MIKE BRAUN Swan's song not a finale in Ohio

At one time, in what was to become the state of Ohio, wildlife diversity was not a goal to shoot for, it was a reality.
In a time before farmers drained swamps, before homes and businesses sprang up where forests once grew, before roads crisscrossed hither and yon, there was an abundance and scope to wildlife here that likely would have boggled even the most open minds.
The biologists can give you a litany of species that once thrived in Ohio's lush landscape -- fin, feather, fowl and fur all had representatives in abundance in the Buckeye State before it was even a gleam in some developer's eye.
That diversity was hit hard when those teeming masses, yearning to breath free began spreading coast to coast.
Felt the effects
Nearly every species has felt the effect, from our nation's symbol, the bald eagle, to the mischievous otter and even the standard white-tailed deer and Ohio's largest game bird, the wild turkey.
In an attempt to revert that decline in diversity and add some variety back to the state's species count, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife has been doing something about this problem for a number of years.
And what they have done has been very successful in a number of areas.
Ohio's excellent white-tailed deer and wild turkey populations -- both seriously depleted by the middle of the last century -- owe their existence to good game management by the DOW.
And, it's not just the game species that have been affected. The DOW has worked just as hard for animals that are not hunted, trapped or fished.
The species that have been "reintroduced" to Ohio include ospreys, peregrine falcons, Karner blue butterflies, American burying beetles, pirate perch and snowshoe hares. Ongoing reintroduction programs include the bald eagle, barn owls, Eastern Plains garter snakes, Western banded killifish, paddlefish, freshwater mussels, brook trout and freshwater sturgeon.
Another reintroduction program that seems to be going well is one that is bringing the trumpeter swan back to the state.
Final year
Although Ohio has had an ongoing reintroduction program for the trumpeter swan, this year marked the final year for a series of annual releases. The program has brought 138 of the largest swan in the world, and the largest species of waterfowl native to the United States, to Ohio.
The trumpeter was once a plentiful inhabitant of the Buckeye State, with reports of the bird's nesting in the formerly marshy area along Lake Erie and in other regions of the state, before it was a state.
Hunting pressure grew on the bird, first from Indians and then from settlers.
The trumpeter was sought for its meat and its plumage for the European clothing trade as well as for writing implements. The loss of wetland habitat also contributed to the bird's decline and by the start of the last century, trumpeters were relegated to just a few areas in Alaska and the western United States, according to the ODNR.
The bird has made a gradual comeback, thanks in part to protections put in place by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, by the establishment of game refuges and by various reintroduction programs across the United States and in Canada.
Ohio's program started in 1996 with a release at the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Ottawa County. Since then the birds have also been released at the Mallard Club Wildlife Area in Lucas County, Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area in Sandusky County, Mosquito Creek-Grand River wildlife areas in Trumbull County, Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area in Wayne County, The Wilds wildlife preservation center in Muskingum County, and at the Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge near Toledo.
Encouraging news
The news this year has been encouraging. There are 21 trumpeter swan pairs reported in the state with 13 nests. Six of those nests were successful and they produced 23 hatchlings, called cygnets.
Locally, we can be proud of our "own" set of trumpeters. A pair of the birds apparently built a nest at the Shenango Wildlife Area in Trumbull County and managed to hatch out eight cygnets, an exceptional number for a trumpeter by any estimation, officials said.
"Eight is a really good brood," said Dave Sherman, a waterfowl biologist for the ODNR Division of Wildlife at the Crane Creek Research Station in Oak Harbor. "Four to five would be normal and three is average."
Sherman said that this year's release of the swans in Ohio would be the final. He said that while it usually takes the birds about four years to mature and begin nesting, Ohio has had some of the birds actually begin nesting earlier. "We have had three-year and two-year breeders," he said.
Pairs pick up
Mark Shieldcastle, also a wildlife biologist at Crane Creek, said that the original 10-year reintroduction program was curtailed because "the pairs picked up." However, he added that a special winter release this year was being considered.
A large part of the funding for the swan reintroduction program has come from the Ohio Wildlife Diversity & amp; Endangered Species Program through the state income tax checkoff program and from the purchase of cardinal and bald eagle license plates.
Trumpeter swans can been viewed at Magee Marsh or at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. The zoo assisted in the reintroduction program efforts.
braun@vindy.com