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On May 14, Director Reilly signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of the Navy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The MOA provides for continuity of operations for the USFWS and the USGS with construction of new office and lab facilities on the Guam National Wildlife Refuge in conjunction with DOD’s construction of a Marine Corps firing range.
“The USGS has a long history of collaborating with the Department of Defense in support of U.S. facilities and force readiness in the INDOPACOM Area of Responsibility. One of our signature efforts ongoing today is a collaboration with DOD, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the local government in minimizing the impacts of the invasive Brown Treesnakes (BTS) and improving BTS controls on military lands on Guam,” said Jim Reilly, director of the USGS.
USGS scientists and staff associated with the Brown Treesnake Project are co-located at the Guam National Wildlife Refuge at the northern end of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean. Project staff are developing and testing control tools for invasive Brown Treesnakes, as well as understanding their impacts on Guam's ecosystems. Project staff also lead the multi-agency Brown Treesnake Rapid Response Team, which responds to invasive snake sightings throughout the Pacific and trains personnel from cooperating agencies to increase the capacity of the team. Major partners of the USGS Brown Treesnake Project include DOI Office of Insular Affairs, USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services, Department of Defense, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and State and Island governments.
Accidentally introduced to Guam during or soon after World War II, the Brown Treesnake was a major contributor to the loss of nine of 11 native forest birds and several native lizard and bat species on the island. Some of these lost species are present in captivity or on other islands in the Marianas, suggesting that recovery of some of Guam’s native biota may be possible. However, prospects for successful recovery are dependent on successfully controlling or eradicating Brown Treesnakes at various spatial scales.
Much of the research conducted by USGS scientists is directed towards improving methods for Control and Landscape-Scale Suppression of the Invasive Brown Treesnake by developing, testing, and validating control tools and by improving understanding of the species’ biology, ecology, and behavior for control purposes. The USGS Brown Treesnake Project is led by Fort Collins-based principal investigators who oversee research activities conducted by USGS scientists, affiliates from the University of Guam, and cooperators; these projects are aimed at containment, control, management, and detection of the invasive Brown Treesnakes on Guam.
The devastating ecological impacts of Brown Treesnakes on Guam would likely be replicated if the snakes were to become established elsewhere in the Pacific, including Hawai’i or the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Because Brown Treesnakes are stealthy and often hide in cargo or goods, the risk of accidental transportation of snakes from Guam is high. Partners at USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services conduct highly effective snake trapping and cargo inspections around ports and airports on Guam, and state/territorial partners repeat these actions on recipient islands. However, some Brown Treesnakes have made it through these interdiction nets in the past.
The USGS-led Brown Treesnake Rapid Response Team (RRT) stands ready when a credible snake sighting is reported on a snake-free island. The RRT conducts intensive training sessions on Guam for non-USGS team members stationed elsewhere: courses include extensive visual searching to improve searchers’ ability to see snakes based on USGS research outcomes on optimal search patterns, as well as training on use of snake traps and collection of high-quality data. In the event of a credible sighting, Guam-based staff with the USGS Brown Treesnake Project travel to the site to provide expert assistance to local partners during a response, which is focused on determining whether an incipient population of snakes is present. RRT response strategies incorporate USGS research results, such as improving snake detectability at low densities, increasing effectiveness of control tools in rodent-rich environments, and predicting movements of snakes translocated accidentally to maximize the likelihood of capture success.
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