| Inventory and Monitoring |
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The primary focus of the Inventory and Monitoring program is to determine the status and distribution of eastern indigo snake populations, and to implement long-term monitoring programs for the Altamaha River basin and other sites in southern Georgia.
Our emphasis on eastern indigo snake populations in the Altamaha River basin is with good reason; this region has been identified as a current stronghold for the species, and we are interested to learn how habitat management and other land use practices affects these snake populations in the future. Biologists with the Department of Defense–Fort Stewart and South Georgia College (Douglas) are collaborating with us on these efforts.
We now use canine surveys in addition to visual encounter surveys (i.e., walking around tortoise burrows searching for basking snakes) to locate eastern indigo snakes. This current field season, we are conducting field surveys to determine the distribution and status of the eastern indigo in Georgia. As part of this effort, we are surveying for eastern indigos on the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
We are developing a plan to monitor changes in the distribution and abundance of eastern indigos in the Altamaha Drainage of Georgia. We are monitoring eastern indigo snake distribution by annually surveying many properties distributed throughout the Altamaha Drainage for the presence of eastern indigos. We are monitoring the species abundance by conducting mark recapture studies or collaborating with partners at 4 focal sites; Mopani Preserve, Broxton Rocks Preserve, Fort Stewart, and the Rayonier Tract. Snakes captured at focal sites are sexed, measured, weighed, and uniquely marked by implanting a PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder, like a microchip used to mark pets) tag beneath its skin. In addition to abundance estimates, such mark recapture efforts will be used to monitor growth rates, survival, and recruitment.
Have you recently observed an eastern indigo snake?
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