To The FWGNA group,
A bit over five years ago the U.S. Congress created the State Wildlife
Grants Program, charging every state in the union to develop a
"Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy" by October, 2005, as a
condition for claiming a share of the money. All 50 states did,
in fact, meet that deadline, and the CWCS documents that resulted are
now available on state DNR web sites around the nation. They
present an interesting study in contrasts.
I don't think that the federal government provided any formal
definition of the words, "comprehensive" or "wildlife." But I've
just completed a brief survey of the CWCS documents published by ten
southeastern states, and I'm pleased to report that eight of the ten
included freshwater gastropods among wildlife species considered worthy
of special conservation concern.
In my review I recorded the total number of all species in all taxa
listed by each state, as well as the number of freshwater gastropod
species singled out for conservation priority. It seems to me
that the ratio of freshwater gastropods-to-total-species might provide
some estimate of the importance each state accords to its freshwater
gastropod fauna, and perhaps, the likelihood that one of us might win
some funding.
Here are the ten southeastern states, ranked by the conservation
concern they directed toward their freshwater snails. The number
in bold is the number of freshwater gastropod species listed, with
total species (of all taxa) in the denominator that follows. I've
also provided links to the relevant sites on the web pages for all ten
state wildlife agencies:
Alabama
Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy
Species of greatest conservation need: 35
freshwater gastropods / 314 = 0.111
Tennessee's
Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy
Species of greatest conservation need: 32 freshwater gastropods / 664 =
0.048
A Comprehensive Wildlife
Conservation Strategy for Georgia
High priority species: 19
freshwater gastropods / 619 = 0.031
North
Carolina Wildlife Action Plan
Prioritized for conservation: 10
freshwater gastropods / 371 = 0.027
Virginia's
Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy
Species of greatest conservation need (all tiers): 17 freshwater gastropods / 925 =
0.018
Florida's Wildlife
Legacy Initiative
Species of greatest conservation need: 15
freshwater gastropods / 974 = 0.015
Arkansas Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy
5 species of greatest conservation need: 5 freshwater gastropods / 369 =
0.014
South Carolina
Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan
Species of conservation concern: 4 freshwater gastropods / 1240 =
0.003
Louisiana
Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy
Species of concern: 0 freshwater
gastropods / 240 = 0.0
Mississippi's
Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy
Species of greatest conservation need: 0 freshwater gastropods / 297 = 0.0
As one might have predicted, the state of Alabama leads Dixie with
freshwater gastropods accounting for a whopping 11.1% of all that
state's "species of greatest conservation need." I think the
total of 4.8% for Tennessee is also eye-catchingly high. South
Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi are notably low, but this should
not be taken as any slight toward the conservation agencies of those
states. The South Carolina situation, for example, is complicated
by the inclusion of marine species (including many mollusks!) which
inflated the numerator.
It is interesting to note that fully half of the ten states I surveyed
were cited as "Leaders" in the state wildlife conservation planning
process by the Defenders of Wildlife, in an independent review
commissioned by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Of the 12
states earning such recognition nationwide, five were in the South:
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. See
the report:
http://www.defenders.org/statewildlifeplans/
I would encourage each of you to contact whoever has been involved with
developing the CWCP in your state to see what sort of funding
opportunities might be available. Although many states are
earmarking their State Wildlife Grant money for within-agency use, I do
know that some states have been accepting outside proposals.
So good luck, and keep in touch!
Rob
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