2016 ARCHIVES | Special Symposia
The following special symposia were offered as part of the technical session schedule at the 72nd Annual NEAFWA Conference.
Assessing Benefits of NRCS Early Successional Habitat Practices to at-risk Species
Organizer/moderator: Charlie Rewa, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service ([email protected])
Overview: Through efforts such as Working Lands for Wildlife, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is providing assistance to landowners to voluntarily establish early successional habitats in forested landscapes of the Northeast to benefit at-risk wildlife species. Species supported by these programs include a disproportional number of priority species for conservation, including Species of Greatest Conservation need. The NRCS Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) is supporting assessments of the benefits NRCS-supported practices provide target species. The purpose of this symposium is to present how these benefits are being assessed, highlight emerging findings, and describe how assessment outcomes are informing habitat restoration and management actions going forward.
Overview: Through efforts such as Working Lands for Wildlife, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is providing assistance to landowners to voluntarily establish early successional habitats in forested landscapes of the Northeast to benefit at-risk wildlife species. Species supported by these programs include a disproportional number of priority species for conservation, including Species of Greatest Conservation need. The NRCS Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) is supporting assessments of the benefits NRCS-supported practices provide target species. The purpose of this symposium is to present how these benefits are being assessed, highlight emerging findings, and describe how assessment outcomes are informing habitat restoration and management actions going forward.
New Issues and Information Needs for Rapidly Changing and Emerging Recreational Fisheries
Organizer: Jason Vokoun, UConn Dept. of Natural Resources and the Environment ([email protected]); Justin Davis, CT DEEP Inland Fisheries Division ([email protected])
Overview: Some regions in the Northeast are currently experiencing emerging recreational fisheries as species ranges shift and anglers embrace new opportunities. For example, Black Sea Bass have become highly abundant in New England coastal waters, attracting increasing amounts of fishing effort; unlike many other species in the inshore bottom fishery, sea bass are highly prone to barotrauma and attendant high rates of post-release mortality. In some fisheries, traditional balances between commercial and recreational emphases are shifting, such as in the coastal fishery for Bluefin Tuna, a depleted species formerly of high commercial significance that is now increasingly targeted by recreational anglers in some areas (e.g. coastal Massachusetts waters) that release a higher proportion of their catch and presumably have different expectations and motivations than commercial fishers. In other Northeast fisheries, such as those for Largemouth Bass and freshwater panfish, trends towards high rates of voluntary catch and release challenge the effectiveness of traditional regulations that rely on modulating harvest.
Another challenge currently facing Northeast fishery managers is the rise of new user groups with new attitudes that may be at odds with those of more traditional user groups; for example, the growing popularity of catch-and-release fishing for Common Carp, a species long prized by anglers in other areas of the world but traditionally considered of low fisheries value in the Northeast, has led to a growing call in some areas for more conservative management measures, the adoption of which may preclude traditional practices such as bowfishing.
A final example of the type of issue to be addressed by this symposium is the trend towards intense species specialization (e.g. the rise of competitive fishing tournament and the anglers who enter them). The rapid information exchange and adoption of effective tactics associated with this specialization, in many ways facilitated by the worldwide web, can intensify fishing pressure and associated stressors on fish populations.
This symposium will ideally address these issues and others related to emerging and changing recreational fisheries in the northeast by featuring presentations on case studies, with emphasis on identifying salient challenges for management and the information that is currently lacking to address them.
Overview: Some regions in the Northeast are currently experiencing emerging recreational fisheries as species ranges shift and anglers embrace new opportunities. For example, Black Sea Bass have become highly abundant in New England coastal waters, attracting increasing amounts of fishing effort; unlike many other species in the inshore bottom fishery, sea bass are highly prone to barotrauma and attendant high rates of post-release mortality. In some fisheries, traditional balances between commercial and recreational emphases are shifting, such as in the coastal fishery for Bluefin Tuna, a depleted species formerly of high commercial significance that is now increasingly targeted by recreational anglers in some areas (e.g. coastal Massachusetts waters) that release a higher proportion of their catch and presumably have different expectations and motivations than commercial fishers. In other Northeast fisheries, such as those for Largemouth Bass and freshwater panfish, trends towards high rates of voluntary catch and release challenge the effectiveness of traditional regulations that rely on modulating harvest.
Another challenge currently facing Northeast fishery managers is the rise of new user groups with new attitudes that may be at odds with those of more traditional user groups; for example, the growing popularity of catch-and-release fishing for Common Carp, a species long prized by anglers in other areas of the world but traditionally considered of low fisheries value in the Northeast, has led to a growing call in some areas for more conservative management measures, the adoption of which may preclude traditional practices such as bowfishing.
A final example of the type of issue to be addressed by this symposium is the trend towards intense species specialization (e.g. the rise of competitive fishing tournament and the anglers who enter them). The rapid information exchange and adoption of effective tactics associated with this specialization, in many ways facilitated by the worldwide web, can intensify fishing pressure and associated stressors on fish populations.
This symposium will ideally address these issues and others related to emerging and changing recreational fisheries in the northeast by featuring presentations on case studies, with emphasis on identifying salient challenges for management and the information that is currently lacking to address them.
Wildlife and Habitat in Urban and Developed Landscape
Organizer: Doug Bechtel, Executive Director, Audubon International, [email protected]
Overview: In the past decade, conservation and environmental organizations are focusing efforts on protecting and enhancing natural resources in urban and developed settings. This follows a period of extraordinary success in conservation planning and subsequent biodiversity and habitat protection in wild areas. Urban settings can provide ecosystem services and benefits to human communities. Enhancing wildlife habitat in developed landscapes provides connectivity for large animals, microhabitats for countless small animals, water quality and wetland protection, and other natural values. Town planners recognize the human health benefits where communities provide natural lands and green infrastructure for recreation. Our Symposium will invite speakers to reflect on current planning tools, data, citizen science, challenges, and success stories for managing wildlife habitat in urban and landscaped areas. We recognize that developed lands pose special challenges for natural areas. We hope to discuss and identify new partnership opportunities among disparate stakeholders.
Audubon International will facilitate the session and present data from a recent analysis of 98 golf courses which have demonstrated best practices of wildlife management on their green space. The study reports on golf courses in eight northeastern states, representing over 21,000 acres of open space and associated wildlife habitat, species of conservation concern, invasive species control, and habitat benefits from best practices of environmental land management.
Overview: In the past decade, conservation and environmental organizations are focusing efforts on protecting and enhancing natural resources in urban and developed settings. This follows a period of extraordinary success in conservation planning and subsequent biodiversity and habitat protection in wild areas. Urban settings can provide ecosystem services and benefits to human communities. Enhancing wildlife habitat in developed landscapes provides connectivity for large animals, microhabitats for countless small animals, water quality and wetland protection, and other natural values. Town planners recognize the human health benefits where communities provide natural lands and green infrastructure for recreation. Our Symposium will invite speakers to reflect on current planning tools, data, citizen science, challenges, and success stories for managing wildlife habitat in urban and landscaped areas. We recognize that developed lands pose special challenges for natural areas. We hope to discuss and identify new partnership opportunities among disparate stakeholders.
Audubon International will facilitate the session and present data from a recent analysis of 98 golf courses which have demonstrated best practices of wildlife management on their green space. The study reports on golf courses in eight northeastern states, representing over 21,000 acres of open space and associated wildlife habitat, species of conservation concern, invasive species control, and habitat benefits from best practices of environmental land management.
Intersections of Road-Stream Crossings, Fish, Wildlife, and Aquatic Continuity in the Northeastern U.S
Sponsors: The Northeastern Division of the American Fisheries Society and The Northeast Section, The Wildlife Society
Organizers: Kristen H. Ferry, NED AFS President; Division of Ecological Restoration, MA Department of Fish and Game, [email protected]; Valorie R. Titus, The Wildlife Society; Assistant Professor, Natural Resources Management, Green Mountain College, [email protected]
Intended audience: wildlife and fisheries professionals from agencies, universities, and non-profits
Overview: The densely populated Northeastern U.S. contains a vast network of roads that intersect with rivers and streams. Many of these road-stream crossings, constructed decades ago, were intended to move water across road alignments with little consideration to the needs of fish and wildlife. Undersized or mispositioned crossings can alter habitat for fish and wildlife, often causing a barrier to movement and a disruption to ecological processes. Additionally, aging culverts and bridges were not designed to handle the increased frequency and intensity of contemporary storm flows occurring in the Northeast, resulting in an alarming rise in structural failures. Flooding and road washout caused by crossing failure cause broad social and economic impacts, as well as further environmental degradation. Strategically targeted road-stream crossing upgrades can provide high returns on investment for both restoring aquatic ecosystem health and improving community resilience to storm events.
This symposium will highlight regional methodologies and efforts for inventorying road-stream crossings and understanding the joint ecological and social impacts undersized crossing create. Further, it will explore innovative tools, approaches, and engineering technologies for upgrading culverts and bridges with larger, safer structures that meet flood and ecosystem resiliency objectives.
Organizers: Kristen H. Ferry, NED AFS President; Division of Ecological Restoration, MA Department of Fish and Game, [email protected]; Valorie R. Titus, The Wildlife Society; Assistant Professor, Natural Resources Management, Green Mountain College, [email protected]
Intended audience: wildlife and fisheries professionals from agencies, universities, and non-profits
Overview: The densely populated Northeastern U.S. contains a vast network of roads that intersect with rivers and streams. Many of these road-stream crossings, constructed decades ago, were intended to move water across road alignments with little consideration to the needs of fish and wildlife. Undersized or mispositioned crossings can alter habitat for fish and wildlife, often causing a barrier to movement and a disruption to ecological processes. Additionally, aging culverts and bridges were not designed to handle the increased frequency and intensity of contemporary storm flows occurring in the Northeast, resulting in an alarming rise in structural failures. Flooding and road washout caused by crossing failure cause broad social and economic impacts, as well as further environmental degradation. Strategically targeted road-stream crossing upgrades can provide high returns on investment for both restoring aquatic ecosystem health and improving community resilience to storm events.
This symposium will highlight regional methodologies and efforts for inventorying road-stream crossings and understanding the joint ecological and social impacts undersized crossing create. Further, it will explore innovative tools, approaches, and engineering technologies for upgrading culverts and bridges with larger, safer structures that meet flood and ecosystem resiliency objectives.