Wenger 72944 Especificações descarregar pdf (Página 93)

Section 2 Existing Conditions/Affected Environment

EAA Storage Reservoirs Revised Draft PIR and EIS February 2006

2-29

freshwater marshes and edges of lakes in South and Central Florida including

Palm Beach and Hendry Counties. Nearly continuous flooding is required to

sustain apple snail populations. Snail kites require small trees or shrubs near

foraging areas as nest sites. Appropriate habitat for apple snails and snail kites

is not expected within the current wetlands in Compartment A and associated

canals and are not expected within the project reservoir, seepage/habitat buffer,

or littoral shelves along the seepage canal (USFWS, 2005).

Designated critical habitat for the snail kite exists on the western side of Lake

Okeechobee and portions of the EPA downstream, including WCA 2 and 3A.

They were also sighted in the Holey Land WMA. Wood storks and snail kites

have overlapping ranges, but different feeding mechanisms and require different

hydrologic conditions for optimum feeding. Historically, both have survived with

the hydrologic variability characteristic of the natural system. The reduced

heterogeneity and extent of natural area of the present system make the snail

kites more vulnerable to natural and human-caused threats (USFWS, 1999).

The critical habitat on Lake Okeechobee tends to have suitable habitat even

during wet and dry years, whereas water stages in WCA-3A fluctuate greatly

during wet and dry years.

2.11.5.7 Eastern Indigo Snake

The historical range of the threatened eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon corais

couperi) was throughout Florida, and the coastal plain of Georgia, Alabama, and

Mississippi. Today, it is present only in Georgia and throughout Florida, but its

abundance is reduced to a point where it is uncommon. Habitat for the indigo

snake includes pine flatwoods, scrubby flatwoods, high pine, dry prairie, tropical

hardwood hammock, edges of freshwater marshes, agricultural fields, coastal

dunes, and human-altered habitats (USFWS, 1999). The snake inhabits

primarily drier areas including agricultural fields and the margins of freshwater

marshes, and may be present within Compartment A and along the canals

slated for expansion. The snake is also present within the EPA and in areas

surrounding Lake Okeechobee.

The milder climate of Central and South Florida may not require indigo snakes

to have underground thermal refugia as they do farther north; yet they

frequently use natural holes, gopher tortoise burrows, trash piles and the like

even in warmer South Florida. They use a variety of food sources including fish,

frogs, toads, lizards, turtles and their eggs, small alligators, birds and small

mammals (USFWS, 1999).

The eastern indigo snake is not documented by the FWC or FNAI to be

specifically in the EAA, but it likely is found in the uplands and margins of

1 2 ... 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 ... 385 386

Sem comentários

Wenger 72944 Especificações Página 93