SierraScape April-May 2005
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Rochelle Renken, biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, will discuss the current status and conservation strategies for the federally-endangered Interior Least Tern in Missouri. The Interior least tern is a bird that forages over large rivers and nests on open expanses of sand or gravel on islands in the river. Channelization, irrigation, and the construction of dams, levees, reservoirs, and dikes have eliminated most of the sandbars suitable for tern nesting. Further, poorly timed water discharge from dams have flooded terns' nests and nesting sites or allowed woody vegetation to encroach on the few remaining sandbars. In Missouri, Interior least terns used to nest along the Missouri River and southern half of the Mississippi River, especially near the confluence. Presently, they are found on less than 20 small islands along a 210-mile stretch of the Mississippi from Cape Girardeau to the Missouri-Arkansas-Tennessee border.

With the current least tern population in Missouri perhaps as low as 500 nesting pairs, conservation efforts are critical. Dr. Renken and others with MDC have been working with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the conservation departments of neighboring states and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to identify and implement an effective survival plan for the least tern.

Dr. Renken received her PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1988 with a focus on wildlife ecology and the ecology and conservation of birds. Her time with MDC has involved assessing the natural and human-caused factors that influence the abundance, distribution and ecology of non-game and endangered species in Missouri.

This program continues a successful tradition of partnership between St. Louis Audubon and the Eastern Missouri Group of the Sierra Club. The meeting is open to the public. Call Mitch Leachman at 314-739-5112 with questions.