Defenders of Wildlife Blog

©Elizabeth Fleming/Defenders of Wildlife

Elizabeth Fleming, Florida Representative

Recently our Florida Program Director, Laurie Macdonald, and I attended a celebration of the years of progress in conserving and recovering the endangered Florida panther, hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in LaBelle. In particular, we celebrated the day one year ago that a crucial parcel of land in southwest Florida called the Lone Ranger Forge property was purchased for conservation.

Formerly known as American Prime, the Lone Ranger Forge is a 1,278-acre riverfront parcel in the Florida panther dispersal zone that panthers use to travel northward from south Florida across the Caloosahatchee River. This important piece of land was nearly lost to development a few years ago before the economic downturn. That would have dealt a major blow to panther range expansion and recovery, because without this linkage, panthers would have no natural crossing point to travel northward. Any increase in the panther population will depend on the ability of these large cats to move northward into central and north Florida.

©Ralph Arwood

But thanks to the herculean efforts of a mix of agencies, organizations and corporate and private donors, the deal closed on May 16, 2012 to acquire and protect this strategic corridor. Restoration efforts will revive and enhance the area’s wetlands, and improve the land’s value to panthers — providing vegetated areas where panthers can hunt and den. We were able to visit the property and see how it fits within the larger landscape leading up to and across the river. Laurie and I imagined seeing a panther entering the water from where we stood and swimming across to find new territory.

The FWS presented the major partners instrumental in the American Prime/Lone Ranger Forge project with awards. Chris Belden, who recently retired as the FWS’s Florida Panther Recovery Coordinator (following a long career with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Panther Program), was presented with a Meritorious Service Award from the Department of the Interior.

To keep up the momentum on panther conservation and recovery, the FWS announced the formation of a Florida Panther Recovery Implementation Team to work on expanding the panther’s range. Defenders of Wildlife will serve on the team as the only conservation organization, along with FWS, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, National Park Service and a landowner. Some of the team’s priorities will include developing plans to help panthers expand their range north of the Caloosahatchee, crafting plans for establishing viable populations outside of south Florida, working with private landowners on incentive programs for conserving and restoring panther habitat, and identifying needs for underpasses to reduce panther road fatalities – one of the leading causes of panther deaths. Defenders was part of the larger team that helped develop the Florida Panther Recovery Plan and we look forward to serving on the new team and subgroups working to advance panther restoration and recovery efforts.

While we definitely have our work cut out for us, it was great to take the opportunity to reflect upon the progress that has been made since the 1970’s, when panther numbers had plummeted to a low of fewer than 20 cats! Panther conservation has, indeed, come a long way.

Check out more photos of this important piece of panther habitat:

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Lone Ranger Forge

(©Elizabeth Fleming/Defenders of Wildlife)

Important Land

The Fish and Wildlife Service described how vital this land is to helping Florida panthers expand their range northward. (©Lisa Östberg)

River Crossing

When restored, this land will give panthers a safe place to cross the Caloosahatchee River. (©Lisa Östberg)

Habitat

When using best management practices, cattle ranching in Florida can provide excellent habitat for panthers and other species. (©Lisa Östberg)

Conservation Colleagues

(©Lisa Östberg)

Conservation Colleagues

Laurie Macdonald, Director of Defenders' Florida program; Kevin Godsea, Project Leader - Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge; Elizabeth Fleming, Defenders' Florida Representative; Lisa Östberg, Defenders' Coexistence Coordinator (©Lisa Östberg)

Lone Ranger Forge

Looking northward across the Caloosahatchee River (©Lisa Östberg)

Elizabeth Fleming, Florida Representative

©David Hinkel, USFWS

2013 is shaping up to be a particularly deadly year for the endangered Florida manatee, whose population is estimated at around 5,000 animals.  More than 460 dead manatees have been documented in the first three months of this year – an alarmingly high number.  It has already topped the number of manatees that died all of last year. What’s going on here?

Well, among other threats, these aquatic mammals are experiencing injury and death in record numbers from exposure to a toxic algal bloom known as red tide in southwest Florida. Lee County has been particularly hard hit, followed by Charlotte County, Sarasota County and Collier County.  Red tide is a naturally occurring event, but this outbreak has persisted since September 2012 and has killed as many as 240 manatees, a new record for red tide deaths in southwest Florida.  Manatees are affected by red tide neurotoxins when they breathe, and even more so when they eat seagrass coated by the algae. The toxins cause seizures that can result in drowning when the animals cannot lift their snouts above the water to breathe.

Some manatees have been found alive but very ill, and have been transported to facilities where they receive around-the-clock care. This is the worst red tide outbreak since 1996, when 151 animals were killed by the algal bloom in the southwest part of the state. Even though the bloom is subsiding, manatees will continue to be affected for some time because toxins from the red tide have settled onto seagrass beds.

On the east coast of Florida, yet another threat is claiming manatee lives in the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County. Nearly 100 manatees have died of an unknown cause, possibly from a different toxin, since July 2012. With most of Brevard’s seagrass eliminated due to a combination of factors (such as cold and drought that resulted in higher salinity) algal blooms known as “brown tide” have developed in the lagoon and impacted water clarity and seagrass growth. In some areas 99 percent of the seagrass has been lost. Without their staple food supply, manatees may be consuming macroalgae or other food sources that are making them ill and killing them.

Red tide algal bloom, ©NOAA

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering a proposal to downlist the manatee from “endangered” to “threatened.” Considering that the existing risks to manatees have not been alleviated and that little is known about emerging new threats, Defenders urges the Service to carefully incorporate these significant losses into their review and assessment of the status of the manatee population.

These large manatee die-offs are the latest struggle in a long history of challenges for the Florida manatee, which was one of the first species protected by the Endangered Species Act when it was enacted in 1973. The leading human-caused threat to manatees is collisions with watercraft. So far this year, 15 manatees have been killed by boats. We expect this number to rise substantially before the year is over, and especially during the summer months. Scientists believe that unless this cause of death is controlled, the manatee population will not recover.

To address this threat, Defenders has been instrumental in the creation of new manatee protection speed zones, sanctuaries and refuge areas. We supported the establishment of manatee speed zones in Tampa Bay and Flagler County, and the creation of the Kings Bay Manatee Refuge that made all but a small portion of the bay a slow-speed area. We advocate for improved enforcement of speed zones and comment on management plans for federal and state parks and refuges to ensure that they adequately address manatee protections.

Manatees at Crystal River NWR, ©Joyce Kleen

An even greater, long-term threat is the loss of warm water habitat that manatees need to survive in winter. The deadliest year on record, 2010, saw 766 manatees killed, nearly 300 of them by an extended period of very cold weather. Because residential development has greatly reduced the natural warm water springs manatees need to stay warm, many of the animals aggregate in the warm-water outfalls at electric power plants on cold winter days. A large percentage of the manatee population could be lost in the future if aging plants are shut down.

Defenders is hard at work to protect manatee habitat. We petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to revise critical habitat for the Florida manatee, supported the acquisition of Three Sisters Spring for Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, increased protections for manatees overwintering in Kings Bay and strengthened seagrass protections in Everglades National Park. We advocate for increased protection for natural springs, agency efforts to increase manatee access to springs and adoption by agencies and power companies of a warm-water contingency plan to help manatees transition from artificial to natural sites.

If you’re in Florida and you see a manatee in distress that may be suffering from red tide exposure or any other injury, please call 1-888-404-3922 IMMEDIATELY. Be sure that your actions are not putting manatees at risk: refrain from pursuing, touching, or feeding or watering manatees, and please practice safe boating for the manatees’ sake and yours.

Elizabeth Fleming, Florida Representative 

One of the greatest obstacles to helping the Florida panther recover is that even the people who live with these animals in their backyard don’t always realize the steps they can take to protect them. Though already critically endangered, these panthers are constantly in danger thanks to collisions with vehicles, shrinking habitat, and people’s intolerance for living with a large predator. So as part of our campaign to Give Panthers a Brake, Defenders has been very busy with panther outreach in the lead up to Save the Florida Panther Day on March 16, 2013 and beyond.

Holding exhibits at festivals and other local events allows us to talk directly to people who live in panther country about how to coexist with panthers. (c) Lisa Östberg

In 1990, the state legislature established the third Saturday in March as Save the Florida Panther Day and governors have issued official proclamations promoting the day ever since. This year, Defenders has participated in several events across the state to educate Florida residents about panthers and what they can do to help them:

• On February 23rd and 24th, Defenders’ Southwest Florida Coexistence Coordinator and members of Defenders’ Panther Citizen Action Taskforce (PCAT) participated in the annual Swamp Cabbage Festival in LaBelle, Florida in rural Hendry County, which draws between 30,000 and 50,000 people each year. We joined efforts with other members of the Florida Panther Outreach Team to raise awareness about our official endangered state animal, and how to live and recreate responsibly in panther country. As part of our exhibit, we set up a demonstration of a predator-resistant enclosure and taught visitors how to protect their pets and livestock from local predators such as panthers, coyotes, bobcats, feral dogs and raccoons. We also handed out information on Defenders’ programs that help people to afford and construct these enclosures on their property.
• Defenders also handed out information about living in panther country at the Florida Panther Day event at the Naples Zoo. Several thousand people stopped by to meet panther field biologists, engage in activities for children and learn about opportunities to get involved in panther conservation.
• We staffed a table at a festival in the town of Ave Maria to provide information to hundreds of visitors about living responsibly with Florida panthers and other wildlife. This fairly new town, just 10 miles north of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, has a small but growing residential population that is in need of constant education about living with panthers, bears and other local wildlife.
• 

  We were able to run ads on the scoreboard, in the lobby, and on the LED ring around the stadium.

  Throughout the month of March, Defenders and Panther Citizen Assistance Taskforce volunteers have been holding a table display at the Florida Panthers NHL hockey team games at the BB&T arena in Sunrise (a suburb of Fort Lauderdale), so that we can provide information on panthers to fans attending games and other events. Thanks to our supporters, we were able to fund a huge advertising blitz in the stadium to remind drivers to slow down on Florida’s roads. Our message is displayed on the scoreboard, the giant video screen at the entrance, even on the radio during home games, all to get the word out to visitors and residents that the real panthers – the four-legged ones – need a BRAKE!

• We worked to get an official proclamation signed by Florida Governor Rick Scott declaring March 16, 2013 as Save the Florida Panther Day. As part of the celebration, we staffed a booth at the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge’s annual open house, which took place the same day. The refuge is usually closed to the public, so the open house gave visitors the opportunity to explore panther habitat through swamp buggy tours and guided walks. Visitors also attended presentations by panther biologists and visited with Defenders and other educational organizations and agencies.
• We’re working with other members of the Florida Panther Outreach Team to provide information about living with Florida panthers at the Collier County Fair. The predator-resistant livestock enclosure is on display to show people how to protect their livestock and pets at night. Thousands of rural residents and landowners have visited our display and talked to our outreach team members.

After we launched our campaign last month, our supporters across the U.S. have answered the call to help us Give Panthers a Brake. More than 59,000 of you have written to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking them to make it a priority to protect additional panther habitat and travel corridors to give these beautiful big cats more room to roam!

The last couple of months have been a busy time here at the Defenders Florida Office, but we’re glad that there are so many great opportunities to spread the word about the plight of these beautiful wild felines, and to help Floridians and panthers coexist. Taking this time to focus on the Florida panther reminds all of us that they need our assistance year-round.

Elizabeth Fleming, Florida Representative

With an estimated 100 to 160 animals left in the wild, the Florida panther is one of the most endangered mammals in the United States, and the last surviving puma subspecies in the eastern U.S. Once ranging throughout much of the southeastern part of the country, the panther has been restricted to a fraction of its historic range by past persecution and today’s unchecked development. Highway expansions continue to sever panther habitat, and collisions with vehicles take a terrible toll on these wide-ranging cats each year – a record 19 Florida panthers were killed while trying to cross roads in 2012.  And since urban and suburban areas now border panther habitat in many locations, human-panther interactions are on the rise.

The economic downturn provided a respite from the rapid development that had been gobbling up panther habitat. But now that the economy is picking up, plans are underway to build several new highways across rural parts of Florida that would fragment panther habitat and lead to more development and additional deaths on roads. New subdivisions are under construction, large scale developments and towns are being planned and lands important to panthers are currently offered for sale.

We have a limited window of time to protect and restore undeveloped tracts of land and connected habitat before they are lost forever. Right now is the time to act. That is why Defenders is launching the “Give Panthers a Brake” campaign — to raise awareness about the plight of the critically endangered Florida panther. We want to highlight the major threats to these beautiful felines: loss of habitat, collisions with vehicles and lack of tolerance for living with a large predator. The more Floridians know about these threats to their State Animal, the better chance we have to ensure a future for these majestic big cats.

To help raise awareness about Florida panthers, we’re kicking off this campaign at the home of Florida’s aptly-named pro hockey team: the Florida Panthers! We’re trying to raise enough money for a huge advertising blitz in the stadium throughout the month of March. We’ll be able to place our message on the scoreboard, the giant video screen at the entrance, even on the radio during home games, all to get the word out that the real panthers – the four-legged ones – need a BRAKE!

© Robert Repenning

Another big part of this campaign is to reduce the number of panthers killed on roads each year. Defenders is working to make existing roads safer for panthers to cross, and to prevent new roads that would sever important conservation lands and wildlife travel corridors. And we are encouraging Florida residents and visitors to remain alert, obey speed limits and watch out for wildlife while driving at all times, but especially at night when panthers are most active and visibility is low.

We also recognize that helping people coexist with the Florida panther is vital to building the acceptance and support needed to save this subspecies. Through partnerships, education, research, outreach and advocacy, we work to increase understanding of these wild predators to help people and panthers share the landscape.

The last piece of the puzzle is giving Florida panthers more room to roam! We are asking federal agencies to make it a priority to secure habitat and travel corridors for panthers by creating and expanding new national wildlife refuges and offering incentives to private landowners to ensure that the lands panthers need the most will never be developed.

There are plenty of ways for you to get involved in the Give Panthers a Brake campaign, too — click here to learn more! Together we can make sure the Florida panther can continue to be an icon of the Florida landscape for generations to come.

Elizabeth Fleming, Florida Representative 

With only an estimated 100 to 160 individuals remaining in the wild, the Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) is one of the most endangered mammals in the United States, and the last surviving puma subspecies in the eastern U.S. Though its historic range spanned eight southeastern states, today the panther is restricted to less than 5 percent of its original habitat, remaining as a single breeding population in south Florida.

Animals like the Florida panther depend on the state’s public lands for survival.

While no one knows how many panthers once roamed the southeastern states, one estimate suggests 1,360 in Florida alone. Once European settlers arrived, clear-cutting, building and other human activities began to destroy and degrade panther habitat and break it up into disconnected fragments. Misconceptions and fear led to widespread persecution — the state of Florida even authorized a $5 bounty for panther scalps in 1887 — and panthers were practically hunted out of existence by the turn of the century. Not until 1950 did Florida end the bounty and begin to look toward the protection of the species.

When the Endangered Species Act (ESA) became law in 1973, the Florida panther was one of the first species listed. The population at that time was only an estimated 12 to 20 individuals. Though it is still endangered today, in the decades since its listing, great strides have been made to halt the panther’s downward spiral towards extinction.

In 1981, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued the first Florida Panther Recovery Plan to prevent the species’ extinction and to re-establish viable populations of the Florida panther in its former range. This spurred several years of progress for the Floria panther, in which it was designated the official state animal, and the Florida state legislature approved new programs to help fund panther conservation and research. The 1980s also saw speed limits reduced to 45 mph at night on certain key roads to protect panthers from being hit by speeding vehicles, and in the 1990s, the Florida Department of Transportation included wildlife underpasses and fencing along more than 40 miles of roadway. Since then, additional slow-speed zones have been designated, more crossings have been installed, and others are planned to protect panthers on dangerous roads.

Slow zones help increase awareness of panthers on roads.

The listing under the ESA also prompted federal and state agencies to purchase additional land to give panthers more room to roam. Today, Florida panthers can travel across several protected regions including Big Cypress National Preserve, Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Picayune Strand State Forest, Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest and Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed, and the Spirit of the Wild and Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Management Areas. This year saw the inclusion of American Prime as protected panther habitat — a critical piece of undeveloped land along the Caloosahatchee River where panthers have crossed to expand their range northward. While most Florida panthers reside south of Lake Okeechobee, in recent years several males have dispersed northward into central and northeast Florida, and one even traveled back into its historic range in northwest Georgia by using this connection to move out of south Florida.

With such a small population to begin with and serious problems arising due to inbreeding, the FWS also had to look at how to increase the panthers’ numbers before there simply weren’t enough left in the wild to save. In fact, the IUCN Captive Breeding Specialist Group predicted that without some kind of intervention, the Florida panther population would decline by six to 10 percent each year, eventually reaching extinction. The FWS and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made the bold decision to temporarily introduce eight female pumas from Texas — animals that Florida panthers used to breed with before they became isolated in south Florida — into the Florida panther population in 1995. A recent University of Florida study concluded that without the new genetic material that the Texas pumas provided, the Florida panther population would most likely have fallen below 10 panthers by 2010. Instead, thanks to a genetic restoration program that would not have been possible without the authority of the Endangered Species Act, a much larger, healthier panther population exists today.

Despite being rescued from certain extinction, the Florida panther continues to face numerous threats due to an increasing human population and development in panther habitat. Collisions with vehicles take a terrible toll on panthers — 17 have been killed so far in 2012. And while the greatest threats to the panthers’ survival are destruction, degradation and fragmentation of habitat — something we combat by advocating for additional habitat to be protected and restored — one of the greatest impediments to panther recovery is the lack of human tolerance for living with a large predator. That’s why we have established a multifaceted outreach program that works to counter misinformation about panthers and provide people with practical solutions for living with this beautiful, wild cat so that all residents of Florida, feline and otherwise, can safely coexist.

Elizabeth Fleming, Florida Representative

Loggerhead Sea Turtle Hatchling (NPS)

Of the world’s seven species of sea turtles, six are found in U.S. waters or nest on U.S. beaches: green, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, loggerhead and olive ridley. The seventh species, the flatback turtle, is found only in Australia. At one time, millions of sea turtles swam in our oceans — but now all sea turtle species in U.S. waters are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The protection of the ESA is actually a major reason that we still have sea turtles swimming our oceans today.

Sea turtles have been around for about 110 million years — since dinosaurs roamed the Earth. While sea turtles were exploited for centuries for their meat, demand escalated during European exploration of the Americas and the green turtle was nearly exterminated. In the 1950s and 1960s, expanding international markets for sea turtle shell, skin and other products were taking a toll on sea turtle populations.  By the 1970s many sea turtle populations had plummeted from direct harvest. During that decade all species occurring in the U.S. were listed on the Endangered Species Act and by 1981 all species were included on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which banned international commercial trade in sea turtles and their products.

Being listed on the ESA was a turning point for sea turtles. ESA listing makes it illegal to harm, harass or kill sea turtles, hatchlings or their eggs, or to import, sell, or transport sea turtles or their products. Once sea turtles were listed, federal agencies developed recovery plans and started programs cooperating with states for sea turtle conservation. They also created new regulations to reduce the number of turtles accidentally caught in fisheries and developed plans to acquire and protect important sea turtle habitat.

Green turtles are endangered in the U.S. Photo courtesy Andy Bruckner, NOAA

The listing also compelled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to consult with other federal agencies on projects they fund, permit, or conduct to ensure that they do not cause harm to sea turtles or their habitat.  These new protections included important regulations requiring turtle excluder devices or TEDs in U.S. shrimp nets that were passed under the authority of the ESA to prevent the deaths of thousands of sea turtles each year. The United States also cooperates with other countries to protect sea turtles. For example, in 2004, Congress passed the Marine Turtle Conservation Act to provide funding for conserving sea turtles and their nesting habitat in other countries. The Act recognizes the global plight of sea turtles and the need for close cooperation among countries, and provides the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service support for on-the-ground conservation initiatives to benefit sea turtles.

ESA listings are relevant at the state level as well as the federal and most states where sea turtles nest have now passed additional laws to protect turtles. In Florida, for instance, the Marine Turtle Protection Act gives state agencies the power to enforce regulations that protect turtles and their habitat. States coordinate extensive monitoring and research efforts on nesting beaches. Some local governments have also passed regulations to eliminate or control artificial beachfront lighting, which deters females from nesting and disorients hatchlings.

Even though the Endangered Species Act is a U.S. law, it has made a big difference to sea turtle recovery on a global scale. Sea turtles are highly migratory — over the course of their lives they will live not only off the U.S. coast but in waters of other countries. Because sea turtles rely upon different habitats during their lifetimes and migration, they are vulnerable on multiple fronts, and conservation efforts for turtle populations in one country may be undermined by activities in another. It is critical that all nations cooperate to ensure the survival of sea turtles.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Photo: NOAA)

In North America, sea turtles primarily nest from North Carolina through Florida and along the beaches of the northern Gulf of Mexico, with over 90% occurring in Florida which hosts a globally-important nesting population of loggerhead turtles. Numbers of nesting leatherback and green turtles have been steadily increasing in Florida. Considering that green turtles were on the brink of extinction in the late 20^th century, the resurgence of this species in Florida is cause for celebration.

Because the ESA encourages habitat to be protected for listed species, Congress established the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in 1989 to protect federally endangered and threatened sea turtles. The Refuge offers hope for saving one of the most important sea turtle nesting sites in the world along a 20.5-mile stretch of beach on Florida’s east central coast. It contains long stretches of quiet, undisturbed sandy beaches, with little or no artificial light, that are essential to the reproductive success and survival of sea turtles. The refuge also includes the most significant area for loggerhead sea turtle nesting in the Western Hemisphere, the most important nesting beach for green turtles in North America and a small but quickly growing rookery for leatherbacks.

While several sea turtle populations have improved since being listed on the ESA and CITES, serious threats remain.  Turtles are accidentally caught in commercial fishing operations, often drowned in nets or caught on lines intended for other types of marine life, or can accidentally eat or get caught up in plastic or other debris. The turtles’ coastal habitat is also in trouble – development is a constant threat to nesting grounds, as is construction of seawalls and artificial light pollution.  And as with so many species, a changing climate is causing swaths of the sea turtle habitat to change drastically, or even disappear.

That is why the protections provided by the ESA, along with the work we and many other organizations do to defend this important legislation, are as important today as they were when they were adopted 40 years ago. In the coming year, Defenders will build upon its work to protect sea turtles from death and injury both at sea and on U.S. and Mexican nesting beaches, continuing to focus on reducing the number of turtles that die accidentally in fisheries and expanding our work to protect Florida’s and Mexico’s important nesting beaches from harmful coastal development and disturbance.