DNR Seeks Public Comment On Mute Swan Task Force Recommendations

The Maryland Mute Swan Task Force made public today its recommendations to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regarding the management of the exotic mute swan in the state. Task Force recommendations address basic mute swan issues including known and potential impacts of the increasing population on: native habitats and native species; conflicts between humans and mute swans; and the legal status of mute swans in Maryland.

"The mute swan issue has many dimensions, and no easy solutions. While mute swans have a strong appeal to people, they also compete intensely with some native species for food and habitat which is in short supply," said DNR Secretary Sarah Taylor-Rogers. " I would like to thank the members of the task force, who brought many perspectives on this issue to the table, for their hard work in developing these recommendations."

The Task Force has recommended that DNR maintain some population of mute swans in the Chesapeake Bay, and that the department should maintain specific "swan free zones" to help control local impacts on bay grasses, and other native fish and wildlife habitat. Recommendations regarding the control of swans in "swan free zones," or where there are conflicts with humans, specify that nonlethal methods to exclude or remove swans be thoroughly exhausted before any lethal methods are employed.

The Task Force has also recommended that DNR develop an education program to help people understand how to avoid conflicts with mute swans, as well as on concerns about how mute swans interact with Maryland's aquatic ecosystems. The Task Force made no recommendations on the maintenance of any specific population numbers and agreed that mute swans should remain under their current legal status in Maryland as a protected game bird.

Mute swans are native to Asia and were collected by European explorers as early as the Middle Ages for their beauty. Held in possession of royalty, mute swans not only graced royal landscapes, but also royal tables.

Mute swans continue to be a source of aesthetic pleasure and artistic inspiration for many people. However, the Maryland Chesapeake Bay population of mute swans, which began when 5 birds escaped from captivity in the Miles River in 1962, doubled between1996 and 1999 to almost 4,000. According to a DNR population model, this population could double again in four years. Biologists and Bay ecologists are concerned about the existing impacts that mute swans are having, and potential impacts in the future as their numbers increase and the growth rate of their population accelerates.

The Mute Swan Task Force was created to help compile all available information on mute swans and their interaction with native habitats and native species, as well as humans, and to create a foundation upon which to build a statewide management plan for mute swans,

The Task Force was appointed two years ago by the DNR Secretary, and includes citizens with diverse perspectives on the exotic mute swan. After more than a year of discussions concerning the problems and alternatives, the Task Force has concluded their work. With the transmittal of their report to the department, an official written public comment period on mute swan management in Maryland has begun. The department has posted the Mute Swan Task Force management recommendations on its web site. Also available is a task force report on the natural history of mute swans, their population status in Maryland, and the impacts of mute swans on native species and habitats as reported in scientific literature and government files. Both documents are available on DNR's website at: www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/

"Since the Task Force recommendations are the product of citizen representatives, as well as interest groups and the scientific community, they represent a solid foundation upon which DNR can build policy to address the ecological and sociological issues that we face with mute swans," said Ladd Johnson, chairman of the Task Force.

Members of the Task Force included members of the Maryland Waterfowl Advisory Committee, representatives from the Humane Society of the United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Defenders of Wildlife, the Maryland Wildlife Advisory Commission, as well as citizens, ecologists, waterfowl specialists and mute swan advocates.

Written public comment on the Task Force recommendations will be accepted through March 1. To provide your written comments to the record, you can mail a letter to: Mute Swan Management Plan, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, 580 Taylor Ave., E-1, Annapolis, MD 21401 or fax to (410) 260-8595. You may also provide comments via email on DNR's website, www.dnr.state.md.us.

Concurrently, the Task Force recommendations will be considered by the Maryland Waterfowl Advisory Committee and the Maryland Wildlife Advisory Commission. Both serve as citizen advisory groups to DNR regarding wildlife management policy. The comments from these two groups will be added to the public record on mute swans.

After evaluating the Task Force recommendations and public comments, Secretary Taylor-Rogers will finalize the mute swan management plan later this spring.


Posted: 2-1-2001