Development of a Science-Base Monitoring Program for Nutria in Maryland's Coastal Marshes

Since the 1940s, nutria have been implicated in the loss of vast acreages of coastal marsh on Maryland's eastern shore. As a result, an interagency partnership was formed to take steps to eradicate nutria within Maryland. To assist the ongoing nutria eradication program, effective methods are needed to detect rare and reestablishing populations of nutria following initial removal by systematic trapping. The present method of walking vast acreage and visually inspecting for nutria sign is neither effective nor efficient.

The objective of the study is to evaluate application of remote sensing techniques in concert with site occupancy estimation methodology to detect nutria both pre- and post-trapping. Our long-term goal is to provide the nutria eradication program with a science-based monitoring technique that will more effectively detect rare animals, as well as temporal and spatial changes in nutria densities in Maryland coastal marshes.

Prototype systems have been developed to detect nutria using 1) a bio-acoustic playback/record system, 2) an infrared-triggered digital camera system, and 3) a motion-triggered digital IR video recording system. Oil extract from nutria fur and urine and bedding collected from captive nutria will also be used as attractants. Field testing is presently under way.

Our future direction will be to refine and simplify detection techniques and possibly employ our most successful attractant methods to enhance the efficiency of the trapping removal of animals.

	Contact: Mike Haramis USGS-PWRC, Beltsville Lab c/o BARC-EAST Bldg 308, Rm 114 10300 Baltimore Avenue Beltsville, MD 20705 mharamis@usgs.gov