Thursday, Feb 14, 2008
The melodic winter call of trumpeter swans, largest of all North American waterfowl, has returned to Buffalo National River. Missing since 1932 from wetlands in the southern United States, including the Buffalo National River, the swans have returned as part of a relocation project.
On January 23rd, a partnership involving the Trumpeter Swan Society, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Mississippi Flyway Council’s Technical Swan Conservation Committee, and undertaken with the cooperation of the Gorgas Science Foundation, joined with the National Park Service to relocate five young cygnets to Boxley Valley, within the boundaries of the national river.
Implemented over a three year period, this trumpeter swan restoration project plans for additional releases in 2009 and 2010. Monitoring swan behaviors and migration patterns, in cooperation with the University of Arkansas, is essential to obtaining a better understanding of their ecological requirements and the role they play in maintaining wetland habitat. This project will also allow the park to trumpet (interpret) the values of wetland restoration and educate the public about the merits of restoring trumpeter swan populations. An added aspect of this project is the utilization of a wetland that is actually the result of the cultural landscape, a man-made, but spring-fed mill pond that stored water to run the grist mill in Boxley Valley.
The idea for this project began as a result of a few trumpeter swans finding their own way to Boxley Valley over the last two years. This prompted park staff to work with interested partners in re-establishing this lost resource. Signing an agreement with the Gorgas Science Foundation, a non-profit conservation and education organization based in Brownsville, Texas, and the lease holder of the Boxley Mill, mill pond and associated land and buildings, the National Park Service was able to get the support of other partners to make this project a reality.
Using a process known as reverse migration imprinting, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) captured and transported five free-flying young swans (three males and two females) from locations in Iowa and released them at the Boxley Mill Pond. A similar effort took place the following day on Arkansas’s Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge, with a release of thirteen swans. The current plan of this partnership is to continue this effort for three years.
Ron Andrews and Dave Hoffman of the Iowa DNR made a short presentation on the effort of raising and releasing swans and held a general question and answer period for on-lookers and the media. The handlers then released the swans into their new temporary home. In no time they were swimming in single-file, preening after their long trip in dog kennels from Iowa, and sampling the tasty duckweed in the mill pond.
The relocated swans should migrate north in late February or early March to their summer habitat in Iowa. The imprinted swans should then return to Arkansas and the Buffalo National River the following winter, perhaps accompanied by other swans, and continue to do so in subsequent years. When they are three to five years old, they will produce young that will also follow the family on their newly established migration routes. This learned migration behavior will hopefully increase the numbers of southward migrating trumpeter swans. Establishing new migrating behavior will help diversify southern and northern wetland ecosystems and park visitors will have opportunities to enjoy the sights and sounds provided by this large, graceful migratory bird.
Poaching and over exploitation to acquire their feathers for powder puffs, writing pens, and to decorate hats, led to the trumpeter swan demise. Trumpeter swans had disappeared from their native areas before most states had wildlife management agencies to regulate hunting. Swans provided pioneers needed food on the table as they moved westward. Wetland drainage also contributed to the demise of trumpeter swans. By 1932, only 69 trumpeter swans existed in the Lower 48 states and those occurred at Red Rocks National Wildlife Refuge west of Yellowstone National Park. To restore trumpeter swan populations, conservationists initiated a captive breeding program in the northern states of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio. However, these captive-bred swans had no adult swans to teach and lead them on their historical migration to their southern wintering grounds.
Please direct any comments, questions or input regarding the release of migrating trumpeter swans on the mill pond in Boxely Valley to Mark DePoy, Chief of Fire and Resource Management, 402 N. Walnut Street, Suite 136, Harrison, AR. 72601. Reach Ron Andrews and Dave Hoffman, Iowa DNR, at 641-357-3517 or www.iowadnr.com. The Trumpeter Swan Society is at www.trumpeterswansociety.org.
For more on bird migration, look up information on these topics: zugenruhe, sun-compass orientation, and celestial navigation.
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