556 acres of priority habitat and protected the headwaters of Raccoon Creek, a priority stream in the State Wildlife Action Plan. Paulding Forest WMA contains remnants of montane longleaf forest. This rare habitat will be restored through careful management. The acquisition with Paulding County marked a new level of cooperation between the Georgia Land Conservation Program and local government in land conservation. \n \nPaulding County voters approved a referendum to finance $15 million in bonds for the project. The Nature Conservancy, Association County Commissioners of Georgia and Georgia Wildlife Federation also were key partners. Funding partners included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Conservation Fund, Woodruff Foundation, Georgia Forestry Commission and Polk County. \nIn 2009, two tracts totaling 502 acres were added to Paulding Forest WMA through the cooperation and support of The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Forest Service, Georgia Forestry Commission, Woodruff Foundation and the Georgia Wetlands Trust Fund. \nPaulding Forest WMA offers outstanding recreational opportunities for hunting, fishing, birding, and hiking. The WMA sports one of the most popular sections of the Silver Comet Trail. Protection of this tract in one of Georgia's fastest growing counties will ensure future recreational opportunities. The acquisition also protects much of the watershed of Raccoon Creek, a high-priority stream that supports a population of the endangered Etowah dater as well as other rare fish species. \n \nWilliams Tract \nThese 202 acres, acquired in fiscal 2008, eliminated a key inholding at Townsend WMA in Long County. The property features priority sandhill habitats for the gopher tortoise, indigo snake and other species. The riverine sandhill habitats along the Altamaha River in McIntosh and Long counties include a mosaic of habitats and have been identified as a priority in Georgia's Wildlife Action Plan. \nThe Nature Conservancy was a key partner in the acquisition. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Woodruff Foundation and the Nongame Conservation Fund provided funding. The tract will be managed as part of Townsend WMA, supporting outdoor recreation such as hunting, birding and hiking. \n \n@OQQ]]\\1`SSY \n \n16 \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n LAND \n \nACQUISITION \n \n\u0026 \n \nC O N S E R VAT I O N \n \nPLANNING \n \nMcLemore Cove Tract \nThe 1,543-acre McLemore Cove Tract was acquired in fiscal 2009 in cooperation with the Georgia Land Conservation Program, Open Space Institute, Woodruff Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. McLemore Cove Tract connects CrockfordPigeon Mountain WMA and Zahnd Natural Area, and conserves priority habitat along the eastern escarpment of Lookout Mountain. The property has a number of caves, provides suitable habitat for green salamanders and protects the headwaters of West Chickamauga Creek, a Wildlife Action Plan priority stream. The mesic hardwood forests are excellent habitat for neotropical migratory birds. Existing recreational opportunities at McLemore Cove include hunting, birding and hiking. The Wildlife Resources Division, Parks and Historic Sites Division, and Walker County will evaluate ways to further enhance outdoor recreation. \nSellers Tract \nThis tract was acquired in fiscal 2008 as an addition to River Creek, the Rolf and Alexandra Kauka WMA in Thomas County. Primary partners were The Conservation Fund and the Sellers family, which sold the property below appraised value. Funding came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. The acquisition protected priority habitat along Barnetts Creek, a tributary to the Ochlocknee River. The tract also buffers River Creek WMA from encroachment and provides opportunity for longleaf pine forest restoration to benefit the northern bobwhite, Bachman's sparrow, gopher tortoise and red-cockaded woodpecker. \n \nState Wildlife Action Plan Revision \nThe State Wildlife Action Plan, completed in August 2005, is due for an update. Like all state wildlife agencies, Georgia DNR made a commitment to review and revise its Wildlife Action Plan, better known as SWAP, within 10 years. The revision began in January 2010. The target completion date is January 2012. \nThe revision process will include a reassessment of priority species, habitats and conservation actions, as well as more detailed mapping of priority conservation areas. The process will involve evaluating the potential impacts of climate change on priority species and habitats and identifying \"climate change adaptation strategies.\" Further assessment of monitoring needs and performance measures for comprehensive wildlife conservation in Georgia will also be part of the work. \nNongame Conservation Section staff will coordinate the SWAP revision process with help from other DNR staff and representatives of a wide variety of government agencies, nongovernmental conservation organizations, landowner groups and private corporations. The product of this two-year effort will be a strategic plan that reflects the most current information about wildlife conservation needs and opportunities in the state. \n \n0`]eObHOV\\R\u003cObc`OZ/`SO \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n17 \n \n CONSERVING \n \nG E O R G I A' S \n \nNONGAME \n \nWILDLIFE \n \nThe Nongame Conservation Section receives no state appropriations, depending instead on grants, fundraising and donations to conserve Georgia's nongame wildlife, rare native plants and natural habitats. With fundraising a necessity, the section has three primary means: Weekend for Wildlife, the Give Wildlife a Chance State Income Tax Checkoff and the Nongame wildlife license plates. All contributions go to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. The section's friends group, The Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, also provides significant support. \nFundraising \n \nNongame License Plates The bald eagle and ruby-throated hummingbird automobile tags remain Nongame's largest funding source, raising more than $1.9 million combined in fiscal 2008 and 2009. Yet that period also showed a 36 percent slide in sales, from $1.16 million in 2008 to $744,000 the following year. The eagle plate continues to outsell the newer hummingbird plate almost 2-to-1. \n \nWeekend for Wildlife Weekend for Wildlife is one of the country's most successful fundraisers for conservation, grossing more than $6.5 million since its start in 1989. The annual event draws 300400 guests to the prestigious Cloister at Sea Island for a unique weekend of outdoor trips, auctions and dining. In 2008, the 20th anniversary celebration grossed a record $1.09 million. More than $623,000 was raised in 2009. \n \n0W`RW\\UObESSYS\\RT]`EWZRZWTS \n \nGive Wildlife a Chance Tax Checkoff The state income tax checkoff offers Georgians a convenient way to contribute to the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund. Since the checkoff's creation in 1989, net contributions have averaged $315,000, with a high of $510,910 collected in 1991 and a low of $184,065 in 1994. Revenues of $234,758 for fiscal year 2009 marked a 20 percent decline from $293,883 the previous year. \n \nTERN The Environmental Resources Network, a nonprofit advocacy group, funded $78,000 in nongame projects in 2008 and $61,853 in 2009. The work varied from documenting the life history of a newly discovered salamander to supporting advanced Project WILD workshops, landowner outreach publications and the annual Give Wildlife a Chance poster contest for K-5th grades. TERN, online at http://tern. homestead.com, raises money through membership fees, donations, and the sale of raffle tickets and gift, silent and verbal auctions at Weekend for Wildlife. \nFederal and Other Funding NCS received more than $16.8 million in federal and other grants during fiscal 2008 and 2009. Georgia is sharing $1 million from the State Wildlife Grants Competitive Program with Alabama, Florida and South Carolina to increase the quality, quantity and connectivity of prime sandhill habitat. \n \n18 \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n 2\u003c@a;Obb3ZZW]bbO\\RBW[9SgSa[SOac`SPOZRQg^`SaaOb@Og]\\WS`4]`Sab@Sa]c`QSab`OQbW\\:]\\U;Q7\\b]aVQ]c\\bWSa8O[Sa6]ZZO\\R2\u003c@a8W[=hWS`1c`bWa1][^b]\\/bZO\\bO8]c`\\OZ1]\\abWbcbW]\\2\u003c@SQ]Z]UWabAVO\\1O[[OQYO\\R1][[WaaW]\\S`1V`Wa1ZO`Y \nFY 99 FY 00 FY 01 FY 02 FY 03 FY 04 FY 05 FY 06 FY 07 FY 08 FY 09 \n \nFINANCIAL \n \nRevenue Sources \nFY 2008-2009 \n \nNongame Plates ................ 37% \nWeekend for Wildlife....... 32% \nTax Checkoff.........................10% \nEarned Interest \u0026 Other Income................... 21% \n \n6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 \n0 \n \nNONGAME FINANCIAL Summary \n \nRevenue \n \nExpenses \n \nWhat's next for the Nongame Conservation Section? \nQ Fundraising is a continuing emphasis, particularly in tight economic times. Revenue from license plate sales, Weekend for Wildlife and the state income tax checkoff fell 47 percent in fiscal 2009. Plans are being laid for a new license plate. \nQ Updating Georgia's Wildlife Action Plan to reflect the changing scope of nongame priorities and needs throughout the state will be a priority for the next two years. (Details on page 17.) \nQ Work such as the Coastal Habitat Assessment and the Multistate Sandhills Ecological Restoration project (pages 11-12) will shape those revisions and the very future of Georgia's wild places and creatures. The sandhills effort could restore nearly 38,600 acres over three years, helping conserve species from gopher tortoises and southern hognose snakes to Bachman's sparrows and striped newts. \nQ NCS staff will also be involved with the South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative. Part of a newly announced nationwide program led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey, this and other regional cooperatives will dovetail with State Wildlife Action plans to address climate change, invasive species and other conservation challenges. \nQ The NCS presence in social media will increase, efficiently using online outreach to engage tech-savvy generations in nongame conservation across the state. The Wildlife Resources Division's Web site will also be enhanced with more information on nongame species, habitats and programs. \n \nexpanded NCS report at www.georgiawildlife.com \n \n19 \n \n Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division Nongame Conservation Section 2070 U.S. Highway 278 S.E. Social Circle, GA 30025 (770) 761-3035 \nOFFICES ALSO AT: 116 Rum Creek Drive Forsyth, GA 31029 (478) 994-1438 \n2065 U.S. Highway 278 S.E. Social Circle, GA 30025 (770) 918-6411 \nOne Conservation Way Suite 310 Brunswick, GA 31520 (912) 264-7218 \n \nChris Clark, Commissioner, DNR \nDan Forster, Director, Wildlife Resources Division \nMike Harris, Chief, Nongame Conservation Section \nJon Ambrose and Lisa Weinstein, NCS Assistant Chiefs \nMatt Elliott, Walter Lane, Jim Ozier and Brad Winn, NCS Program Managers \nRick Lavender, Report Editor \nContributors also include Linda May, Kristina Summers and other NCS staff \n \nDiamondback terrapin/Andrew Grosse \n \nExpanded report at www.georgiawildlife.com \nFollow the Wildlife Resources Division at: \nwww.facebook.com www.youtube.com/user/GeorgiaWildlife \nhttp://twitter.com/GeorgiaWild www.flickr.com/photos/wildliferesourcesdivision \nwww.georgiawildlife.com/news/e-newsletters \n \n "}],"pages":{"current_page":1,"next_page":null,"prev_page":null,"total_pages":1,"limit_value":10,"offset_value":0,"total_count":7,"first_page?":true,"last_page?":true},"facets":[{"name":"type_facet","items":[{"value":"Text","hits":7}],"options":{"sort":"count","limit":16,"offset":0,"prefix":null}},{"name":"creator_facet","items":[{"value":"Georgia. 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