First Time Invasive Pest SPB Found So Far North Despite Detections of SPB, Infested Trees Not Found North of Long Island.
First Time Invasive Pest SPB Found So Far North Despite Detections of SPB, Infested Trees Not Found North of Long Island.
The Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission will host its 7th annual Earth Day celebration at the Discovery Center on Saturday, April 21, 2018 from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
In the Albany Pine Bush Preserve management of rare and declining wildlife is guided by the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (or State Wildlife Plan) for New York State. This plan was prepared by NYSDEC in 2006 to satisfy federal requirements for the conservation of vulnerable wildlife species, called Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). The Preserve contains many SGCN species and ecological communities and is a priority conservation area in the State Wildlife Plan. As identified in the plan, many of these species require active habitat management. In addition to the Karner blue butterfly, 44 other SGCN are documented in the Albany Pine Bush, including 15 birds, 10 reptiles, four amphibians, and 16 insects. This rich biodiversity represents 8.4 percent of the 538 statewide SGCN and 28.5 percent of the 158 SGCN in the 7.5 million acre Upper Hudson River watershed.
The Commission’s ecosystem management strategies focus on the restoration and maintenance of suitable wildlife habitat. These strategies need to account for the life history requirements of each species to ensure that critical life stages (e.g. hognose snake nesting sites, spadefoot toad breeding pools) are not adversely affected and that adequate refugia of untreated habitat is provided to facilitate the rapid recolonization of treated areas by affected wildlife. In the case of the Karner blue butterfly, for example, the Commission’s will not treat more than one third of a sub-population with fire in any given year and adjacent thirds cannot be treated in consecutive years.
Details on wildlife management in the Albany Pine Bush are provided in The Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Albany Pine Bush Preserve.