Monitoring manatee use of springs throughout Florida is a high priority within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manatee recovery plan. Understanding current and future habitat needs of the Florida manatee population is critical to their survival. Due to limited funds, resources and time, only the primary manatee aggregation areas are covered routinely during a winter season for use and photo-identification, leaving little time or resources to cover secondary springs. Many secondary springs in central Florida are slowly becoming more important as the manatee population grows and man-made warm water sources become less reliable. Secondary springs, such as Deleon Spring, Salt Spring and Silver Glenn Spring have never been monitored on a regular basis. U.S. Geological Survey has been able to visit these sites periodically each year for the past decade but most of the manatee information has been obtained from citizen reports or from staff associated with each park. The number of manatees utilizing these springs appears to be increasing but the pattern has been unpredictable. Until scientific documentation of this increase in spring use associated with environmental trends is obtained, it will be difficult to enact adequate protection for these invaluable habitats. We propose to monitor Deleon Spring, Salt Spring and Silver Glenn Spring weekly. We would also like to monitor Wekiva Spring, Juniper Spring and Welaka Spring monthly via aerial survey to determine if manatee use for these areas even exists since they have never been monitored by any agency in the past. Systematic documentation of manatee use of these critical winter habitats could provide ecosystem managers with the information they need to provide further protection for these unique spring habitats.

Purpose

The purpose of this work is to provide systematic scientific coverage of secondary springs in central Florida for manatee use of the spring habitat throughout winter months. This will include documentation of manatee distribution and abundance along with obtaining manatee photo-identification images that will be used within the MIPS program to determine manatee use and habitat preferences over multiple years. The results of this project will be provided to state and federal managers to assist in appropriate and adequate protection measures for valuable spring habitat. Manatees and other species that utilize spring habitat will benefit from this protection, as well as the citizens of Florida who will continue to have access to these unique Florida habitats.