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Southwest Washington Wildlife Reports
March 5, 2007

Mt. Saint Helen elk distributed along the valley floor on the river mudlfow.

Region 5 Wildlife Areas

Mount Saint Helen's Wildlife Area Elk Count: WDFW Wildlife Biologist Woodin and Volunteer Tony Kastella counted 638 elk on the Mount Saint Helen's Wildlife Area on Sunday, March 4, 2007. This count followed a very low snowfall three days prior, and was expected to be an increase over last month's count. The composition of the elk was 37 Bulls per 100 Cows per 38 Calves.

The elk were distributed all over the valley floor in mostly large, scattered groups of over 50 animals. The west end contained mostly bulls. Although their coats are getting a bit rough-looking this time of year, the elk appeared to be in good shape. No thin, sickly elk were seen nor were any dead elk observed on the valley floor. Two dead elk were seen along the Spirit Lake Highway, appearing to be road kills.

Wildlife Diversity Division

Sea Lion Hazing: Regional Wildlife Program staff attended a training session in preparation for sea lion hazing below the Bonneville dam on the Columbia River. The training session was a collaborative effort by WDFW Research Division, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), National Marine Fisheries Service, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Safety, security, hazing procedures, equipment, etc were discussed at the meeting. Day two of the session was "on the water" training and served as the initiation of sea lion hazing immediately adjacent to the dam.

This year hazing will be conducted 7 days per week from March 1 through the end of May. Wildlife Program has hired a crew of hazers to work 4 days per week and ODFW has a matching crew (allowing for one day of overlap). Please see the Columbia River Sea Lions Fact Sheet for additional information regarding this issue.

Game Management Division

Twelve-year history of summer productivity surveys for deer in Region 5 Click chart for enlargement.

Region 5 Deer Management: Biologist Holman summarized the Regional deer herd composition data for 2006. The year's pre-season deer survey efforts by both volunteers and WDFW staff resulted in the classification of 504 blacktail and mule deer. The lack of funding to conduct pre-season aerial deer surveys in 2006, made volunteer survey efforts especially important again this year. Of particular note are the contributions of The Campbell Group's foresters in GMU 530 (Ryderwood) and members of the Yacolt Burn Sportsman's Club for their efforts in GMU 568 (Washougal). Thanks to all those who helped.

The data gained from the above-referenced effort is used as one of the inputs into the Region's Sex, Age, and Kill method of deer population estimation. Per the requirements of the Game Management Plan and WDFW's mission statement, we are to manage both species of deer in the Region in such a way as to not negatively impact the overall population; i.e. not reduce the deer population. This presents a significant challenge given many contributing factors that are detrimental to deer at a landscape level. These include the spread of suburbia into areas of quality deer habitat; conversion of agricultural areas to industrial-residential uses; a variety of forest-practices related changes, including the cessation of timber cutting on federal lands, use of herbicides on forest plantations, road construction, etc.; the onset of the hairloss syndrome in the mid-1990's; and our statutory requirement to respond to "damage". Quantification of biological data related to the deer population allows us to set appropriate hunting seasons amidst the backdrop of the many factors affecting the population that we are not able to control.

The primary focus of the productivity surveys is to determine the annual recruitment of young animals into the population, or fawn to doe ratio. The 2006 fawn to doe ratio of just 32 fawns per 100 does documents the lowest ratio recorded since formalization of this survey effort in 1995. It is likely that the relatively severe winter of 2005-06 caused many does to fail reaching full term. While a large amount of attention has been focused on the Regional elk population's response to the severe winter, deer appear to have suffered as well. These depressed fawn ratios will likely lead to a somewhat reduced availability of yearling bucks for harvest in the 2007 season. Please see the attached figures for an illustration of the 12-year history of summer productivity surveys for deer in Region 5.