DEM
Encourages Citizen Scientists To Report Sightings Of Wild Turkey Broods
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| Photo by Will Collette |
The
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is asking the public
to report sightings of wild turkey hens – both with brood and without – to help
with research efforts.
The Department is currently evaluating the state's wild
turkey population which is believed to be growing based on the number of young
reaching maturity and an increase in harvests reported during the spring
hunting season which ended last month.
The 2018 spring harvest was 190 birds,
an increase of more than 20% from the 154 taken during the 2017 season.
Information
gathered from the public is helpful in determining the number of young birds
that survive after common causes of mortality such as predators, weather, and
road kill are taken into account.
DEM
is actively working to protect and enhance wildlife habitat in Rhode Island
forests and management areas to ensure healthier, more diverse, and abundant
wildlife populations.
DEM's turkey restoration program, which ran from 1980 to
1996, resulted in increased opportunities for the public to see and hunt wild
turkeys.
The restoration project released wild trapped birds that established
new turkey flocks in Exeter, Burrillville, Little Compton, West Greenwich,
Foster, Scituate, and Tiverton.
Restoration of the wild turkey was funded by
state hunting license fees and the Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration program.
The
public is encouraged to report sightings via a brief online survey. For those
that do not have internet access, brood reports can be made by calling the
Division of Fish and Wildlife at (401) 789-0281.
For
more turkey facts, visit www.dem.ri.gov. Follow us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/RhodeIslandDEM or on Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM) for timely
updates.
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