SREL Reprint #2489

Mitigation for the endangered Wood Stork on Savannah River Site

A. L. Bryan, Jr., M. C. Coulter, and I. L. Brisbin, Jr.

Abstract: A proposed change in facility operations at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in the early 1980s potentially threatened Wood Storks, a recently classified federally endangered species that foraged on that facility. The resulting interagency consultation was highly successful in that the impacted habitat was "replaced" by an approximately equal amount of foraging impoundments, managed specifically for this species, that were used extensively by the birds. Ecological studies conducted in support of this mitigation strategy provided invaluable information addressing many of the "tasks" listed in the Wood Stork recovery plan as important to the recovery of the species.

Keywords: Department of Energy, endangered species, foraging habitat, mitigation, Mycteria americana, Wood Stork, Savannah River Site.

SREL Reprint #2489

Bryan, A. L., Jr., M. C. Coulter, and I. L. Brisbin, Jr. 2000. Mitigation for the endangered Wood Stork on Savannah River Site. Studies in Avian Biology 21:50-56.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).