Summer/Fall 2000

Conservation News

MUSEUM GETS Car Tag FUNDS - Over 30,000 Mississippians are doing something for conservation. Mississippians who purchase license plates displaying a white-tailed deer, largemouth bass, hummingbird, mallard, wild turkey or butterfly for their cars and trucks are supporting conservation. Proceeds from the sale of the tags go to the Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Fund. License plates with wildlife emblems first became available in 1997. Since then, more than $1 million has been collected from the sale of tags. The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science Foundation has received a grant of $263,500 from the sale of car tags for projects such as natural areas registry. "In 1978 a system to protect and manage significant natural areas was implemented through the Museum of Natural Science, according to Museum Director Libby Hartfield. "The program established a registration procedure allowing owners of natural areas to voluntarily agree to manage and protect these sites." There are nearly 100 natural areas registered in Mississippi, and car tag funds are enhancing the registry effort, Hartfield said. Hartfield said the Museum has developed an aquarium depicting a scenic Delta stream that accurately shows an array of fish living in the streams of the last remaining wild places along the Mississippi River. The 1,500 gallon tank contains long-ear sunfish, spotted bass, bullhead catfish, red shiners, blacktail redhorse and redfin darters. The geology of the region is featured in the background of the aquarium along with the mastodon and whale fossils. The aquarium is a memorial to the late Howard Miller of Vicksburg, former chairmen of the Commission of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and former member of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation. For more information about these and other exhibits at the Museum of Natural Science located at LeFleur's Bluff State Park in Jackson, call (601) 354-7303.

PICKERING SPONSORS LEGISLATION TO PROTECT HUNTING - Landmark legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to protect hunting on federal lands. The Hunting Heritage Protection Act, sponsored by Congressmen Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Chip Pickering (R-MS) and Don Young (R-AK), will establish federal recognition of the intrinsic value of hunting as recreation and as a wildlife management tool. A coalition of nearly 70 state and national conservation organizations worked for introduction of this legislation. "Specifically, the Act establishes in law Congress' recognition of the significant role that hunter's play in conservation," said Bud Pidgeon, president of the Wildlife Legislative Fund of America. "This law will direct federal agencies to support, promote and enhance recreational hunting opportunities." Pidgeon said that a key element of the Hunting Heritage Protection Act is a stipulation for "No Net Loss of Hunting" opportunities. Under this provision, the government is directed to maintain, at the minimum, current levels of federal hunting lands to be open for sportsmen's use. If Congress or future administrations attempt to establish federal lands that would close out hunters, the same amount of land would be re-designated or newly established to provide equal hunting opportunities.

LARGEMOUTH BASS VIRUS Update - The largemouth bass virus is still alive and kicking in Mississippi. Two main findings of surveys this past spring by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) were the largemouth bass virus (LMBV) has spread to other areas of the Magnolia State, increasing in some places and decreasing in others. LMBV was detected on Sardis and Enid reservoirs, but not on Arkabutla or Grenada, just like 1999. On the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Bay Springs, Columbus and Aberdeen lakes all tested positive. In the Delta, Tunica Cutoff and Lake Ferguson had LMBV, but Eagle Lake did not. Ross Barnett Reservoir and the Pascagoula marsh both had LMBV, but last spring they did not. Of the MDWFP state lakes tested, Lake Lamar Bruce had LMBV but Kemper County Lake did not. On Sardis Lake, LMBV declined from 53 percent of live bass with LMBV in spring 1999 to 19 percent in spring 2000. On Enid Lake and Ferguson, LMBV spread rapidly throughout the bass population during the summer but declined by the following spring. Water temperature, oxygen level, fishing pressure and other stressors dictate if the disease causes a kill or not. No fish have been seen on Enid Lake or the Tennessee-Tombigbee lakes although they all had more than 25 percent of the bass affected. Ross Barnett Reservoir and Lake Lamar Bruce all had less than 10 percent of the bass testing positive. Tracking the trends over time of the largemouth bass virus (LMBV) in Mississippi has been a cooperative effort between the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and Dr. Larry Hanson with the Fish Diagnostic Laboratory in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University (MSU). LMBV was first found in Mississippi during a bass kill on Sardis Lake in summer 1998. In a survey of 11 waters in spring 1999, LMBV was also found in Bay Springs Lake, Columbus Lake and Enid Lake. In Summer 1999, LMBV caused minor bass kills on Lake Ferguson, Lake Whittington and Tunica Cutoff. LMBV sometimes causes a cheesy substance to build up in the fish's air bladder, and in worst cases, loss of equilibrium and death. External sores may be on bass with LMBV. Although not the cause of death, they may be symptomatic of recent stresses. LMBV was first identified in 1995 from a bass kill in Santee-Cooper Reservoir, South Carolina, and has since been found throughout the Southeast, including causing a significant bass kill in famed Lake Fork, Texas last summer. MDWFP and MSU biologists joined with other Southeastern government and university researchers in February 2000, at an LMBV meeting sponsored by the Bass Anglers Sportman's Society (BASS). Disease experts were somewhat optimistic since LMBV has not caused massive kills of largemouth bass or other species. Many state agency personnel, especially from Texas and Mississippi, were concerned since fish were dying in their most popular bass waters. MDWFP and MSU have led the charge in studying LMBV in public waters. LMBV does not appear to cause kills year after year in the same lake. Like the flu and other viruses in human and animal populations, most bass seem to recuperate, and the fishery rebounds. Fisheries biologist from several states have noticed that angler success on LMBV infected waters may decline even if sampling revealed bass numbers are stable. The cause, along with mode of transportation and the long term effects on bass populations, are unknown. "LMBV has never been known to infect humans, so bass are safe to handle and eat," Dr. Hanson advises. "It appears to spread from bass to bass and possibly in water. Anglers should not transfer bass, their parts, or water from one place to another." MDWFP urges bass anglers to help restrict the spread and severity of the disease. "LMBV kills when fish are stressed, such as when fish are held for long periods in live wells," Hanson said. "Anglers are requested to voluntarily limit summer bass tournaments or change their format on lakes were LMBV has been found. Please clean and disinfect live wells with bleach when traveling between lakes. Not a lot can be done for viral diseases in wild animal populations," Hanson explained. "There is no present cure for LMBV. Viruses are notoriously hard to control, even in humans. Most fish diseases just have to run their course." Anyone noticing a fish kill on public waters should notify the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality at (601) 664-3900.

BOTTOMLAND HARDWOODS FORESTER RECEIVES PRESIDENTIAL AWARD - Emile Gardiner has been named as one of the recipients of the fourth annual Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientist and Engineers. A research forester with the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station in Stoneville, Mississippi, Gardiner was recognized for sustained productivity and exceptional promise of significant future achievement for research on oak ecophysiology and the regeneration biology of bottomland hardwood forest ecosystems. Gardiner earned his PhD in forestry and ecophysiology at Mississippi State University in 1994 and now conducts research at the USDA Forest Service's Center for Bottomland Hardwood Research in Stoneville, Mississippi.

QUAIL Recovery PLAN BEING DEVELOPED - The bobwhite quail has long been one of the most-loved birds in North America, especially in the Southeast and Mississippi, where quail are a treasured part of our outdoor heritage. Bobwhites also are one of the most imperiled game species in the continent. Across most of their range, bobwhites have declined by 70 to 90 percent since 1966, with an annual rate of decline of 4 to 6 percent in states across their core range. The relatively simple tried-and-true restoration techniques for most past wildlife management successes have proven to be ineffective for bobwhites. Past successes require relatively simple measures, such as protection of remaining populations, restocking unoccupied suitable habitats with relocated wild individuals and protection of certain key habitats where large numbers of individuals congregate. However, bobwhites are short-lived birds with explosive reproductive potential in good habitats, but low pioneering ability. They typically occupy vast expanses of the privately owned landscape at low densities, without congregating in key, influential habitats that could be acquired and managed publicly. Although many factors affect bobwhite populations, widespread habitat degradation due to modern patterns and intensity of land use generally is accepted as the underlying cause of population declines. Thus, the key to success is influencing the human use and management of private land on a large scale across much of the bobwhite range. But wildlife managers have enjoyed only limited success in restoring species dependent on widespread improvements to privately owned habitat. On the positive side, the ecology and population dynamics of bobwhites may be better studied and understood than for any other bird species in North America. Finally, public interest in halting bobwhite declines seems higher than ever. A team of wildlife managers affiliated with the Southeast Quail Study Group, an arm of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is a member) is developing the first-ever, range-wide recovery plan for bobwhites. The purpose is to unite, mobilize and guide myriads of conservationists interested in helping quail and to provide the basis for securing additional financial and programmatic resources. The plan will be modeled after the successful North American Waterfowl Management Plan. The upcoming quail plan will strive to restore populations to the level of about 1980, relying largely on habitat improvement opportunities on cropland, grazing land and pine or mixed pine/hardwood forests. The first draft of the plan is expected to be available for public review by the end of the year.

MARC REISNER: 1949-2000 - The nation's conservation community suffered a tremendous loss on July 21 when Marc Reisner, author of the influential book "Cadillac Desert," passed away at his home in California, after a prolonged bout with lymphoma. Reisner was a familiar sight in the conservation community and a friend of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation, where he forged friendships and valuable working relationships with rice farmers he once criticized. The public may best remember Reisner for "Cadillac Desert," which was ranked by the Modern Library as one of the top 100 most notable English-language works of nonfiction in the 20th century. Closer to home, Reisner wrote "Game Wars," which was about poaching in the Lower Mississippi Valley. "Marc Reisner was a pragmatist who sought enduring solutions for environmental problems," said Bob Herkert, environmental affairs manager for the California Rice Commission. "His love of the natural world ran so true that he was willing to buck the standard conventions of conflict." Although once critical of rice farming for its use of water, Reisner recognized the importance of flooded rice fields as winter habitat for waterfowl. Although some in the environmental community felt betrayed by Reisner's revised, positive views towards agriculture in recent years, many recognized his valuable contributions. Marc Reisner is survived by his wife, Lawrie Mott, and two daughters.