91制片厂

Loren Valliere gently holds a 4 1/2-foot black racer she captured after a morning-long search in Concord. 鈥淚sn鈥檛 he beautiful?鈥� she asks

Loren Valliere knows what to expect when she tells people she鈥檚 looking for black racer snakes near their homes. The response is often confusion (what鈥檚 a black racer?), surprise (they live here?) and sometimes, outright loathing (why bother looking for them, anyway?)

The latter attitude always reminds her she鈥檚 not at 91制片厂 anymore. As a wildlife and environmental biology student (she graduated in 2011), Valliere felt surrounded by likeminded people who valued wildlife in all its forms.

The real world is different. The real world fears snakes. 鈥淵ou have to remember that not everyone thinks like you do,鈥� Valliere said.

So, educating homeowners and recreationists living and playing near prime black racer habitat has become part of her job as a biological aide with the Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program of the N.H. Fish and Game Department.

鈥淚 like to tell people their property is rare habitat. Hopefully they鈥檒l think about it before they bulldoze that field or something,鈥� she said.

For the past three years, Valliere and fellow 91制片厂 alum Brendan Clifford (wildlife management, 2005) are part of a team conducting a first-of-its-kind study of black racer habitat usage in New Hampshire. The study started shortly after black racers were listed in 2008 as a threatened species in the state. Biologists fashioned the study to discover the creature鈥檚 habitat needs to gain information for conservation planning and environmental reviews. Conserving habitat, however, can only go so far when it鈥檚 snakes you鈥檙e trying to protect.

Black racers are common throughout much of the eastern U.S. but not in New Hampshire, which is at the northernmost edge of their range. They鈥檙e named for their color and speed. They streak away from people and predators 鈥� like raptors, foxes, and coyotes 鈥� and can even climb into branches of shrubs to escape. They catch frogs, toads, rodents and insects in their mouths and swallow them whole. They grow up to six feet long and are nonvenomous, but they will bite in self- defense if handled.

Because they鈥檙e long and black, one of their defenses is to lie still and look like just another stick on the ground or coil up under some foliage. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what makes me laugh when people are so scared of them,鈥� Valliere said. 鈥淭hey just sit there and hope they鈥檙e not seen, or they bolt.鈥�

Before the study, biologists knew little about New Hampshire鈥檚 black racers except that isolated reports showed them living in the southern third of the state. They wanted to find out what types of habitat racers use, how far they travel in their home ranges and where they hibernate.

To get that data, the team had veterinarians surgically implant tiny transmitters under the skin of 30 snakes in Concord, Weare, Goffstown, Webster, Hopkinton, Raymond, Nottingham, Deerfield and Allenstown. Using radio telemetry equipment, they tracked the snakes over three field seasons. Every capture yielded detailed information such as ground and air temperature, types of shrubs, trees and grasses within one meter of the snake and the density of any foliage 鈥� right down to counting the number of stems on nearby bushes.

This winter, the biologists are analyzing the data, which has turned out to be both abundant and revealing.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a very successful study,鈥� Clifford said. 鈥淲e feel we have a lot of insight now when looking at environmental review projects and conservation planning.鈥�

Clifford said racers in the study traveled as far as three miles, showing that roads through racer habitat could be a factor in their survival. Another surprise was that racers in the study utilized burrows of chipmunks and other small mammals for hibernating. 鈥淲e expected to see them hibernating in big communal rocky areas, which we thought would be a limiting factor,鈥� he said.

Analyzing the data will continue through the winter, as will Valliere鈥檚 advocacy for snakes of all kinds. She鈥檚 hopeful that the team鈥檚 research and conversations with people who live near racer habitat will help the racers hold their ground in New Hampshire. She realizes that many people may never come to admire racers as she does, but she hopes that if they see one, at least they won鈥檛 kill it.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I always stress to people 鈥� just leave it alone. I promise it will take off,鈥� she said.

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