FLTWS 2022 Spring Meeting
Thursday, March 24, 2022
VIRTUAL + FIELD TRIPS!
The annual Spring Meeting of the Florida Chapter of The Wildlife Society will be held virtually on Thursday, March 24, followed by optional in-person field trips around the state (limited to small groups).
The meeting theme is Wildlife Movement: Natural and Unnatural.
Keynote will focus on Wildlife Corridors and the Symposium on Translocations.
Registration is only $45 for non-members, $35 for members (use discount code MEMBER during checkout), and $10 for students (use discount code STUDENT during checkout).
PLEASE NOTE: Registration deadline for the conference and the field trips is March 21.
AGENDA
Thursday, March 24
8:00 - 8:45 Virtual Morning Coffee Social with 7 different discussion rooms you can mingle in:
Prescribed Fire
Transportation Effects on Wildlife
FLTWS Questions, Concern, Suggestions for the President
Birds
Herps
Bats
Mammals (other than bats)
9:00-12:00 Symposium: Translocation (ABSTRACTS)
Get the latest information on the translocation efforts for several species throughout Florida and then engage with our presenters during a lively panel discussion.
9:00–9:05 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO TRANSLOCATION Karl E. Miller, Symposium Chair
9:05–9:25 POOR SURVIVAL OF CAPTIVE-REARED KEY LARGO WOODRATS RELEASED ON A CAT-FREE ISLAND Daniel Greene
9:25–9:40 SUCCESSFUL TRANSLOCATION OF THE FLORIDA SCRUB LIZARD IN PALM BEACH COUNTY Kevin Enge
9:40–10:00 EFFECTS OF TRANSLOCATION ON GOPHER FROG SURVIVAL AND MOVEMENT Traci Castellón and Anna Deyle
10:00–10:15 MONITORING THE SUCCESS OF GOPHER TORTOISE TRANSLOCATIONS IN FLORIDA Katharine Richardson
10:15–10:35 REINTRODUCTION OF BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCHES TO JONATHAN DICKINSON STATE PARK Jim Cox
10:35–10:55 A SUCCESSFUL NEW METHOD FOR TRANSLOCATING FLORIDA SCRUB-JAY FAMILY GROUPS Karl E. Miller
10:55–11:15 TRANSLOCATION OF CAPTIVE-BRED FLORIDA GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS TO AUGMENT A WILD POPULATION Juan Oteyza
11:15–11:35 RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER TRANSLOCATION HISTORY AND FUTURE POTENTIAL CHALLENGES Will McDearman
11:35–12:00 TRANSLOCATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Panel Discussion with Q&A
12:15-12:55 Lunch
Speed Networking in the Lunchroom – You will be randomly paired with a fellow biologist for 3 minutes, then off you go to meet someone else! Great way to meet new people you may not otherwise have felt comfortable walking up to. Awesome way to reconnect with old friends you haven’t talked to in a while.
1:00-2:00 Keynote Speakers: The Florida Wildlife Corridor
Join conservation photographer and National Geographic explorer, Carlton Ward, and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation’s Chief Conservation Officer, Jason Lauritsen, for an update on the progress to safeguard the critical landscape connections that sustain Florida’s best wild places.
2:00-2:55 Awards Presentations and Business Meeting
3:00-5:00 Technical Session (ABSTRACTS)
3:00–3:15 Movement patterns of wading birds as a mechanism linking freshwater wetlands and coastal ecosystems in the Greater Everglades. A. R. Sharp, D. E. Gawlik, M. Petersen. (STUDENT)
3:15–3:30 Pervasive invasives: Florida range limits for two priority nonnative reptiles. H. Bevan and D. Jenkins (STUDENT)
3:30–3:45 Water-works? Effects of hydrologic restoration on the foraging behavior of the endangered Florida bonneted bat. L. P. Nicholson, E. C. Braun de Torrez, H. K. Ober (STUDENT)
3:45–4:00 Are some bats snowbirds? The summer origins of tricolored bats overwintering in Florida caves. L. M. Smith, J. A. Gore, T. J. Doonan, and C. J. Campbell.
4:00–4:15 Effects of translocation on American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) movements and habitat use in South Florida. A. Brunell, V. Deem, C. Hackett, B. Bankovich, F. Bled, S. Farris, and F. J. Mazzotti
4:15–4:30 Efforts to reestablish a self-sustaining population of striped newts in the Apalachicola National Forest. R. C. Means and R. P. M. Means
4:30–4:45 Residential development and resource selection in urban Florida burrowing owls. E. H. White Rose and R. K. Boughton
4:45–5:00 A decade of population dynamics on two medium-sized Florida scrub-jay sites. M. Folk
5:15-6:00 Happy Hour!
Grab a beverage of your choice and chat with some of the biologists working in your local area. No topic, just an opportunity to find out what is happening in your neck of the woods (pun intended). Groups divided by region:
Northwest
North Central
Northeast
Central
Southwest
Southeast
FIELD TRIPS
In-person field trips will be held in small groups around the state to give members an opportunity to see some of the great projects going on within Florida’s corridors. This is also an opportunity to catch up with other members in person, in a safer outdoor setting than a large conference venue could allow. To minimize travel, trips are provided at a variety of locations. To minimize work and school conflict, trips are provided on a variety of days, including the weekends. A maximum of 10 people will be permitted per trip, with the exception of Archbold/Buck Island (min. 10, max 15). Pre-registration required, but there is no additional cost. Limit one trip per person. Summary of dates and times below, followed by detailed trip information.
Saturday, March 26
9:00-1:00 Bike Tour of the Cross Florida Greenway and Wildlife Corridor
Near Ocala (bring your own mountain bike)
9:00-Noon Striped Newt Repatriation Project 1-Mile Hike
Apalachicola National Forest, meet near Tallahassee
Friday, April 1
9:00-Noon Wetland Preserve Golf Cart Tour
Near Rice Creek Conservation Area in Palatka
Saturday, April 2
9:00-11:00 Apalachicola National Forest 4X4 Tour
Meet in Bristol (bring your own 4X4 truck or make plans to ride with someone on the trip that has one)
9:00-12:30 Swamp Buggy Tour of St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park – Fellsmere
Sunday, April 3
9:00am - 4:00 pm Archbold Biological Station and Buck Island Ranch
Morning tour of Archbold Biological Station, then buggy tour of Buck Island Ranch after lunch (bring your own lunch).
Field Trips:
Wetland Preserve. Friday, April 1st 9:00- Noon
Come meet two amazing stewards of land and conservation Ben and Louann Williams, Florida’s Land Steward of the Year in 2019, Project Learning Tree UFs Partner of the Year in 2020 and Florida Tree Farm of the Year in 2021. Just to name a few of their accomplishments. Come see this beautiful 3,700-acre private parcel that sits in the center of a unique wildlife corridor in North Central Florida. This wildlife corridor is 100-miles-long and not yet fully protected. A partnership of 25 Federal, State, non-government organizations, as well as private landowners, led by the North Florida Land Trust, are all coming together to complete a mission of protecting and connecting this corridor. This private property is an excellent example of coordination and partnerships. Come hear the experience of these landowners helping to connect this wildlife corridor and travel the property to see the experimental management techniques and partner building they have done over the years. This property also accesses St. Johns River Water Management District’s Rice Creek Conservation Area, that holds some of the largest Cypress trees that are accessible by a walking trail.
Apalachicola National Forest. Saturday, April 2nd 9:00am -11:00am All wheel needed!
Come visit this amazing North Florida National Forest. Home to some of the most unique animal and plant species in the world. Visit the forest with the Forest Service biologist Brenton Holt and learn about their land management techniques that are restoring and maintaining areas for their unique species. Take a glimpse at creative management areas that are creating corridors for safe passage of Red Cockaded Woodpeckers between healthy and damaged forest areas after hurricane damage. Please bring an all-wheel or 4-wheel drive vehicle to travers the forest during this field trip.
Bike Tour of the Cross Florida Greenway and Wildlife Corridor. Saturday, March 26th 9:00am-1:00pm Mountain Bike needed!
This field trip will be on bikes! Located near Ocala just off I-75 you will enjoy a chance to travel through multiple wildlife crossings that help to connect the Cross Florida Greenway. This mountain biking tour will encounter two county road underpasses as well as a large overpass over I-75. The tour will be on single track trails starting at the Land Bridge Trailhead on SW 16th Avenue in Ocala and venturing 9 miles to the underpass at State Road 484. You will be led by Robin Boughton, the leader of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Research Program. Robin will talk about wildlife that has been documented by game cameras using these wildlife crossings, as well as the history of the Cross Florida Barge Canal that once was plotted to cross Florida in this exact location.
Bring your mountain bike, helmet, water, and snacks. Come and enjoy a day tracing the path of history that is now connecting wildlife and people to conservation lands in North Central Florida.
Striped Newt Repatriation Project in Apalachicola National Forest. Saturday, March 26th 9:00am-12:00pm
Rebecca Means of Coastal Plains Institute (CPI) will guide us on a 1 mile hike through the longleaf pine forest to their research site in the Apalachicola National Forest and share details of their striped newt repatriation project. Depending on rainfall and water levels, we may check pitfall traps that capture amphibians moving into and out of the wetlands including, if we are lucky, the rare striped newt. If we are unlucky, we will still have the opportunity to see some great inverts, carnivorous plants, and other sandhills fauna and flora. We may also have the opportunity to dipnet an ephemeral wetland and learn more about the species that depend on these unique landscape features.
Directions: We will meet a 9:00 am off of Crawfordville Hwy: From Tallahassee, drive 1.5 miles south on Crawfordville Hwy from Cap Circle to the intersection with Rivers Road. Use the left turn lane to make a U-turn so you are heading back north up Crawfordville Hwy. Turn right just after crossing the bridge over Munson Slough (there is a brown sign just before the bridge). Don’t be tempted to go to the street after, that actually has a street sign…We will meet at the large retention pond where there is plenty of room to park.
St Sebastian River Preserve State Park. Saturday, April 2nd 9:00am - 12:30pm
St. Sebastian River Preserve is home to over 50 protected species. Come travel by swamp buggy with your amazing leader Samantha McGee, the state parks Environmental Specialist for the last 20 years! She will drive you to the northeast quadrant of this state park to learn about their restoration and management efforts that have contributed to the success of their Red-Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) population recovery, and also made it possible to become a translocation donor population for brown-headed nuthatches. This totally cool state park with even cooler employees will be a beautiful location to hear their stories of translocation: from being a recipient population for RCWs, to being a donor population for brown-headed nuthatches. Please bring your own drinking water for your trip as well as hats and sunscreen.
Archbold Biological Station and Buck Island Ranch, Sunday, April 3rd 9:00am - 4:00pm
Archbold Biological Station and the Archbold Reserve comprise a 8,840-acre preserve located in the Florida scrub, and in the headwaters of the Everglades, making it one of the most distinctive natural habitats in the United States. Nearby Buck Island Ranch is a 10.5-thousand-acre cow-calf operation with a mission of ecological, economic, and cultural sustainability. Both sites are known for their long-term and groundbreaking research focused on the organisms and environments of the Lake Wales Ridge. Join the Station’s Predator Prey Program Director, Joe Guthrie (and Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition member), as well as Executive Director, Dr. Hilary Swain, on a tour of both Archbold and Buck Island. In the morning, attendees will learn about Archbold’s history of research, conservation, and education, and hike through one of America’s most endangered habitats, the Florida scrub. After lunch, the group will take a buggy tour of Buck Island Ranch. Possible species to see include crested caracara, Florida scrub-jay, gopher tortoise, feral hog, white-tailed deer, and more.
Itinerary
9:00 AM: Arrival, introductions at Station, Frances Archbold Hufty Learning Center (123 Main Drive, Venus, FL)
9:15: Discuss the Florida Wildlife Corridor, Corridor Observatory, camera traps with Predator Prey Program Director, Joe Guthrie
10:00: Walking tour/hike of Station, see some camera locations, habitats with Executive Director, Hilary Swain and Joe Guthrie
12:00: Lunch (bring your own) at Learning Center (Closest food options are 15 minutes or more, please bring a lunch!)
1:00: Drive to Buck Island Ranch (transportation not provided to Ranch, take your own cars, entrance is 10.5 miles from Archbold)
1:30: Buggy tour of Ranch with Hilary Swain (approximately 2.5 hours)
4:00-ish: Depart Buck Island Ranch
Participants must also register on the Archbold website and sign a Release of Liability. After completing your FLTWS registration for the field trip, please visit https://www.archbold-station.org/html/temp/onlnsem/ws_4322.html to sign the release for Archbold.
A minimum of 10 attendees required for field trip to occur and up to 15 total. Cost to members is free but individual donations to Archbold are possible, if desired, through their website when signing the release waiver.
Conference Registration is $45
USE Discount Code MEMBER for $35 price or STUDENT for $10 price
Field trips are free with registration
Discount option appears on final check out screen when you enter payment info.