Wisconsin DNR considers removing Butler's garter snake from endangered list

[Selkielass]

Old (November 2011) article but I just found it while Googling.
It at least looks like they are giving some serious thought and discussion to this.
DNR considers removing Butler's garter snake from endangered list - JSOnline (http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/dnr-considers-removing-butlers-garter-snake-from-endangered-list-jb341u6-134162333.html)

[Selkielass]

Another article on population studies in southern Wisconsin
Butler's Garter Snake Field Research | Zoological Society of Milwaukee (http://www.zoosociety.org/conservation/ProjectsStory.php?id=18)

[BUSHSNAKE]

then they would be able to build on the land they occur on, they have a very small range in Wisconsin...probably not the best idea

[Selkielass]

Found a follow up from the 29th
Garter snake won't lose protection - JSOnline (http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29241799.html)

Protection is being kept, and studies appear to be ongoing- especially around a park where they are known to occur.
The DNR has even set up funding for volunteers to help with population surveys.
I kind of wish I lived close enough to assist- they are using board traps to survey population- I have never found Butlers under any of the board hides I have set up in my local habitats. (I find them out sunning regularly.)

I am having fun trying to find clues to what happened in this locale, and what may be happening now that spring has arrived.

[Selkielass]

Assessment of Butlers in Ontario (PDF) 2010
http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/ec/CW69-14-613-2011-eng.pdf

[Selkielass]

Clutch mass and Body size in Butlers
JSTOR: Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Sep., 1983), pp. 271-275 (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1563830?uid=3739728&uid=2129&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=55905902783)

Unfortunately I don't have acess to the rest of this paper.
Does anyone here have acess thru their school? I'd love to see more of this paper.

[wolfpacksved]

then they would be able to build on the land they occur on, they have a very small range in Wisconsin...probably not the best idea

that is truly what it's all about: an excuse to develop. so long as humans are around, it will never change. sad deal if they do proceed with this.