Saturday, November 27, 2004
Storms take toll on beach mice, other fauna, flora
BILL KACZOR
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PENSACOLA — Fewer than 1,000 Perdido Key beach mice probably existed before Hurricane Ivan struck Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, but scientists are unsure how many remain alive since the Sept. 16 storm.
They say only time will tell if the mice, found only on the barrier island for which they are named, can survive on beaches where storm-driven sand exposed them to predators and buried the vegetation they feed on.
“We know mice still exist.” said Lorna Patrick, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We are seeing tracks of mice . . . but we’re not seeing a lot of tracks.”
There’s similar uncertainly across Florida about other flora and fauna, including such endangered species as sea turtles and red-cockaded woodpeckers, after four hurricanes ravaged the state in August and September.
Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne also left beaches eroded, exposing coastal buildings to future storm damage.
The beach mice may have been harmed more than any other species because there were so few to begin with. Development eliminated most of the dunes where they live long before Ivan slammed into Perdido Key, a long, narrow sand spit divided by the Florida-Alabama state line.
Their only refuge on the Alabama end was at Gulf State Park until Hurricane Opal struck in 1995. Predators — mostly cats — killed off those that survived the storm, and the park has been mouse-free ever since, Patrick said.
On the Florida side, 500 to 800 mice were believed living in the Johnson Beach area of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and about 100 at Perdido Key State Park.
“They don’t have as much habitat to recover on,” Patrick said. “That’s why we say hurricanes are bad for beach mice. Historically, they were not.”
Officials are trying to help the mice recover by putting out sunflower seeds for them to eat while trapping predators and urging islanders to keep pets inside and avoid attracting roaming cats, raccoons and other animals by feeding them.
Predator control also is important for the recovery of sea turtles once the next nesting season begins in March, said Margo Stahl, manager of the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge on Florida’s southeast coast where Frances and Jeanne came ashore.
“Raccoons, armadillos and other animals dig up the nests,” Stahl said. “We lose 90 percent of them without a hurricane.”
The storms destroyed every remaining nest that had not yet hatched out, but it could be years before the full effect can be determined, she said.
Many young hatchlings also died in the storm-tossed Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexcio but that toll may never be calculated, said Dorn Whitmore, supervising ranger at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. He said a few dead hatchlings washed ashore but most probably were eaten by scavengers.
Red-cockaded woodpeckers were little affected by the three storms that struck southern and Central Florida, but Ivan was another story in the Panhandle, said Ralph Costa, who heads the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recovery program for that endangered species.
Bald eagles, brown pelicans and ospreys are among other birds that lost nesting trees but it may be a year or so before the full effect can be measured, said Kevin Godsea, lead ranger at the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Southwest Florida.
Serial story: THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE