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Southwest Washington Wildlife Reports
Brian Calkins, Acting Wildlife Program Manager

June 26, 2006

Region 5 Wildlife Areas

Shillapoo Watchable Wildlife: Wildlife Area Assistant Manager Hauswald had an unusual sighting of a single sandhill crane on the South Unit of the Shillapoo Wildlife Area last week. We will be watching for this bird and will try to determine if it is a Greater (breeding populations in the Columbia Gorge), or a Lesser or Canadian Sandhill Crane. The differences between the three varieties are very subtle. Hauswald and Technician Ridenauer also located a single Great Blue Heron nest on the property boundary of the Vancouver Lake Unit while doing a weed survey. This is the first known nesting by Great Blue Herons south of Vancouver Lake in quite a few years. The site is very close to a former rookery on property now owned by the Port of Vancouver that once had close to 100 nests.

Wildlife Diversity Division

Western Pond Turtle Management: Under the direction of District Biologist Anderson and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Staff, Biologists Holman and VanLeuven have completed the June effort to locate western pond turtles on Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge, located in northwestern Clark County is within the historic range of the western pond turtle. The turtles were thought to be extirpated from this portion of their range until a single animal was captured by a Refuge volunteer in the fall of 2005.

The northern portion of the Refuge features a relatively large area of suitable habitat featuring complex wetlands interspersed with uplands and islands of basalt rock. The thin well-drained soils on the uplands support plant communities that typify the best pond turtle nesting habitat. Specifically, the uplands are vegetated primarily with dried grasses, Oregon white oak, wild rose, snowberry, oceanspray and poison oak with a limited amount of non-native blackberry. The lack of quality nesting habitat is often thought to be a significant limiting factor for the pond turtles, this does not appear to be the case on the Refuge.

In spite of the habitat quality, no western pond turtles were captured during the 9-day trapping sequence. The trapping effort was conducted from June 8 through 16 with, 19 traps (10 baited hoop traps and 9 basking traps), placed within the Carty Unit. A total of 18 western painted turtle captures were recorded during the effort with zero re-captures of the same individual turtle. An additional effort to further document western pond turtles on Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge is tentatively scheduled for late summer - early fall.

Game Division

Mt. St. Helens Elk Herd and Wildlife Area Plans Public Open House: The first open house to review the Mt. St. Helens Elk Herd and Wildlife Area Plans was held on Wednesday June 21st. Approximately 25 people attended the meeting including State Representative Ed Orcutt and Fish and Wildlife Commission Chair Ron Ozment. After a brief introduction individuals who attended had the opportunity to discuss the plan with district biologists and provide comments in an informal atmosphere. By far the primary focus of concern we heard was limitation of access to private forest lands for hunters which has become far more restricted in recent years. Other concerns included elk damage and some desired liberalizing seasons in the Margaret, Toutle and Loowit GMU's.

Lewis County Elk Mediation: District Biologist Miller attended a meeting of the Lewis County arbitration board to attempt to resolve conflicts between WDFW and a small landowner group in Lewis County. Miller was able to provide information on hunting seasons and how Wildlife Management can assist in reducing elk numbers on private property if access to the public is allowed. Landowners concerned about safety and liability prefer to select who can hunt their property. This limitation reduces the ability of Wildlife Management to help this group of landowners. Wildlife Enforcement may allow lethal removal of a limited number of animals with a Permit to Kill that is issued to the landowner and the elk is provided to charity. Goal for WDFW is to reduce the damage and not eliminate the elk herd.