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Southwest Washington
Wildlife Reports
May
14, 2007
Region 5 Wildlife Areas
Klickitat Wildlife Area Grazing: Acting Wildlife Manager VanLeuven counted cattle as they were turned out on the part of WDFW's range that is SW of the Glenwood Hwy, and checked forage use and the water supply. The lessee brought 99 cows with calves to the range. He divided the herd in half and drove some of the animals down to the lower slopes, and left the other half up on the plateau. Forage use after 4 days is barely noticeable. The animals seem to spend most of their time in upland areas, where there is plenty of grass. The lessee expected to have the cattle on this part of the range for about 10 days.
Pygmy Rabbits: The Acting Manager also worked with the Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) crew to cut sagebrush for the pygmy rabbit recovery program. The sagebrush growth was luxuriant and the crew was able to cut 13 bags of material. WCC hauled the bags to the Klickitat Wildlife Area compound and they were picked up the next day by a courier who took them to the Oregon Zoo.
Cowlitz Wildlife Area Tacoma Power Open House: Wildlife Area staff Morris, Vanderlip, Grabski, and Program Manager Jonker set up a Department of Fish & Wildlife booth and spent the day working the Tacoma Power Open House at Mossyrock Park. It was estimated that over 1,200 visited the daylong event. The open house is held in conjunction with the Mossyrock Tulip Fest so the attendees were in large part families out for a good time.
High School Presentation: Wildlife Area Manager Grabski gave an hour and a half presentation to the Centralia High Schools Natural Resources Class. The class, made up mostly of juniors and seniors, learned about basic wildlife biology, predator-prey relationships, adaptations, and habitat requirements. A large display of study skins, skulls, and mounts were also used to teach the students.
Game Management Division
Mount Saint Helens Elk Management / Private Lands Access: As part of the on-going effort to facilitate additional hunting access onto Weyerhaeuser lands in Southwest Washington, Regional Wildlife Program Staff met with representatives from Weyerhaeuser and several volunteer organizations on May 10th. Additional details regarding hunting access to Weyerhaeuser's lands were discussed. Specifically, season dates for all user groups including early and late hunting periods, access points, the critical role to be played by volunteer groups, key-gate-lock logistics, objectives of the Mt. St. Helens Elk Herd Plan, etc. were all discussed.
Volunteer groups in attendance included the Southwest Washington Land Access Coalition, Cowlitz Game and Anglers, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Eyes in the Woods, the Yacolt Burn Sportsman's Club, and Washington State Bowhunters. Collectively WDFW, Weyerhaeuser, and the volunteer groups are optimistic that the effort will result in considerable additional access to private timberlands for hunting.
Wildlife Diversity Division
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| Twenty-five
female turtles now are fitted with transmitters. |
Western Pond Turtle: Trapping of western pond turtles at Sondino Ranch is near completion for the season. Most of the captures this time of year are recaptures, an indication that few new transmitters will be placed on additional females. Biologist Slavens and her crew have now captured a total of 191 turtles for the season. Nesting should start the third week of May so field activities will soon switch from trapping to monitoring females for nest sites. 25 female turtles now are fitted with transmitters, a substantial improvement from last year.
Band-tailed Pigeons: Temporary Scientific Technician Ridenour prepared a site to start baiting band-tailed pigeons at Cedar Creek Wildlife Area near the mineral spring. This is in coordination with USGS Western Ecological Research Center. The baiting is used to attract and document regular use of the site for capture to mark the birds. This is part of an experimental process on a large scale using satellite transmitters to track migration and breeding of band-tailed pigeons. An area 8 meters by 5 meters was mowed to expose the 30 lbs. of cracked corn spread to potentially attract the band-tailed pigeons. Observations and baiting will continue in the following weeks. Once use is documented, USGS will be contacted for the trapping and marking of band-tailed pigeons.
On the first site visit 2 roosting band-tailed pigeons were observed and 2 additional pigeons approximately one-quarter mile west of the Cedar Creek Wildlife Area. A majority of the feed appeared to be eaten, although no band-tailed pigeons were observed at the bait site. Species that consumed the bait are still undetermined, as actual feeding has not yet been observed. On the second observation period, 18 roosting band-tailed pigeons were observed near the bait site in the trees above the mineral spring, although no pigeons were seen utilizing the baited area. Ongoing monitoring of the site will continue with the focus on identifying species consuming bait as well as any band-tailed pigeon use.
Sea Lion Hazing: District Wildlife Biologist Miller and Vancouver Wildlife Biologist Holman assisted the Bonneville dam sea lion hazing crew this past week. Region 5 employees are assigned as back up to the main hazing crew whenever there is an absence. Miller reports that he discharged over 2500 cracker shells in his 10-hour shift. The sea lions are becoming very skittish around the boats and stay submerged for quite a while after being spotted. In comparison to last year, this year’s effort is more coordinated with folks on the face of the dam from USDA Wildlife Services, who also are hazing the animals from the powerhouse face.
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