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Southwest Washington Wildlife Reports
Fred Dobler, Wildlife Program Manager

January 23, 2005

Game Division

Area 2a Canada Goose Season– Only one week remains in the general Canada Goose season for area 2a. To date hunters have taken 1,547 geese and only 25 geese have been counted towards the dusky quota. One zone, Ridgefield Refuge, has closed after filling their zone quota. All others remain open. The final day of the season is Sunday January 29th.

Flooding in west Lewis and north Cowlitz counties during December curtailed some of the survey areas.

Neck-collared dusky.

Dusky Canada Goose Survey– The second of two surveys for the Dusky subspecies of Canada goose was completed last week. The first survey took place in mid-December. Biologists all over Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon conduct this survey to aid in monitoring this subspecies of Canada geese.

West Lewis County and a small part of north Cowlitz County was covered by Wildlife Biologist Woodin. A total of 443 Canada geese were seen in December with observations of Tavener's, western, cackler, and lesser subspecies. In January, the total jumped up to 1,902 geese with the same subspecies represented. Of note was the flooding which curtailed some of the survey areas.

Biologist Holman also participated the federally coordinated dusky goose survey. The survey area included the Shillapoo State Wildlife Area in the Vancouver lowlands, and agricultural areas in the vicinity of Woodland. Thousands of geese were located during survey, primarily cackling Canada geese on the Port of Vancouver owned lands. Two flocks of dusky geese were located including a flock feeding aquatically in a WDFW owned pond on the Wildlife Area and a flock feeding in harvested corn near Woodland. The survey totaled 57 duskies with 14 neck-collared birds. All collars were successfully read and recorded. Dusky goose surveys are annually conducted simultaneously throughout Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon by staff from WDFW, ODFW and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The wintering dusky goose surveys and collar reading efforts are a portion of the methods used to estimate the total number of dusky Canada geese. The dusky goose population is currently estimated at approximately 15,000 individuals. As many as 25,000 dusky geese historically wintered in the area while other species of geese were far less common than they are today.

Three-Year Big Game Season Setting– On Tuesday January 17th, Wildlife Program hosted a public meeting regarding the 3-year hunting season setting process. Regional Manager Norman, Wildlife Program Manager Dobler, Biologists Anderson, Woodin and Holman, Klickitat Wildlife Area Manager Ellenburg, Enforcement Captain Schlenker, Sergeants Webb and Holden and Customer Service Specialist Gonzalez represented Region 5. Game Division Manager Ware, Deer and Elk Section Manager Nelson, Migratory Bird Section Manager Kraege and Special Species Section Manager Martorello represented the Game Division.

The meeting was well-visited with about 100 attendees. State-wide issues generated little interest in the mostly-local crowd. In contrast, proposed changes to local hunting opportunities generated considerable energy. Participants were able to interact freely with Regional and Olympia Staff regarding their particular interest. Informational materials, power-point presentations, educational displays were available as well. The majority of those in attendance agree that the issues which have risen to the forefront during this season-setting effort warrant attention and some management change. However, there is little agreement or consensus regarding solutions to these complex issues.

Additional public input is helpful. Interested parties should take a few minutes to fill out the newest version of the on-line Hunting Season Setting Survey available on the WDFW Website.