{"id":26653,"date":"2016-09-08T15:39:40","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T19:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?p=26653"},"modified":"2021-11-10T16:38:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T20:38:35","slug":"lake-erie-watersnake-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm","title":{"rendered":"Lake Erie Watersnake: A Look At The Comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many people don\u2019t like seeing snakes and arguably few would like petting them. But Kristin Stanford is not one of those people.<\/p>\n

As a researcher at Ohio State University\u2019s Stone Lab, Stanford routinely handles Lake Erie watersnakes as part of ongoing work to protect the species. She and others at the Stone Lab played an important role in removing the snake from Ohio\u2019s endangered species list and the federal list of threatened animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realize the idea of putting something on the list isn\u2019t to just put them on the list,\u201d said Stanford, recovery plan coordinator for the watersnake. \u201cYou actually need to develop what\u2019s called a recovery plan that\u2019s going to talk about the kind of things that need to happen in order to hopefully recover those populations to the point where they no longer need to be federally protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Work began in 2000 on a large-scale telemetry project to learn more about the snake\u2019s life history that wasn\u2019t known at the time. That included tracking how much shoreline habitat the snakes were using and where on the shoreline they hibernated.<\/p>\n

The recovery plan was written in 2003, when Stanford\u2019s goal shifted to increase education and outreach efforts to help protect snakes from \u201chuman persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"lake

Kristin Stanford wrangles a Lake Erie watersnake. (Credit: Marcus Kentner \/ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cPeople were coming into contact with these snakes and purposefully eradicating as many as they could. It\u2019s because they were actually clearing out these habitats that they were coming into contact with them,\u201d said Stanford.<\/p>\n

The outreach component was in response to a common fear of the snakes, Stanford says. She notes that watersnakes aren\u2019t poisonous and are important to ecosystems in Lake Erie.<\/p>\n

Lessons on the Lake Erie watersnake were integrated into camps for Ohio youth \u2013 focusing on the next generation \u2013 and a conservation easement program was set up through the Ohio Division of Wildlife to give a tax break to property owners who set aside land for snake habitat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin a very short period of time, we actually were able to achieve all of those recovery goals by 2010,\u201d said Stanford. \u201cWe were able to propose the water snake to be removed from the list of threatened and endangered animals. In September 2011, we actually did achieve the delisting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lake Erie watersnake became the 23rd species to be removed from the federal list, which Stanford and others at Stone Lab are proud of. She notes that many scientists don\u2019t get to work on a protection project and get to see an animal removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually it\u2019s a lifetime of work before you get to see something like that happen,\u201d Stanford said.<\/p>\n

Pushing for habitat protection and management as well as enhancing education and outreach was a key component for the recovery plan. Since the Lake Erie watersnake has been federally delisted, efforts have shifted to post-delisting monitoring to maintain the snake\u2019s gains.<\/p>\n

All the monitoring has led to a large data set, which Stanford has contributed to for around 14 years. The data housed at Stone Lab goes back more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most robust data sets for any snake in the world,\u201d said Stanford. \u201cWe can do interesting population biology science with it and it allows us to help snake biologists and herpetologists understand the life history of these animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured Image:\u00a0Lake Erie watersnake. (Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lake Erie watersnake was once endangered in Ohio and threatened federally. But thanks to a nearly decade-long effort, the snake is thriving once again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":26654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[167,60,125,181,109,342,343],"class_list":["post-26653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakes-reservoirs","tag-endangered-species","tag-featured","tag-great-lakes","tag-lake-erie","tag-news-ticker","tag-ohio-state-university","tag-stone-lab"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\nLake Erie Watersnake: A Look At The Comeback<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Lake Erie watersnake was once endangered in Ohio and threatened federally. But thanks to a nearly decade-long effort, the snake is thriving once again.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lake Erie Watersnake: A Look At The Comeback\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Lake Erie watersnake was once endangered in Ohio and threatened federally. But thanks to a nearly decade-long effort, the snake is thriving once again.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Environmental Monitor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-08T19:39:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-10T20:38:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/lake_erie_watersnake.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"679\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daniel Kelly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Kelly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Kelly\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\"},\"headline\":\"Lake Erie Watersnake: A Look At The Comeback\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-08T19:39:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-10T20:38:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm\"},\"wordCount\":600,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/lake_erie_watersnake.png\",\"keywords\":[\"endangered species\",\"featured\",\"Great Lakes\",\"Lake Erie\",\"news ticker\",\"Ohio State University\",\"Stone Lab\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lakes & Reservoirs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm\",\"name\":\"Lake Erie Watersnake: A Look At The Comeback\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/lake_erie_watersnake.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-08T19:39:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-10T20:38:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\"},\"description\":\"The Lake Erie watersnake was once endangered in Ohio and threatened federally. But thanks to a nearly decade-long effort, the snake is thriving once again.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/lake_erie_watersnake.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/lake_erie_watersnake.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":679,\"caption\":\"Lake Erie watersnake. (Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Environmental Monitor\",\"description\":\"Application and technology news for environmental professionals\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\",\"name\":\"Daniel Kelly\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daniel Kelly\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/daniel-kelly\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lake Erie Watersnake: A Look At The Comeback","description":"The Lake Erie watersnake was once endangered in Ohio and threatened federally. But thanks to a nearly decade-long effort, the snake is thriving once again.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lake Erie Watersnake: A Look At The Comeback","og_description":"The Lake Erie watersnake was once endangered in Ohio and threatened federally. But thanks to a nearly decade-long effort, the snake is thriving once again.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm","og_site_name":"Environmental Monitor","article_published_time":"2016-09-08T19:39:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-10T20:38:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":679,"url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/lake_erie_watersnake.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Daniel Kelly","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Kelly","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Kelly","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7"},"headline":"Lake Erie Watersnake: A Look At The Comeback","datePublished":"2016-09-08T19:39:40+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-10T20:38:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm"},"wordCount":600,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/lake_erie_watersnake.png","keywords":["endangered species","featured","Great Lakes","Lake Erie","news ticker","Ohio State University","Stone Lab"],"articleSection":["Lakes & Reservoirs"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm","url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm","name":"Lake Erie Watersnake: A Look At The Comeback","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/lake_erie_watersnake.png","datePublished":"2016-09-08T19:39:40+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-10T20:38:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7"},"description":"The Lake Erie watersnake was once endangered in Ohio and threatened federally. But thanks to a nearly decade-long effort, the snake is thriving once again.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/lake-erie-watersnake-comeback.htm#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/lake_erie_watersnake.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/lake_erie_watersnake.png","width":1024,"height":679,"caption":"Lake Erie watersnake. (Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/","name":"Environmental Monitor","description":"Application and technology news for environmental professionals","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7","name":"Daniel Kelly","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Kelly"},"url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/author\/daniel-kelly"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26653"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32889,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26653\/revisions\/32889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}