ANASTASIA ISLAND, Fla. – The destruction of the dunes as a result of hurricanes Matthew and Irma not only threatened homes along the Atlantic Coast, it also put an endangered population of mice in St. Johns County at risk for potential extinction.
As of this year, multiple agencies are working to protect and sustain the Anastasia Island Beach Mouse.
The small rodent is the only animal native to the island that hugs the St. Johns County coast, but over the past couple of years Mother Nature's fierce winds damaged parts of Anastasia Island's dunes where the beach mice take shelter.
The larger population of endangered beach mice dwells along a roughly 5-mile stretch of coastline on Anastasia State Park and a smaller population exists on the south end of the island near the Fort Matanzas National Monument.
The mice are critical to maintaining strong dune systems, because they distribute and feed off sea oak.
"The mice will cache seeds in their borrows for future use, but they tend to forget where they've cached all of their seeds, so they are really good at burying these seeds, which will then sprout,” said Kurt Foote, the Natural Resource Manager for National Park Service at Fort Matanzas National Monument.
The roots from those sea oak sprouts strengthen the dunes.
The National Park Service is working with the state park service along with county, state and federal fish and wildlife agencies on a nearly $70,000 project aimed at monitoring the endangered species and protecting the dune systems.
As part of the project, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation crews are tracking these rodents by safely luring them through dozens of PVC pipes with sunflowers seeds as an ink pad gently copies their paws prints.
The paw prints help biologists identify types of rodents in the area, including the local beach mice. The most recent paw prints gathered Thursday indicate beach mice have been in the state park over the past two weeks.
Safe cage trappings and camera monitoring are also being used to study and asses the population of the rare species.
FWC crews are halfway through the project, so it’s still too early to tell how much of the beach mice population was impacted by the hurricanes.
It’s recommended that beach goers stay off the dunes to help protect the mice’s habitat.