One of the many species known to occupy coastal wetlands is the federally and state threatened eastern black rail (laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis)

This Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 4 under the Coastal program (CFDA 15.630) provides $100,000 in funding from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2028. The purpose of the project is to establish a plan for conserving the federally and state threatened Eastern Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis) as coastal habitats change. Key activities include surveying for Eastern Black Rails in identified high marsh areas along the southern Nature Coast of Florida, collecting data on vegetation, weather, hydrology, and other environmental factors, developing site-specific management recommendations for rail habitat enhancement and restoration, and implementing and monitoring those enhancement and restoration activities. The award will be carried out by the non-profit organization Wildlands Conservation, Inc.

There is currently a gulf coast-wide recovery and restoration effort to identify population locations of the eastern black rail, and subsequently develop habitat management strategies to conserve their high marsh habitats. A multi-phase approach is proposed to help achieve the overall goal of identifying, implementing, and assessing restoration and enhancement activities in occupied eastern black rail habitat in areas that coincide with mapped opportunities for wetland migration with sea level rise along the southern nature coast of florida. The purpose of the project is to is establish a plan for conserving the species as our coastline changes. This can be achieved through (1) understanding the eastern black rails localized (southern nature coast) habitat and microhabitat, (2) considering projected future high marsh habitat extent location, and (3) identifying and implementing restoration management strategies that consider these projections as well as the rails life history requirements. Activities to be performed include surveys for eastern black rails in identified high marsh areas of the southern nature coast of florida using call-back surveys and autonomous recording units, vegetation surveys, and other data collection such as weather, background noise, microtopography, hydrology inundation levels, and frequency of flooding. After completing the surveys, site-specific management recommendations will be developed to benefit rail habitat in areas that correspond with occurrences of rails these management recommendations will be categorized under enhancement or restoration. Lastly, enhancement and restoration activities will be implemented and surveys will continue for monitoring of the species.