INVENTORY OF MAMMALS (EXCLUDING BATS) OF THOMAS STONE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NCBN/NRTR—2010/315

Ronald E. Barry
Bates College
Biology Department
409 Carnegie Science Hall
44 Campus Avenue
Lewiston, Maine 04240

Tressa L. Dolbeare
Department of Biology
201 Compton Science Center
Frostburg State University
101 Braddock Road
Frostburg, Maryland 21532-2303

April 2010

U.S. Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Natural Resource Program Center
Fort Collins, Colorado

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Executive Summary

A survey of mammals (excluding bats) at Thomas Stone National Historic Site (THST) was conducted from 2002 to 2003 to document the presence of > 90% of the mammals in the park, describe species distributions, relative abundances, and habitat-specific richness, and provide recommendations for management and conservation. Surveys relied on live trapping with Sherman and Tomahawk traps for small to medium-size mammals, the use of pitfall traps to capture small shrews, direct observation of individuals and their sign (tracks, scats), and remote photography. We identified two principal habitats – grassland (fields) and deciduous forest –> and less expansive tracts of mixed deciduous-coniferous forest, wind-disturbed deciduous forest, and additional targeted locations for sampling.

Twelve species of mammals were either captured or observed within THST, all new records (species) for the park. Altogether, six orders and nine families of mammals are represented by these species. These species constitute 60% (12 of 20) of those predicted to occur in the park. New species we recorded include the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), northern shorttailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda), southeastern shrew (Sorex longirostris), eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus), eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus), white-footed deermouse (Peromyscus leucopus), woodchuck (Marmota monax), eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), raccoon (Procyon lotor), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

THST supports low diversity and abundances of small mammals, in part due to the lack of diversity in habitat types. The white-footed deermouse is the most abundant and widespread species, accounting for 76% of all individuals captured by Sherman and pitfall traps. The generally common and widespread northern short-tailed shrew, a habitat generalist, was neither widespread nor abundant in the park. Grassland (managed fields) supported more species than other principal habitat types, although many of the grassland species occupy grassland-deciduous forest edge habitat. The eastern cottontail, eastern gray squirrel, woodchuck, and white-tailed deer are widely distributed within the park.

Additional inventory and monitoring work should be conducted to determine the status of a number of species either detected in low numbers – the northern short-tailed shrew, southeastern shrew, and meadow vole – or not confirmed but that may exist within the park, at least seasonally – North American least shrew (Cryptotis parva), woodland vole (Microtus pinetorum), house mouse (Mus musculus), brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans), gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), and long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata). A concerted effort should be directed toward documenting the distribution of the southeastern shrew in the park with greater use of pitfall traps (only after proper archeological compliance or oversight has been completed). In addition, the following resource management strategies might be considered, continued, or enhanced: 1) maintaining diverse herbaceous communities by careful attention to mowing and burning schedules; 2) periodically monitoring buildings and adjacent areas for presence of the exotic house mouse and brown rat; and 3) monitoring groundhog populations and, if necessary, using appropriate management practices (e.g., live trapping and relocation) to remove problematic individuals; and 4) monitoring and, if necessary, using management practices to regulate the white-tailed deer population to ensure the preservation of vegetation communities and understory cover important to mammals and birds. White-tailed deer are of potential public health significance because they serve as hosts for the adult breeding black-legged (deer) tick that is the vector for the etiologic agent (the spirochetes, Borrelia burgdorferi) of Lyme disease.

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