The Last Word on Badgers?
Over the past two issues we have discussed badgers in Lambton County. In this issue is the rest of the information sent to us by Ron Gould, Species at Risk Biologist with the MNR in Aylmer..
WANTED: Badger Reports
The American badger (Taxidea taxus) is a rare Ontario mammal. Loss and fragmentation of its preferred grassland habitat have contributed to declining numbers, with less than 200 of this burrowing species now estimated to survive in Ontario. Badgers are nocturnal and highly nomadic with large home ranges up to 500 square km. They move great distances between sandy grassland areas of southern Ontario, usually at night. Many badgers are accidentally killed by traffic as they attempt to cross roadways as they travel.
The Ministry of Natural Resources is seeking the public's assistance in providing any information about badgers. Badgers found dead or injured along roadsides provide valuable information to MNR biologists who are researching the ecology and behavior of this rare mammal to further understand how to promote recovery of the species. Please report any badger sightings or information to the contact below or to your local MNR office. Prompt reporting of any road-killed badgers for pickup by the Ministry of Natural Resources is encouraged. Any reliable past reports of badger locations are also extremely useful for population assessment. Reporting of pelts or stuffed badgers is also encouraged as biologists can retrieve valuable genetic information from only a few hairs from these older specimens. If you find a badger or have any past sighting information to report please contact:
Ron Gould
Ministry of Natural Resources
353 Talbot St. W
Aylmer, ON
N5H 2S8
(519) 773-4745
ron.gould@mnr.gov.on.ca
Or Your Local MNR Office
Status and Significance of American Badgers in Ontario:
By Ron Gould, Aylmer MNR
Population Status
There are estimated to be less than 200 badgers of the tallgrass prairie and savanna subspecies Taxidea taxus jacksoni remaining in the province. These badgers are native to southwestern Ontario and many neighboring Great Lakes states.
Badgers are listed as Endangered by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) but have not yet been assigned any official status in Ontario. There is no longer a harvest quota on badgers, a previously targeted furbearer in the province, although accidental trapping may still occur. Most badgers remaining in Ontario are found in the Simcoe area, dispersed along the Norfolk dune ridges. Badgers can be very good colonizers, possibly explaining occasional reports hundreds of kilometers from the Norfolk population.
Badger Biology
Badgers require areas of sandy soil to support their own burrowing requirements as well as those of their target prey. They prey on other fossorial (burrowing) mammals and actually hunt by out-digging them from their den sites. In Ontario, groundhogs and rabbits are believed to be the preferred prey of badgers, but these opportunistic predators will take small rodents, squirrels, chipmunks, reptiles, amphibians, ground-nesting birds and even some plants when available.
Badgers are primarily solitary, nomadic animals that are highly nocturnal. Home ranges are very large, up to 500 square km for large males. They have been known to travel over 5km per night throughout their home range in search of enough prey to sustain themselves. Badgers are believed to systematically hunt these areas in a cycle that allows rodent populations to recover in their absence.
Some large males can reach a size of over 30 lbs, however the average for both sexes seems to be between 15 and 25 lbs.
Young are born from March to April and develop quickly, usually leaving the den area by July to August. Young badgers can travel up to 100 km (males) or 50 km (females) over seemingly unsuitable habitat to locate and develop home ranges of their own in their first year. Badgers are a mammal constantly on the move. These mammals have adapted to occasionally utilize agricultural grasslands such as pastures and hayfields. Prey availability seems to be the most significant limiting factor for the species.
Digging Style
Badgers can be described as "nature's excavators" armed with specialized claws, paddle-like rear legs and a wedge-shaped body that allows them to penetrate prey dens with amazing speed. Observers describe badgers as appearing to "swim" through the sandy soils in a breaststroke fashion in search of prey. Badgers have also been known to cave in the many exit holes of groundhog towns before initiating an attack.
Den Shape and Indicators
Badger dens are also called Setts. There are three types of dens within a badger's home range: large and complex ones for rearing young or kits, dens for over-wintering and hunting dens which are smaller and used for very brief periods when following target prey populations. Badger dens are usually found on existing slopes such as riparian banks, dunes or near the bases of trees. Den entrance holes are horizontally elliptical in shape, usually about 12 inches wide by 8 to 10 inches tall. An active one will have fresh claw marks on the sides of the entrance as opposed to the base as with canines. Badgers may also claw the base of nearby trees to mark their territory, these marks will be in a horizontal or angled pattern, not vertical. Perhaps more noticeable, den entrances will have large amounts of extruded soil outside the hole, sometimes taking the shape of deep mounds or more linear trails of soil up to several meters in length.
Threats to Badger Populations
Continued habitat loss and fragmentationBadger Problems and Public Concerns
Create many feeding burrows and entrance holes throughout its home range which could cause harm to livestock or damage machineryBadger Monitoring
MNR project initiated in 2001 with funding from Ontario's Living Legacy program
Project uses infrared heat sensing cameras to investigate presence of badgers at possible den locations
Nocturnal and nomadic behavior of badgers makes them an extremely difficult species to monitor using conventional methods. Also the digging behavior, morphology and large home ranges of badgers will complicate possible future radiotelemetry studies.
Summary
Uncovering information on badgers is about as difficult as unearthing a badger from its burrow", Wisconsin DNR
Badgers are still scratching out a living in Ontario. Their existence here is threatened but they must be somewhat adaptable to human impacts on the landscape, that's why they're still here. This presents an urgency and starting point for recovery.
Conservation and restoration of habitat is the key to success, using badgers as a poster species will be a valuable tool in this process
Because monitoring badger populations appears to be so complex, we need focused multi-partner inventory and recovery efforts to maximize our results across Ontario.
| LWI Possessions List
Since taking over as LWI archivist and possessions coordinator a couple of years ago I have been whittling away at organizing them. Initially Floyd Elliott and I spent some time culling material, either to be tossed or to be placed in the Lambton County library via the Lambton County Natural History Collection that Floyd is spear heading. As well I have been trying to document all of LWI's possessions. This article is to try and further that objective. If anyone has anything that they feel should be included in our archives or possessions list please let me know. I don't need to hold it but we would like to know what it is and who has it. Information on possessions is quite straightforward. It would include any item purchased with LWI funds or items which members purchased themselves which they wish to donate to LWI. For example Peter Banks recently notified me that he will donate his topographical maps of Lambton County to LWI, but will continue to hold them. If any other members have copies of such maps we would be happy to receive them. .
Tape of radio interview by Peter Gzowski & Jeff Skevington.
Gord Catterson |
Bruce Peninsula National Park
On July 19th, 2002, a controversial road that would have sliced through Bruce Peninsula National Park was successfully halted. After several years of legal wrangling over access to lands adjacent to the Park owned by a logging company, Sierra Legal was pleased to announce that the Nature Conservancy of Canada had purchased these lands for the purpose of permanent conservation. The southern portion of the lands originally slated for logging will now become part of the Bruce Peninsula National Park.
The controversy began in 2000 when a logging company proposed to build a road on an old right-of-way through the existing National Park lands in order to access lands it wanted to log. The Chippewas of Nawash, Chippewas of Saugeen First Nations and CPAWS-Wildlands League were concerned about possible unsustainable logging practices on these sensitive lands and the prospect of the road being built through the park. Only hours before the logging access road was to be approved, Sierra Legal halted the road construction by obtaining a last-minute Superior Court injunction on behalf of the three groups.
The groups then entered into a settlement agreement with the municipality approved by the Superior Court that stipulated that a provincial environmental assessment must be completed before approving the road's construction. At the same time, Sierra Legal filed a petition with the federal government on behalf of the above named clients as well as the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, CPAWS-National, and the Canadian Nature Federation, requesting a full environmental assessment of the effects of the proposed road and logging plan on the neighbouring national park lands.
The federal government later responded favourably to a proposal from CPAWS to sponsor and provide funding for a mediation process to attempt to resolve the issues. The mediation process ultimately resulted in an agreement that the land instead be protected through a sale to the Nature Conservancy of Canada at a price satisfactory to the logging company. To help encourage the settlement, Sierra Legal also agreed to waive its right to collect on a Court costs award against the logging company, which had resulted from the Superior Court proceedings in
"We are pleased that this process has resulted in a creative solution satisfactory to the logging company, conservation groups and Parks Canada", said Sierra Legal managing lawyer Jerry DeMarco. "The mediation process resulted in the best possible solution for nature protection."
FYI
James L. Baillie Grants
The James L. Baillie Memorial Fund is currently accepting applications for Regular Grants or special Migration Monitoring grants. The following announcement outlines how an organization, club or individual can apply for 2003 Baillie Fund grants. I hope that you will be able to pass this information along to your membership in an upcoming issue of your newsletter or at your next meeting. As the deadline for applications is 3 January 2003, it would be best if you could make this announcement as soon as possible.
There are two types of grants: (1) Regular Grants for projects that involve research or education or that contribute to preservation of Canadian birds; and (2) Migration Monitoring Grants, a special 5-year program (1999-2003)to support migration monitoring stations that monitor Canadian landbirds during their migrations. Individuals and organizations are both eligible for support. Most grants have ranged between $200 and $3000 and they average about $1000. Grants are awarded annually, but multi-year support will be considered.
Applications are now available in PDF format on our our website, at
Money to fund grants awarded by the James L. Baillie Memorial Fund is raised primarily by individuals and clubs who participate in the Bird Studies Canada annual Baillie Birdathon. By taking part in the Birdathon, they support the Fund and raise money for their own club projects. For more information on how to take part in this exciting fund-raising idea, please contact Wendy Cridland, Bird Studies Canada, P.O. Box 160, Port Rowan, Ontario, N0E 1M0. (Telephone: 519-586-3531 ext. 201; Fax: 519-586-3532; Email: wcridland@bsc-eoc.org).
Thanks
Jane Wilson-Kendrick, Secretary
James L. Baillie Memorial Fund
URL www.bsc-eoc.org