Lake County FP to help snake

As reptiles go, the brightly colored smooth green snake doesn’t seem quite as threatening as some others.

“Most people aren’t too keen on snakes but green snakes have an appeal,” says Gary Glowacki, a wildlife biologist with the Lake County Forest Preserve District.

What they don’t have are numbers.

But in continuing a cooperative program with the Lincoln Park Zoo, the district hopes to replenish the numbers and reintroduce the reptiles into the local environment.

The forest board’s finance and administrative committee recently agreed to accept a $40,0000 grant from a charitable organization that wishes to remain anonymous and apply it toward a contract with the zoo for $51,500.

The smooth green snake’s grassland habitat, which once spanned a large portion of the area, has dwindled and so has its presence. The snake has been identified by natural resource experts as a species in the greatest need of conservation.

“Most of the green snake habitat was converted to farm land or developed in other ways,” Glowacki said. “We knew they were declining. We didn’t know to what extent.”

That’s because no one really knows how many there are. The smooth green snake has been found in only in a few isolated sites in Lake County, and it’s been determined the population likely won’t rebound on its own.

The collaboration with Lincoln Park Zoo is entering its second year.

“They’re pretty world renowned for their reintroduction efforts,” Glowacki said. Lincoln Park Zoo will provide the framework to continue the conservation effort, he added.

The zoo also will provide nearly $23,000 worth of in-kind staff services to continue the work. The full forest board is expected to approve the measures at its regular meeting March 15.

During the first year of the project, 94 green snakes hatched from 98 eggs that had been collected. About half were released into a district preserve and the remaining snakes were raised at the zoo. Eight adult snakes, representing four male-female pair, were captured and have become part of the breeding program.

Monitoring will be increased with the hope of getting a better estimate of the actual population and turning the tide while there is still a chance.

Its reintroduction will forward the district’s mission to preserve the ecological integrity and diversity of its holdings.

“A lot of time, these conservation projects occur when it’s really too late,” Glowacki said. “There still are some population and habitat out there.”