Tag: endangered species

by: Larissa Smith, CWF Senior Biologist

This time of year most wildlife is hunkering down for the winter either in New Jersey or migrating to southern destinations until  the next breeding season.  One New Jersey salamander is just getting started, The Eastern Tiger Salamander(ETS) is the largest salamander species found in New Jersey and a state Endangered species.  ETS are found in only a few locations in southern NJ.  Conserve Wildlife Foundation works with the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species program to monitor ETS breeding pools and populations.  ETS spend most of their adult lives in underground borrows they will emerge to breed on warm wet nights beginning in December through February.  The females lay egg masses in vernal pools and then return to their burrows.  CWF’s website has detailed information on the ETS lifecycle

These vernal breeding pools are a necessity for the ETS population to survive in New Jersey.  In 2025 due to low water levels from a drought, only a few of the deeper breeding pools had enough water for ETS breeding activity.  These breeding pools not only face threats from climate change but also from pollution, habitat loss and disturbance from off road vehicles.

It’s important to identify new ETS breeding pools so that they can be monitored and protected. Some exciting new projects are in the future for the ETS project including collecting habitat and water quality data, eDNA study and a VIE (visible implant elastomer) study.

You can help by reporting any Eastern Tiger Salamander Sighting to the NJ Wildlife Tracker

by Meaghan Lyon, Wildlife Biologist

It’s official. The Northern long-eared bat is listed as an endangered species under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Endangered Species Act. Earlier this year, the USFWS announced the proposed uplisting due to severe population declines. This uplisting would help to protect and recover this imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend on.

Through the Endangered Species Act, species may be listed as either endangered or threatened. The term “Threatened” means a species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. The term “Endangered” means a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

by Meaghan Lyon, Wildlife Biologist

Shortly after the USFWS announced that the Northern long-eared bat was being proposed for uplisting to an endangered species, another announcement regarding the tricolored bat was released.

In mid-September, the tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) was proposed to be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Based on a thorough review of the species’ status, the Service found that the tricolored bat has declined dramatically across its range. Just as white-nose syndrome has been the cause of population decline for the northern long-eared bat, the tricolored bat has been similarly impacted. An estimated decline of more than 90 percent was found in affected tricolored bat colonies and white-nose syndrome is currently present across 59 percent of the species’ range.

by Todd Pover, Senior Wildlife Biologist

Although most of CWF’s work focuses on protecting New Jersey’s imperiled wildlife, in a few cases our mission overlaps with at-risk plants, as well. One such case involves seabeach amaranth, a state and federally-listed plant that shares the beach with our endangered beach nesting birds. In the past, CWF’s effort to protect seabeach amaranth was more “behind the scenes” through the development of beach management plans with coastal communities that put measures in place to protect plants from municipal activities. Over the past several years, in partnership with and through funding by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – New Jersey Field Office, CWF has now taken a more pro-active role in helping monitor and protect seabeach amaranth.

Starting in late May and all throughout June, CWF staff combs the state’s Atlantic coast beaches looking for amaranth plants that are just starting to germinate. Once found, the plants are protected with fence and signage, so they aren’t trampled by beach goers or driven over by vehicles conducting various beach maintenance activities, such as cleaning the beach with mechanical rakes. In the past they would have gone undetected and unprotected; few of the plants would have made it to the stage where they flower and produce seeds. Seabeach amaranth is an annual plant, its continued occurrence depends on seeds being produced and then dropped nearby or dispersed by wind or tides for next year’s “crop” of plants.

So far this season, mostly through the diligent fieldwork of CWF’s Biologist Sherry Tirgrath, we have located and protected 811 plants at 19 sites leading into the busy July 4 th holiday. The highest concentrations of plants are on beaches in southern Monmouth and northern Ocean counties. Since seabeach amaranth was rediscovered in New Jersey in 2000 – it had been absent since 1913 – Monmouth County, in particular Sandy Hook, a unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, has harbored most of the state’s seabeach amaranth population. However, over the past few years, increasingly more plants have been found on Ocean County beaches. In addition to increasing the overall population of plants, this wider distribution is one of the goals of the CWF/USFWs initiative.

With the early season work completed, CWF will now move onto other phases of the project. That includes repeat surveys for later germinating plants, ongoing maintenance of the fence we erected, and coordinating with the state’s beach nesting bird staff as they remove their fence once breeding season ends so it can be checked for plants. Those sites often have large numbers of plants as that habitat has been protected for birds – and as a result plants too – since late March or April. Finally, an annual statewide survey of seabeach amaranth occurs in late July and August and CWF will be “on call” to fence plants that are found by those survey crews. Plants can persist until late November in years with mild fall weather and low-flooding, in those cases our fence could remain up until then, so our work for the season has really just begun.

Each year on the third Friday in May, the United States celebrates National Endangered Species Day. It is a chance for people of all ages to celebrate and learn about endangered species and how to protect them. Here are 5 ways you can celebrate New Jersey’s wildlife virtually, individually, and locally to stay safe during the corona virus crisis. Without the Endangered Species Act there wouldn’t be as many species in New Jersey to celebrate.

Story by NJTV. 

Mercer County is now home to two pairs of bald eagles and their nests. The discovery comes nearly three decades after the species nearly vanished from New Jersey.

“Bald eagles in particular were wiped out to where we only had one nest in all of New Jersey as recently as the 1980s, and it wasn’t even a successful nest. And now we have over 200 pairs of bald eagles,” said David Wheeler, executive director of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

Wheeler said pesticides and people led to the near extinction of bald eagles.

Friday, bird watchers came equipped with binoculars and cameras to catch a glimpse of one the nests located at Mercer County Park.

“To see the nature and the national symbol of the United States all right here in Mercer Park is pretty neat,” said Flemington resident Graham MacRitchie.

Nearly 70 people were part of a new educational walking tour run by the County Parks Commission.

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by Larry Niles (Part 3 of 3)

With the stopover period winding down, we can say the red knot and other shorebird species left the bay in better condition than the disastrous condition of last year. So what does it mean?

First, the last four years have been a sort of ecological roulette for the birds. Horseshoe crab numbers remained at only 1/3 the potential population possible on Delaware Bay leaving birds at the mercy of good conditions to get enough eggs. Last year, water temperatures stayed low during the mid-May depressing the spawn and the density of eggs. Although the average was 8000-eggs/square meter, there were less than 2000 eggs/ meters square in the month of May. Continue reading “Birds in better condition than last year but still face an ecological roulette”

Story by James M. O’Neill, The Record

Several scientists, protected by the curious combination of an umbrella, a duster and a hard hat, scrambled across the roof of a Jersey City high-rise this week to fend off the fierce attack of two adult peregrine falcons.

The scientists were there to briefly retrieve three falcon chicks from a nest box 42 floors above the city streets, so they could weigh, measure and band the birds before returning them.

The three chicks, still covered in fluffy white down, are the latest additions to a growing population in New Jersey of the world’s fastest animal.