Georgia Coast Birding and Nature Festival
GOS Fall Meeting on Jekyll Island
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Birders and hunters meet to help Altamaha Waterfowl Management Area
Members of The Nature Conservancy, Altamaha Riverkeeper, Georgia Ornithological Society and Coastal Georgia Audubon met with officials from Georgia Department of Natural Resources to discuss goals and plans for the WMA. The meeting, sponsored and mediated by Georgia Important Bird Areas (IBA) Coordinator Charlie Muise, was held with the purpose of improving communication and cooperation among the various groups. “There are a lot of people doing good work, and we feel that even more good can come out of working together” Muise said.
The meeting was followed Saturday by a group of volunteers clearing the trail around the Ansley Hodges Impoundment. This trail, west of Hwy 17 on Champney Island, provides access to three impoundments. Participants removed trash, killed poison ivy, and cleared brush. This trail was popular with hunters and bird watchers until a break in the levy made it impossible for DNR to keep it open with a tractor. They do not have enough manpower to keep it open with hand tools.
Dwindling state financial support has caused managers to have to prioritize, and the trail was simply not as important as maintaining the water control structures which make management of waterfowl possible. The IBA program applied for a Georgia Ornithological Society grant to fund the replacement of two of those structures. “The materials needed to replace a single structure – not including manpower and use of equipment – amount to nearly ten thousand dollars” said area manager Wayne Hubbard. “Last fall we had to put all available resources into preventing a major levy breach on Rhett’s Island. If we had lost that, replacement would have cost $1.1 million. As much as we wanted to do other work, our hands were tied”.
The Coastal Georgia Audubon Society will adopt the trail, taking the responsibility of financing its maintenance and doing actual physical labor to help managers.
Other groups are helping, too. Ducks Unlimited funded the Billy Cullens Memorial Trail. The Nature Conservancy helps with grants. “This year the state cut all funding other than salaries” Hubbard shared. So it is time for the hundreds of hunters and birdwatchers who use AWMA to step in.
Meeting participants shared their concerns “We are aware of 5 areas of phragmites” (a highly invasive exotic plant) shared Alison McGee of the Nature Conservancy. City of Darien Development Director Frank Field shared with us some of the development and population pressures the area is facing, and what the city is doing to help protect habitat and increase conservation – friendly development, such as hike/bike trails and ecotourism.