News From Around the State
KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES (KDFWR) – Several personnel changes have recently occurred within the Department. Mark Cramer moved up to Deputy Commissioner, Tim Slone is now the Director of Information and Education, David McChesney became the Wildlife PR Coordinator/Assistant Director, Chris Garland is now a NRCS Liaison/Wildlife Biologist, Kevin Tucker became the WRP Biologist, Tony Black moved into a Private Lands Biologist position, John Morgan has moved into the Upland Game Program, and John MacGregor has rejoined the Department as a herpetologist. In other Department news, the AWAKE (All About Kentucky’s Environment) web site, with information concerning animals, plants, and habitats found in Kentucky, recently went on-line. The web site serves as a source of environmental and wildlife information for teachers and other interested citizens in the state.
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY (UK) – Dr. Tom Barnes is involved in two research projects. One involving Texas Coastal Prairie Restoration (work to be performed on the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation refuge) and the other Tall Grass Prairie Restoration in Eastern South Dakota (work to be conducted in the prairie coteau region of southeastern South Dakota). Each project is designed to support a Ph.D student – interested students should contact Dr. Barnes at tbarnes@uky.edu.
EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY (EKU) – Four students under the guidance of Dr. Bob Frederick have recently defended their thesis work: Rebecca Stults (thesis: “Evaluation of Swamp Rabbit Habitat Suitability Models in Western Kentucky) in now a biology instructor at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah. Heather Brace (thesis: “Comparison of Red and Gray Fox Use of Developed Vs Undeveloped Landscapes in Suburban Maryland”) is a zoologist with Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. Scott Harp (thesis: “Evaluation of Kentucky’s Private Lands Habitat Improvement Program”) is a Private Lands Biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Matt Pieron (thesis: “Winter Distribution Patterns of Ontario breeding Mallards and Black Ducks”) is a biologist with Ducks Unlimited in North Dakota. Emily Horton continues her thesis research on the status of wild hogs in Kentucky and anticipates wrapping up the project in the spring. Amy Bradshaw, working with Dr. Guenter Schuster, finished her project on the “Mussel Assemblage Structure Relative to Biotic and Abiotic Factors in Sinking Creek, Kentucky."
U.S. FOREST SERVICE (USFS)
– The USFS is developing a 10-15 year Land and Resource Management Plan
(LRMP) for the Land Between the Lakes (LBL) National Recreation Area.
The draft LRMP and draft EIS are scheduled for release in April 2004.
For more information, contact the Forest Service by email at FocusLBL@fs.fed.us.
Periodic planning updates are posted on LBL’s web site at www.lbl.org (click
on planning). James Kiser recently accepted a position as a biologist
with the USFS-Daniel Boone National Forest.
KENTUCKY STATE NATURE PRESERVES
COMMISSION (KSNPC): Kentucky’s largest tract of old-growth forest, Blanton
Forest State Nature Preserve, has been officially opened to the public.
Heather Weese has joined the KSNPC staff as an ecologist and rare plant
regulations writer.
USFWS (Kentucky Ecological Services Field Office): Adams Cave, located south of Richmond, KY, was successfully gated in November 2002. The gate was funded by the USFWS’s Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program, a voluntary habitat restoration program for private landowners. The cave had been vandalized for many years, so a steel exclusion gate was erected to protect two endemic cave beetles, the Greater and Lesser Adams Cave Beetles, which are listed as federal candidate species. The cave also contains 2 species of bats, 3 species of salamanders, one crayfish species, and several more cave dwelling invertebrates.
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