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Southwest Washington Wildlife Reports
Fred Dobler, Wildlife Program Manager

May 29, 2006

Region 5 Wildlife Areas

Biologists Recognized: Wildlife Biologists Miller and Holman were each recognized for outstanding performance by Regional Director Norman at a recent employee recognition event. The following descriptions attest to their dedication to the wildlife resource and public service.

Pat Miller: Many of the projects that Pat undertakes each year require a high degree of coordination. These include goose nest surveys and captures, elk relocation projects from Mt St. Helens and the Julia Bulter Hansen Refuge. Pat's ability to assure that materials and personel are sufficient for these projects have been key in making them successful. He also strives to include volunteers in these projects as well as others. Many volunteers have been able to experience what we do because he made the the extra effort to include them. An example of this recently was his work with an instructor and students from Toutle High School that helped with monitoring radio collared elk and other surveys in the Toutle Valley this past winter. Finally, Pat maintains a very high standard of professionalism that is respected by the public as well as his coworkers.

Eric Holman: Eric is on of those employees that always seems to go the extra mile in almost everything he does. His attention to detail and focus on the big picture on a number of issues has been extremely helpful. He accepts new assignments often on short notice without complaint and invariably has them done on time. Being the only wildlife biologist in the regional office he also has a bigger load of public calls and questions. His ability to interact with the public is one of his strengths. He is also one that is adaptable and continually seeks new information to improve in his work and to stay abreast of new science in wildlife management. Eric has a focus on protecting habitat which is something that is sometimes overlooked in the business of wildlife management. This aspect of how he goes about his work will undoubtedly make a long term difference in years to come.

Wildlife Diversity Division

Charts Showing Daily Capture of Western Pond Turtles - 2002-2006

Western Pond Turtle Management: The 2006 population monitoring phase of the western pond turtle project has been completed at the Bergen Road site. Biologist Holman, technician Ridenour, Americorps member Estep and several volunteers from the Portland Zoo have conducted the trapping effort this year at Bergen. Following the 22 day trapping period, a total of 585 western pond turtle captures have been recorded. Many individuals are captured on more than one occasion, however, and a total of 80 individual turtles comprise the 585 captures.

Nearly 600 captures in less than one-month period represents a significant increase in turtle trapping success over historical averages and continues the upward trend of turtle captures. Specifically, during 2002 the average catch was just 2.2 turtles per day, 2003 increased to 3.8 per day, 2004 increased again to 6.8 per day, 2005 increased greatly to 16.6 and finally, 2006 increased to an average of 26.6 western pond turtle captures per day. Though trapping success is highly dependent on weather conditions (hotter is better), the upward trend is encouraging evidence that our head-start program is resulting in an increasing population of this State Endangered Species at the Bergen Road site. Table of Bergen Road WPT Capture Summary 2002-06

Game Management Division

Game Management Plan Review: Regional Wildlife Program Staff provided comments and updates to the annual summary of activities related to the Game Management Plan. The Plan outlines 178 Objectives that drive Agency activities related to the management of all of the hunted wildlife species in the State of Washington. Many of the activities, strategies and guidelines set forth in the Plan are ongoing in Region 5. The Game Management Plan may be viewed on the WDFW website on either the Hunting or Wildlife Science pages.