Tag Archives: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Celebrating Wildlife Conservation Through the Arts

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Students Invited to Enter Duck Stamp Contest

Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge invites students K-12 attending public, private, or home schools to participate in the 2012 Junior Duck Stamp Design Contest.

“The competition is an art-based educational program that allows students to participate in a nationwide waterfowl arts competition. The process also exposes students to the nation’s wealth of migratory waterfowl and motivates students to take active roles in conserving these species,” said Virginia Junior Duck Stamp Program Coordinator, Aubrey Hall.

Ms. Hall also emphasized that “the program is meant to be a fun journey into the world of waterfowl. The artistic skill level of the students is not the focus of the contest. Not only do we want artwork from all children, we enjoy seeing the variety of pictures that the students produce”.

All students entering the state contest will receive a Certificate of Participation.  Entries may also receive prizes or honorable mention ribbons. The State Best of Show will represent Virginia in the national competition.  National awards include a complimentary trip to the First Day of Duck Stamp Sales Ceremony in Washington, DC and a monetary award.

Participants select a bird from a list of native North American waterfowl.  Other design guidelines include, but are not limited to: a size of 9”x12” not exceeding ¼” in total thickness; horizontal orientation; and the absence of lettering, words, or signatures on the front of the design. For more information contact refuge staff or explore the Federal Duck Stamp website (http://www.fws.gov/juniorduck/).

Entries must be mailed to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box 62, Chincoteague, VA 23336 and postmarked by midnight, March 15, 2010.  Judging will occur Friday March 23, 2012.

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.  We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals commitment to public service.  For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.

Refuge Staff Goes All Out for ‘A Celebration of Migration’

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By Robert Boswell

Publisher, Wild Pony Tales

This is the time of year when the outstanding work of the biologists and park rangers at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and the National Park Service is showcased, helped along of course by the arrival of the snow geese and other migrating waterfowl.

I sometimes worry that the year-long fallout from the alternative beach parking controversy will overshadow all that is good about having the Refuge so close, about having a place we can go where it is quiet and we can, at least for a few hours, give our minds a break.

No matter what our views are on the future of beach parking and refuge management let’s not forget to give credit to the highly qualified and dedicated staff members who keep the place running every day of the year. I do not say this tritely or lightly.

I have taken our writers to Assateague many times to gather information for the stories on this website and I cannot recall an instance when our sources – I mean Lou Hinds, his managers, the biologists and park rangers – were not helpful and knowledgeable. Most of the people at the Refuge have degrees it took them years to obtain.

When I was teaching journalism in middle school I would sometimes have a student working on a class assignment call Amanda Daisy, the wildlife biologist, right from class, a real life interview by a 6th or 7th grader.

On a sad note I want to mention a park ranger who was especially helpful to us, Barry Brookshire. Barry was at the Refuge for 16 months until his contract ran out and then he returned to his home in Texas. But soon after he was found to have a malignant tumor in his colon. Doctors were successful in treating Barry but he has been unable to return to work. While at the Refuge he answered many questions for our young writers with all the patience of the teacher that he once was. At the Refuge Barry was what he called a “roving ranger,” moving around the pathways, talking to people, answering questions. If he didn’t know the answer he would go and find it.

Waterfowl Week is a special time at the Refuge. We have the event highlights in another story but what follows are more details, the times, places and descriptions of the activities coming up over Thanksgiving. Every single event is worth attending.

One of the big issues I have with the whole Assateague show is how easy it is to come here and never see a pony, or see them only at a great distance. When our niece, Marcy, was little I don’t think we got to see any ponies, except the ones at McDonalds for which I was thankful, until her third visit. And she only made it here once a year. We did see plenty of evidence, but few ponies.

Children, Parents Enjoy International Migratory Bird Day at the Refuge

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By Misty Thornton

Co-Editor, Wild Pony Tales

On an hot early morning on Assateague Island, VA, bird-lovers, park rangers and visitors gathered to enjoy a day full of family learning as well as some games and entertaining exhibits.

As we crossed the Assateague Channel Bridge to the beautiful island of Assateague, the air was moist and the sun was hot, but nothing was going to stop the excitement that was fluttering in the hearts of children and their parents. At the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge parking lots were filling up fast as people from all around came to enjoy themselves at the International Migratory Bird Day Festival.

Tee shirts and carving lessons were available just ouside the refuge information center, along with hotdogs and bottles of water.

Walking through the first set of doors to the information center four exhibits lined the lobby’s walls. Carver Bill Cowen had on display about 20 of his best power carved birds of all shapes and sizes from an arrangement of owls to a bright red cardinal.

Mr. Cowen said one of his birds made second best in the world at a competition.  As a carving teacher of about 30 years he said, “I love carving. It’s just something you can sit back, relax, and not even think about it. It’s like everything around you disappears and only you and your carvings are left.”  Mr. Cowen has a place on the island but mainly lives in New Jersey with his family and his business.

Then, there was an assortment of birds, ducks, and fish carvings on the next table done by Ed Kuhn of Onancock, VA., and there was also an exhibit that had photographs of birds, sunsets and wildlife taken by Robert Wilson.

The next exhibit was by Donnie Thornton. His had bird feathers with hand painted fine art on the front. He’s lived on the island all his life and painting feathers is just what comes natural. He’s been painting island houses, ponies, birds and plants on feathers for 17 years now. “When I’m not painting, I’m playing with my horse, Nugget,” said Mr. Thornton.

Inside the information center there was plenty more for visitors to experience. The conference room was the place for children. There was face painting, woodcarving for kids, experts to talk about birds and fuzzy, live birds that would later get center stage in the Scales and Tales program in the auditorium.

Coming out of the conference room and back into the main center, were two main exhibits. Residents Wayne and JeanBonde had on exhibit a large variety of duck stamps representing each year since 1934.

“The migratory bird stamps have been around since the first one in 1934. We decided to collect them which meant we had to go back and get all the other stamps in the series that we didn’t have from 1934 until 1977, ” said Ms. Bonde. “We went to stamp shows trying to find as inexpensive  used ones as we could fine. It took us a while, maybe about 20 years.”

In the meantime, in 1977, they started buying a migratory bird stamp each year which keeps them up to date. The older used stamps, 1934 up to 1977, are all signed by the hunters using them.  “It is a requirement,” explained Mr. Bonde, “if you are going to hunt waterfowl, that you have one of the migratory bird stamps signed by you in your possession for that year. From 1977 on, all the migratory bird stamps I have are unsigned.

Right now a migratory bird stamp costs $15. “They can also be used to gain entrances onto refuges and state parks,” said Mr. Bonde.

Further along in the information center was an artist, Jenny Somers, who had hand painted over 50 pictures. She lives on Chincoteague. “Every moment of free time I have I’m usually painting the scenery and the world around me. What a better place to do that then right outside of my home.”

There were exhibits of photographs and more paintings. One thing that attracted the most attention wasn’t an exhibit at all. It was the live eagle cam which brings the eagles and on that day just-born eaglets right onto a TV screen in the information center. The actual nest is high in the pines just off the Wildlife Loop. With visitors and Wild Pony Tales cameras looking on the first of two eggs hatched right before our eyes. Visitors were overjoyed to see the mother caring for her baby. The two eggs were special to the refuge staff because the first three eggs had been destroyed in a wind storm.  (See separate story on the site.)

When the excitement died down it was time for the Scales and Tales presentation where Erica Mcgrath and Samantha Ford from the Conservation Corp. in Maryland gave detailed information on their animals they brought with them from Pocomoke River State Park. Their animals all have been wounded at some point in their life and have been taken under the park’s wing. The animals included from owls, turtles, falcons and even an Eastern King Snake. (See a separate story.)

The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and the National Park Service both hold events and programs for families and children throughout the summer.

Recovery Under Way for Beach Parking

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By Windy Mason and Robert Boswell

Taking into account the economic impact of Assateague Beach to Chincoteague Island and all of Accomack County, the parking lots buried under 3 feet of sand by the powerful November storm, will be restored for use by summer; paid for by the National Park Service.

Lou Hinds, manager of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, said the cost is expected to run $600,000, somewhat less than previously thought. Mr. Hinds said at a meeting with community leaders on December 14 he gave a slide shown presentation, “This was the first time a lot of them had gotten the chance to see the actual damage.”

 He said representatives of the park service attended and announced a plan for restoring the parking lots. Also involved in the decision was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The plan for lots 1 and 2 was to dig out the parking lots, pull the shell and clay out, put the sand back down, and then put the clay and shell back on top of the sand.” He said, “Instead of them always getting covered with sand, actually raise them up.” Lots 1 and 2 will also be moved back a bit from the shoreline to lessen the impact of future storms.  Three and 4 are to be dug out and remain as they were. Currently, there are 961 spaces in being restored for visitor parking.

 Mr.Hinds said discussion at the meeting was about making sure that whatever they do out there is sustainable in the face of sea level rise, and is responsible for the American taxpayers dollars.  “There was acknowledgment from the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and I that not only does the town of Chincoteague’s economic base rest on the national seashore, but also the entire Accomack County,” he said.  “There is a large tourism industry in Accomack County, and it is also based somewhat on this shoreline out here. We want the community to be part of the future development and planning for those parking lots.” Said Mr. Hinds.

“This was a storm of historic proportion for many communities, Chincoteague being one of them,” He said, “It has given the community an opportunity to talk openly about its future and not just the future of the community, but also of Assateague Island, and how we’re going to plan for our economic development into the future. My first responsibility is still to the wildlife here on the refuge but that responsibility is also in full awareness of the economic tie to the communities.”

Future plans will apparently include an alternative transportation plan. Mr. Hinds explained, “The alternative transportation plan is very close to completion and the partners, which are the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Town of Chincoteague, the County of Accomack, and Northampton-Accomack Planning Commission, are getting the different chapters to read as we speak.” “Once all of the chapters have been reviewed, we’re planning on having a full blown public meeting tentatively scheduled for sometime in February,” he said.

This alternative transportation plan is not simply talking about parking cars and transporting people to the beach. “That’s one of the alternatives,” said Mr. Hinds. But the plan may include offsite parking, biking, city or public transportation and possibly water taxies to move people around to different parts of the island.

Mr. Hinds said he expected some of the ideas to be met with resistance because over generations, we’ve been trained to take our cars to the national parks and wildlife refuges, and have been encouraged to do that. But we’re learning that this love affair with the automobile, which is really just a hundred years old, is not sustainable, said Mr. Hinds. “It was a great idea. It brought the national parks and the American public together. However, we are realizing now, after a hundred years, that it may not be sustainable,” he said. “If you make the parking at a remote location, and then the ride to the beach is an experience of the beach itself, people will say, ‘Wow! That was cool!’ And, that’s what we’re striving for,” he said. Mr. Hinds said that the experience will begin wherever that parking may be. He also said there might be a trained interpreter, and your arrival out there would be part of the experience of seeing wildlife, seeing the beach.

Getting Up Early with the Ponies

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REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

By Cyndel Brunell

Clop, clop, clop. The constant beat of a horse going through your mind while you wait anxiously for the ponies to come in. You look around for any little head or moving color that will tell you the northern herd of the Chincoteague ponies is headed for the corral. You over hear a radio they’re a mile out and you look down a long road. The action is coming your way. It is the spring roundup of the famous Chincoteague ponies.

The day started early for us. I got up with my nanny’s cats jumping on my bed. They are friendly but annoying. Then my Mom came and picked my brother, sister and me up and I went to the parking lot at Bullfeathers to wait for Mr. Boswell to get there. This is our regular meeting place when we are headed over to Assateague to gather material for our website, www.wildponytales.com. Mr. Boswell is my journalism teacher at Nandua Middle. For those viewers not from this area, we live on the mainland, about 20 miles south of Chincoteague.

After Mr. Boswell showed up we left to pick up Lizzy. This is Elizabeth Fread, a 9th grader at Nandua High who is our editor in chief. With Lizzy in the car on this very early Saturday we headed up to Royal Farms to get coffee and some breakfast to wake us up.

On the way to Assateague we talked about the day and how it would unfold. We started to check out our cell phones, cameras, cleared memory cards and made sure we had all our batteries and extra compact flash cards with us. We had a five mile walk coming up, out to the northern, most distant corral the ponies would be driven into. The smaller, southern herd of ponies had been brought into the holding pen on Beach Road Friday evening. But the northern herd is much more secluded, kept away from the public, far into the wilderness. No cars, bikes or scooters are allowed, except official Chincoteague Fire Company vehicles or pickups pulling horse trailers for the cowboys who ride in the roundup. These ponies can be seen by taking the tour bus from the information center and from boats that cruse Assateague shores, but there is no other way. Most of the million-plus yearly visitors to Assateague don’t even know these ponies exist until they make the swim during Pony Penning.

We had packed for the walk – bottles of water, extra warm clothing, snacks, and rain gear. The only thing we did not need to take on this cool Saturday was bug spray. In the heat of the summer to come, the mosquitoes, flies and ticks are quite plentiful.

We made sure we had not forgotten anything, got out and started the long walk. We were easily distracted by the littlest chirp and hoot. Right when we were about to enter the gate at the corral we saw a deer we had thought to be a fawn at the time, but it turned out to be a Sika elk so we got pictures of that.

On our way we saw a Delmarva fox squirrel, on the endangered list, one of the island’s inhabitants that the Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to bring back in bigger numbers. We saw birds and more deer.

I was tiring out and so was Lizzy. When we saw those trucks and trailers around the bend we got so excited we walked a little faster. We ran to the first truck and trailer. We looked at each one, guessing how many ponies each would hold. When we got to the cow tracks, or road grate that keeps the ponies from crossing, we greeted some of the Buyback Babes, a group of ladies from all over who put their money together to buy a pony each year at the auction that is put back into the herd. This group is the subject of an upcoming story for wildponytales. Next we sat down and ate some snacks.

Then we were told by an official that everyone would need to be behind the fence. That was not a rule last time but we still got great pictures and it was so amazing watching the ponies and cowboys come in. The foals ranged from what looked to be newborn to older ones, born since the July auction.

There was one stallion that was so pretty but he had an attitude problem. He was going up to other stallions and biting and kicking and looking as if he owned the place. The stallions are used to having their “bands” of mares all to themselves in the wild of the island, but once in the corral it is a different matter. The bands become mixed together and the stallions don’t like it a bit. Once in the corral, the ponies got hay to eat and waited for their vet to arrive.

This is my first time at a roundup. I am a horse lover, former horse owner and hopefully a future horse owner. I sketch them, read about them, write about them and dream about them. I can easily understand why the cowboys are so drawn to the work they do. After seeing them up close, I realize they have a much harder job than I thought and the ponies are lucky to have these men on horseback looking out for them. As Mr. Boswell so often tells us, there are a thousand stories to tell about these world famous cowboys who come from all over to ride together over the rough territory that is the Assateague home of the Chincoteague ponies.

It is so exciting to be so close to the ponies that are seen around the world on television, in magazines and newspapers, about which books have been written, with “Misty” being the most famous of all.

It is getting kind of late and the nor’easter is blowing in. I put my rain gear over the equipment so it wouldn’t get ruined and we begin to pack up.

All the cowboys are cooling out their horses by walking them around and lots of the trucks and trailers have left. It is drizzling rain, time to head back. After one truck passes us, Mr. Walter Marks, a cowboy for 26 years and the father of one of my classmates, Tyler, offers us a ride. He doesn’t have to ask twice and had it not been for him we would have been caught in a down pour.

Soon we were back in Mr. Boswell’s car with him insisting we find a restroom and get something to eat. Lizzy and I won this debate though, and got him to take us the southern herd holding pen where Dr. Charlie Cameron is hard at work. One by one, the ponies are run into a chute where he gives them a squirt of worm medicine and takes blood through a needle for testing. The wild ponies do not welcome Dr. Cameron. They rear up, knocking into the wooden stanchion; they kick and try to take a nip out of his assistants who try to settle them down. It is a slow process and by mid afternoon, Dr. Cameron still has the northern herd of 100 plus ponies waiting for him.

We decide to head for the mainland. Back at Mr. Boswell’s it is time for more work. Our CF cards are full so we transfer all our photos into laptops and make a backup.

Then it is back on the road to our own homes. We are all tired, but we had an exciting day that I will never forget.

The writer is a 9th grade student who has since moved from Accomack County. She was associate editor of the website, www.wildponytales.info.