Wildlife, Fish, and Marine Life Newsletter

Be Alert for Deer During Mating Season

Recent news reports of white-tailed deer entering stores are a reminder for everyone that the mating season (or rut) has begun. Deer can show increased and sometimes erratic activity as their hormone levels rise. Drivers should be especially vigilant for deer near roads over the next few months, particularly in the evening and early morning. Vehicle collisions with deer are dangerous and expensive, and happen most frequently at this time of year. Human-deer conflicts are exacerbated by deer overabundance in many urban and suburban areas of New York.
Photo by Susan Shafer.

DEC Collects Freshwater Mussels Before Grasse River Dredging Project

A team of biologists from DEC’s Bureau of Habitat just wrapped up several weeks of collecting freshwater mussels from the lower Grasse River in St. Lawrence County, ahead of an upcoming dredging and capping project. Divers collected over 4,000 mussels representing seven species, including the pink heelsplitter (pictured). They focused on collecting rare mussel species and species of greatest conservation need. Over 2,000 of these mussels have been placed in specially designed holding cages set up within “safe zones.” The goal is to reintroduce the mussels after the river bottom habitat has been reconstructed. This project is a cooperative effort involving multiple agencies and is being funded by Return a Gift to Wildlife.

DEC Invites Public to Comment on Draft Lake Sturgeon Recovery Plan

DEC invites public comments on the Draft Lake Sturgeon Recovery Plan, last updated in 2005. Since then, new guidance that defines viable spawning populations in the Great Lakes has been published. The New York recovery plan separates the historic range of lake sturgeon into seven management units based on distribution of known sturgeon populations, movement within and among populations, and the genetic structure of lake sturgeon populations across the state.

The recovery plan aims to maintain the species in NYS, restore self-sustaining populations, and remove the species from the Threatened Species list in New York by 2024. To comment on the plan, send an email with the subject line "Lake Sturgeon" to rarefish@dec.ny.gov or send written comments via U.S. Mail to: Lisa Holst, Rare Fish Unit Leader, NYS DEC Bureau of Fisheries, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233. Comments will be accepted through November 25, 2017.