The U.S. Issue: Endangered Species: A Coast-to-Coast Guide to Endangered Species

Even so, the nation brims with natural wonders and a treasure trove of diverse plants and animals. Conserved parklands, including our national parks and wildlife preserves and their state and local counterparts, provide bulwarks against further habitat loss and offer some of the best viewing opportunities for these rarities.

Some federally protected species, like the northern spotted owl and gray wolf, have become symbols of bitter political divides. Others, like the bald eagle and American bison, have regained their status as emblems of national pride. Nearly all can inspire travelers to go well out of their way to see, to hear or to experience something truly marvelous.

Here is a sampling of the wildlife that can be found. Animals and plants identified in boldface are either among the nearly 1,400 endangered or threatened species or populations, or among the 260 candidates waiting to be listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Northeast

Sandy soils and the coastal influence of the North Atlantic have fashioned a range of unique habitats here, from Maine’s blueberry barrens to New Jersey’s “pygmy forest” of dwarf pitch pine and scrub oak. Some natural wonders have already vanished, like the sea mink hunted to extinction in the 19th century. But visitors may still glimpse the increasingly rare New England cottontail rabbit in tangled thickets or the wetland-dwelling bog turtle and ringed boghaunter, an orange-striped dragonfly among the rarest in North America.

Two destinations better known for their beaches host a particularly impressive roster of coastal-dwelling curiosities. Wildlife is recolonizing Cape Cod National Seashore (nps.gov/caco), meaning increased sightings of weasel-like fishers, American oystercatchers and a booming population of seals. The seals, in turn, have attracted great white sharks to what amounts to a sandbar smorgasbord.

A springtime bonanza of plankton can lure endangered North Atlantic right whales to within spotting distance, while summer rains bring the reclusive eastern spadefoot toads from their burrows for an evening of frenzied mating in the Province Lands’ vernal pools. Protective mesh fences mark the well-camouflaged nesting sites of one of the region’s biggest natural attractions, the threatened piping plover.

Likewise positioned along the Atlantic migratory flyway, Fire Island National Seashore is prime birding territory in the spring and fall along the 32-mile-long barrier island. The piping plover and the endangered roseate tern breed here every year; plovers can sometimes be seen darting along the beach. Visitors to Sailors Haven can stroll the boardwalk through the dune-protected sunken forest, marked by American holly trees up to 300 years old and tangles of wild grape, greenbrier and other vines. The threatened seabeach amaranth, a low-growing, waxy-leaved plant with reddish stems, sprouts intermittently above the high tide line. Edible beach plums blanket the dunes’ backsides, and insectivorous plants like sundews grow farther inland in the low, moist soils.

Southeast

As more temperate climes give way to a tropical Caribbean influence, the seasons here compress into wet and dry; the continent ends in a confluence of wetlands and warm coastal waters. Habitats critical to the survival of many species are becoming worn around the edges, however, from the Mississippi River delta to Florida’s mangroves and the barrier islands of the Carolinas. For some regional icons, like the ivory-billed woodpecker, it may already be too late. But conservation efforts are helping other species hang on, such as the Tennessee purple coneflower, the Mississippi gopher frog and the Louisiana black bear.

One of the nation’s best-known wetlands and a historical trail provide prime access to the region’s untamed southern living.

Everglades National Park (nps.gov/ever), the largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the United States, is actually a patchwork of habitats extending from the outskirts of suburban Miami to Florida’s Gulf Coast. With a half-million acres underwater, the park claims the biggest protected mangrove forest in the Western Hemisphere as well as the continent’s most extensive stand of sawgrass prairie.

Shark River Slough, a “slow-moving river of grass” that ambles southward at 100 feet a day, is a dominant feature. Here, river otters snack on baby alligators while marsh rabbits venture out for a swim. The Cape Sable seaside sparrow — the “Goldilocks bird” — forages in the slough’s just-right marsh prairie, while the equally rare wood stork nests near the Shark Valley Visitor Center off Highway 41. Binocular-equipped hikers sometimes spot greater flamingoes during high tide from the end of Snake Bight Trail, north of the Flamingo Visitor Center, while right outside the center American crocodiles frequent Florida Bay’s brackish waters. The nearby Flamingo Marina is a good place to see the Florida manatee in winter, especially from a canoe or kayak; bottlenose dolphins frolic farther out in the sun-splashed bay. With an estimated population of less than 100 in all of South Florida, the Florida panther is far more elusive; most of the tawny wildcat’s prime habitat lies north of Interstate 75 in Big Cypress National Preserve (nps.gov/bicy).

Combining history with wildlife, the Natchez Trace National Parkway (nps.gov/natr) wends its way across 444 miles and three state lines: an 800-foot-wide ribbon of green with a roadway running through it from the foothills of the Appalachians in Tennessee to the bluffs of Natchez, Miss. Duck River, which flows along the parkway near milepost 404, supports a rich diversity of fish and mussels. Ruby-throated hummingbirds feast on orange jewelweed nectar near Rock Spring.

In 2003, biologists cheered the first confirmed sighting of small brown Mitchell’s satyr butterflies in the park, in wetlands dominated by sedges between mileposts 290 and 302. Black Belt prairie near Tupelo, with its loamy soil and chalky substrate, nourishes more than 400 plant species and abundant birds. Along the Pearl River watershed near milepost 125, patient observers may spot a petite ringed map turtle basking on fallen trees in the river, identifiable by the yellow rings decorating its bony carapace. And between mileposts 85 and 87, cautious drivers can catch sight of rare Webster’s salamanders crossing the road en masse after winter rains as they head from foraging grounds on limestone outcroppings to ephemeral breeding pools.

Midwest

Great Lakes, big rivers and meandering streams cover the nation’s midsection, including nearly 12,000 lakes in Minnesota alone. Together, these bodies of water harbor the highest diversity of freshwater mollusks in the world, an impressive collection imperiled by habitat degradation and the invasive zebra mussel. Dozens of species, including the acorn ramshorn, are presumed extinct. Others have made a comeback, with thousands of bald eagles spending their winters on the Mississippi. But survival is tenuous for natives like the Indiana bat, Kirtland’s warbler and nearly two-foot-long Ozark hellbender salamander.

Two parks hugging the Lake Michigan shoreline provide a rich sampling of the Midwest’s other varied inhabitants.

Near the tip of the “little finger” on the Michigan mitt, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (nps.gov/slbe) offers sweeping views of Lake Michigan, the famous Dune Climb and nesting sites for the endangered Great Lakes population of piping plovers. Spiky-leafed Pitcher’s thistle occupies the open dunes, and the delicate yellow-bloomed Michigan monkey-flower rises up from flowing springs of inland lakes. Elusive bobcats, snowshoe hares and northern flying squirrels populate the night. South Manitou Island reveals one of the region’s best natural bouquets of springtime wildflowers, an old-growth grove of giant northern white cedars and a dozen species of orchid.

At the southern tip of Lake Michigan, prickly pear cactuses grow beside Arctic bearberry along the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (nps.gov/indu). In midsummer, visitors hiking along the Inland Marsh Trail might glimpse the inchlong Karner blue butterfly feeding on nectar in an exceedingly rare black oak savanna, the largest such ecosystem in the nation. A true sphagnum moss bog adds unexpected diversity to a park featuring more than 1,100 plant species. Pitcher’s thistle grows here too, and piping plovers ply the sandy beaches. Migratory birds, including merlins and short-eared owls, use the shoreline of Lake Michigan as a navigational aid to reach their winter roosts.

Great Plains

The prairie has lent its name to a long list of flora and fauna: the western prairie fringed orchid and the prairie mole cricket make their homes here, as do both the greater and lesser prairie-chicken. Wild grasslands, though, are far from monolithic, with wet and dry, hill and savanna, tall and short varieties, each sheltering its own assemblage of life. Natural wildfires have been a part of the prairie’s lifecycle for millenniums, but the landscape is now one of North America’s most human-altered, challenging the resilience of species like the statuesque whooping crane and little Topeka shiner.

Some bastions of grasslands remain, including one set atop a remarkable labyrinth of limestone.

 

Smugglers Guide Illegal Immigrants With Cues via Cellphone

The message, signaling the presence of the Border Patrol, was sent by a smuggler watching the group’s progress through binoculars from a hillside on the Mexican side of the border, members of the group said later. It was part of what border officials and immigrant activists say is an emerging trend in illegal border crossing — the use of what is being called the cybercoyote.

“I’ve crossed eight times, and this is the first time they’ve directed me with my cellphone,” said Sandra Silva, 30, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, who was on her way to Phoenix. “It’s like a guide through the desert.”

Increased enforcement has made it difficult to sneak into the United States, officials say. And repeat offenders caught in the act are more often receiving stiff prison terms, making smugglers more cautious about risking arrest themselves.

Guides still accompany the bulk of the migrants crossing the border, activists and Border Patrol agents say. Those guides are in regular radio contact with confederates, who warn of trouble ahead. But the Border Patrol has been noticing cases of migrants crossing alone but in cell contact with guides, said Mario Escalante, a spokesman for the Tucson office of the Border Patrol.

Mobile phones are ubiquitous in Mexico; many migrants consider them essential when crossing, right up there with sturdy shoes and jugs of water.

Now, though, in addition to using cellphones to keep relatives up to date on their progress, some illegal immigrants rely on them to keep out of the reach of the authorities. Ms. Silva said that her group had no coyote with them but had received directions by text.

The messages typically come during a migrant’s first hour or so of hiking north, those who used the new system said. If they make it that far, the illegal immigrants then meet up with guides on the United States side, who help them trek further north to awaiting vehicles.

Aiding the process are numerous spotters, who monitor the southern Arizona desert from lookout points and help steer the migrants, as well as drug shipments, away from the authorities.

Smugglers are constantly innovating to elude the authorities, veteran Border Patrol agents say. “They always come up with new, clever ways of trying to avoid us,” said T. J. Bonner, past president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for agents. “This way minimizes the risk to smugglers, and you’re using a technology that is relatively cheap.”

Migrants like the group of 13 that set out for Arizona on Tuesday night found that the system has serious limitations.

The group was led to a remote stretch of border in Pima County by a guide, who had jotted down their cellphone numbers and instructed them on how to configure their phones so they would switch from Telcel, the dominant Mexican carrier, to AT&T.

The migrants said the cost for crossing was anywhere from $2,000 to $3,500, with some of them paying ahead of time and others putting down a deposit and agreeing to pay the balance once they crossed.

A guide assisted them in climbing the border fence, somewhere a few miles west of Nogales, and then directed them north on a well-worn path toward Sierra Vista, Ariz., the migrants said. Periodically over the next hour, text messages would arrive directing their course.

“They tell you to turn right or left or to watch out for the perrera,” Ms. Silva said, using Spanish slang for the Border Patrol vehicle used to transport detainees.

But shortly after the last text arrived warning them of trouble ahead, they were spotted by Border Patrol agents, who took them into custody and deported them.

“We felt all alone out there,” said Maria Martinez, 51, who said she had been receiving the texts and whispering the directions to others in the group but would have preferred actually having a guide with them. “We felt like we were in God’s hands.”

Cellphone coverage is notoriously spotty along the border, and Ms. Martinez’s battery was nearly dead when she was interviewed a few hours after her detention, which she said made her feel vulnerable. “If you’re without power or credit on your phone, you’re dead,” said Ms. Martinez, who is from outside Mexico City and was en route to Oregon, where she has relatives.

To reduce the number of fatalities among border crossers, a University of San Diego professor, Ricardo Dominguez, has been developing a cellphone application to help guide illegal immigrants to water stations and other points of safety.

His project outraged three Republican members of Congress, who wrote to university officials last year condemning the research and suggesting that he may be violating the law by encouraging illegal immigration.

Already, migrants who find themselves in trouble use their phones to call for help. In one case from last year, the Border Patrol’s search-and-rescue team responded to a 911 call received from a mountainous area in Southern California. From a helicopter, the authorities saw a faint light from a cellphone and were able to reach the ailing migrant, who was suffering from hypothermia and unable to walk.

Similarly, last Sunday, a woman who had been abandoned by her guide in the Arizona desert called 911 to report that she had lost track of her 9-year-old daughter. The Border Patrol first found the woman in a remote area of Pima County and then, six miles away, the girl.

Cellphones help not just migrants trying to slip across the border but also those trying to stop them.

Border Patrol agents have complained that a lack of coverage complicates their ability to communicate. On some stretches where coverage is not a problem, the Border Patrol has urged residents to report suspicious activity via text message.

After a rancher was killed along the border in 2010 in a high-profile case that remains unsolved, Representative Gabrielle Giffords pushed to improve cellphone coverage in the region. After Ms. Giffords, a Democrat, was shot on Jan. 8, a Republican colleague from Texas, Representative Ted Poe, introduced legislation she had supported to use federal grants to help beef up communications along the border.

“It was very obvious to me during my recent visit to Southern Arizona that there are too many areas where cellphones simply do not work,” Mr. Poe said in a statement in March.