Wildlife Service

Dr. Richard Ruggiero, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will make a presentation at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Blue Heron Room at Quiet Waters Park on "The fight to save African elephants, rhinos, hippos, chimpanzees and gorillas: The amazing story of a U.S. biologist's quest to preserve Africa's wildlife. " Before that, he caught up to answer five questions about the topic. Let's start with the question you will pose: is it possible to save that part of the world?

More Americans hunted, fished and watched wildlife in 2011 than five years earlier, according to final statistics released last month by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "This is good news for our lifestyles and our economy," said Dan Ashe, director of the service. The results are from the 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, an outdoor participation survey the agency has conducted since 1955. The survey results are released every five years.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a plan yesterday to allow Maryland officials to shoot about 3,000 mute swans over the next 10 years, a move they call necessary because the beautiful birds cause too much environmental damage. State wildlife biologists and technicians will begin shooting about 60 swans a week once they secure a federal permit in the next few days. Officials at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources say the shootings -- halted temporarily by a federal lawsuit in May -- will help control an invasive species that eats millions of pounds of aquatic grasses vital to the health of the Chesapeake Bay. "Assuming we can get cooperation from wind, weather and tide, we'll begin operating in the field as soon as possible," said Jonathan McKnight, associate director of habitat conservation for DNR's Wildlife and Heritage Service.

Dr. Richard Ruggiero, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will make a presentation at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Blue Heron Room at Quiet Waters Park on "The fight to save African elephants, rhinos, hippos, chimpanzees and gorillas: The amazing story of a U.S. biologist's quest to preserve Africa's wildlife. " Before that, he caught up to answer five questions about the topic. Let's start with the question you will pose: is it possible to save that part of the world?

The names of Sarah Filkins, an architectural consultant for Historic Annapolis Foundation, and Robert C. Zepp, assistant supervisor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Annapolis, were misspelled in yesterday's editions of the Sun for Anne Arundel County.The Sun regrets the errors.

WASHINGTON -- Bowing to pressure from the Maryland congressional delegation, the U.S. Department of the Interior backed away yesterday, at least temporarily, from closing the Patuxent Wildlife Center on weekdays and raising fees at the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore.The Patuxent center, an 8,100-acre site in Anne Arundel County off Route 197, reopened yesterday, a week after it was closed on weekdays.The fee increase at Blackwater was scheduled to take effect May 1.The closing of Patuxent on weekdays and the fee increase at Blackwater have been delayed until Oct. 1 pending Interior Department review.

Where tanks once rumbled in mock battle, bird watchers will soon stroll.Six months after transferring 8,100 acres at Fort Meade to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Army formally dedicated the land yesterday as "a place where nature can resume its peaceful course."Secretary of the Army Michael Stone passed the final documents marking the transfer to Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan Jr. as members of Maryland's congressional delegation, state officials and park volunteers huddled against the chill.

That tortoise shell bracelet may be appealing, and those ivory bookends might seem like a great buy, but federal authorities are warning that such items are subject to confiscation at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. They come from endangered animals.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have set up a new exhibit at the airport that warns travelers against buying animal products as souvenirs. Wildlife Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark said she wants to stop vacationers from wasting their money and fueling the illegal wildlife market.

Public land next to the Severna Park home of a top Department of Natural Resources official is being landscaped under a state grant written by his wife and approved by one of his employees. Michael Slattery, the assistant secretary who oversees the Forest Service, and his wife, Britt, a one-time U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, are actively involved in the two-year project. A $5,800 grant and $12,000 worth of volunteer labor and nonmonetary contributions are paying for the work, according to the application filed with DNR. The project involves shoring up a slope, removing non-native vegetation and replacing it with more than 500 native plants on a 30-foot-wide strip of land between the Slatterys' backyard and the popular B&A Trail, a former rail bed that runs from Glen Burnie to Annapolis.

Six whoooping cranes born and raised at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center near Laurel are to be shipped to Canada next week as part of an international effort to save the endangered species.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the Patuxent research center, is shipping the birds to the Calgary Zoological Society in Alberta, Canada, to establish a third captive flock and guard against the chance that an epidemic or disaster might erase the cranes' 26-year recovery.Whooping cranes, the tallest birds in North America at about 5 feet, have been deemed endangered since 1967.

The federal agency that regulates energy approved a proposal yesterday to build a natural gas terminal on the site of the former Sparrows Point shipyard in eastern Baltimore County, rejecting nearly three years' worth of opposition from area elected officials and the project's would-be neighbors. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acted on the proposal - which also includes construction of an 88-mile pipeline to Pennsylvania - despite calls from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Maryland's congressional delegation to postpone the vote.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said yesterday that it plans to vote this week on a proposal to build a natural gas terminal in Sparrows Point and an 88-mile pipeline to Pennsylvania, despite a request to delay action until concerns about an endangered bat and a threatened turtle can be addressed. "The case is still scheduled for consideration Thursday," said Tamara Young Allen, a commission spokeswoman. "The commission could address the issues brought by the wildlife service and could approve [the project]

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has called on federal energy officials to delay a decision on the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal at Sparrows Point until questions about endangered and threatened species can be answered. The service, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior, has found that the project would be located in an environmentally sensitive area and could affect several species with habitats in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Those include the bald eagle, peregrine falcon and Delmarva fox squirrel.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Patuxent Research Refuge will hold a centennial celebration of the birth of environmental pioneer and author Rachel Carson. The celebration is sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Rachel Carson Council. The celebration will begin with a ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday at the refuge's National Wildlife Visitor Center, near Laurel. After the ceremony, programs will include live animals, hands-on activities, nature hikes and habitat tram tours.

Public land next to the Severna Park home of a top Department of Natural Resources official is being landscaped under a state grant written by his wife and approved by one of his employees. Michael Slattery, the assistant secretary who oversees the Forest Service, and his wife, Britt, a one-time U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, are actively involved in the two-year project. A $5,800 grant and $12,000 worth of volunteer labor and nonmonetary contributions are paying for the work, according to the application filed with DNR. The project involves shoring up a slope, removing non-native vegetation and replacing it with more than 500 native plants on a 30-foot-wide strip of land between the Slatterys' backyard and the popular B&A Trail, a former rail bed that runs from Glen Burnie to Annapolis.

One hundred years after her birth and nearly 45 years since publication of her environmental call to action, Silent Spring, Maryland is preparing to honor Rachel Louise Carson. "She's in the pantheon of environmental stars," said state Sen. Brian E. Frosh, who is sponsoring a bill to designate her May 27 birthday as Rachel Carson Day. "Of all the Marylanders who contributed to our well-being and the world's, she's up there." Silent Spring was more than a best-seller. The ground-breaking book made the connection between the indiscriminate use of pesticides, such as DDT, and the destruction of animals and plants.

Richard Maurice of Street spied a flock of geese late last month, very high and headed south, but oddly late for their fall migration. He asked: "Do you think it's possible they waited until it finally turned cold before they continued on their journey?" Good call. Holiday Obrecht, a refuge biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said mild weather, open water and ready food sources allowed some flocks to pause well north of their usual wintering grounds. When it turned cold, they resumed their flight south.

WASHINGTON - Investigators from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have inspected the private collection of Amazonian tribal art owned by Lawrence Small, the head of the Smithsonian Institution, to determine whether he illegally owns feathers or teeth from endangered animals, an agency spokeswoman said. The collection includes headdresses, spears and capes fashioned from the feathers of exotic birds, and inspectors believe some of the items may have been imported in violation of the Endangered Species Act or the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species.

Richard Maurice of Street spied a flock of geese late last month, very high and headed south, but oddly late for their fall migration. He asked: "Do you think it's possible they waited until it finally turned cold before they continued on their journey?" Good call. Holiday Obrecht, a refuge biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said mild weather, open water and ready food sources allowed some flocks to pause well north of their usual wintering grounds. When it turned cold, they resumed their flight south.

ROCK HALL -- Phil Cicconi and nearly 200 diligent volunteers at the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge keep the place going - running the visitor center and bookstore, building wildfowl observation decks, leading tour groups and cutting hiking trails through the bramble of the isolated Eastern Shore island. But they don't work alone. The deal, say the Friends of Eastern Neck, is that they contribute the labor, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides professionals to lead and direct their group of enthusiastic amateurs.