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COAST DISPATCH (Berlin, Maryland) 23 June 06 Rare Snake Set To Return To Worcester (Cara Dahl)
Ocean City: County Commissioners Louise Gulyas and Virgil Shockley handled a captive northern pine snake this week when informed of a plan to reintroduce the reptiles to the county, where they have not been seen for 34 years.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has secured federal funding to reintroduce the non-venomous snake to a secluded location in the Pocomoke State Forest. DNR began looking into northern pine snakes in 2001.
“It’s been a mystery where it is, if it’s still here or not here,” said Scott Smith, a DNR ecologist.
After Dr. Bill Grogan, a biologist at Salisbury University, conducted a two-year study in search of northern pine snakes, the conclusion was clear.
Grogan’s traps caught 29 species, and 1,629 individuals, including an endangered eastern narrowmouth toad. The study also caught many broad-headed skinks, which had been slated for the endangered species list itself. The numbers found in the study showed that the reptile is not endangered.
Of six recorded sightings in Maryland, four have been in Worcester County. Populations persist in New Jersey, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, and Georgia.
“It’s extremely fragmented,” said Scott. The snakes are “fairly secure globally.”
“We think these guys are gone from Delmarva and we want to introduce them,” Scott said.
The snakes are harmless to humans, and hunt mainly small mammals, lizards, and at times, ground nesting birds. Adults range from 48 to 66 inches, with the record holder coming in at 83 inches.
“This is one of the largest snakes in Maryland,” Scott said. “The only species larger is the black rat snake.”
Delmarva’s northern pine snakes, which live in sandy pine forests, ran into trouble in the early part of the 20th Century when swathes of pine forest were clear cut and replaced by agriculture or pulpwood plantations. The pulpwood pines are harvested every 20 to 25 years, a disruption which proved to be too frequent for the pine snake to survive.
This is only the third time an attempt will be made in the U.S. to reintroduce snakes to a historical habitat. Scott and fellow biologists will borrow a method from colleagues in New Jersey, who have successfully used artificial hibernacula (hibernation burrows) to hatch young pine snakes.
When the young have gone through their first shed, half will be transported to Pocomoke State Forest, where they will be released in protected sites. The other half of the young will be released in New Jersey.
“Typically if you move adults it doesn’t work,” Scott said. “You only use young. We’re pretty confident it’s going to work. We’re optimistic right now and I think we should be.”
Rare Snake Set To Return To Worcester

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Frank Roberts
R&R Herpetological Frank Roberts & John Rodriguez

Roberts'Realm of Reptile Research

awesome news,thanks for sharing that...i'm hard pressed to think of a place that formerly held such an interesting variety of endemic herps,and has been more drastically altered as the delmarva penninsula,or the eastern shore of maryland specifically....my fingers are crossed for them,bigtime.
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"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question with flicks of his long forked tongue my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld

I have all the respect in the world for Dr Grogan, but I'm honestly concerned that only a two year search was made for pine snakes in the Delmarva peninsula. I would like to hear more about the methods used and the number of traps set out. At this point I'm not convinced that two years is sufficient to come to a definitive conclusion that pine snakes no longer exist in that area. Each isolate has its own unique characteristics and once pine snakes from another locale are introduced into this region there is no setting back the clock!

Will and I had a similar scenario in the cave region of Kentucky. An isolate with only a handful of documented specimens and no recent records. The most recent live pine snake known in the cave region was 37 years ago. This is also in a habitat that is now vastly different than historical times. After a concerted effort of three plus years we discovered a subadult male two weeks ago. We are so glad that this population is intact and no outside introductions of pine snakes from other areas have been made. Over this time period we cruised roads, hiked habitat, checked AC and deployed funnel traps. These are not easy snakes to find! Its well documented that their presense can be undetected even by the people that inhabit the same areas in which they live.

If the length of the search was more along the lines of a decade and no pine snakes turned up there in the Delmarva, I would be more apt to be receptive of a reintroduction from another locale.

Just my take on it.

Phil