Biological Evaluation

for Informal Consultation on New Jersey Aquatic Life Criteria:

Analysis Document–Lead and Total Dissolved Solids

Prepared for:

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Science and Technology

Standards and Health Protection Division

Submitted:

March 31, 2006

EPA CONTRACT #68-C-02-021

WORK ASSIGNMENT 3-10

Prepared by:

Great Lakes Environmental Center

1295 King Ave.

Columbus, Ohio. 43212

PREFACE

This draft analysis document supports the biological evaluation for the
water quality criteria for lead and total dissolved solids adopted by
the State of New Jersey in 2002.  It includes the presentation and
analysis of the toxicity data, risk summary, and the effects
determination for lead and total dissolved solids.  This analysis
document is used in conjunction with the Draft Methodology for
Conducting Biological Evaluations of Aquatic Life Criteria – Methods
Manual, which contains the scientific rational underlying the components
of the biological evaluations (i.e., the literature search, toxicity
data evaluation, risk analysis, and effects determination) and the
step-by-step procedures that EPA and its contractor follow in conducting
the biological evaluations under the national consultations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TOC \f \* MERGEFORMAT \l "1-3"  1.0  BACKGROUND	  PAGEREF
_Toc131391291 \h  1

2.0  SCOPE OF STATE ACTION	  PAGEREF _Toc131391292 \h  1

2.1  Definition of State Action	  PAGEREF _Toc131391293 \h  1

2.1.1  New Jersey’s Lead and Total Dissolved Solids Aquatic Life
Criteria	  PAGEREF _Toc131391294 \h  1

2.2  Definition of Action Area	  PAGEREF _Toc131391295 \h  3

2.3  Species Status and Life History	  PAGEREF _Toc131391296 \h  3

2.3.1  Aquatic and Aquatic-dependent Species Selected for Biological
Evaluation	  PAGEREF _Toc131391297 \h  47

2.4 Environmental Baseline	  PAGEREF _Toc131391298 \h  48

3.0	ASSESSING EFFECTS OF THE NEW JERSEY CRITERIA ON FEDERALLY-LISTED
SPECIES	  PAGEREF _Toc131391299 \h  50

3.1  Overview	  PAGEREF _Toc131391300 \h  50

3.2  Data Collection	  PAGEREF _Toc131391301 \h  50

3.3  Toxic Effects on Aquatic Species	  PAGEREF _Toc131391302 \h  50

3.3.1  Aquatic Animals	  PAGEREF _Toc131391303 \h  51

3.3.2  Comparison of New Jersey Lead Criteria with Current EPA Lead
Criteria (Freshwater Only)	  PAGEREF _Toc131391304 \h  71

3.3.3  Multiple Routes of Exposure	  PAGEREF _Toc131391305 \h  71

3.3.4 Aquatic Plants	  PAGEREF _Toc131391306 \h  72

3.4  Aquatic-Dependent Species	  PAGEREF _Toc131391307 \h  73

3.4.1 Overview and Background	  PAGEREF _Toc131391308 \h  73

3.4.2  Freshwater Exposure Assessment	  PAGEREF _Toc131391309 \h  74

3.4.3  Saltwater Exposure Assessment	  PAGEREF _Toc131391310 \h  75

3.4.4  Toxicity Assessment - Lead	  PAGEREF _Toc131391311 \h  76

3.4.5  Risk Analysis	  PAGEREF _Toc131391312 \h  78

3.5  Food Items of Federally-Listed Species	  PAGEREF _Toc131391313 \h
79

3.6  Effects on Glochidia Host Species	  PAGEREF _Toc131391314 \h  81

4.0  EFFECTS DETERMINATIONS	  PAGEREF _Toc131391315 \h  82

4.1  No Effect–Notes	  PAGEREF _Toc131391316 \h  82

4.2  May Effect–Notes	  PAGEREF _Toc131391317 \h  82

4.2.1  Not Likely to Adversely Affect	  PAGEREF _Toc131391318 \h  83

4.2.2 Species Requiring Further Evaluation	  PAGEREF _Toc131391319 \h
90

5.0	ASSESSING EFFECTS OF THE NEW JERSEY PROPOSED LEAD AND TOTAL
DISSOLVED SOLIDS CRITERIA ON DESIGNATED CRITICAL HABITAT	  PAGEREF
_Toc131391320 \h  91

REFERENCES	  PAGEREF _Toc131391321 \h  92

TABLE OF CONTENTS, CONTINUED

APPENDIX A: Interspecies Correlation Estimates (ICE) for Lead

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1.  	New Jersey List of Federally Threatened and Endangered
Species………………3

Table 2.2.  	New Jersey Listed Species Included in Biological
Evaluation…………………..47

Table 2.3.  	New Jersey Listed Species Not Included in Biological
Evaluation………...……48

Table 3.1a. 	Freshwater Toxicity Data Obtained Through ECOTOX and the
1998 Water Quality Criteria Document for Lead Using the New Jersey
Acute-to-chronic Ratio (ACR) and Conversion Factor.  Unless otherwise
indicated LC50s are from acute tests.  NOECs are either “Measured
NOECs” from chronic tests or “Estimated NOECs” derived via ACR
from acute LC50s.  An ACR of 14 was used.  All values are dissolved lead
in μg/L……………………………………...…………52

 μg/L……55

Table 3.1c.  	Saltwater Toxicity Data Obtained Through ECOTOX and the
1998 Water Quality Criteria Document for Lead Using the New Jersey
Acute-to-chronic ratio (ACR) and conversion factor.  Unless otherwise
indicated LC50s are from acute tests.  NOECs are either “Measured
NOECs” from chronic tests or “Estimated NOECs” derived via ACR
from acute LC50s.  An ACR of 14 was used.  All values are dissolved lean
in
μg/L.……………………………………...…………………
……………………58

Table 3.2a.  	Lead Freshwater Toxicity Data by Taxonomic Group for New
Jersey Criteria.  The 5th percentile values are the basis for those
effects concentrations (ECAs) in Table 4.1 that rely on surrogate data.
All values are given as dissolved lead in
µg/L…………………………………………………………
……………………61

Table 3.2b.  	Lead Freshwater Toxicity Data by Taxonomic Group for
Current EPA Criteria.  The 5th percentile values are the basis for those
effects concentrations (ECAs) in Table 4.1 that rely on surrogate data.
All values are given as dissolved lead in
µg/L…………………………………………………………
……………………65

Table 3.3.  	Freshwater Toxicity Data for Total Dissolved Solids.  All
values are in mg
TDS/L…………………………………………………………
…………...…….68

Table 3.4.  	Lead Bioconcentration and Bioaccumulation Factorsa
(BCF/BAFs) for Freshwater Aquatic Food Organisms.  BCF/BAFs are Based on
Wet Weight.  Sources Include EPA’s ECOTOX Database, and the Ambient
Water Quality Criteria Document for Lead (GLEC
1998)……………………………………………………...…
…74

Table 3.5.  	Lead Bioconcentration Factorsa (BCFs) for Saltwater Aquatic
Food Organisms.  BCFs are Based on Wet Weight.  Sources Include EPA’s
ECOTOX Database, the Ambient Water Quality Criteria Document for Lead
(GLEC 1998), and Jarvinen and Ankley
(1999)…………………………………………………………
…….76

g/L) (New Jersey Dissolved Freshwater Lead Criteria: CMC = 38 g/L,
CCC = 5.4
g/L)………………………………………………………
…………………84

Table 4.1b. 	Results of Effects Analysis for Freshwater Aquatic Listed
Species (all units in g/L) (USEPA Freshwater Dissolved Lead Criteria
based on a hardness of 100 mg/L as CaCO3 : CMC = 65 g/L, CCC = 2.5
g/L)…………………………………….85

Table 4.2a.  	Analysis of Effects to Freshwater Aquatic-Dependent
Species  (Concentrations Based on Wet Weight) (New Jersey Dissolved
Freshwater Lead Criteria: CMC = 38 g/L, CCC = 5.4
g/L)………………………………………………….……8
6

Table 4.2b.  	Analysis of Effects to Freshwater Aquatic-Dependent
Species  (Concentrations Based on Wet Weight) (USEPA Freshwater
Dissolved Lead Criteria based on a hardness of 100 mg/L as CaCO3: CMC =
65 g/L, CCC = 2.5 g/L)…………..87

Table 4.3.  	Analysis of Effects to Saltwater Aquatic-Dependent Species
(Concentrations Based on Wet Weight) (New Jersey Saltwater Dissolved
Lead Criteria: CMC = 210 g/L, CCC = 24
g/L)………………………………………………...…….8
8

1.0  BACKGROUND  TC \l1 "1.0  BACKGROUND

This is a placeholder section for background on consultation history
regarding New Jersey lead and TDS criteria.

2.0  SCOPE OF STATE ACTION  TC \l1 "2.0  SCOPE OF STATE ACTION

In order to fulfill the goals of the MOA, whose intent is to provide
efficient mechanisms for improved interagency cooperation under Section
7 of the ESA, EPA will consult with the Services (National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and United States Fish and Wildlife Service)
on proposed and/or revised state aquatic life criteria.  The agencies
agree that it is prudent to examine the aquatic life criteria for
protection of listed species and critical habitat, and realize the
importance of conducting the consultations on proposed and/or revised
state criteria in a timely fashion so that any state-adopted aquatic
life criteria are protective of that state’s listed species and their
critical habitat.

2.1  Definition of State Action  TC \l2 "2.1  Definition of State Action

EPA approves state-proposed aquatic life criteria for waters where state
water quality standards specify a use protecting aquatic life.
Federally-listed aquatic or aquatic-dependent species that have more
than limited exposure to these waters are assessed in the biological
evaluation.  Section 2.3 of this document presents a summary of the life
history of the listed species and identifies those that have only
limited exposure to waters where the State of New Jersey water quality
standards specify a use protecting aquatic life, and accordingly such
species are not addressed in this biological evaluation.  EPA is making
a “no effect” finding on such species.

2.1.1  New Jersey’s Lead and Total Dissolved Solids Aquatic Life
Criteria  TC "2.1.1  New Jersey’s Lead and Total Dissolved Solids
Aquatic Life Criteria" \f C \l "3"

This biological evaluation addresses the aquatic life criteria for lead
and total dissolved solids adopted by New Jersey in 2002.

Lead

The N.J.A.C 7:9B-1.14(c)13lxxxii lead criteria for aquatic life in New
Jersey are expressed in terms of the dissolved metal in the water column
as:

Freshwater Acute Criterion = 38 g/L

Freshwater Chronic Criterion = 5.4 g/L

Saltwater Acute Criterion = 210 g/L

Saltwater Chronic Criterion = 24 g/L

Because kinetic considerations, complex formation, and biological
interaction influence the achievement of lead reaching equilibrium
conditions in natural waters, the precise levels of its species may not
be easily predicted.  Currently, no available analytical measurement is
known to be ideal for expressing aquatic life criteria for lead.
Previous aquatic life criteria for lead (U.S. EPA 1980) were expressed
as total recoverable lead.  U.S. EPA (1984) has also expressed lead
criteria as acid-soluble lead in the past, but now recommends use of
dissolved metal concentrations (operationally defined as the metal in
solution that passes through a 0.45 m membrane filter) to set and
measure compliance with water quality standards (Prothro 1993; U.S. EPA
1993, 1994).  The State of New Jersey has adopted EPA’s recommendation
to express lead on a dissolved chemical basis into their State water
quality standards. Thus, all lead concentrations used to derive the
acute and chronic effects assessment concentrations (ECAs) reported
herein are expressed in terms of the dissolved metal in the water
column.

New Jersey’s lead criteria differ from EPA’s current recommended
criteria in that the New Jersey freshwater lead acute and chronic
criteria are not hardness-dependent and the conversion factors to the
dissolved form are not hardness-dependent.  New Jersey also used a
different acute-to-chronic ratio to determine their chronic criterion.
EPA’s current lead criteria are also evaluated in this document based
on the request by the Fish and Wildlife Service (August 5, 2003 letter
to Robert Hargrove from Clifford Day) to “compare the hardness- vs.
nonhardness-dependent lead criteria in the BE.”  See Section 4.3.2 of
this document for a description of this comparison.

Total Dissolved Solids

The N.J.A.C 7:9B-1.14(c)8i total dissolved solids (TDS) criteria for
aquatic life in New Jersey are:

Freshwaters

 ≥ 50 percent, whichever is more stringent, shall be deemed to meet
this requirement.

No increase in background which would interfere with the designated or
existing uses, or 500 mg/L, whichever is more stringent.

Saltwater

None which would render the water unsuitable for the designated uses.

The biological evaluation will be restricted to New Jersey’s
freshwater numeric criterion of not to exceed 500 mg/L of TDS.  The
requirement to be in compliance with water-quality based WET limitations
or LC50 ≥ 50 percent, whichever is more stringent is intended to
protect aquatic life by regulating the release of TDS from permitted
point source discharges.  Discharges that do not meet the WET
limitations or the LC50 requirement will be required to conduct water
quality studies to determine whether the discharge is having an adverse
impact and the pollutant(s) causing the adverse impact.  The WET
requirement will not be evaluated because compliance with this clause
results in no toxicity (after receiving stream dilution) to the species
used in the WET tests.  It is assumed no in-stream toxicity to the WET
test species results in a “not likely to adversely affect” the
listed species ruling.

2.2  Definition of Action Area  TC \l2 "2.2  Definition of Action Area

The State of New Jersey has adopted the lead and TDS criteria for all
“surface waters” of New Jersey where water quality standards specify
a use protecting aquatic life.  “Surface waters of New Jersey are
defined as:

"Surface waters" means water at or above the land's surface which is
neither groundwater nor contained within the unsaturated zone,
including, but not limited to, the ocean and its tributaries, all
springs, streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, wetlands, and artificial
waterbodies.

(NJDEP 2004a)

2.3  Species Status and Life History  TC "2.3  Species Status and Life
History" \f C \l "2"    SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1

The US Fish and Wildlife Service lists 27 federally threatened or
endangered species in New Jersey (Table 2.1).  Five of listed taxa do
not occur in the state: the American burying beetle, Mitchell’s satyr
butterfly, Eskimo curlew, gray wolf, and the eastern prairie fringed
orchid.  The list includes 20 animal and 7 plant species.  Among the
listed animals, there are 6 mammals, 4 birds, 5 reptiles, 1 fish, 3
insects and 1 mussel species.  This section presents a summary of each
listed species status and life history.  This information is used to
select aquatic and aquatic-dependent taxa for the biological evaluation
of New Jersey’s lead and TDS surface aquatic water standards.

Table 2.1.  New Jersey List of Federally Threatened and Endangered
Species.

Mammals

Indiana bat	Myotis sodalis	Endangered

Eastern puma	Puma concolor couguar	Endangered

Black right whale	Eubalaena glacialis	Endangered

Fin whale	Balaenoptera physalus	Endangered

Humpback whale	Megaptera novaeangliae	Endangered

Gray wolf	Canis lupus	Endangered

Birds

Bald eagle	Haliaeetus leucocephalus	Threatened

Piping plover	Charadrius melodus	Threatened

Roseate tern	Sterna dougallii	Endangered

Eskimo curlew	Numenius borealis	Endangered

Reptiles

Bog turtle	Clemmys muhlenbergii	Threatened

Hawksbill sea turtle	Eretmochelys imbricata	Endangered

Leatherback sea turtle	Dermochelys coriacea	Endangered

Loggerhead sea turtle	Caretta caretta	Threatened

Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle	Lepidochelys kempii	Endangered

Fish

Shortnose sturgeon	Acipenser brevirostrum	Endangered

Mussel

Dwarf wedgemussel	Alasmidonta heterodon	Endangered

Insects

American burying beetle	Nicrophorus mericanus	Endangered

Northeastern beach tiger beetle	Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis	Threatened

Mitchell’s satyr	Neonympha mitchellii	Endangered

Plants

Seabeach amaranth	Amaranthus pumilus	Threatened

Knieskern's beaked-rush	Rhynchospora knieskernii	Threatened

American chaffseed	Schwalbea americana	Endangered

Sensitive joint-vetch	Aeschynomene virginica	Threatened

Swamp pink	Helonias bullata	Threatened

Small whorled pogonia	Isotria medeoloides	Threatened

Eastern prairie fringed orchid	Platanthera leucophaea	Threatened

Unless noted, all information on these species, provided below, comes
from links in a US Fish and Wildlife web site, (  HYPERLINK
"http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/StateListingAndOccurrence.do?state=NJ"
http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/StateListingAndOccurrence.do?state=NJ ).

INDIANA BAT

Myotis sodalis

Family: Vespertilionidae

Status:  Endangered

Geographic Boundaries and Distribution

The Indiana bat occurs in the Midwest and eastern United States, from
the western edge of the Ozark region in Oklahoma, to southern Wisconsin,
east to Vermont, and as far south as northern Florida.  In summer, it is
apparently absent south of Tennessee; in winter, it is apparently absent
from Michigan, Ohio, and northern Indiana where suitable caves and mines
are unknown.  About 500,000 individuals of this species still exist.

Critical Habitat

The following caves have been designated as Critical Habitat within the
Southeast Region:

	Tennessee:	White Oak Blowhole Cave, Blount County

	Kentucky:	Bat Cave, Carter County

			Coach Cave, Edmonson County

Historical Information

Endangered throughout its range, Federal Register, March 11, 1967

Life History

The Indiana bat is a medium-sized bat, closely resembling the little
brown bay (Myotis lucifugus) but differing in coloration.  Its fur is a
dull grayish chestnut rather than bronze, with the basal portion of the
hairs of the back dull lead colored.  This bat's reproductive organs are
pinkish to cinnamon, and its hind feet smaller and more delicate than in
M. lucifugus.  The calcar (heel of the foot) is strongly keeled.

Little is known of this bat's diet beyond the fact that it consists of
insects.  Females and juveniles forage in the airspace near the foliage
of riparian and floodplain trees.  Males forage the densely wooded area
at tree top height.

This bat has a definite breeding period that usually occurs during the
first 10 days of October.  Mating takes place at night on the ceilings
of large rooms near cave entrances.  Limited mating may also occur in
the spring before the hibernating colonies disperse.  Limited
observations indicate that birth and development occur in very small,
widely scattered colonies consisting of 25 or so females and their
young.  Birth usually takes place during June with each female bearing a
single offspring.  About 25 to 37 days are required for development to
the flying stage and the beginning of independent feeding.

Migration to the wintering caves usually begins in August.  Fat reserves
depleted during migration are replenished largely during the month of
September.  Feeding continues at a diminishing rate until by late
November the population has entered a definite state of hibernation.
Hibernating colonies disperse in late March and most of the bats migrate
to more northern habitat for the summer.  However, some males remain in
the hibernating area during this period and form active bands which
wander from cave to cave.  The hibernating bats characteristically form
large, tight, compact clusters.  Each individual hangs by its feet from
the ceiling.  Every 8 to 10 days hibernating individuals awaken to spend
an hour or more flying about or to join a small cluster of active bats
elsewhere in the cave before returning to hibernation.

Habitat

Limestone caves are used for winter hibernation.  The preferred caves
have a temperature averaging 37° to 43° Fahrenheit in midwinter, and a
relative humidity averaging 87 percent. Summer records are rather
scarce.  A few individuals have been found under bridges and in old
buildings, and several maternity colonies have been found under loose
bark and in the hollows of trees.  Summer foraging by females and
juveniles is limited to riparian and floodplain areas.  Creeks are
apparently not used if riparian trees have been removed.  Males forage
over floodplain ridges and hillside forests and usually roost in caves.
Foraging areas average 11.2 acres per animal in midsummer.

Reasons for Current Status

The decline is attributed to commercialization of roosting caves, wanton
destruction by vandals, disturbances caused by increased numbers of
spelunkers and bat banding programs, use of bats as laboratory
experimental animals, and possibly insecticide poisoning.  Some winter
hibernacula have been rendered unsuitable as a result of blocking or
impeding air flow into the caves and thereby changing the cave's
climate.  The Indiana bat is nearly extinct over most of its former
range in the northeastern states, and since 1950, the major winter
colonies in caves of West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois have
disappeared.  A high degree of aggregation during winter makes the
species vulnerable.  During this period approximately 87 percent of the
entire population hibernates in only seven caves.

BALD EAGLE

Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Family: Accipitridae

Status: State – Endangered, Federal - Threatened (Proposed for
de-listing)

Sources

  HYPERLINK
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/baldeagle.pdf
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/baldeagle.pdf

  HYPERLINK http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/life_histories/B008.html
http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/life_histories/B008.html

http://www.owyhee.us/_kbas/00000004.htm

Geographic Boundaries and Distribution

The current range of the bald eagle includes all of the conterminous
United States and Alaska.  The bald eagle is especially common in areas
with large expanses of aquatic habitat, including Florida, Chesapeake
Bay, Maine, and the Maritime Provinces of Canada, the Great Lakes and
lake regions of Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, northern
California, Oregon, Washington, and coastal British Columbia and Alaska.

A wintering population survey of the total North American population was
completed in 1997 and resulted in 98,648 individuals, with the largest
number in Alaska (44,000) and British Columbia (28,507).  The bald eagle
was recommended for de-listing in 1999 but it was determined that
additional data would be needed before taking this action.

Critical Habitat

No critical habitat has been designated for the bald eagle.

Historical Information

Listed threatened (32 FR 4001, 1967 March 11) in the conterminous United
States.

The decline of the bald eagle coincided with the introduction of the
pesticide DDT in 1947.  Eagles contaminated with DDT failed to lay eggs
or produced thin eggshells that broke during incubation.  Other causes
of decline included shooting, trapping, and poisoning.  Current threats
include the loss of nesting habitat due to development along the coast
and near inland rivers and waterways.

Life History

Adult bald eagles are distinguished by their large size (7- to 8-foot
wingspan), full white heads and tails and dark brown, almost black body.
 They reach their adult size by the time they can fly.  Their adult
plumage develops in their fifth year.  Juvenile appearance varies from
year to year.  In their first year, the wings are slightly broader and
entirely dark brown.  The next year they begin to molt their flight
feathers and the trailing edge of their wings appears symmetrically
serrated as shorter adult feathers replace the longer juvenile ones.
Their plumage is usually mottled, brown and white, and is widely
variable with a considerable amount of white on the breast and belly.
Bald eagles are even more mottled in their third year and begin to show
signs of changes in bill color, from dark brown to light yellow.  At
this stage of development, some lighter plumage may appear on their
heads and tails.  During their fourth year, bald eagles begin to look as
adults.  This is the time when they are transitioning from juvenile to
adult and appear for the first time with a white head and tail.  At this
age, they retain some brown in the white plumage, giving them a dirty
appearance.  They may also retain some white flecking in the brown
regions of their bodies.  In their next molt, they attain the clean
white head and tail and solid brown body plumage of a full adult bald
eagle.

Habitat

Bald eagles live in forest areas near a water body.  Fish is their
primary diet. Thus, the bald eagle is here classified as an
aquatic-dependent taxon.  In New Jersey, they have historically been
associated with forests near the Delaware River and Bay, as well as many
other rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay.  In
northern and central New Jersey, bald eagles are resident on inland
reservoirs and on the Delaware River.  Throughout the state, these large
birds require a nesting location that is safe from the threat of human
disturbance and usually choose their nest tree accordingly.  They
typically choose an emergent tree for building their large nests.  It
rises above the trees that immediately surround it.  By nesting in such
a tree, eagles can place their nest within the shelter of the crown and
still be above the surrounding trees, enabling them to arrive and depart
from the nest with ease.

In the northern part of the state, where the topography is hilly or
mountainous, eagles can nest in trees that are on a slope and therefore
have one side that is higher than its neighboring trees on the slope
below it.  Occasionally, bald eagles will choose a lone tree in an open
field.  In addition to nesting habitat, eagles also have habitat
requirements for foraging and wintering, which might overlap their
nesting habitat, but not necessarily.  Foraging habitat for bald eagles
consists of large perch trees near a body of water.  Both of these
elements are critical due to the “sit and watch” foraging behavior
of eagles.  Wintering habitat consists of the same, with the added
condition of open, ice-free water.  Parts of the Delaware River, such as
the Delaware Water Gap, where the current is swift and the river remains
open, as well as deep reservoirs with enough current or a dam to keep
part of the water ice-free, serve as good wintering habitat for eagles.
The tidal areas of southern New Jersey marshes are also ideal locations
for winter foraging.

Status and Conservation

Long before the introduction of the pesticide DDT after World War II,
habitat destruction, shootings and poisonings had greatly reduced the
population of bald eagles in the lower 48 contiguous states.  But the
widespread use of DDT, which caused eagles to lay thin-shelled eggs that
were often crushed during incubation, pushed the bird to the brink of
extinction.  New Jersey, where DDT was heavily used, in part for
mosquito control, was no exception.  By 1970, only one eagle nest
remained in the State.  Consequently, the bald eagle was listed as
endangered under New Jersey’s new Endangered Species Act in 1974 and
listed as federally endangered throughout the lower 48 states in 1978.
Management of the state’s only nest began in 1982, when biologists
began climbing the nest tree to retrieve the thin-shelled eggs.  They
were then incubated in the lab underneath chickens before being returned
to the nest as 10-day-old chicks, which were quickly cared for by the
nest's adults.  Shortly thereafter, the state launched a “hacking”
program through which 60 eaglets, primarily from Canada, were released
into the heart of New Jersey’s bald eagle habitat between 1983 and
1989.  Those efforts, combined with the 1972 federal ban on DDT, paid
off rather quickly, with the appearance of the state's second eagle nest
in 1988.  Since then, biologists also have been successful in
encouraging eagles to nest in certain areas by building “starter
nests,” which eagles add to once they adopt them for nesting.
Building nests for eagles works best when a pair has already claimed a
territory, and the birds may be drawn to a sturdy nest in an emergent
tree.  The number of eagle nests has increased steadily ever since the
second nest appeared,.  In 2001, a record 27 bald eagle nests were
active statewide, mostly in southern New Jersey.  A record 34 young
fledged that year.

PIPING PLOVER

Charadrius melodus

Family: Charadriidae

Status: State - Endangered, Federal - Threatened (Atlantic Coast
population)

Sources

  HYPERLINK http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/plover.pdf
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/plover.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.ser
vlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=B079"
http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.serv
lets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=B079

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12145_12202-32581--,00.h
tml"
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12145_12202-32581--,00.ht
ml

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

The Atlantic Coast Population of piping plovers nest along beaches in
New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Quebec, southern
Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.  These birds winter
primarily on the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Florida, although
some migrate to the Bahamas and West Indies.  Surveys completed in 1991
found fewer than 2,500 breeding pairs remained in the United States and
Canada.  Surveys completed in 1999 estimated the Atlantic population at
less than 1400 pairs.

The historic breeding range of the Great Lakes population of piping
plover encompasses the Great Lakes' shorelines in Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New York and
Ontario.  Great Lakes breeding sites are currently restricted to several
beaches along Lake Superior and Lake Michigan in northern Michigan.
These birds winter primarily on the Gulf Coast, in Texas, Louisiana,
Alabama and Florida.  Surveys completed in 2001 reported 32 breeding
pairs in the United States.

The current breeding range of the Northern Great Plains population of
piping plover extends from alkali wetlands in southeastern Alberta
through southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Lake of the Woods in
southwestern Ontario and northwestern Minnesota, south along major
prairie rivers (Yellowstone, Missouri, Niobrara, Platte, and Loup), the
Prewitt Reservoir in northeastern Colorado, northwestern Oklahoma, and
alkali wetlands in northeastern Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nebraska, and Iowa.  These birds winter primarily on the Gulf Coast, in
Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.  Critical habitat for the
Northern Great Plains piping plover has been designated in areas of
Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida for their wintering habitat along
the gulf coats; and areas of Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South
Dakota, and Nebraska for breeding habitat.  Surveys completed in 2001
estimated 5,938 individuals remained in the United States and Canada.

Critical Habitat

Critical breeding habitat for the Piping plover has been designated
along the shorelines of the Great Lakes in New York, Minnesota,
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Critical habitat for wintering piping plovers has been designated along
the Gulf Coast in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.  The Fish and
Wildlife Service designated 137 areas along the coasts of North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Texas as critical habitat for the wintering population of
the piping plover.  This includes approximately 2,891.7 kilometers of
mapped shoreline and approximately 66,881 hectares of mapped area along
the Gulf and Atlantic coasts and along margins of interior bays, inlets,
and lagoons.

Historical Information

On December 11, 1985, the Piping plover was listed Threatened (50 FR
50726-50734, 1985, December 11) in its entire range except in the Great
Lakes watershed where it was listed endangered.  The piping plover was
listed endangered (50 FR 50726-50734) in the States of Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and
Wisconsin as well as in Ontario, Canada.  The Revised Recovery Plan for
the Atlantic Coast Population was completed on May 2, 1996.  Critical
Habitat for the Great Lakes Breeding Population was designated on May 7,
2001 (66 FR 22938-22969).  Critical Habitat for the Northern Great
Plains Breeding Population was designated on September 11, 2002

Although common during the 1800s, the piping plover was on the verge of
extirpation by the 1890s and early 1900s due to market hunting and egg
collecting.  Protection afforded by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of
1918 and changing fashion trends allowed plover populations to gradually
recover during the 1920s and 1930s.  However, since the late 1940s,
coastal development and the elevated recreational use of beaches have
caused plover population declines.  Human habitation along the shore has
also resulted in elevated populations of many mammalian and avian
predators.

In 1984, the piping plover was listed as an endangered species in New
Jersey.  The New Jersey Natural Heritage Program considers the piping
plover to be globally “very rare and local throughout its range,”
and “critically imperiled in New Jersey because of extreme rarity”.
In 1986, the Atlantic Coast piping plover population was listed as
Threatened in the United States.  A recovery goal of 2,000 pairs was set
for the Atlantic Coast population, including 575 pairs in New Jersey and
New York region.  Another goal set by the recovery plan is to achieve a
five-year average productivity of 1.5 fledged young per pair.  Active
monitoring and management of the birds by the ENSP are integral parts of
federal recovery efforts.

Since its date of listing, the Atlantic Coast piping plover population
has increased, growing from 790 pairs in 1986 to 1,386 pairs in 1999.
As numbers have increased in New England during the 1980s and 1990s, the
number of plovers nesting in New Jersey has remained essentially stable
at around 120 pairs.  Due to its precarious existence, the piping plover
remains one of New Jersey's most endangered species.  The threats that
it faces, including increased beach recreation and predation, continue
to act as serious impediments to the recovery of this species.  Without
intense protection and management, it is unlikely that the piping plover
would survive in New Jersey.

Life History

Piping plovers begin returning to their Atlantic Coast nesting beaches
in mid-March.  Males establish and defend territories and court females.
 Eggs may be present on the beach from mid-April through late July.
Clutch size is generally four eggs, and the incubation period usually
lasts for 27-28 days.  Piping plovers fledge only a single brood per
season, but may re-nest several times if previous nests are lost.
Chicks develop fast.  They may move hundreds of yards from the nest site
during their first week of life.  Chicks remain together with one or
both parents until they fledge (able to fly) at 25 to 35 days of age.
Depending on date of hatching, flightless chicks may be present from
mid-May until late August, although most fledge by the end of July.

Habitat

Piping plovers inhabit oceanfront beaches and barrier islands, typically
nesting on the stretch of beach between the dunes and the high-tide
line.  Nests are often located in flat areas with shell fragments and
sparse vegetation. The coloration of piping plovers and their eggs blend
in remarkably with sand and broken pieces of shell.  Sparse vegetation,
such as American beach grass (Ammophila breviligulata) or sea rocket
(Cakile endentula), is favored, as it provides cover against predators
and the elements.  However, areas with dense vegetation, such as dunes,
are avoided by nesting plovers, since these sites provide cover for
predators.  During the nonbreeding season, piping plovers inhabit
coastal beaches, barrier islands, inlets, sandflats, mudflats, and
dredged material islands.  Piping plovers forage on intertidal beaches,
wash over areas, exposed mudflats and sandflats, wracklines, and
shorelines.

In the winter, all three populations inhabit beaches, mudflats, and
sandflats along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts.  Birds from the
Gulf Intercoastal Waterway also occupy barrier island beaches and spoil
islands.

ROSEATE TERN (northeast U.S. pop.)

Sterna dougallii dougallii

Family: Laridae

Status: State - Endangered, Federal - Endangered (North Atlantic
breeding population)

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/roseatetern.pdf"
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/roseatetern.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.ser
vlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=B070"
http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.serv
lets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=B070

  HYPERLINK
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/rotefs.html
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/rotefs.html

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

In North America, the roseate tern breeds in two discrete areas: from
Nova Scotia to Long Island, New York (northeastern population) and
around the Caribbean Sea (including the Florida Keys).  It is believed
to winter in northern South America and along the Brazilian coast.  The
total world population was estimated in 1998 at approximately 40,000
pairs.  Total northeastern population has recently fluctuated around
3,500 pairs, with a low of 3,125 in 1992, and a high of 3,775 in 1996;
including 125 pairs in Canada.  Various estimates placed Caribbean
population at between 5,000 and 8,500 pairs in 1993 and the Florida
breeding population at about 350 pairs in 1995.

Historical Information

The Roseate tern was first listed on November 02, 1987.  It is currently
designated as endangered in the U.S.A. (Atlantic Coast south to NC),
Canada (Newf., N.S, Que.), and Bermuda.  Within the area covered by this
listing, this species is known to occur in: Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Maine, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia; and
Canada (Newfoundland, N.S, Quebec).  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Northeast Region (Region 5) is the lead region promoting conservation of
this species.

Life History

The roseate tern is a medium-sized, light colored tern with a dark cap
and long tail.  In breeding plumage, the adult has a black cap and nape,
and a pale gray back and lower wing surface.  Black tips on the outer
primaries contrast with the otherwise pale upper surface of the wing.
The tail is white and deeply forked with long streamers.  On perched
birds, the tail extends beyond the wingtips.  The bill is black with a
dark red base.  The legs and feet are dark red and the iris is
brownish-black.  Sexes are alike in plumage.  The non-breeding adult has
brown legs, a black bill, and a white forehead with a black mask
extending from the eye to the nape.

Roseate terns arrive on the breeding grounds in late April or early May
and begin nesting one month later.  In New York, roseate terns are
always found nesting with common terns.  The nest may be only a
depression in sand, shell or gravel, and may be lined with bits of grass
and other debris.  It is usually placed in dense grass clumps, or even
under boulders or rip-rap.  Both adults incubate the eggs for about 23
days, and the young fledge in 22- 29 days.  One brood per season is
typical, although two broods are sometimes produced. Migration begins in
late summer.  One banded individual from Great Gull Island, New York was
9 years old when recovered.

Habitat

The roseate tern is a coastal species that nests on barrier islands and
salt marshes and forages over shallow coastal waters, inlets, and
offshore seas.  Nesting colonies are located above the high-tide line,
often within vegetated dunes where dense concentrations of beach grasses
and seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens) provide cover.  In
comparison to other terns, roseates nest at sites with more vegetative
cover.  Infrequently, they may nest in open areas, especially when they
are displaced from optimal sites by gulls.

Reason for current status

Prior to 1890, the roseate tern nested along the New Jersey coast,
although it was not common.  From the late 1800s to the early 1900s,
roseate tern populations along the Atlantic Coast were greatly reduced
as a result of the millinery trade, in which birds were killed to
acquire plumes for women’s hats.  The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of
1918, which afforded legal protection to all migratory birds, coupled
with a change in fashion styles, reduced the pressure on roseate terns,
enabling populations to reestablish and increase.  Nesting roseate terns
were observed at Hereford Inlet and Five Mile Beach in the 1930s and at
Brigantine in the 1940s.  However, by the 1950s, populations again began
to decline and continued to do so for several decades.  Breeding roseate
terns were documented in New Jersey in the 1970s, when nesting pairs
occurred at Little Egg Inlet, Brigantine, Sandy Hook, Holgate, and
Barnegat Bay.  The last nesting pair in the State was recorded in 1980.
The decline of this species is attributed to unchecked development and
high levels of recreational activity along the barrier islands, which
have resulted in habitat loss and disturbance to beach-nesting birds.

Due to severe population declines in the State, the roseate tern was
listed as a threatened species in New Jersey in 1979.  Because of a
drastic worldwide decline in its population, the roseate tern was
reclassified as an endangered species in New Jersey in 1984.  The U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service included the North Atlantic breeding
population on its list of federally endangered species in 1987 because
of declines resulting from human activity, gull competition, and
predation.  The New Jersey Natural Heritage Program considers the
roseate tern to be a non-breeding species in the state and globally
“very rare and local throughout its range”.  The National Audubon
Society included the roseate tern on its Blue List of Imperiled Species
in 1972 and from 1979 to 1986, the final year of the list.  Depressed
roseate tern populations are evident throughout other northeastern
states, where the species is listed as endangered (Massachusetts,
Connecticut, New York, Virginia), or threatened (Maine, New Hampshire).

SHORTNOSE STURGEON

Acipenser brevirostrum

Family: Acipenseridae

Status: State – Endangered, Federal – Endangered

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/shnostur.html
"
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/shnostur.html

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

Within the area covered by this listing, this species is known to occur
in: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland,
Maine, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, Virginia.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is the lead region for this
entity.

Historical Information

The Shortnose sturgeon was first listed on March 11, 1967.  It is
currently designated as endangered in the entire range.

Life History

The shortnose sturgeon has a short and bluntly rounded snout, wide
mouth, barbels, numerous dorsal, lateral and ventral scutes (bony or
horny plates), and a heterocercal tail (the upper lobe of the tail fin
is larger and contains the upturned end of the spinal column).
Typically, the body is yellowish brown to nearly black on the head, back
and sides level to lateral plates, and whitish to yellowish below.
Length at initial maturity for this species occurs between 45-55 cm fork
length, from the snout to the middle of the tail (18-22 in.) for males
and females.  Maximum known fork lengths are nearly 49 in. for a female
and nearly 39 in. for a male.  In New Jersey, 28 tagged males ranged
between 21 in. to nearly 35 in. fork length.

The shortnose sturgeon's life history is complex.  Much of its spawning
behavior and early life stages are still not fully understood.  The
shortnose sturgeon is anadramous, migrating from salt water to spawn in
freshwater.  In the Hudson River, it spawns from April-May.  Adult
sturgeons migrate upriver from their mid-Hudson overwintering areas to
freshwater spawning sites north of Coxsackie.  Unlike most fish species,
spawning is not a yearly event for most shortnose sturgeon.  Males spawn
every other year and females every third year.  Females lay between
40,000-200,000 eggs which hatch in approximately 13 days.  Newly-hatched
fry are poor swimmers and drift with the currents along the bottom.  As
they grow and mature, the fish move down-river into the most brackish
parts of the lower Hudson. Shortnose sturgeon are long-lived.  The
oldest known female reached 67 years of age and the oldest known male
was 32.  Shortnose sturgeons are bottom feeders, they eat sludge worms,
aquatic insect larvae, plants, snails, shrimp, and crayfish using their
barbels to locate food and their extendable mouths to vacuum it up.

Habitat

River mouths, tidal rivers, estuaries, and bays serve as prime habitat
for the shortnose sturgeon.  In addition, individuals occasionally enter
the open ocean.  A significant portion of New Jersey's shortnose
sturgeon occurs in the upper tidal Delaware River (Dadswell et al 1984).

Reason for current status

The shortnose sturgeon has been federally listed as endangered since the
inception of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, when it was also
considered endangered in New Jersey.  The Office of Natural Land's
Management ranks the species as "rare in NJ” and "either very rare and
local throughout its range or found locally in a restricted range or
because of other factors making it vulnerable to extinction throughout
its range."  This species is afforded protection under both federal and
state Endangered Species acts, Clean Water acts, fishing regulations,
and environmental review of proposed development projects.

NORTHEASTERN BEACH TIGER BEETLE

Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis

Family: Cicindelidae

Status:  State – Endangered, Federal - Threatened

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/nebchtgrbeetle.pdf"
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/nebchtgrbeetle.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.ser
vlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=I02C"
http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.serv
lets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=I02C

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/nbtbfs.html"
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/nbtbfs.html

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

This species is known to occur in: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland,
New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Northeast Region (Region 5) is the lead region for this entity.

Historical Information

The Northeastern beach tiger beetle was first listed on August 07, 1990.
 It is currently designated as threatened in the entire range.

Life History

Northeastern beach tiger beetles have a full, two-year life cycle.
Adults emerge in late June, reach peak abundance by mid-July, and
decline through early September.  They feed, mate and bask at the
water's edge on warm, sunny days.  Some adults are also active on warm,
calm evenings.  High body heat is necessary for maximum predatory
activity.  Foraging occurs in the damp sand of the intertidal zone; prey
species include lice, fleas, and flies.  Adults also regularly scavenge
dead crabs and fish.

Mating and egg-laying occur from late-June through August.  Females
deposit their eggs in the sand after mating, higher up the beach in the
dunes.  Eggs hatch and larvae appear in late July and August.  Larvae
experience three developmental stages or "instars."  Most larvae reach
the second instar by September and a few reach the third instar well
into November, when larvae are still active.  Most larvae overwinter as
second instars.  In the following year, they overwinter again as third
instars.  Overwintering occurs high up the beach, avoiding storms and
wave activity.  Both second and third instars emerge from winter
inactivity in mid-March.  Third instar larvae emerge, pupate in the
bottom of their burrows, and re-emerge as winged adults in June, two
full years after the eggs were laid.

Larvae live in vertical burrows located in the upper intertidal to high
drift zone, where prey is most abundant.  Larvae forage from their
burrows, preying on passing insects. Their primary food sources are
beach fleas, lice, flies and ants.  Larvae are regularly covered during
high tide; sand moisture is important.  Larvae lack a hard shell and are
subject to desiccation.  They avoid hot, dry conditions.  During the
summer months they are inactive, going through a period of aestivation.
With each successive stage of development, larvae grow in size and
burrow deeper, going from 4 to 6-7 to 9-14 inches into the sand.

Populations of tiger beetles normally experience very high larval
mortality and dramatic, two to three fold, year-to-year fluctuations in
abundance that sometimes result in local extinction.  Weather factors
such as flood tides, hurricanes, erosion and winter storms, mortality
due to predators and parasites, and recreational beach use all
contribute to the population declines.  Natural enemies of adults
include robber flies (Asilidae), birds and spiders.  Larvae are preyed
upon by parasitic, wingless wasps (Methocha), which lay their eggs on
the tiger beetle larvae.  The larval wasps develop by eating the larval
tiger beetles.

Habitat

Although there are no definable indicators of northeastern beach tiger
beetle habitat, this species is found on long, wide, dynamic, relatively
undisturbed sandy beaches of the Atlantic Coast or Chesapeake Bay.

Reasons For Current Status

Listed as federally threatened in 1990 and state endangered in 1991, the
northeastern beach tiger beetle receives regulatory protection from both
federal and state Endangered Species Acts.  In addition, habitat
protection is afforded through the Coastal Areas Facilities Review Act
and other coastal regulations.  The Natural Heritage Program ranks the
species as “critically imperiled in New Jersey because of extreme
rarity".

Since 1994, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has supported studies
designed to re-establish populations of the northeastern beach tiger
beetle in the Northeast.  Experiments to establish translocation
techniques were conducted at the Gateway National Recreation Area, Sandy
Hook by researchers from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia.  During
these studies, tiger beetle larvae from the Chesapeake Bay area were
translocated to several beach sites within the recreation area and
routinely monitored.   Initial results from the experiments indicated
that the translocation techniques employed could be used to establish a
population of northeastern beach tiger beetles at Sandy Hook and
possibly at other sites in the Northeast.  A program to reintroduce the
species at Gateway National Recreation Area has been underway since
1997.

DWARF WEDGE MUSSEL

Alasmidonta heterodon

Family: Unionidae

Status:   State – Endangered, Federal – Endangered

Sources

  HYPERLINK http://www.fws.gov/endangered/i/f/saf12.html
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/i/f/saf12.html

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/mussels.pdf"
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/mussels.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/dwmufs.html"
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/dwmufs.html

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

Once known from about 70 Atlantic Slope river systems, the dwarf wedge
mussel is now known from only 12 sites.  Two of these populations have
recently been discovered - one in Nottoway River, Virginia, and one on
Neversink Creek (Delaware River drainage), New York.  Four of the
existing populations are located in North Carolina, one in Little River
(Johnston County); another on the Tar River (Granville County); and two
in tributaries of the Tar River (Franklin County).  The remaining
populations occur in Maryland, New Hanpshire, and Vermont.  These
locations are the Ashuelot River, Chesire County, New Hampshire; two
Connecticut River reaches in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, and Windsor
County, Vermont; McIntosh Run in St. Mary's County, Maryland; and two
Tuckahoe Creek tributaries in Talbot, Queen Annes, and Caroline
Counties, Maryland.

Historically, this mussel occurred in 11 States and one Canadian
province.  It ranged from the Petitcodiac River system in New Brunswick,
Canada south to the Neuse River System in North Carolina.  Now, the
dwarf wedge mussel is extirpated from both river systems.  Other former
Southeastern river system sites include the Choptank River; the
Rappahannock River; and the James River.  In the Middle Atlantic States,
the dwarf wedge inhabited the Hackensack River; the Delaware River; and
the Susquehanna River systems.  New England habitat sites included the
Taunton River, the Agawam River, the Merrimac River, the Connecticut
River, and the Quinnipiac River systems.  One other population from the
Fort River in Hampshire County, Massachussetts, also appears extinct.

Historical Information

The dwarf wedge mussel was first listed on March 14, 1990.  It is
currently designated as endangered in the entire range.  Within the area
covered by this listing, this species is known to occur in: Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont; Canada (N.B.).

Life History

The dwarf wedge mussel is a rare freshwater mussel with a
trapezoid-to-ovate or "humpbacked" shell rarely exceeding 1.5 in. in
length.  It is characterized by having two lateral teeth on the right
valve of the shell, but only one on the left (thus the species name
heterodon).  The ventral margin is mostly straight. The beaks are low
and rounded, projecting only slightly above the hinge line. The
periostracum, or outer shell, is dark brown or yellowish brown and often
exhibits greenish rays in young mussels.  The nacre, or inner shell, is
bluish or silvery white.  The dwarf wedge mussel once existed in 70
localities within 15 major Atlantic slope drainage basins from New
Brunswick, Canada to North Carolina.  Today however, this species is
thought to be extirpated from all but approximately 30 small sites in
New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Connecticut,
Virginia, and New Jersey.  In New Jersey, the dwarf wedgemussel
historically inhabited areas of the Delaware, Hackensack, and Passaic
rivers.  These populations, however, are thought to be extirpated
because of water quality degradation and other factors.  There are only
three known active state occurrences of this elusive species; the
Paulins Kill, Pequest River, and a portion of the upper Delaware River.

The dwarf wedge mussel is sexually dimorphic, with separate sexes,
unlike some mussels that are hermaphroditic, with individuals having
both male and female reproductive organs.  Even so, the dimorphism is
very subtle; routine determination of sex in dwarf wedge mussels is at
best difficult.  Male dwarf wedge mussels release sperm into the water
column during the mid-summer or fall.  Females collect the sperm while
siphoning water for food; the eggs are then fertilized and kept within
the female until they are released the following spring.  By then, each
egg has developed into a parasitic larva called a glochidium.  After
release from the female, the glochidium attaches itself to a fish with
the aid of a small hook-like appendage.  Mussel glochidia are generally
species-specific and will only live if they find the correct host.  With
dwarf wedge mussels, the right hosts are small bottom-dwelling fish, the
tessellated darter (Etheostoma olmstedi) and the mottled sculpin (Cottus
bairdi).  It appears that the glochidium receives little nutrition from
the fish, but uses it only as a means of dispersal.  After several
weeks, the glochidium detaches itself from the unharmed fish and drops
to the river bottom.  It is then a juvenile mussel.

Many mussels have lifespans that range upwards of 20, 30 or even 100
years.  The dwarf wedge mussel is considerably different in this regard,
though, as it appears to only live about 10 years.  Adults must
therefore be constantly replaced to maintain a viable population.

Habitat

The dwarf wedge mussel inhabits creek and river areas with a slow to
moderate current and a sand, gravel, or muddy bottom.  Preferred habitat
of the dwarf wedge mussel ranges from muddy sand to sand and
gravel/pebble bottoms in rivers and creeks with slow to moderate
current.  Favoring clean and relatively shallow water with little silt
deposition, this species is known to co-occur with other freshwater
mussels such as the eastern elliptio (Elliptio complanata), triangle
floater (Alasmidonta undulata), creeper (Strophitus undulatus), eastern
floater (Pyganodon cataracta) and eastern lamp mussel (Lampsilis
radiata).

Reasons For Current Status

Water pollution and the construction of impoundments are the primary
threats to this mussel's survival.  Increased acidity, caused by the
mobilization of toxic metals by acid rain, is thought to be one of the
chief causes of the species' extirpation from the Fort River in
Massachussetts. One of the largest remaining populations has declined
dramatically in the Ashuelot River, downstream of a golf course.  This
population probably has been affected by fungicides, herbicides,
insecticides, and fertilizers that have been applied to the golf course.
 Agricultural runoff from adjacent corn fields and pastures also is
contributing to this population's decline.  Freshwater mussels,
including the dwarf wedge, are sensitive to potassium, zinc, copper,
cadmium, and other elements associated with industrial pollution.
Industrial, agricultural, and domestic pollution is responsible for the
dwarf wedge's disappearance from much of its historic range.  To
survive, the dwarf wedge needs an almost silt free environment with a
slow to moderate current.  The construction of dams alters these
conditions.  For example, most of the Connecticut River's main stem is
now a series of impoundments.  Upstream from each dam, heavy silt
disposition, combined with low oxygen levels, has made the area
unsuitable for mussels.  Downstream of the dams, water level and
temperature fluctuations, caused by hypolimnetic discharges and
intermittent power generation, have been stressful to the mussels.  In
some areas below the dams, the river banks have stabilized and the dwarf
wedge's required substrate (sandy, gravel, or muddy) no longer exists.

Another reason the species is declining is because its anadromous fish
host has been blocked from some habitat areas.  For example, the
Petitcodiac River system in Canada still hosts several rare mussels, but
the dwarf wedge has disappeared.  Apparently a downstream water
causeway, constructed since the species was last seen, has denied access
to the fish host.  Populations in the species' remaining range are
suffering a decline in reproductive capacity because of its low numbers
and isolated population distribution.

EASTERN PUMA (=COUGAR)

Felis concolor cougar

Family: Felidae

Status: Endangered

Source

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/eacofs.html"
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/eacofs.html

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

Historic records indicate that the eastern cougar once occurred from
eastern Canada southward into Tennessee and South Carolina, where its
range merged with that of the Florida panther (F. c. coryi). Present
United States distribution is limited to only a few scattered areas at
best. Recently there have been some sightings reported in Minnesota and
Michigan. These individuals are believed to have originated from around
New Brunswick or Manatoba, Canada. In the Southeast Region, there have
been a number of sightings, but the best evidence for a small permanent
population has come from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park Region.
Based on a National Park Service study that included both sighting
reports and field observations, there were an estimated three to six
cougars living in the park in 1975. Sightings have also be reported in
three other North Carolina areas including the Nantahala National
Forest, the northern portion of the Uwharrie National Forest, and the
State's southeastern counties. The remaining population of this species
is extremely small; exact numbers are unknown.

Historical Information

The Eastern puma (=cougar) was first listed on June 4, 1973.  It is
currently designated as endangered in the entire range.  Within the area
covered by this listing, this species is known to occur in: Connecticut,
District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, and West Virginia.  It is presumed to be
extinct in wild

Life History

Females mate every two to three years and produce a litter of two to
three cubs.  There is no set breeding season, however most births are in
the spring.  At six months of age, the cubs weigh 30-40 pounds.  They
leave the den at this time, accompanying the female to her kills and
occasionally hunting with her individually.  A young male may leave at
one year of age, but most cubs remain until they are nearly two. The
average life span for pumas is about eight years.  Adult pumas have no
natural enemies, only man with his hunting dogs.

Prey species include deer, elk, occasionally domestic livestock, and any
smaller mammals which opportunity makes available.  The preferred meat
is deer.  Pumas kill about a deer a week.  Like wolves, cougars often
kill old, weak or sick individuals, leaving the prey population in a
healthier overall condition.  Pumas are solitary, territorial hunters.

Habitat

No preference for specific habitat types has been noted.  The primary
need is apparently for a large wilderness area with an adequate food
supply.  Male cougars of other subspecies have been observed to occupy a
range of 25 or more square miles, and females from 5 to 20 square miles.

Reasons For Current Status

The eastern cougar has been hunted and trapped relentlessly as a pest.
Much of its habitat has been eliminated through extensive deforestation,
and its primary prey, the white-tailed deer, has suffered significant
population and range reductions.

FIN WHALE

Balaenoptera physalus

Family: Balaenopteridae

Status: Federal – Endangered

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Balaeno
ptera_physalus.html"
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Balaenop
tera_physalus.html

  HYPERLINK "http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/whales.pdf"
 http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/whales.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Balaenoptera_physalus/more_in
fo.html"
http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Balaenoptera_physalus/more_inf
o.html

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

The finb whale is global in distribution but is not common in tropical
seas and polar seas with ice.

Historical Information

The Fin whale was first listed on June 02, 1970. It is currently
designated as endangered in the entire range.  Within the area covered
by this listing, this species is known to occur in: Alaska, Alabama,
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and the Virgin Islands.

Life History

Fin whales tend to occur in pairs or in groups known as pods that
usually contain around 6 or 7 individuals; although large groups of
about 300 individuals have been observed.  This species spends spring
and early summer in cold feeding grounds at high latitudes, migrating to
more southerly areas for winter and the breeding season.  Northern and
southern populations never meet because the seasonal patterns are
reversed in the two hemispheres, and so they migrate to the equator at
different times of year.  Mating takes place in winter, and as gestation
takes about 12 months, births occur in the winter breeding grounds where
conception took place.  A single calf is produced, which is suckled for
6 to 7 months; when weaned, calves travel with their mother to the
feeding grounds.  Females produce calves every couple of years after
reaching sexual maturity at 3 to 12 years of age.  Full maturity is
usually attained at 25 to 30 years of age.

Fin whales feed by filtering planktonic crustaceans, fish and squid
through their baleen plates. Individuals can dive to depths of 230 m and
can stay submerged for about 15 minutes. The blow of a fin whale reaches
6 m in height and is a slim cone shape.

Habitat

The fin whale is global in distribution but is not common in tropical
seas and polar seas with ice.

RIGHT WHALE

Eubalaena glacialis

Family: Balaenopteridae

Status: Federal – Endangered

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Eubalae
na_glacialis.html"
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Eubalaen
a_glacialis.html

  HYPERLINK http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/whales.pdf
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/whales.pdf

  HYPERLINK http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/frdocs/1994/94-13500.html
http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/frdocs/1994/94-13500.html

  HYPERLINK http://www.whalecenter.org/species.htm#right
http://www.whalecenter.org/species.htm#right

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

Northern right whales were once found throughout the Northern
Hemisphere.  These whales inhabit the temperate and subpolar waters of
the North Atlantic and north Pacific oceans.  In the North Pacific they
are found from about 25 to 60 degrees north and in the North Atlantic
from about 30 to 75 degrees north.  Northwest Atlantic populations occur
from Iceland to the Gulf of Mexico, with largest concentrations
occurring between Nova Scotia, Canada, and Florida.  Winter calving
grounds occur off the coasts of Florida and Georgia.

Right whales move from subpolar regions with the onset of winter to
lower latitudes, staying near landmasses.  Some good areas to see them
are from Cape Cod north to the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia and Grand Manan
Island, New Brunswick.

Northern Pacific populations are isolated from Northern Atlantic
populations and are genetically distinct.  These populations are
sometimes referred to as Eubalaena japonica, Northern Pacific right
whales, and occur from the southeastern Bering Sea to the Okhotsk Sea
off western Russia.  Northern Pacific populations may be more closely
related to southern right whales, Eubalaena australis, than to Northern
Atlantic populations of northern right whales (Northern Atlantic right
whales).

Critical Habitat

The designated habitat includes portions of Cape Cod Bay and Stellwagen
Bank, the Great South Channel (off the coast of Massachusetts), and
waters adjacent to the coasts of Georgia and the east coast of Florida.

Historical Information

The right whale was first listed on June 2, 1970.  It is currently
designated as endangered in the entire range.  Within the area covered
by this listing, this species is known to occur in: Connecticut,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, North
Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia;
and Oceanic.

Life History

As long as 16.2 m (53 ft.), the right whale is large and rotund, with
mottled brown to nearly black coloring.  Both chin and belly show some
white, while the dark brownish to dark gray or black baleen plates are
long (up to 8 feet) and black - although they might look pale yellowish
gray far offshore.  The highly arched jaw curves upward.  The head and
sometimes the lips are characterized by a series of bumps called
callosities; these are naturally gray but appear yellow or white because
of massive infestation by whale-lice (cyamids).  The pattern of
callosities can be used to identify individuals; the bonnet, the biggest
of these bumps, is located just in front of two large blowholes.  The
right whale has no dorsal ridge or fin.  Broad flukes, which are dark
underneath, have pointed tips that are very concave toward a deep notch.
 Its blow is V-shaped when seen from ahead or behind (Audubon 1983).

Like humpback whales, there appears to be a seasonal migration for at
least a portion of the population from cold water summer feeding grounds
to warmer water winter breeding grounds.  However, there may also be a
substantial portion of the population that does not migrate as
extensively, and may spend the full year in colder waters.  In the North
Atlantic, whales summer in the Bay of Fundy and Nova Scotian shelf;
pregnant females and juveniles then move to coastal Georgia and Florida
for calving.  Some right whales spend the late winter and early spring
feeding in Cape Cod Bay and the Great South Channel on George's Bank.
Distribution in the North Pacific is largely unknown, and sightings are
uncommon.  In the southern hemisphere, whales probably feed below the
Antarctic convergence, and move to coastal breeding grounds off
Australia, South Africa, and South America.

Habitat

Depending on the time of year and which hemisphere they're found, right
whales will spend much of their time near bays and peninsulas and in
shallow, coastal waters.  This can provide shelter, food abundance, and
security for females rearing young or avoiding the mating efforts of
males.  Four critical habitats for northern right whales are the
Browns-Baccaro Bank, Bay of Fundy, Great South Channel, and the Cape Cod
Bay.  High densities of copepod populations occur in all of these
habitats.  The first three have deep basins (150 m) flanked by
relatively shallow water.  Copepods are concentrated here because of
convergences and upwellings driven by tidal currents.  This also occurs
in the Cape Cod Bay even though a deep basin is not present.

Reasons For Current Status

Northern right whales tend to move through the ocean at a fairly slow
pace for an animal of their size, they feed near the surface, and they
float when killed; thus they were considered the "right" catch for
whalers.  Hunting of right whales began as early as the 10th century.
These whales were hunted extensively during the 19th century, with as
many as 100,000 whales slaughtered during this time.  Right whales were
driven close to extinction early in the 20th century and were one of the
first whales to be given international protection in 1935.  At the first
international Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1935, a total
ban on hunting right whales was established.  The protection of this
species was broadened in 1972 with the passing of the Marine Mammal
Protection Act.  A major issue revolving around the conservation of the
right whale is habitat modification.  Especially since they use shallow
coastal lagoons and bays for breeding.  Their numbers are stable and may
even be increasing slightly in the Northwest Atlantic and off South
Africa.  The most current population estimate of 295 whales may
represent the approximate carrying capacity.  The carrying capacity
could be increased though if collisions with ships and entanglement in
fishing gear were decreased.  It may be decades before the health of the
right whale population is recovered.  A recovery plan has been
established with the difficult duty of managing a species that is hard
to track.  Luckily, activity modifications are taking place by people
like the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, ship traffic controllers in major
shipping lanes, and others.  Funding is always a major obstacle but
support is being sought by individual institutions, states, and relevant
sectors of the federal government.

HUMPBACK WHALE

Megaptera novaeangliae

Family: Balaenopteridae

Status: Federal – Endangered

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Megapte
ra_novaeangliae.html"
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Megapter
a_novaeangliae.html

  HYPERLINK http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/whales.pdf
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/whales.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.ser
vlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=A02Q"
http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.serv
lets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=A02Q

  HYPERLINK http://www.whalecenter.org/species.htm
http://www.whalecenter.org/species.htm

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

Humpback whales live in polar and tropical waters, particularly those of
the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific Oceans.  Their range also includes the
waters of the Bering Sea and the waters surrounding Antarctica.

Historical Information

The Humpback whale was first listed on June 2, 1970.  It is currently
designated as endangered in the entire range.  Within the area covered
by this listing, this species is known to occur in Alaska, Alabama,
California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana,
Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey,
New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and
Washington.

Life History

These whales, which reach lengths of 16.2 m (53 ft.), have broad,
rapidly tapering bodies that are primarily black.  Their bellies are
sometimes white, and in the North Atlantic the flippers are usually
white both ventrally and dorsally (or top and bottom).  Their baleen
plates are black, with black or olive-black bristles.  Both the top of
their heads and lower jaws are dotted with randomly placed fleshy knobs.
 The lower jaw also has a rounded projection on its tip.  The long
flippers are the most distinctive feature of this whale, since at
one-third the body length they exceed those of any other species; they
have scalloped leading edges.  The dorsal fin is highly variable in
shape and size, from almost absent to high and falcate; it is located on
a small hump a little more than two thirds of the way back.  Finally,
their concave, deeply notched flukes have scalloped rear edges.  The
pattern on the underside of the tail varies from all white to all black;
each pattern is individually distinctive, allowing researchers to
identify and track individual whales.  The humpback's blow is often wide
and balloon-shaped, although it can be tall and columnar in larger
animals.

Humpback whales are born during the winter, at approximately 10-12 feet
in length and 2,000 pounds in weight, after an 11-month gestation.  They
are typically weaned in the northern hemisphere during the following
December or January.  During its first year of life the mother seems to
lead her calf through a series of locations where it learns to find
food.  While the calf also learns how to feed on fish during its first
year (both through observing the mother, other animals, and practicing),
it nurses on rich milk, gaining up to 60 pounds per day.  The father
plays no role in parental care.  After leaving its mother, the
now-juvenile whale generally stays in habitats of medium quality (with
limited food supplies) for the next several years.  Growth seems to
occur in two major periods, one during the first year and one at 3-4
years of age.  Females may have their first calf as early as five, and
as late as ten years of age; six to eight is most common.  Females
typically have one calf every two to four years.  Males appear to be
physically mature at close to the same age, they probably do not get to
breed until much later in life.  Expected life span is 40-50 years.

Habitat

The habitat of humpback whales consists of polar to tropical waters,
including the waters of the Artic, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans, as well
as the waters surrounding Antarctica and the Bering Strait.  During
migration, they are found in coastal and deep oceanic waters.
Generally, they do not come into coastal waters until they reach the
latitudes of Long Island, New York, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Humpbacks are divided into several populations.  These are for the most
part isolated, but with a little interchange in some cases.  There are
two stocks in the North Atlantic Ocean and two in the North Pacific.
There are also seven isolated stocks in the southern hemisphere.

Reasons For Current Status

Widespread in Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Southern oceans;
populations were greatly reduced by historical commercial whaling;
approximately 102,000-122,000 remain from pre-exploitation levels of
over 450,000.  They are also threatened by general deterioration of the
marine ecosystem.

HAWKSBILL SEA TURTLE

Eretmochelys imbricata

Family: Cheloniidae

Status: State – Endangered, Federal - Endangered

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Eretmoc
helys_imbricata.html"
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Eretmoch
elys_imbricata.html

  HYPERLINK
"http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.ser
vlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=C00E"
http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.serv
lets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=C00E

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/SeaTurtles/Turtle%20Factsheets/hawksbil
l-sea-turtle.htm"
http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/SeaTurtles/Turtle%20Factsheets/hawksbill
-sea-turtle.htm

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

The hawksbill is found in tropical and subtropical regions of the
Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.  The species is widely distributed
in the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic Ocean.  In contrast to all
other sea turtle species, hawksbills nest in low densities on scattered
small beaches.  The Gulf and Caribbean coasts of the Yucatán Peninsula,
Mexico, where hawksbills nest on long expanses of beach in densities of
20 to 30 nests/km, are exceptions.  The hawksbill sea turtle has
experienced global population declines of 80 percent or more during the
past century and continued declines are projected.  Most populations are
declining, depleted, or remnants of larger aggregations.  Only five
regional populations remain with more than 1,000 females nesting
annually (Seychelles, Mexico, Indonesia, and two in Australia).  About
15,000 females are estimated to nest each year throughout the world with
the Caribbean accounting for 20 to 30 percent of the world’s hawksbill
population.  Panama, which used to support the single most important
nesting population in the Caribbean, is only a remnant population.
Mexico is now the most important region for hawksbills in the Caribbean
with 3,000 to 4,500 nests/year.  Other significant but smaller
populations in the Caribbean still occur in Martinique, Jamaica,
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos
Islands, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.  In the U.S.
Caribbean, about 100 to 350 nests/year are laid on Mona Island, Puerto
Rico, and 60 to 120 nests/year on Buck Island Reef National Monument,
U.S. Virgin Islands.  In the U.S. Pacific, hawksbills nest only on main
island beaches in Hawaii, primarily along the east coast of the island
of Hawaii.  Hawksbill nesting has also been documented in American Samoa
and Guam.

Critical Habitat

50 CFR 17.95 Puerto Rico: Critical habitat includes (1) Isla Mona, all
areas of beachfront on the west, south, and east sides of the island
from mean high tide inland to a point 150 meters from shore; (2) Culebra
Island, the following areas of beachfront on the north shore of the
island from mean high tide to a point 150 meters from shore: Playa
Resaca, Playa Brava, and Playa Larga; (3) Cayo Norte, south beach, from
mean high tide inland to a point 150 meters from shore; (4) Island
Culebrita, all beachfront areas on the southwest facing shore, east
facing shore, and northwest facing shore of the island from mean high
tide inland to a point 150 meters from shore. 50 CFR 226.209 Mona and
Monito Islands, Puerto Rico – critical habitat includes waters
surrounding the islands of Mona and Monito, from the mean high water
line seaward to 3 nautical miles (5.6 km).

Historical Information

The hawksbill sea turtle was first listed on June 2, 1970.  It is
currently designated as endangered in the entire range.  Within the area
covered by this listing, this species is known to occur in: Alabama,
American Samoa, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii,
Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Northern Mariana Islands,
Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode
Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Virgin Islands; and
Palau,tropical seas.

Life History

The hawksbill is a small to medium-sized marine turtle having an
elongated oval shell with overlapping scutes on the carapace, a
relatively small head with a distinctive hawk-like beak, and flippers
with two claws.  General coloration is brown with numerous splashes of
yellow, orange, or reddish-brown on carapace.  The plastron is yellowish
with black spots on the intergular and postanal scutes.  Juveniles are
black or very dark brown with light brown or yellow coloration on the
edge of the shell, limbs, and raised ridges of the carapace.  As an
adult, the hawksbill may reach up to 3 feet in length and weigh up to
300 pounds, although adults more commonly average about 2½ feet in
length and weigh between 95 to 165 pounds.  It is the only sea turtle
with a combination of two pairs of prefrontal scales on the head and
four pairs of costal scutes on the carapace.  The hawksbill feeds
primarily on sponges and is most often associated with the coral reef
community.

The nesting season varies with locality, but in most locations nesting
occurs sometime between April and November.  Hawksbills nest at night
and, on average, about 4.5 times per season at intervals of
approximately 14 days.  In Florida and the U.S. Caribbean, clutch size
is approximately 140 eggs, although several records exist of over 200
eggs per nest.  Remigration intervals of 2 to 3 years predominate.  The
incubation period averages 60 days.  Hawksbills are recruited into the
reef environment at about 35 cm in length and are believed to begin
breeding about 30 years later.  However, the time required to reach 35
cm in length is unknown and growth rates vary geographically.  As a
result, actual age at sexual maturity is not known.

Habitat

Hawksbills frequent rocky areas, coral reefs, shallow coastal areas,
lagoons or oceanic islands, and narrow creeks and passes.  They are
seldom seen in water deeper than 65 feet.  Hatchlings are often found
floating in masses of sea plants, and nesting may occur on almost any
undisturbed deep-sand beach in the tropics.  Adult females are able to
climb over reefs and rocks to nest in beach vegetation.

Reasons For Current Status

The decline of this species is primarily due to human exploitation for
tortoiseshell.  While the legal hawksbill shell trade ended when Japan
agreed to stop importing shell in 1993, a significant illegal trade
continues.  In addition, there are serious attempts by Cuba, with
support from other countries, to downlist hawksbills in Cuba to Appendix
2 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora in order to make it possible to reopen trade with Japan
and possibly other countries.  Other threats include loss or degradation
of nesting habitat from coastal development and beach armoring;
disorientation of hatchlings by beachfront lighting; excessive nest
predation by native and non-native predators; degradation of foraging
habitat; marine pollution and debris; watercraft strikes; and incidental
take from commercial fishing operations.

KEMP’S RIDLEY SEA TURTLE

Lepidochelys kempi

Family: Cheloniidae

Status: State – Endangered, Federal - Endangered

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.ser
vlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=C00O"
http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.serv
lets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=C00O

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/marinetrtls.pdf"
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/marinetrtls.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/species/turtles/kemps.html"
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/species/turtles/kemps.html

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

The major nesting beach for Kemp's ridleys is on the northeastern coast
of Mexico.  This location is near Rancho Nuevo in southern Tamaulipas.
The species occurs mainly in coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico and the
Northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

Critical Habitat

None designated

Historical Information

The Kemp's ridley sea turtle was first listed on December 2, 1970.  It
is currently designated as endangered in the entire range.  Within the
area covered by this listing, this species is known to occur in:
Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, New
York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia; Mexico-Atlantic
Coast, and tropical and temperate waters in Atlantic Basin.

Life History

The Kemp's ridley and olive ridley sea turtles are the smallest of all
extant sea turtles, with the weight of an adult generally being less
than 45 kg and the straight carapace length around 65 cm. Adult Kemp's
ridleys' shells are almost as wide as long.  Coloration changes
significantly during development from the grey-black carapace and
plastron of hatchlings to the lighter grey-olive carapace and
cream-white or yellowish plastron of adults.  There are two pairs of
prefrontal scales on the head, five vertebral scutes, five pairs of
coastal scutes and generally twelve pairs of marginals on the carapace.
In each bridge adjoining the plastron to the carapace, there are four
scutes, each of which is perforated by a pore.  This is the external
opening of Rathke's gland which secretes a substance of unknown
(possibly a pheromone) function.  Males resemble the females in size and
coloration.  Secondary sexual characteristics of male sea turtles
include a longer tail, more distal vent, recurved claws and, during
breeding, a softened mid-plastron.  Eggs are 34-45 mm in diameter and
24-40 g in weight.  Hatchlings range from 42-48 mm in straight line
carapace length, 32-44 mm in width and 15-20 g in weight.

Neonatal Kemp's ridleys feed on the available sargassum and associated
infauna or other epipelagic species found in the Gulf of Mexico.  In
post-pelagic stages, the ridley is largely a crab-eater, with a
preference for portunid crabs.  Age at sexual maturity is not known, but
is believed to be approximately 7-15 years, although other estimates of
age at maturity range as high as 35 years.

Habitat

Unlike land turtles from which they evolved more than 150 million years
ago, sea turtles spend almost their entire lives in the sea.  When
active, they often come to the surface to breathe, but can remain
underwater for several hours at a time while resting.  Preferred
estuarine habitat of sea turtles--deeper or shallower water--directly
relates to their preferred diet.  Adult green turtles are herbivores, or
plant eaters.  All the other sea turtles are either carnivores
(meat-eaters) or omnivores that eat both plant matter and meat.

Reasons For Current Status

It is estimated that before the implementation of TEDs, the commercial
shrimp fleet killed 500-5000 Kemp's ridleys each year.  Besides shrimp
trawls, Kemp's ridleys have been taken in pound nets, trawls, gill nets,
hook and line, crab traps, and longlines.  Beginning in 1976, the U.S.
and Mexican governments agreed to phase out U.S. shrimping in Mexican
waters by 1979.  U.S. shrimp vessels continued to illegally operate off
Mexico through the mid 1980s.  The Mexican shrimp fleet has declined and
consists of only approximately 600 vessels, many of which do not
operate.  Also since 1978, Mexico has closed the nearshore waters off
Rancho Nuevo to fishing during the nesting season.  However, this
closure has not been strictly enforced.

The Gulf of Mexico is an area of high density offshore oil extraction
with chronic low-level spills and occasional massive spills.  The two
primary feeding grounds for adult Kemp's ridley turtles in the northern
and southern Gulf of Mexico are both near major areas of near shore and
offshore oil exploration and production.  The nesting beach at Rancho
Nuevo is also vulnerable and has been affected by oil spills.  The vast
amount of floating debris in the Gulf of Mexico constitutes an
increasingly serious threat to Kemp's ridley turtles of all ages.
Plastics, monofilament, discarded netting and many other waste items are
either eaten by Kemp's ridleys or become death traps when the turtles
become entangled. Injestion of plastic, rubber, fishing line and hooks,
tar, cellophane, rope amd string, wax, styrofoam, charcoal, aluminum
cans and cigarette filters has occurred in sea turtles.  NMFS is
currently analyzing stranding data and available necropsy information to
determine the magnitude of debris ingestion and entanglement.

Dredging operations affect Kemp's ridley turtles through incidental take
and by degrading the habitat.  Incidental take of ridleys has been
documented with hopper dredges.  In addition to direct take,
channelization of the inshore and nearshore areas can degrade foraging
and migratory habitat through spoil dumping, degraded water
quality/clarity and altered current flow.

LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLE

Dermochelys coriacea

Family: Cheloniidae

Status: State – Endangered, Federal – Endangered

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/marinetrtls.pdf"
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/marinetrtls.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/SeaTurtles/Turtle%20Factsheets/leatherb
ack-sea-turtle.htm"
http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/SeaTurtles/Turtle%20Factsheets/leatherba
ck-sea-turtle.htm

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/species/turtles/leatherback.html"
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/species/turtles/leatherback.html

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

The leatherback turtle is distributed worldwide in tropical and
temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.  It is
also found in small numbers as far north as British Columbia,
Newfoundland, and the British Isles, and as far south as Australia, Cape
of Good Hope, and Argentina.  Recent estimates of global nesting
populations indicate 26,000 to 43,000 nesting females annually, which is
a dramatic decline from the 115,000 estimated in 1980.  This is due to
exponential declines in leatherback nesting that have occurred over the
last two decades along the Pacific coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.  The
Mexico leatherback nesting population, once considered to be the
world’s largest leatherback nesting population (65 percent of
worldwide population), is now less than one percent of its estimated
size in 1980.  The largest nesting populations now occur in the western
Atlantic in French Guiana (4,500 to 7,500 females nesting/year) and
Colombia (estimated several thousand nests annually), and in the western
Pacific in West Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) and Indonesia (about 600 to
650 females nesting/year).  In the United States, small nesting
populations occur on the Florida east coast (35 females/year), Sandy
Point, U.S. Virgin Islands (50 to 100 females/year), and Puerto Rico (30
to 90 females/year).

Critical Habitat

50 CFR 17.95 U.S. Virgin Islands - critical habitat includes a strip of
land 0.2 miles wide (from mean high tide inland) at Sandy Point Beach on
the western end of the island of St. Croix beginning at the southwest
cape to the south and running 1.2 miles northwest and then northeast
along the western and northern shoreline, and from the southwest cape
0.7 miles east along the southern shoreline. 50 CFR 226.207 - critical
habitat includes the waters adjacent to Sandy Point, St. Croix, U.S.
Virgin islands, up to and inclusive of the waters from the hundred
fathom curve shoreward to the level of mean high tide with boundaries at
17°42’12" North and 64°50’00" West.

Historical Information

Endangered throughout its range (Federal Register, June 2, 1970).

Life History

The leatherback is the largest, deepest diving, and most migratory and
wide ranging of all sea turtles.  The adult leatherback can reach 4 to 8
feet in length and 500 to 2000 pounds in weight.  Its shell is composed
of a mosaic of small bones covered by firm, rubbery skin with seven
longitudinal ridges or keels.  The skin is predominantly black with
varying degrees of pale spotting; including a notable pink spot on the
dorsal surface of the head in adults.  A toothlike cusp is located on
each side of the gray upper jaw; the lower jaw is hooked anteriorly.
The paddle-like clawless limbs are black with white margins and pale
spotting.  Hatchlings are predominantly black with white flipper margins
and keels on the carapace.  Jellyfish are the main staple of its diet,
but it is also known to feed on sea urchins, squid, crustaceans,
tunicates, fish, blue-green algae, and floating seaweed.

In the United States, nesting occurs from about March to July.  Female
leatherbacks nest an average of 5 to 7 times within a nesting season,
with an observed maximum of 11 nests.  The average internesting interval
is about 9 to 10 days.  The nests are constructed at night in clutches
of about 70 to 80 yolked eggs.  The white spherical eggs are
approximately 2 inches in diameter.  Typically incubation takes from 55
to 75 days, and emergence of the hatchlings occurs at night.  Most
leatherbacks remigrate to their nesting beaches at 2 to 3-year
intervals.  Leatherbacks are believed to reach sexual maturity in 6 to
10 years.

Habitat

The leatherback is the most pelagic of the sea turtles.  Adult females
require sandy nesting beaches backed with vegetation and sloped
sufficiently so the crawl to dry sand is not too far.  The preferred
beaches have proximity to deep water and generally rough seas.

Leatherbacks can dive to more than 3,000 feet below sea level (US FWS
sea turtles).

Preferred estuarine habitat of sea turtles--deeper or shallower
water--directly relates to

their preferred diet.  Adult green turtles are herbivores, or plant
eaters.  All the other sea

turtles are either carnivores or omnivores that eat both plant matter
and

meat.

Reasons For Current Status

The crash of the Pacific leatherback population, once the world’s
largest population, is believed primarily to be the result of
exploitation by humans for the eggs and meat, as well as incidental take
in numerous commercial fisheries of the Pacific.  Other factors
threatening leatherbacks globally include loss or degradation of nesting
habitat from coastal development; disorientation of hatchlings by
beachfront lighting; excessive nest predation by native and non-native
predators; degradation of foraging habitat; marine pollution and debris;
and watercraft strikes.

LOGGERHEAD SEA TURTLE

Caretta caretta

Family:   Cheloniidae

Status: State – Endangered, Federal – Threatened

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/marinetrtls.pdf"
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/marinetrtls.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/SeaTurtles/Turtle%20Factsheets/loggerhe
ad-sea-turtle.htm"
http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/SeaTurtles/Turtle%20Factsheets/loggerhea
d-sea-turtle.htm

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

The loggerhead sea turtle occurs throughout the temperate and tropical
regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.  However, the
majority of loggerhead nesting is at the western rims of the Atlantic
and Indian oceans.  The most recent reviews show that only two
loggerhead nesting beaches have greater than 10,000 females nesting per
year: South Florida (U.S.) and Masirah (Oman).  Those beaches with 1,000
to 9,999 females nesting each year are North Florida through North
Carolina (U.S.), Cape Verde Islands (Spain, eastern Atlantic off
Africa), and Western Australia (Australia).  Smaller nesting
aggregations with 100 to 999 nesting females annually occur in Northwest
Florida (U.S.), Cay Sal Bank (Bahamas), Quintana Roo and Yucatán
(Mexico), Sergipe and Northern Bahia (Brazil), Southern Bahia to Rio de
Janerio (Brazil), Tongaland (South Africa), Mozambique, Arabian Sea
Coast (Oman), Halaniyat Islands (Oman), Cyprus, Peloponnesus (Greece),
Island of Zakynthos (Greece), Turkey, and Queensland (Australia).
Although the major nesting concentrations in the United States are found
in South Florida, loggerheads nest from Texas to Virginia.  Total
estimated nesting in the U.S. is approximately 68,000 to 90,000
nests/year.  About 80 percent of loggerhead nesting in the southeastern
U.S. occurs in six Florida counties (Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie,
Martin, Palm Beach, and Broward Counties).  Adult loggerheads are known
to make considerable migrations between foraging areas and nesting
beaches.  During non-nesting years, adult females from U.S. beaches are
distributed in waters off the eastern U.S. and throughout the Gulf of
Mexico, Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and Yucatán.

Genetic research involving analysis of mitochondrial DNA has identified
five different loggerhead nesting subpopulations in the western North
Atlantic: (1) the Northern Subpopulation occurring from North Carolina
through Northeast Florida; (2) South Florida Subpopulation occurring
from just north of Cape Canaveral on Florida’s east coast and
extending up to around Sarasota on Florida’s west coast; (3) Dry
Tortugas, Florida, Subpopulation, (4) Northwest Florida Subpopulation
occurring on Florida’s Panhandle beaches; and (5) Yucatán
Subpopulation occurring on the eastern Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. These
data indicate that gene flow between these five regions is very low.  If
nesting females are extirpated from one of these regions, regional
dispersal will not be sufficient to replenish the depleted nesting
subpopulation.  The South Florida Subpopulation has shown significant
increases over the last 25 years, indicating that the population has
progressed toward recovery.  However, an analysis of nesting data for
the years 1989-2002, a period encompassing index surveys that are more
consistent than surveys in previous years, has shown no detectable
trend.  Past increases in South Florida loggerhead nesting are likely to
have slowed.  No long-term trends are available for the Northern
Subpopulation, although researchers have documented substantial declines
in nesting on some beaches since the early 1970s.  From 1989-1998, no
nesting trends were detectable for North Carolina, South Carolina, or
Georgia.  However, nests in Northeast Florida may be increasing,
although data were too variable to detect a significant trend.  Nesting
surveys in the Dry Tortugas, Northwest Florida, and Yucatán
subpopulations have been too irregular to date to allow for a meaningful
trend analysis.

Critical Habitat

None designated.

Historical Information

Threatened throughout its range (Federal Register, July 28, 1978).

Life History

The loggerhead is characterized by a large head with blunt jaws.  The
carapace and flippers are a reddish-brown color; the plastron is yellow.
 The carapace has five pairs of costal scutes with the first touching
the nuchal scute.  There are three large inframarginal scutes on each of
the bridges between the plastron and carapace.  Adults grow to an
average weight of about 200 pounds.  The species feeds on mollusks,
crustaceans, fish, and other marine animals.

The United States nesting season extends from about May through August
with nesting occurring primarily at night.  Loggerheads are known to
nest from one to seven times within a nesting season (mean is about 4.1
nests per season) at intervals of approximately 14 days.  Mean clutch
size varies from about 100 to 126 along the southeastern United States
coast.  Incubation ranges from about 45 to 95 days, depending on
incubation temperatures, but averages 55 to 60 days for most clutches in
Florida.  Hatchlings generally emerge at night.  Remigration intervals
of 2 to 3 years are most common in nesting loggerheads, but remigration
can vary from 1 to 7 years.  Age at sexual maturity is believed to be
about 20 to 30 years.

Habitat

The loggerhead is widely distributed within its range.  It may be found
hundreds of miles out to sea, as well as in inshore areas such as bays,
lagoons, salt marshes, creeks, ship channels, and the mouths of large
rivers.  Coral reefs, rocky places, and ship wrecks are often used as
feeding areas.  Loggerheads nest on ocean beaches and occasionally on
estuarine shorelines with suitable sand.  Nests are typically made
between the high tide line and the dune front.  Most loggerhead
hatchlings originating from U.S. beaches are believed to lead a pelagic
existence in the North Atlantic gyre for an extended period of time,
perhaps as long as 10 to 12 years, and are best known from the eastern
Atlantic near the Azores and Madeira.  Post-hatchlings have been found
floating at sea in association with Sargassum rafts.  Once they reach a
certain size, these juvenile loggerheads begin recruiting to coastal
areas in the western Atlantic where they become benthic feeders in
lagoons, estuaries, bays, river mouths, and shallow coastal waters.
These juveniles occupy coastal feeding grounds for a decade or more
before maturing and making their first reproductive migration, the
females returning to their natal beach to nest.

Reasons For Current Status

Threats include loss or degradation of nesting habitat from coastal
development and beach armoring; disorientation of hatchlings by
beachfront lighting; excessive nest predation by native and non-native
predators; degradation of foraging habitat; marine pollution and debris;
watercraft strikes; disease; and incidental take from channel dredging
and commercial trawling, longline, and gill net fisheries. There is
particular concern about the extensive incidental take of juvenile
loggerheads in the eastern Atlantic by longline fishing vessels from
several countries.

BOG TURTLE

Clemmys muhlenbergii

Family: Emydidae

Status: State – Endangered, Federal – Threatened

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/bogtrtl.pdf"
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/end-thrtened/bogtrtl.pdf

  HYPERLINK
"http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Clemmys
_muhlenbergii.html"
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Clemmys_
muhlenbergii.html

  HYPERLINK
"http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.ser
vlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=C048"
http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.serv
lets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=C048

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Clem
mys+muhlenbergii"
http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Clemm
ys+muhlenbergii

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/botufs.html"
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/botufs.html

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

Bog turtles occupy a highly discontinuous and fragmented range in the
eastern United States of America; within this range they tend occur in
small, often widely separated colonies.  For management purposes two
general "populations" are often recognized -  a northern population from
eastern New York and western Massachusetts south through southeastern
Pennsylvania and New Jersey to northern Maryland and Delaware (with
outliers in north-central New York and western Pennsylvania), and a
southern population (generally at higher elevations, up to 4000 feet)
from southern Virginia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee to
extreme northeastern Georgia.  There are no reliable morphological
differences between bog turtles in these designated populations.  The
bog turtle is one of the most endangered turtle species in North
America..

Historical Information

Due to population declines, restricted habitat preference, habitat loss,
and collecting, the bog turtle was listed as an endangered species in
New Jersey in 1974.  Declining throughout its range, this turtle is also
listed as threatened in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia and endangered in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia.  In 1997, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service included the bog turtle on its list of federally
threatened species.  The New Jersey Natural Heritage Program considers
the bog turtle to be, “globally, either very rare and local throughout
its range or found locally in a restricted range or because of other
factors making it vulnerable to extinction throughout its range,” and,
“imperiled in New Jersey because of rarity”.

Life History

The bog turtle is a tiny, dark turtle with a distinct orange patch
behind the tympanum (earmembrane) on either side of the head.  The
scutes (scale-like horny layers) of the carapace (upper shell) are brown
or black and may have yellow or reddish centers.  Likewise, the plastron
(underneath shell) is brownishblack with a light yellow or mahogany
center.  The limbs are brown and may be mottled with variable amounts of
dark yellow, orange, or red blotching.  Bog turtles, one of the smallest
and most secretive of North America’s turtles, measure only 7.6 to 10
cm (3.0 to 3.9 in.) long as adults.  The male bog turtle has a concave
plastron while that of the female is flat or slightly convex.  In
addition, the male has a long, thick tail and long foreclaws.

In New York, the bog turtle emerges from hibernation, often spent in an
abandoned muskrat lodge or other burrow, by mid-April.  Bog turtles
often hibernate communally with other bog turtles and with spotted
turtles (Clemmys guttata).  Generally both the air and water temperature
must exceed 50 degrees F for the turtle to become active.  Mating occurs
primarily in the spring but may also occur in the fall and may be
focused in or near the hibernaculum (winter shelter).  In early to
mid-June, a clutch of two to four eggs is laid in a nest which is
generally located inside the upper part of an unshaded tussock.  The
eggs hatch around mid-September.  Some young turtles spend the winter in
the nest, emerging the following spring.  The adults enter hibernation
in late October.  Sexual maturity may be reached at eight years or as
late as eleven.  A bog turtle may live for more than 30 years.

Although generally very secretive, the bog turtle can be seen basking in
the open, especially in the early spring just after emerging from
hibernation.  It is an opportunistic feeder, eating what it can get,
although it prefers invertebrates such as slugs, worms, and insects.
Seeds, plant leaves, and carrion are also included in its diet.

Habitat

Bog turtles inhabit calcareous (limestone) fens, sphagnum bogs, and wet,
grassy pastures that are characterized by soft, muddy substrates
(bottoms) and perennial groundwater seepage.  Bog turtle habitats are
well-drained and water depth rarely exceeds 10 cm (four in.) above the
surface.  Flora associated with bog turtle habitats include sedges
(Carex spp.), rushes (Juncus spp.), mosses, and grasses.  These habitats
may also contain red maple (Acer rubrum), alder (Alnus spp.), skunk
cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), cattail (Typha spp.), willow (Salix
spp.), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum.), jewelweed (Impatiens
capensis), swamp rose (Hibiscus palustris), dogwoods (Cornus spp.),
shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa), buttonbush (Cephalanthus
occidentalis), rice-cut grass (Leersia oryzoides), wool-grass
(Scirpuscyperinus ), arrowhead (Sagittaria spp.), watercress (Nasturtium
officinale), St. Johnswort (Hypericum spp.), blue vervain (Verbena
hastata), sundew (Drosera spp.), pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea),
cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea), and sensitive fern (Onoclea
sensibilis).  Because open areas are favored for basking and nesting,
vegetative succession may cause the dispersal or loss of bog turtle
colonies.

Many of the emergent wetlands inhabited by bog turtles have served as
pastures during historic or current times.  Grazing by livestock
maintains the successional stage and softens the ground, creating
favorable conditions for these turtles.  Although controlled grazing is
beneficial, overgrazing can result in excessive fecal runoff that may
degrade water quality or encourage the growth of undesirable plant
species.  Linear drainage ditches provide an alternative habitat for bog
turtles in some areas of the state.  These ditches, which have healed
over time, may support remarkably high bog turtle densities.

Reasons For Current Status

Spotty distribution and specialized habitat requirements make this
species vulnerable to local extirpation.  Decline is due primarily to
loss, degradation, and fragmentation of habitat (the factor ranked here)
and excessive (and illegal) collecting for the pet trade.  These
continue to be major threats.  Laws against collecting have been largely
ineffective in reducing that threat.

Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation have resulted from
urban/suburban development; filling, draining, and dredging of wetlands;
and water impoundment, water diversion into habitat, and other
hydrological alterations.  In some areas, successional changes (e.g.,
reforestation) and exotic plant species have reduced habitat quality.
Heavy grazing is detrimental, especially when nesting females are
disturbed or eggs are trampled (light grazing may be beneficial in some
cases if it maintains an open canopy and avoid the problems just
mentioned).  Habitat fragmentation has made it difficult for turtles to
cope with successional changes and ecosystem changes caused by humans or
beavers (simply moving to another area is now often not an option).
Though flooding caused by beavers may be a threat in particular sites at
a particular time, over the long term and on a broad geographic scale,
beaver activities (i.e., cutting of woody plants and periodic flooding)
can be an important factors in the creation or maintenance of suitable
habitat for bog turtles.  Mosquito control via pesticide application is
a potential threat is some areas; this may impact turtles directly or
affect food supply.  Abnormally high raccoon populations, associated
with human impacts, may result in excessive predation on turtles and
eggs. Eggs are susceptible to trampling by humans walking through the
habitat.  Frequent human visits to single sites conceivably could
interfere with the turtles' basking behavior and may disturb females
attempting to nest.  The species is vulnerable to the usual problems
associated with small population size.

SEABEACH AMARANTH

Amaranthus pumilus

Family: Amaranthaceae

Status: State – Threatened, Federal – Threatened

Sources

  HYPERLINK "http://nc-es.fws.gov/plant/seabamaranth.html"
http://nc-es.fws.gov/plant/seabamaranth.html

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.fws.gov/northeast/nyfo/es/amaranthweb/fact_sheets/NJ.pdf"
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/nyfo/es/amaranthweb/fact_sheets/NJ.pdf

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

Historically, the seabeach amaranth occurred in 31 counties in nine
States from Massachusetts to South Carolina. The species has now been
completely eliminated from six of the States in its original range. As
of 1990 (a complete range wide census was recently done), there were 55
remaining populations. Of these, 34 were in North Carolina, 8 were in
South Carolina, and 13 were in New York.

Historical Information

Although originally described as abundant, the number of populations of
A. pumilus declined precipitously throughout the Twentieth Century and,
following a collection from Ocean County in 1913, vanished from the
flora of New Jersey. Habitat destruction and alteration, incompatible
beach grooming practices and recreational activities have all
contributed to the decline of this species. By 1989, the species was
restricted to a few populations in North and South Carolina. In 1991 New
Jersey included A. pumilus in its first official Endangered Plant
Species List, and in 1993 the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and
Wildlife Service, determined A. pumilus to be a federally threatened
species under the authority of the Endangered Species Act. In 2000 the
plant returned to newly created beaches in Monmouth County and adjacent
habitat in Sandy Hook. Intensive surveys performed in 2001 revealed
populations or individuals in all four coastal New Jersey counties.
Despite its reappearance, the plant remains highly vulnerable to the
uses and practices that caused its extirpation throughout most of the
previous century.

Life History

Seabeach amaranth, as the name implies, is an annual plant found on
beaches along the western coast of the Atlantic Ocean (North America).
The stems are fleshy and pink-red or reddish, with small rounded leaves
that are 1.3 to 2.5 centimeters in diameter. The leaves are clustered
toward the tip of the stem; they are usually spinach-green, and have
small notches at the rounded tips. Flowers and fruits are relatively
inconspicuous, borne in clusters along the stems. Germination occurs
over a relatively long period of time, generally from April to July.
Upon germinating, this plant initially forms a small sprig with no
branches, but soon begins to branch profusely into a clump. This clump
often reaches a foot in diameter and consists of 5 to 2O branches.
Occasionally, a clump may get as large as a yard or more across, with
1OO or more branches.

Flowering begins as soon as plants have reached sufficient size,
sometimes as early as June, but more typically commencing in July and
continuing until the death of the plant in late fall. Seed production
begins in July or August; it reaches a peak in September during most
years, but continues until the death of the plant. Weather events,
including rainfall, hurricanes, and temperature extremes, and predation
by webworms have strong effects on the length of seabeach amaranth's
reproductive season. As a result of one or more of these influences, the
flowering and fruiting period can be terminated as early as June or
July. Under favorable circumstances, however, the reproductive season
may extend until January or sometimes later

Habitat

Seabeach amaranth occurs on barrier island beaches, where its primary
habitat consists of overwash flats at accreting ends of islands and
lower foredunes and upper strands of noneroding beaches. It occasionally
establishes small temporary populations in other habitats, including
sound-side beaches, blowouts in foredunes, and sand and shell material
placed as beach replenishment or dredged spoil. Seabeach amaranth
appears to be intolerant of competition and does not occur on
well-vegetated sites. The species appears to need extensive areas of
barrier island beaches and inlets, functioning in a relatively natural
and dynamic manner. These characteristics allow it to move around in the
landscape as a fugitive species, occupying suitable habitat as it
becomes available.

Reasons for Current Status

Seabeach amaranth has been eliminated from two-thirds of its historic
range. The most serious threats to its continued existence are
construction of beach stabilization structures, beach erosion and tidal
inundation, beach grooming, herbivory by insects and feral animals, and,
in certian circumstances, by off-road vehicles.

KNIESKERN'S BEAKED-RUSH

Rhynchospora knieskernii

Family: Cyperaceae

Status: State – Threatened, Federal – Threatened

Sources

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.fws.gov/northeast/njfieldoffice/Endangered/Knieskern's_beake
d-rush.htm#2"
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/njfieldoffice/Endangered/Knieskern's_beaked
-rush.htm#2

  HYPERLINK
"http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/ASP/CPC_ViewProfile.asp?CPCNu
m=3751#Distribution"
http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/ASP/CPC_ViewProfile.asp?CPCNum
=3751#Distribution

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

Knieskern's beaked-rush has always been considered rare.  Currently,
the species is only known to occur in New Jersey (Atlantic, Burlington,
Camden, Monmouth, and Ocean Counties).  Historically, two documented
occurrences were found in Sussex County, Delaware.  The Delaware
Natural Heritage Program has been conducting yearly surveys for
Knieskern's beaked-rush over the past 10 years without finding a single
new occurrence.  The total number of documented occurrences in New
Jersey is 52, which includes 14 historical and 38 extant populations.
Six of the extant populations occur on sites that are considered to be
naturally maintained in an early successional vegetative stage and
therefore, should not require active management.  The remaining 32
known extant populations occur on early successional sites created as a
result of sand, clay, and gravel mining; borrow pit excavation;
cranberry bog construction; and road, powerline, and ditch construction
through wetland areas.  Of the 32 extant populations occurring on
human-disturbed sites, three are on federal property, four are on State
property, and 25 are on private property or rights-of-way.

Historical Information

The Knieskern's Beaked-rush was first listed on July 18, 1991. It is
currently designated as Threatened in the entire range. The U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service Northeast Region (Region 5) is the lead region for
this entity.

Life History

Knieskern's beaked-rush is a plant of the sedge family endemic to the
Pinelands region of New Jersey. The genus name Rhynchospora is from the
Greek rhynchos, meaning beak and spora, meaning seed, which refers to
the beaked seed or fruit that is characteristic of the genus. This
grass-like plant was generally considered to be an annual species (i.e.,
living for only one season); however, it is currently suspected to be a
short-lived perennial in locations where habitat conditions are stable
enough to allow uninterrupted growth year after year. Knieskern's
beaked-rush grows from 1.5 to 60 centimeters high (0.6 to 24 inches),
has slender culms (stis) branching from the base, and short, narrowly
linear leaves. Small spiklets (flower clusters) are numerous and occur
at distant intervals along the entire length of the culm. The achene
(fruit) is obovate, narrow at the base, 1.1 to 1.3 millimeters long
(0.04 to 0.05 inches), and equal in length to the six downwardly-barbed,
or rarely, upwardly-barbed attached bristles. A tubercle (beak), which
is the persistent base of the two-cleft style (slender stalk containing
the pollen tube) on top of the achene, is about one-half the length of
the achene.  Although not all plants produce culms each year, flowering
and seed production have been observed in very young plants. Fruiting
typically occurs from July to September.  Seed dispersal mechanisms are
not documented; however, bristles located on the achenes could assist in
animal dispersal.

Habitat

Rhynchospora kneiskernii occurs in groundwater-influenced, constantly
fluctuating, successional environments. The plant was once thought to be
closely associated with natural bog iron deposits in the Pinelands, but
has now been found in a wider variety of environments. Bog iron forms
when slow-moving, acidic stream water leaches iron from the Cretaceous
outwash soils characteristic of the Pinelands. Upon contact with oxygen
and oxidizing bacteria, the iron mobilizes and is re-deposited in hard
layers of "iron stone" in streambeds and adjacent floodplain wetlands.
Continual stream erosion and challenging soil chemistry tend to inhibit
growth of trees and shrubs that would normally shade out Rhynchospora
kneiskernii. Six of the 38 known extant populations of the plant occur
on this unusual substrate.

Knieskern's beaked-rush is an obligate hydrophyte (wetland plant).  It
typically occurs within wet openings of pitch-pine forest, a community
established and maintained by fire.  Because fires are now often
suppressed, the future of Knieskern's beaked-rush and pitch-pine forests
is uncertain.  Rhynchospora kneiskernii is intolerant of competition,
especially from woody species.  It is found on naturally occurring early
successional habitats and disturbed habitats such as burns, gravel and
clay pits, road cuts, mowed roadsides, utility and railroad
rights-of-way, cleared home sites, eroded areas, cleared edges of
Atlantic white-cedar swamps, wheel ruts, and muddy swales.  Periodic
disturbance, either natural or human-induced, which maintains a
damp-to-wet site in an early ecological successional stage may be
necessary for the successful colonization, establishment, recruitment,
and maintenance of this species.   Human-disturbed sites exhibit some
of the same characteristics as bog-iron sites, including a high water
table, temporary inundation, and open, early-successional habitat with
relatively bare substrate.  In general, most of these sites require
periodic human-induced disturbance to maintain their early-successional
character.  Plant species associated with Knieskern's beaked-rush
include warty panic-grass (Panicum verrucosum), poverty-grass (Aristida
longispica), and spatulate-leaved sundew.

Reasons for Current Status

Originally, the primary threat to the species was the loss of wetlands
to urban and agricultural development. However, current State and
federal wetland protection laws have reduced the loss of wetlands over
time. Presently, vegetative succession is a major factor threatening
Knieskern's beaked-rush; 19 of the 38 extant populations are currently
undergoing vegetative succession that could eliminate these populations.
Without periodic intervention to reverse successional trends, these 19
sites will most likely become unsuitable for the species in the future.
Human-induced threats to the species include alteration to wetland
hydrology, off-road vehicles, trash dumping, and possibly roadside
grading. Fire can be both beneficial and detrimental to the species
depending on the timing, duration, and intensity of the burn.

AMERICAN CHAFFSEED

Schwalbea americana

Family: Scrophulariaceae

Status: State – Endangered, Federal – Endangered

Sources

  HYPERLINK "http://www.bragg.army.mil/esb/american_chaffseed.htm"
http://www.bragg.army.mil/esb/american_chaffseed.htm

Geographic Boundaries and Spatial Distribution

Historically, Chaffseed occurred in fifteen States, including Alabama,
Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia at a total of approximately 78 sites.
One historic record from Louisiana is now considered to have been
erroneous. Currently, 51 populations are known, including one in New
Jersey, one in North Carolina, 43 in South Carolina, four in Georgia,
and two in Florida. Chaffseed was never considered to be common, but
populations have declined and the range has seriously contracted in
recent decades. The species can no longer be found in 10 of the States
in which it occurred historically. Many historic populations have been
confirmed extirpated due to habitat destruction, primarily due to
development. Others have been lost in the absence of habitat
destruction, probably as a result of fire exclusion.

Historical Information

The American chaffseed was first listed on September 29, 1992.  It is
currently designated as endangered in the entire range. Historically,
Chaffseed occurred in fifteen States, including Alabama, Connecticut,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, and Virginia at a total of approximately 78 sites. One
historic record from Louisiana is now considered to have been erroneous.
Currently, 51 populations are known, including one in New Jersey, one in
North Carolina, 43 in South Carolina, four in Georgia, and two in
Florida. Chaffseed was never considered to be common, but populations
have declined and the range has seriously contracted in recent decades.
The species can no longer be found in 10 of the States in which it
occurred historically. Many historic populations have been confirmed
extirpated due to habitat destruction, primarily due to development.
Others have been lost in the absence of habitat destruction, probably as
a result of fire exclusion.

In New Jersey Schwalbea americana declined from 19 historical sites to
four by the early 1970s to two in 1980. One of these two sites (The Cape
May site) was destroyed by road construction in 1986, leaving a single
remaining site in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest (formerly known as
"Lebanon State Forest") at a sandy, mowed roadside edge of a pitch
pine-dominated, lowland Pine Barrens forest. The population declined
during the 1980s due to recreational trampling, collection and
inappropriate mowing. In 1993 a management agreement was established
between the State Forest, the cranberry grower leasing the site, the
county and the New Jersey Office of Natural Lands Management. In
accordance with the agreement, vehicle barriers have been erected, the
mowing season was changed, and the site is kept open through thinning
and mowing of shrubs. These actions appeared to have stabilized the
population as of 1995.

Life History

American chaffseed is an erect, hemiparasitic, perennial herb that grows
1.0-2.6 ft (0.3-0.8 m) in height.  Although it is a root-hemiparasite
(partially dependent on its host), the species is not host-specific and
may parasitize a variety of trees, shrubs, and herbs.  April through
June flowers are pollinated by bees, with fruits maturing in
July-September.  Fruit dispersal is poorly understood, but fruits are
likely wind dispersed in close proximity to the parent.  Requirements
for seed germination and seedling establishment are unknown, but the
species is considered shade-intolerant. Although another species (S.
australis) was once recognized, the genus Schwalbea is now considered to
be monotypic.

Habitat

American chaffseed occurs in sandy (sandy peat, sandy loam), acidic, and
seasonally moist to dry soils. It is generally found in habitats
described as open, moist pine flatwoods, fire-maintained savannas,
ecotonal areas between peaty wetlands and xeric sandy soils, and other
open grass-sedge systems. Chaffseed is dependent on factors such as
fire, mowing, or fluctuating water tables to maintain the crucial open
to partly open conditions that it requires. Historically, the species
existed on savannas and pinelands throughout the coastal plain and on
sandstone knobs and plains inland where frequent, naturally occurring
fires maintained these sub-climax communities. Under these conditions,
herbaceous plants such as Schwalbea were favored over trees and shrubs.

Most of the surviving populations, and all of the most vigorous
populations, are in areas that are still subject to frequent fire. These
fire-maintained habitats include plantations where prescribed fire is
part of a management regime for quail and other game species, army base
impact zones that burn regularly because of artillery shelling, forest
management areas that are burned to maintain habitat for wildlife
including the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, and various other
private lands that are burned to maintain open fields. Fire may be
important to the species in ways that are not yet understood, such as
for germination of seed, or in the formation of the connection to the
host plant.

Reasons for Current Status

American chaffseed has been eliminated from two-thirds of the States
where it was historically reported to occur. The most serious threats to
its continued existence are fire-suppression, conversion of the habitat