 |
Current Report |
| Report Archives |
Southwest Washington
Wildlife Reports
July
16
Region 5 Wildlife Areas:
Shillapoo Wildlife Area Lakebed Wetland Enhancement: Ducks Unlimited (DU) is in the final preparations of completing a wetland project in the Shillapoo Lakebed that began in 2004. At that time, just prior to construction, BP Olympic Pipeline, which previously had shown no concern with the project, elected to not allow construction over their pipeline easement. Their stated reason was that this would put their pipeline in a wetland making it difficult for them to get permits for maintenance work. Since that time, DU has worked to modify the design and permits for the project to avoid the pipeline. The result will be a 120-acre manageable wetland that will be slightly smaller than originally envisioned, but with the same functions. The land was in agricultural use when WDFW purchased it and is part of our efforts to create wetland habitat in the Shillapoo Lakebed that was drained for agricultural production in the 1950's.
Permitting work is still progressing for work in other parts of the lakebed in partnership with the US Army Corps of Engineers. However, the timing of permits is slower than we had hoped meaning construction on this project will not commence until 2008.
Mt. St. Helens Wildlife Area Monitoring and Maintenance: Wildlife Area Manager Calkins was accompanied by Volunteer Mike Braaten to help with several tasks. During the day a sign board at the east end of the wildlife area was replaced, a search for any obvious new weeds in last year’s emergency elk winter feeding areas was conducted, two known knapweed infestation sites were surveyed, a qualitative assessment of survival in last spring’s tree planting was conducted, and techniques were explored to remove fence posts once used as part of our funnel trap for elk.
No known noxious weeds were located along the road where feeding occurred last winter, although there is one plant that still needs to be identified. Only two spotted knapweed plants were located at one of the previous infestation sites, but the plants have yet to flower so more monitoring will be needed.
Although some trees were lost due to erosion immediately after they were planted last spring, those that remain are still doing quite well. Some uprooted cedar were found, presumably due to elk browsing activity, where tree tubes had come off of the plants and some specimens that were put only in wire cages did show signs of dehydration. Several ninebark plants were also found uprooted, also presumably due to elk. Red Alder plants overall were doing the best and seed had established fairly well in most areas.
Most of the time was spent working on removing posts from the elk trap. First a device, built by Volunteer Braaten, was tested to pull ten-foot metal T-posts. A design flaw became evident almost immediately in that the gripping portion of the device, which uses the principal of a fulcrum and lever, pushed the post away from the force intended to pull it out of the ground. This was corrected by the creative use of a chain securing the post to the top of the mechanism. In order to generate the force required to extract the post the "handle" had to be pulled with a tractor. Three posts were pulled before it was decided that modifications were needed before further testing. The reason being that the posts were being bent badly in several directions making them unusable and we had hoped to save the posts for other potential uses.
That being done, it was decided to attempt removal of some of the twelve foot wooden posts with the front-end loader of the small tractor. First a post was nudged several times in different directions to attempt to loosen it from the ground, which seemed successful. Chains were then wrapped around the base of the post and secured to the front-end loader. The first attempts to pull the first post were unsuccessful but some creative wiggling of the post while lifting with the tractor eventually freed it from the extremely hard soil. At times the force required to pull the posts was such that the rear wheels of the tractor left the ground. By the end of the day about half of the wooden posts that had supported the former trap alleyway had been pulled.
Wildlife Diversity Division:
 |
|
Ferruginous hawk mortality. |
Klickitat County Windpower: Biologist Anderson reports that a ferruginous hawk mortality was located this week from the Big Horn Windpower Project in Klickitat County. It was an adult bird (probably female) that had a severely broken wing. The closest known ferruginous hawk nest territory to the windpower site is approximately 8-10 miles. This time of the year, after juveniles have fledged, adult birds begin a seasonal, northerly migration in search of ground squirrels. This bird could have originated from a Klickitat County nest site, but the current assumption is the bird may have been a migrant from Oregon. This information is valuable to an international ferruginous hawk study currently being conducted by Jim Watson, raptor specialist with WDFW.
Game Management Division:
Band-Tailed Pigeon Surveys: Surveys of band-tailed pigeons arriving at mineral sites have been initiated in Region 5. Band-tails use mineral sites extensively during the summer months. Long-term trends in the use of such sites serve as an indicator of overall population. The survey protocol for band-tail mineral sites prescribes a single visit to each location during the period encompassing July 10-20. Surveyors count all arriving and departing pigeons beginning 30 minutes prior to sunrise and concluding at noon.
Biologist Holman completed the band-tailed pigeon mineral site survey at the Cedar Creek State Wildlife Area site. A total of 191 pigeons arrived at Cedar Creek during the course of the seven-hour survey. The results for Cedar Creek are similar to those of past years. Other avian species noted during the survey included: swallows, sparrows, wrens, crows, kingfishers, turkey vultures, robins, cedar waxwings, wood ducks, flycatchers, and warblers.
|
|
||||||||
| Find a bug or error in the system? Let
us know about it! © 1997- 2009 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife E-mail: webmaster@dfw.wa.gov |
|
|||||||
