Flotte’s Notes on
Wildlife
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of Mobile & Baldwin Counties
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Alabama Wildlife Organizations
Alabama Cooperative
Extension Service
·
o At the bottom of one pine tree is a V-shaped cut, and
beneath the cut, affixed to the tree, is a wide metal cup. In the earliest
days, a wedge was made with an ax. Later, acid was used. The open area on the
tree was known as the face. The sap, oozing from the face, filled the cup. The
cups filled barrels. The barrels were loaded onto wagons and taken to stills.
From that sap, an entire industry came about, with turpentine and tar used in
everything from ship's caulking to paint thinner. Longleaf and slash pine were
the source of turpentine. The industry of turpentining
was called "naval stores." According to a book on turpentining,
"Treasures of the Longleaf Pine" by Carroll Butler: "The naval
stores terminology originally referred to those products produced that were an
essential part of a wooden ship's stores, including tar, pitch, masts, spars,
etc. The production of tar and pitch dates back to 500 B.C., with earth-covered
tar kilns used to produce the tar.
"Pitch used in caulking wooden vessels meant the difference between
life and death for the crew. The production of tar and pitch was closely linked
with the gum naval stores industry, since both shared a common raw material
provided by the longleaf and slash pine tree." – PR 6/3/07
·
·
Red cedar grows
throughout the state; southern white cedar is found in the southwest, hemlock
in the north.
·
Other native
trees include hackberry, ash, and holly, with species of palmetto and palm in
the
·
There are more than
150 shrubs, mountain laurel and rhododendron among them.
·
Cultivated
plants include wisteria and camellia, the state flower.
·
More than 3,000 Live
Oak trees in
·
Ninety-seven
animals, fish, and birds (including the Alabama beach mouse, gray bat, Alabama red-belly turtle, finback and humpback whales,
bald eagle, and wood stork), and eighteen plant species were listed as endangered species as of 2003 by the US
Fish and Wildlife Service.
·
·
In a state where
large herds of bison, elk, bear, and deer once roamed, only the white-tailed deer remains abundant.
·
Other mammals
still found are the
·
The fairly
common raccoon, opossum, rabbit, squirrel, and red and gray foxes are also
native, while nutria and armadillo have been introduced to the state.
·
·
Freshwater fish
such as bream, shad, bass, and sucker are common.
·
The
o In 1993 the Fish & Wildlife Service proposed
putting the sturgeon -- once plentiful in the rivers that drain into
o In 2007 a federal appeals court ruled in 2007 that
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service acted properly in determining that the
o It's unclear how soon the Fish & Wildlife Service
will decide what portion of the state's rivers should be listed as critical
habitat. Critical habitat is usually described as the minimum area needed for
the species to recover and thrive.
·
In
o The bear prefer to live in thick, brushy, spring-fed
creeks.
·
The gopher
tortoise is listed as both a threatened and endangered species throughout a
portion of its range, and due to development pressures
and forest management practices is quickly declining throughout the rest.
o Gopher tortoise habitat extends through most of
o These locations contain the last remnants of the once
expansive longleaf pine ecosystem, which provides ideal conditions for tortoise
survival - well-drained, sandy soils
allow the tortoise to easily dig burrows, and the open canopy allows passage
of sunlight necessary for the development of low, herbaceous plant growth for
food.
o The loss of the tortoise's native ecosystem to
agricultural conversion, urbanization, fire suppression, invasive species, and
intensive forestry resulted in the tortoise being added in 1987 to the
threatened species list within the western portion of the animal's range,
including
o The loss of the tortoise throughout its range could
have a cascading effect on wildlife populations as ecologists have found over
360 species making some use or relying on the burrows created by gopher
tortoises.
o The tortoise is found in twenty-two counties across
south
o In 2000 the
o
A conservation bank established by the
Mobile Area Water and Sewer System (MAWSS) in 2001 offers help to county
residents, allowing development to continue while restoring and permanently
protecting the longleaf pine habitat that the tortoise prefers. MAWSS owns a
7,000-acre forest that buffers and protects the county's water supply. Portions
of the property contained longleaf pine, much of which was degraded due to fire
suppression, hardwood encroachment, and invasive species. As a result,
the area no longer supported many tortoises. Now, under the terms of its
conservation bank, MAWSS has agreed to set aside 222 acres, forgo any
development, and manage it in perpetuity for the benefit of gopher tortoises.
Landowners who want to build on tortoise habitat elsewhere in
·
o Nearly all of the turtles that die on the Causeway
are the
o Red-bellies are vegetarians and large for a
freshwater species, with adults sporting shells more than a foot long and
weighing 10 pounds or more. Scientists report that they live for up to 60 years
and don't begin to reproduce until they are about 6 years old.
o The turtles nest on most of the large islands that
can be seen from the Causeway, where they face a number of threats, including
raccoons, feral hogs and alligators. Eggs laid in shallow depressions dug out
of the sand by the females are vulnerable to all of those predators as well as
birds, in particular fish crows and boat-tailed grackles, both exceptionally
common. Those birds are known for a particular fondness for just-laid turtle
eggs.
·
Fire ants
entered the
·
Quantified
economic impacts of ABM conservation efforts are estimated to be $18.3 million
to $51.9 million over 20 years
·
Wildlife
biologists have said that beach mice play an important role in maintaining sand
dunes that are the first line of defense against storm surge by spreading sea
oats.
·
Due to local
permitting requirements, many landowners on the
·
1985
·
1996 U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service issues incidental take permits (ITPs)
for Beach Club and
·
1998 The Sierra
Club and the Biodiversity Legal Foundation petition the Service to revise CH
for the
·
2002 Lawsuit is
filed by the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity alleging that
the Service violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to revise CH for
beach mice and that the revision was withheld or unreasonably delayed under the
Administrative Procedure Act. U.S. District Judge Charles Butler Jr. temporarily
halted the construction and sent the matter back to the Fish & Wildlife
Service for further review.
·
2006 Proposed
rule proposing CH revision for the ABM of 1,326 acres published. Public comment
period opened on the proposed CH revision and draft economic analysis.
·
In March 1007
three environmental groups joined in a suit against the federal government and
developers of two long-planned, long-delayed condominium projects in
·
After trying for
more than two years to gain the ability to issue special permits for single-family
home construction within the habitat of the endangered
o Starting in 2004,
o While individual property owners have traditionally
sought such permits on their own, the process of obtaining one is lengthy,
lasting up to two years in some instances. It was the intention of Gulf Shores
and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials to place one permit over the mouse's
entire range -- dune and scrub habitat that is encompassed entirely by the
city's planning jurisdiction -- to expedite the permit process for the owners
of about 500 undeveloped lots on the Fort Morgan peninsula. Commercial and
multifamily developments would have remained subject to federal review under
the plan.
·
Bill Pearson,
field supervisor for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Daphne office, said
his staff has been primarily occupied with court-ordered tasks related to a
host of lawsuits filed in recent years against the agency. In those suits,
environmental groups alleged that the government wasn't doing enough to protect
the endangered species and the regulators were ordered to re-evaluate
protection measures and permits issued to condominium developers.
·
Since the first
of the lawsuits was filed in 2003, the service has, in three batches, issued
incidental take permits to about 100 landowners wanting to build houses.
Jubilee
·
Jubilee is the name used locally for a natural phenomenon that
occurs from time to time on the shores of
·
Jubilees only happen on warm summer nights, often in the
early pre-dawn hours.
·
No one knows, for certain, what causes a jubilee. One
theory revolves around oxygen depletion caused by decay of organic material
settling on the bottom of the bay, a process that is accelerated during the
summer. Coupled with certain climatic conditions, this is 
believed to drive the
seafood toward the shore in search for more oxygen-rich water.
·
Although jubilees have been reported in other regions,
·
Jubilees cannot be predicted with certainty. Local
folklore offers some clues: the water is calm the day before and during the
event itself; the wind is gentle and blowing from the east; the tide is rising;
and, the sky is cloudy or overcast
Gulf Marine Life
·
Along the
·
Recreational
anglers have seen the allowable daily catch of red snapper drop from a
10-fish-per-day bag limit and a year-round season to the 2006 limits of a
four-fish-per-day bag limit and a six-month fishing season running April
21-Oct. 31.
·
The Gulf of
Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council), in conjunction with the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), has been charged with the task of
managing the marine resources of the gulf since Congress created eight regional
fishery councils in 1976. During the past several years, the council developed
and deployed a plan to end over-fishing and to rebuild the red snapper stock by
2032.
·
Sea turtles nest
on Gulf beaches from mid-May through mid-August. Turtles nest at night, usually
on moonless or dark nights.
·
Sharks:
The dominant species inshore are blacktips, Atlantic sharpnose, finetooth
and bull sharks.
o The sharpnose and finetooth are small species, topping out at less than 5
feet.
o Blacktips may reach 6 feet and about 100 pounds, but are not
considered a threat to people.
o The bull shark, implicated in most
o Under
o Local fishermen in the Delta have reported catching
sharks as far north as
·
Red Tide
is a dense collection of tiny dinoflagellate
organisms that resemble reddish algae. There are always a few such organisms in
the Gulf waters, but under favorable conditions, they "bloom" and
begin reproducing at a very high rate. When concentrations near 100,000 cells
per liter of water, the toxins produced by the dense conglomeration of
organisms can cause fish kills, and may irritate swimmers. Oyster beds are
closed when the waters surrounding them show red tide concentrations higher
than 5,000 cells per liter.
·
Cownose ray populations in
Roads to Reefs
·
Roads to Reefs
is an artificial reef building partnership between the Alabama Department of
Conservation - Marine Resources Division, the Mobile County Engineering
Department, the Alabama State Docks, Mobile County Wildlife and Conservation
Association, the Alabama Wildlife Federation, the Coastal Conservation Association
- Alabama, the Alabama Seafood Association, Choctaw Pipe, Inc., Bayou Block,
Inc. , Austal LLC, and Woolpert,
LLP.
·
A total of 10
reefs have been constructed in
·
Choctaw Pass
Reef, Bender/AUSTAL Reef (Hollinger's
·
Four of the
fishing reefs serve as dual purpose reefs as oyster nursery areas.
·
The reefs are
constructed from recycled concrete block, concrete culvert pipe and oyster
cultch material.
Shucking an oyster
1) Place oyster, flat side up, on a
hard surface, and with the hinged end facing you, insert the oyster knife
halfway up the right side for quick access to the adductor muscle. (Another
variation calls for inserting knife at the oyster's hinged end and working
around.)
2) Work the knife along the top side of the shell to sever the adductor without
doing other damage to the oyster.
3) Lift the top shell off, then work the knife under
the oyster to free it from the bottom shell.
·
Southeastern conifer forests (NA0529):
o
This ecoregion is known for the long-leaf pine trees that once dominated the area. Trees reach 60
to 70 feet (18 to 21 m). On the ground, among the fallen pine needles, grow
clumps of wiregrass. When intact,
this area was the largest forest of conifers east of the
o
The
fire-maintained longleaf pine - wiregrass forests may have contained the
richest temperate herbaceous flora on earth with 3417 herbaceous and shrub
species. Tree diversity and endemism are highest in this ecoregion and it also ranks in the top ten for amphibian,
reptile, and bird richness. The red-cockaded
woodpecker and the gopher tortoise
are both endangered species. Gopher tortoises are important to other animals in
the ecoregion because nearly 400 other species use
their burrows. The coastal areas of this region are important habitat for migratory birds. These light, open
forests have some of the richest spring wildflower
communities anywhere.
o
Virtually all of
the long-leaf pine forests are gone, either replaced by mixed hardwood forests
as a result of fire suppression or converted to agriculture or trees farms
(i.e. slash pine) for lumber or paper pulp. Only two percent of the original
habitat remains, and much of this is in small pieces. The reduction in frequent
fires, which kept the forests open and prevented catastrophic burns, is a major
problem.
·
Southeastern
mixed forests (NA0413):
o
This ecoregion ranks among the top 10 in the
o
The Southeastern
Mixed Forests ecoregion is the most heavily settled ecoregion along the east coast of the
o
The most
dominant ecological force in shaping both composition
and structure of the Southeastern Mixed Forests ecoregion,
prior to European settlement, was fire. Fire disturbance favored the growth of
oaks and provided good seed beds for pines, which were a much more dominant
part of these forests back then.
o
Pines and
hardwood trees such as oaks and hickories spread their canopies over cedar and
holly trees. Dogwood and redbud fill the understory
and add color in spring and fall. White-tailed deer, black bears, and box
turtles explore the woods, while luna moths and
flying squirrels glide quietly through the evening forests.
Wildlife and
Outdoor Organizations
·
Mobile County Wildlife and Conservation Association was organized in 1934 by
Hubert Kimborough, with Fred Stimpson,
Ernest Ladd Jr, and Ben Turner as officers. It is the longest serving wildlife
organization in the state.
Eastern Shore Inshore Sportsmen
Alabama
Wildlife Federation was
established in 1935.
Governmental Wildlife Agencies
Alabama Division of
Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries
Auburn University
Aquaculture and Fisheries Homepage
Aquaculture
·
Tilapia are
several closely related species that are widely used in aquaculture. Tilapia
are easy to reproduce, did not require high-quality feeds, readily tolerated
culture conditions and were relatively good to eat. The down side of tilapia
was that they originated in tropical Africa and generally could not tolerate
winter temperatures outside of
·
The Gulf
of Mexico Fishery Management Council is drafting a 300-page amendment that, if
approved, would open the Gulf to commercial fish farming. Some scientists note that fish excrement and
uneaten food from aquaculture pens have polluted coastal waters in
Revised 6/15/08
Text
Copyright 2008
Disclaimer: These Notes are not original. They are complied from various sources,
primarily the Press-Register (PR), Lagniappe, The
Harbinger, and websites. Citations are
being added retrospectively. These Notes are for personal, educational use
only. Address all comments and corrections to: admin@flotte2.com