ACJV Eastern Black Rail Florida habitat management priority properties

These data are intended to provide those interested in conservation of the Eastern Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis) in Florida with information that will help with conservation implementation. The data identify Priority Areas and Areas for Further Exploration for this species in Florida on public managed conservation lands. Priority Areas and Areas for Further Exploration Priority Areas are those identified as important for near-term Black Rail habitat enhancement, restoration, and/or creation. Areas for Further Exploration are those identified by partners as worthy of future evaluation for Black Rail potential. We identified Priority Areas and Areas for Further Exploration using the following process (Atlantic Coast Joint Venture 2024). In the absence of a comprehensive, statewide survey of potential Black Rail habitat, we used survey locations selected by experts as a proxy. We obtained known survey locations from partners and buffered the locations by 5 km to identify public conservation lands within a reasonable dispersal distance (Hall et al. 2018) of those locations. Using Florida’s Cooperative Land Cover layer (version 3.7) (https://myfwc.com/research/gis/wildlife/cooperative-land-cover/) and satellite imagery, we eliminated properties within the 5 km buffer that did not appear to contain potential habitat. Additionally, we considered properties with incidental observations and eBird (https://ebird.org/home) records when establishing our initial list of properties. We then used a simple decision tree (Atlantic Coast Joint Venture 2024, Appendix 2) and feedback from partners to revise our list of properties, identify Priority Areas and Areas for Further Exploration, and to discuss Priority Areas in a series of partner workshops. Management Technique Definitions During workshops, partners identified management techniques that could benefit Black Rails at Priority Areas. This information is meant to identify opportunity and potential for these management techniques at each site but is not meant to be prescriptive. When in doubt, partners were encouraged to select “yes” for a particular technique. A formal site assessment and design is always necessary to identify specific next steps and management/restoration strategies within each parcel. * Additional ecological assessment needed Additional monitoring and site assessment to determine specific next steps or assess existing restoration efforts at a site. * Facilitated marsh migration Active management to promote/accelerate marsh migration through modification of the environment. * Land acquisition / protection - existing marsh Protect (in fee or easement) land with existing marsh. * Land acquisition / protection - marsh migration Protect (in fee or easement) land to allow for eventual marsh migration. * Living shoreline development Development of nature-based features (e.g., vegetation, oyster reefs) to promote shoreline stabilization. * Non-native invasive plant species mitigation (Melaleuca, torpedo grass, etc.) Removal or mitigation of invasive plants * Repair hydrology - berm, embankment, or levee Removal or alteration of berms, stonewalls or embankments to restore hydrology of marsh platform and/or facilitate marsh migration. * Repair hydrology - ditch plugs Adjustment of ditch plugging on marsh platform to improve hydrology. * Repair hydrology - ditches Adjustment of human-made ditches on the marsh platform to improve hydrology. * Repair hydrology - impoundments Management of human-created impounded wetlands, including re-topping and repair of dikes or installation, repair, or replacement of water control structures or pumps. * Repair hydrology – non-tidal restriction Removal or modification of features altering non-tidal flow such as road crossings, culverts, bridges, etc. * Repair hydrology - tidal restriction Removal or modification of features altering tidal flow such as road crossings, culverts, bridges, etc. * Repair hydrology - runnelling / channel creation Modification of marsh platform using shallow channel creation to remove or prevent ground water saturation at the marsh surface that is causing marsh vegetation death and/or subsidence. Excavated peat is often reused to enhance microtopography. * Sediment modification - microtopography Removal or rearrangement of soil within an existing wetland to create topographic highs and lows. * Sediment placement - elevation enhancement Intentional placement of material (including beneficial use of dredged sediment) on the marsh platform to raise the marsh platform. Includes both thin-layer placement and thick-layer placement. * Stormwater Management Address stormwater to reduce/manage excessive inputs of freshwater, nutrients, pollution, and/or sediment. * Water application – existing wetland Application of water from an external source to optimize hydrologic and vegetation characteristics for Black Rail within an existing wetland (i.e., supplemental irrigation). This includes supplementation of water either seasonally or year-round. * Wetland creation - recontouring Removal or rearrangement of soil within a site to create a wetland at a site that was not historically a wetland. * Wetland creation - water application Addition of water via irrigation to create a wetland at a site that was not historically a wetland. * Wildlife herbivory reduction Removal or management of wildlife to reduce/prevent overgrazing including both non-native (e.g., hogs, horses, Sesarma crabs) and native species (e.g., deer, Uca [fiddler] crabs, geese). * Woody vegetation control Use of prescribed fire, herbicide, flooding, or a combination thereof to remove/reduce or manage shrubs and trees. References Atlantic Coast Joint Venture. 2024. Report. Habitat Management Priorities for the Eastern Black Rail in Florida. Available at: [https://www.acjv.org/documents/BLRA-FL.pdf] Hall L.A., Van Schmidt N.D., Beissinger S.R. 2018. Validating dispersal distances inferred from autoregressive occupancy models with genetic parentage assignments. Journal of Animal Ecology. 87:691–702.