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Southwest Washington
Wildlife Reports
August
18, 2008
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| Burn area on the Vancouver Lake Unit of the Shillapoo Wildlife Area. |
Region
5 Wildlife Areas
Shillapoo Wildlife Area: Vancouver Lake Fire: While conducting a routine
site visit on the Vancouver Lake Unit of the Shillapoo Wildlife Area, Wildlife
Area Assistant Manager Hauswald was contacted by a member of the public wanting
to know why we were burning an area along the shoreline of the lake. Hauswald
informed them that we were not doing any burning and went to investigate. Upon
arrival he found a burned area of about ½ acre in, and adjacent to, riparian
vegetation near the lakeshore. The fire had already burned itself out and stopped
when it reached green vegetation and the edge of a service road. Several small
sites were still smoldering which he put out with a shovel. The source of ignition
is not clear. Possible sources include a tossed cigarette and sparks from an
un-permitted fire, which we sometimes find along the lake. It is also possible
that it was a result of brush clearing on the site several days prior to it
being discovered. The photo at right shows a portion of the site. Because the
site was already targeted for restoration, the fire was of no real impact to
habitat on the site. The objective of the restoration is to remove Himalayan
blackberry and replace it with desirable vegetation.
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Removing the old railroad bridge in Dead Canyon is part of the KWA's Road Maintainance and Abandonment Plan. |
Klickitat Wildlife Area: Road Maintenance and Abandonment Plan Activity: Manager VanLeuven conducted a site visit of the old railroad bridge in Dead Canyon. The proposal to remove the bridge, as well as the fill at each end of the bridge, is part of the KWA's Road Maintenance and Abandonment Plan. As this site involves a historic structure, a preliminary assessment is needed, which includes photo documentation. Manager VanLeuven also wanted to evaluate the amount of potential habitat damage that could occur by moving equipment into the area to deal with the bridge removal - an approach from the south end of the old rail bed would probably cause the least amount of impact. However, coming from the north would be more difficult and cause more oak and pine habitat damage. Additionally, there is a good fence built right on the old rail bed that would be damaged if equipment were moved through there. Manager VanLeuven believes the project can be satisfactorily handled at reasonable cost by simply removing 50 or 60 feet of fill from each end of the bridge and piling it on the old rail bed nearby. This would cause less habitat and fence damage, would open up the floodplain of the creek, and would leave the historic concrete structure intact.
WCC Crew Activities: Manager VanLeuven continues to work with the WCC crew. The crew finished a fence repair job near the KWA office, collected old fence wire that had been left on the ground, piled dead material near camping areas for burning later, and checked an area where they had planted trees and shrubs along the Klickitat River last spring. The single-strand electric fence to exclude cattle has been surprisingly effective and the trees and shrubs look healthy. VanLeuven is very pleased with the work they accomplished for this project, which was conducted under guidance of Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group. An additional positive point is that the livestock owner provided the fencing and is maintaining the fence as well.
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| Cascade Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes cascadensis) a unique subspecies of the Red Fox. |
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| District 10 held its local public meeting in Toledo to present proposed changes for the next 3 year hunting cycle. |
Wildlife
Diversity Division
Carnivore Surveys: The South Cascades Carnivore Project was initiated
in February 2008 by wildlife biologist Jocelyn Akins as a partnership between
wildlife conservation experts and citizens to monitor forest carnivore populations
using non-invasive remote detection methods. Crews work in cooperation with
Distirct Biologist Anderson of WDFW to fill forest carnivore conservation needs.
Research efforts recently produced a photograph of a Cascade Red Fox (Vulpes
vulpes cascadensis) at 6600 ft on in the Mt Adams Wilderness. Little is
known about this genetically and ecological unique subspecies of Red Fox. The
project intends to focus efforts on further detections to gain a better understanding
of this high-elevation native fox, and other rare forest carnivores in the South
Cascades. Current plans are to continue this effort through the winter of 2008-2009.
Game
Management Division
Three Year Hunting Season Evaluation: District 10 held its local public
meeting in Toledo to present proposed changes for the next 3 year hunting cycle.
This was our first local meeting in Toledo and it was well received by the local
community. We had a variety of interested people that attended providing diverse
input, including local landowners as well as large timber and agricultural landowners
in the area. Most comments from the public were favorable to WDFW proposed changes;
especially those related to addressing elk damage issues.
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