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- Mammalogy: Conservation efforts for the Franklin’s ground squirrel
- Ornithology: High rise hunters: Highlights from Indiana’s 2024 peregrine falcon nesting season
- Herpetology: Kirtland’s snake survey yields data on 57 individual snakes
- Aquatics: Understanding greater redhorse distribution in the Pigeon River
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 Conservation efforts for the Franklin’s ground squirrel
The Franklin’s ground squirrel is a state-endangered mammal that can be found in grassy habitats of northwest Indiana. Forty years ago, it occurred across 16 counties in the state, but today, its distribution has dwindled to a few counties. This change is likely due to the impact of human activity on land use over the past 50 years. But not all of the human activity has been harmful. Properties managed by land trusts, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and DNR can provide recreational opportunities for humans while simultaneously creating conservation possibilities for wildlife.
During the past couple of years, the DNR mammalogy program developed a strategy to reestablish Franklin’s ground squirrel populations in areas where they historically occurred. Program staff planned to identify suitable habitat for the species to establish and grow within, and then introduce the squirrels to that habitat, with the hope that this would allow them to reproduce and expand out from these managed lands.
DNR couldn’t have started this project without the help of our community partners. DNR mammalogists collaborated with Delta Waterfowl and South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks to identify an area for potential source populations. The Nature Conservancy offered a perfect destination for this project: the Efroymson Prairie at Kankakee Sands. Researchers at Purdue University Fort Wayne were selected to collect the squirrels from South Dakota and monitor them through their release in Indiana.
Researchers collected 25 adult Franklin’s ground squirrels and brought them to Indiana. While the squirrels were in quarantine, some of the females gave birth and successfully added another 16 juveniles to the translocation efforts. The team assembled release enclosures using materials purchased with donations to the Indiana Nongame Wildlife Fund. These enclosures mimicked the squirrels’ natural burrow while maximizing their safety from predators. After applying radio-telemetry collars to the squirrels, they were monitored in the release enclosure for a week while they acclimated to their new habitat.
The final portion of this summer’s conservation project was left up to the squirrels – they had to survive on their own. After release, many of the squirrels dispersed and made their own burrows, while some remained inside and around the release enclosures. A few individuals slipped off their collars shortly thereafter, and a few were predated by badgers. While these results may seem disappointing, researchers accounted for a certain amount of loss so that it didn’t compromise their project. The project’s success can be measured by the squirrels’ survival through three phases: surviving autumn, surviving winter, and having successful breeding season next spring. As of early November, the researchers have tracked a few Franklin’s ground squirrels to the burrows they are hibernating within.
As researchers continue to monitor the first cohort of squirrels, they’ll also bring in the second cohort of squirrels in 2025. The results of this monitoring program will inform DNR mammalogists on what criteria make for successful translocations of this state-endangered squirrel to improve future conservation efforts. If you happen to be exploring Kankakee Sands next summer, look around for some mammals grazing on the prairie grasses. You might be lucky enough to spot a Franklin’s ground squirrel foraging near bison.
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High rise hunters: Highlights from Indiana’s 2024 peregrine falcon nesting season
An iconic predator of urban and cliffside habitats, the peregrine falcon had a successful year of nesting in Indiana. During their breeding season, 12 successful nests fledged 35 peregrine falcon chicks. Of the 35 chicks, biologists banded 19 with silver federal bands and blue/black field-readable bands.
These nests can be found throughout the state in various habitats. The most common nesting sites for a peregrine falcon in Indiana are nesting boxes on top of tall buildings near waterways and power plants. Many of these industrial areas also have nesting boxes, but as the peregrine population increases, more birds are choosing to nest on smokestacks, high beams, and eaves. With another successful breeding season completed, biologists predict that the peregrine falcon population in Indiana will continue to thrive across the state. If you have seen peregrine falcon nesting near you, please email the DNR Raptor Survey Coordinator, Grace LeCuyer, at glecuyer@dnr.IN.gov.
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Kirtland’s snake survey yields data on 57 individual snakes
The DNR herpetology program has concluded their annual surveys for Kirtland’s snakes in collaboration with Sycamore Land Trust (SLT). A component of the study has involved an examination of the snake’s habitat use, population size, and movement patterns at a site in Monroe County. This year, herpetologists identified 57 individual Kirtland’s snakes of varying sizes and ages at this site using facial recognition patterns on the snake’s head—specifically, comparing pigment patterns along the labial (“lip”) scales. One interesting habitat observation has been the snake’s occurrence in a no-till soybean field, which is an unusual habitat feature for the species.
The DNR and SLT are developing plans for additional survey work next year. Kirtland’s snakes are state endangered and currently under review by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to determine if their listing on the federal endangered species list is warranted. If granted, a listing would afford the species protection on a national level. Kirtland’s snake data collected through the DNR-SLT partnership is being used in the USFWS’s range-wide conservation assessment.
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 Understanding greater redhorse distribution in the Pigeon River
There are currently 20 sucker species in Indiana waters, and a species of sucker can be found in nearly every body of water in the state. The greater redhorse is the rarest and the only Species of Greatest Conservation Need from the sucker family. While the greater redhorse is known to occur in portions of three major drainages of the state – Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and the Ohio River – its overall distribution and population dynamics are still not well understood.
During the past few years, DNR aquatics biologists have worked to better understand the greater redhorse’s distribution and abundance in the Pigeon River (Lake Michigan drainage – tributary to the St. Joseph River) in extreme northeast Indiana. A series of dams on the Pigeon River in LaGrange County make management of the species even more complicated, fragmenting populations, blocking upstream migrations, and effecting reproduction/larval drift.
With the help of the district fisheries biologist, DNR aquatics staff used boat electrofishing sampling techniques to verify the greater redhorse’s presence in the reach between the Nasby and Mongo dams (the most upstream dam), and the reach downstream of the Ontario dam (the most downstream dam). Only single individuals were collected in both locations, and none were collected in the reach between the Ontario and Nasby dams.
Sampling efforts will continue in future years. Without more information on the distribution and abundance of Indiana’s rarest sucker species, it is difficult to manage them correctly and move toward removing them from our Species of Greatest Conservation Need list.
If you think you may have caught a greater redhorse while fishing, email FishID@dnr.IN.gov. All state endangered fish are protected, and if caught, they must be released unharmed into the same body of water from which they were caught.
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Follow the Division of Fish & Wildlife on Facebook and Instagram for stories and videos about conservation work done here in Indiana. If you want to contribute to this crucial work, consider donating to the Nongame Wildlife Fund, which serves as match for the Indiana DNR to receive federal funding that supports rare and endangered species conservation work.
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