DE - Volunteers Needed to Help Report Sudden Wetland Dieback Locations

Delaware’s Sudden Wetland Dieback Task Group is seeking volunteers to report sudden wetland dieback (SWD), a condition affecting salt marsh vegetation within Delaware’s Inland Bays. SWD is the rapid death of at least the above-ground parts of salt marsh vegetation or the failure of plants to grow during single or multiple growing seasons.

Delaware residents can report the occurrence of SWD by completing the Delaware Volunteer Salt Marsh Monitoring Form. The form and additional information are available on DNREC’s web site, www.dnrec.delaware.gov A map of the reported and confirmed locations of SWD will be added as locations are determined.

Delaware's first instances of SWD were reported last summer along the shores of the Inland Bays. Led by scientists from DNREC’s wetland monitoring and assessment team, preliminary data on the condition of marshes with and without SWD were collected as part of a larger study to evaluate the health of the Inland Bays tidal wetlands. A SWD Task Group, led by DNREC and the Center for the Inland Bays, was formed to develop a strategy to monitor SWD and determine if restoration efforts will be required to prevent the loss of these marshes. In 2006, aerial surveys of approximately a quarter of the salt marshes within the Inland Bays found that 41% of marshes exhibited some vegetation dieback.

“Sudden wetland dieback is of great concern,” said Amy Jacobs, environmental scientist with DNREC’s Watershed Assessment Section.
“Delaware’s Inland Bays have already lost large areas of salt marsh as a result of human activities. Our salt marshes are high-value ecosystems that are vital to the health of the Inland Bays and our coastal heritage.
Dieback events need to be identified, monitored, and carefully managed to prevent rapid loss of these critical resources.”

Salt marshes protect coastal development and protection of lands from erosion and storm surges, provide critical habitat for wildlife, regulate bay and coastal ecology by filtering and storing nutrients and sediments, help regulate climate, and provide invaluable aesthetic appeal.

Sudden wetland dieback can result in the death of the vegetation in salt marshes. When SWD occurs, a marsh appears brown or dead, because little or no live green vegetation is present and the dead plants from the previous year remain, or the underlying surface is exposed. Sudden wetland dieback has occurred along the East coast from Louisiana to Maine during the past decade, however SWD was first identified in Delaware in June 2006.

DNREC is seeking short-term funding through the EPA and the Center for the Inland Bays to monitor SWD to determine the distribution and recovery of dieback areas. A combination of remote sensing tools, comprehensive aerial photography and onsite data collection will provide valuable information to help scientists determine if restoration activities for affected sites that don't recover on their own are required. The Task Group also recommended that more research is needed to understand the dominant stressors affecting tidal marshes that may lead to SWD.

The SWD Task Group includes scientists from DNREC, Center for the Inland Bays, the Maryland Department of Nature Resources, Maryland Coastal Bays program, Duffield Associates, DelDOT, University of Delaware, and Wetlands Research Services. For more information contact Amy Jacobs with DNREC’s Division of Water Resources, 302-739-9939 or Chris Bason with the Center for the Inland Bays 302-226-8105.

2008 Delaware Duck Stamp, Trout Stamp Winners Chosen

Wilmington artist John Stewart’s painting featuring the greater scaup duck with the Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse will become the 2008 Delaware Duck Stamp, and a painting of brown trout by Micah Hanson of Dakota, Minn., will appear on the 2008 Delaware Trout Stamp.

The paintings won top honors in the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife’s annual stamp art competition, held Saturday, March 31 at the Ducks Unlimited Greenwings Event in Greenwood. This year’s event drew 28 entries for the 2008 Duck Stamp and 20 entries for the 2008 Trout Stamp. The 2008 Trout Stamp winner, Micah Hanson, receives $250 and retains the rights to reproduce and sell prints of the stamp.

The 2008 Duck Stamp winner, John Stewart, will receive a $2,500 prize and 150 artist’s proofs of the limited edition print series of his first place duck entry. A Wilmington native and self-taught artist, Stewart balances his love of art with his job at Del Castle Golf Course. His subjects include portraits, landscape and wildlife. This is Stewart’s first win, but he has previously placed in both the Federal and Delaware Duck Stamp contests, including an honorable mention in the 2007 Delaware competition.

Other winners included:

• 2008 Duck Stamp: Second place – Ken Michaelsen of McCloud, Calif.; Third place – Jerome Hageman of Orchard Park, N.Y.; Honorable mention: Nicole Heitzman of Parkston, S.D., Joanne Pope Diehl of Hampstead, Md., and Jeffrey Klinfelter of Etna Green, Ind.

• 2007 Trout Stamp: Second place - Jerome Hageman of Orchard Park, N.Y., brown trout; Third place – Jim Wagner of Simsbury, Conn., rainbow trout; Honorable mention: Allen Friedman of Boynton Beach, Fla., brook trout; Peter Strzelewicz of Dudley, Mass., brook trout; and Rudy Luoma of Hermantown, Minn., rainbow trout.

The duck and trout stamp entries are on display now through Saturday, April 7 at the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village, 866 N. DuPont Highway, Dover, just south of Delaware State University. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information about the museum, please call 302-734-1618.

The 2008 Duck Stamp judges were Delaware Public Archives Director Russ McCabe, collector Charles Sheppard, artist Doug Gibson, graphics expert Charles Rogers, wildlife biologist Terry Villanueva and alternate Oscar Reed, wildlife biologist.

The 2008 Trout Stamp judges were printer Daryll Reifsnyder, biologist Charlie Miller, artist Doug Gibson, Noel Kuhrt of the Delaware Trout Association and Ed O’Donnell of the Delaware Trout Association and Trout Unlimited.

The Division of Fish and Wildlife, in partnership with Ducks Unlimited, began the duck stamp and print program in 1980 to raise funds for waterfowl conservation, including acquiring and improving the wetland habitats that are vital for the survival of migratory waterfowl. To date, more than $2.3 million has been raised.

The Division began requiring trout stamps in the 1930s. Trout stamp art was first used in 1977. The fees paid for Trout Stamps are used to purchase rainbow and brown trout from commercial hatcheries. The purchased trout are stocked in selected streams in northern New Castle County for Delaware’s spring trout season.

Residents 16 to 64 years of age are required to have a Delaware Trout Stamp, which costs $4.20. Residents ages 12 through 15 years old are required to have a Young Angler Trout Stamp, which costs $2.10.
Non-residents 12 years of age and older are required to have a Non-Resident Trout Stamp, which costs $6.20.

Duck Stamps go on sale Sunday, July 1 for $9 and are required when hunting migratory waterfowl in Delaware.

Duck and Trout Stamps are available at the Division of Fish and Wildlife offices in the Richardson and Robbins Building at 89 Kings Highway in Dover, at license agents throughout the state or online at www.fw.delaware.gov, which also includes a list of license agents.
Collector stamps and prints are sold only at the Division’s administrative offices.

For more information, call the Division of Fish and Wildlife at 739-9911.