Fort Myers Florida Weekly

Bailey Tract marsh restoration: Bringing back habitat for hiding




The Sanibel Island rice rat population has been declining since the 1980s. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION

The Sanibel Island rice rat population has been declining since the 1980s. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION

She stood still as the tree under which she trained her binoculars. As we approached her on the sand trail, she turned to us with a slightly frustrated look. “I’m hearing an ovenbird, but I can’t find it,” said France Paulsen, a volunteer for the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. She was “roving” the refuge’s Bailey Tract that morning, walking the 2.2 miles of trails to assist visitors with finding and appreciating wildlife in this habitat for hiding.

Bailey Tract attracts the secretive. Even more so now since it reopened in early September, following a three-month marsh restoration project. Roughly three miles from the main refuge campus, on Tarpon Bay Road between Periwinkle Way and the beach, it plays the introverted stepchild to the outgoing, much-visited Wildlife Drive, its Visitor & Education Center and trails. Since there’s no entry fee at Bailey Tract, staff cannot really gauge how it compares to the nearly 1 million annual visitors to Wildlife Drive, but they estimate around 65,000.

In August, refuge staff planted about 9,500 cordgrass plants before Bailey Tract reopened.

In August, refuge staff planted about 9,500 cordgrass plants before Bailey Tract reopened.

“Bailey Tract always attracted me for many different reasons. No cars!” said Ms. Paulsen. “I love walking the trails, especially first thing in the morning when the sun is about to rise, listening to the wildlife welcoming a new day and meeting new friends along the way.”

Seekers of quietude

Access to the 100-acre tract is free dawn to dusk, but by foot and bicycle only. In my experience, usually also in the early morning, I’ve rarely encountered more than a handful of visitors. These are the serious outdoors folk when compared to those recreating on Wildlife Drive or at Tarpon Bay Recreation Area. They are the patient and observant. The elite nature-lovers who don’t follow the crowd.

Likewise, the denizens of Bailey Tract comprise the meek and antisocial. They prefer the grasses of the marsh to the mangroves of the wetlands. Cordgrass, aka Spartina bakeri makes for better hiding places. Take the ovenbird, a migratory warbler: “Ovenbirds almost always walk on the ground and in the shadows,” said Ms. Paulsen. “As customary for an ovenbird, (this one) stayed in the thick of the woods, moving about, as I could hear the sound changing places.”

CHELLE KOSTER WALTON / FLORIDA WEEKLY

CHELLE KOSTER WALTON / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Known for its shy birds, bobcats, marsh rabbits and alligators, Bailey Tract’s true star, however, is a rat. The Sanibel Island rice rat (Oryzomys palustris sanibeli), to be exact.

Officially declared a distinct genetic species, the Sanibel Island rice rat population has been declining since the 1980s. And much of that has to do with the gradual decline of cordgrass marsh habitat at Bailey Tract through the decades, say biologists, who are concerned with losing the species altogether.

“Because of geographical isolation, over time it has become a separate subspecies,” explained refuge senior wildlife biologist Jeremy Conrad. “It doesn’t have genetic drift with other species. It is truly a Sanibel resident and is not found anywhere else.”

Original refuge manager Tommy Wood at Bailey Tract. U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE

Original refuge manager Tommy Wood at Bailey Tract. U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE

The rat spends its entire life cycle in the marsh. “They don’t like to be near people,” said Mr. Conrad. “They’re a really cool species.”

Despite its avoidance of the limelight, the Sanibel Island rice rat became big news and the center of controversy on Sanibel Island earlier this year. It all started back in the summer of 2015, when a team of researchers from the University of Florida came to town.

The refuge previously had been monitoring the threatened population of rice rats through small mammal surveys conducted each spring and fall in the Bailey Tract’s marshes and other refuge locations.

The species’ rarity led “Ding” Darling managers to partner with Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation for a special study being conducted by UF’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and funded by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Black-necked stilts at play at Bailey Tract. TERRY BALDWIN / COURTESY PHOTO

Black-necked stilts at play at Bailey Tract. TERRY BALDWIN / COURTESY PHOTO

In the beginning, FWC foresaw that the initial $89,000 study would lead to an additional estimated $351,000 restoration follow-up on its part. At the project’s completion, FWC had spent $283,000. Funding from the refuge amounted to $111,000 for vegetation removal, prescribed burning and educational kiosks and interpretive signs, including one panel devoted to the Sanibel Island rice rat. SCCF and the city of Sanibel also contributed.

Shutdown and flare-ups

For the sake of public safety, the refuge was going to have to close Bailey Tract for a few months as it brought in heavy equipment to restore the marsh closer to its historic hydrology. When Bailey Tract fans correlated the property’s closing to a rat, the outcry sounded in newspapers, letters and phone calls.

Mr. Conrad held a series of public informational meetings to explain that the restoration would benefit all marsh creatures. “The Sanibel Island rice rat is kind of the face of the restoration,” he told a group gathered on April 20 at the refuge. “It’s not filling in a pond for a rat. We don’t manage for a single species. This little fellow is in trouble. He’s the focal point, but not the entire point of the restoration.”

One new sign planted at Bailey Tract this year is devoted to the Sanibel Island rice rat. CHELLE KOSTER WALTON / FLORIDA WEEKLY

One new sign planted at Bailey Tract this year is devoted to the Sanibel Island rice rat. CHELLE KOSTER WALTON / FLORIDA WEEKLY

The indignation was further fueled by the fact that black-necked stilts were nesting at the time at Ani Pond, the very body of water the refuge planned to fill to restore Bailey Tract to its pre-development marsh state. The stilts had been nesting there for the past couple of years, but Mr. Conrad pointed out that that was because of drought conditions those years, causing low levels of water in Ani Pond.

“With the exception of drought years, they never nest at the pond, they nest in other areas of Bailey Tract,” he said.

Because of the nests, the refuge delayed the onset of the restoration project for several weeks until the chicks had fledged.

“First and foremost, we don’t have any intention to disturb the birds when they’re nesting,” refuge deputy manager Nate Caswell immediately got to the point before introducing Mr. Conrad at the April meetings. “That would be pretty much a contradiction to what we do here.”

“They’re super-cool,” said Mr. Conrad of the stilts. “They look like they have little tuxedos on. We love them. We’re just going to stand by until they’re done.”

Making, undoing the tract

Ani Pond, named for the smooth-billed ani bird that once frequented the tract’s marshes, is a man-made feature, Mr. Conrad pointed out, showing historic maps that demonstrated how the topography of Sanibel’s interior has changed through the decades.

Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling himself created the Bailey Tract by purchasing the first acre from the pioneering, eponymous Bailey family to dig an artesian well for the benefit of wildlife in the early 1950s. Eventually, funds for the remaining 99 acres came from the Federal Duck Stamp, a program Darling had created to raise money to conserve land across the U.S.

The first manager of the then-named Sanibel Wildlife Refuge, Tommy Wood, would land his survey sea plane on what is today referred to as Airplane Canal. It intersects with the Sanibel River in defining the tract’s southern and western borders. An observation tower once rose from the marshlands. In the late 1960s, refuge staff had the idea to dredge some of the marshlands to create habitat for waterfowl. Lee County needed fill to build island roads. And that’s how Ani Pond came to be.

The waterfowl idea never panned out, and marshlands drained into Ani Pond, destroying 42 percent of the habitat. Canopy trees such as buttonwoods and strangler figs competed with the cordgrass on the drained lands and provided habitat for the owls and hawks that prey on rats. In short, the marsh was in danger and Bailey Tract hydrology and wildlife were a mess.

“Really, the impetus behind the restoration was to support more marsh-specific species,” said Mr. Conrad. Other than the rats, gators, bobcats and rabbits, species such as gallinules, yellow-rumped warblers, white-eyed vireos, river otters, black racer snakes and Florida soft-shelled turtles depend upon the marsh for their livelihood.

The refuge closed Bailey Tract on June 3 to begin work on revised plans to only partially fill Ani Pond. By Sept. 1, the project had achieved its goals of removing artificial levees, installing culverts, planting more cordgrass and restoring the marsh footprint. It has reopened for public use.

“This marsh habitat restoration and rehydration project at the Bailey Tract underscores the value of conservation partners who are willing to pool their resources together to achieve a greater good of helping rare marsh species to survive, from the endemic Sanibel Island rice rat to the secretive marsh birds, like rails and bitterns,” said “Ding” Darling refuge manager Paul Tritaik. “Hopefully the restoration will also benefit other Bailey Tract regulars like wading birds, shorebirds and alligators, as well as continue to provide enjoyable wildlife viewing for our residents and visitors. However, we must be patient for the restoration to take hold as the vegetation fills in and the wildlife responds.”

Bailey Tract

>> Where: Tarpon Bay Road, Sanibel Island

>> Contact: 472-1100

>> Hours: Open daily dusk to dawn; free admission and parking

>> Permitted activities: Hiking, biking, fishing (with Florida a freshwater fishing license), wildlife viewing, photography, walking dogs on leashes

One response to “Bailey Tract marsh restoration: Bringing back habitat for hiding”

  1. Paul benson says:

    Thanks for this concise report, helpful. What about the crocodile? There was one, and it was really big too. I saw it, not in ani pond but in another large pond behind the canal.

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