WDFW Scotch Creek Wildlife Area Scotch Creek Wildlife Area

Contact Information: Jim Olson, Manager 1514 Concunully Highway Okanogan, WA 98840 (509) 826-4430 Home Scotch Creek Unit Mineral Hill Unit Pogue Mountain Unit Tunk Valley Unit Chesaw Unit Sharp-tailed Grouse Biology and Management Funding Other Links A Vehicle Use Permit is REQUIRED on ALL WDFW Lands Purchase Vehicle Use Permit About Vehicle Use Permit

VIDEO Click here to watch low resolution video (52k modem) Real Video Format - 12.11 min. Click here to watch high resolution video (broadband) Real Video Format - 12.11min. Scotch Creek Wildlife Area Click to Enlarge Scotch Creek Wildlife Area The Scotch Creek Wildlife Area is a complex of 5 separate management units located within Okanogan County, in North Central Washington (see map). The units managed include Chesaw (4,351 acres) located east of Oroville and 4 miles south of the Canadian border, Tunk Valley (1,399 acres) located east of Riverside, Mineral Hill (920 acres) located west of Conconully, Pogue Mountain (1,196 acres) located 5 miles NW of Omak, and the Scotch Creek unit (8,694 acres) located 12 miles NW of Omak. The total size of the wildlife area is 16,560 acres. Shrub-steppe and grasslands are the primary habitat types comprising 13,805 acres of this total. The primary goals of the wildlife area are to establish a viable sharp-tailed grouse (STG) population and to enhance native habitats including shrub-steppe and riparian. The Bonneville Power Administration approved the Scotch Creek Wildlife Areas as a wildlife mitigation project in 1996. This funding has greatly improved our ability to enhance habitats on the project area. Enhancements through 2006 include approximately 2,700 acres of native shrub-steppe/grassland restoration, and over 100,000 trees and shrubs planted to provide critical wintering riparian habitat primarily for the Sharp-tailed grouse. Sharp-tailed Grouse Hen Click to Enlarge These activities are essential to further the goal of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to protect and enhance shrub-steppe and to recover and sustain populations of Sharp-tailed grouse and other obligate species. In addition to the habitat enhancements, the WDFW transplanted a total of 63 STG from SE Idaho and the Colville Indian reservation to the Scotch Creek unit in 1998, 1999, and 2000. The combination of improved habitat and genetic supplementation appear to be having a positive effect. Population surveys and estimates of Sharp-tailed grouse on the Scotch Creek unit show a halt to the decline observed since 1960, and have increased every year since 2000. Population estimates for Sharp-tailed grouse in 1995 were 12-18 birds, and in 2005 they were estimated at 95 -100 total birds on the area.