 |
Current Report |
| Report Archives |
Southwest Washington
Wildlife Reports
July
28, 2008
Region
5 Wildlife Areas
Shillapoo Wildlife
Area - Purple Loosestrife Bio-control Release: Assistant Manager Hauswald
released 250 Galerucella calmariensis adult insects as a bio-control
agent for purple loosestrife along the south shoreline of Vancouver Lake. The
insects feed on the foliage of the plant preventing it from going to seed and
will eventually kill the plant itself. Loosestrife has been an increasing problem
along the shoreline of the Wildlife Area which, if left untreated, can out compete
and displace native plants and animals in the area’s wetlands. The release
was in coordination with Clark County Weed Management, which supplied the insects
for the release.
Field Activities: Wildlife Area Manager Calkins completed replacing posts as needed and built two stretch braces along 1/4 mile of fence being repaired on the South Unit. This fence is now ready to run new wire. Technician Babcock removed wire from another 1/4 mile of fence to be repaired and trimmed limbs, weeds, and grass along its’ length in preparation for running the new wire. Babcock and Assistant Manager Hauswald continued mowing pastures to control weeds and maintain them for winter use by geese and Sandhill Cranes. The smaller tractor we use broke down and was hauled to a dealer to be assessed. The engine lost all of its’ coolant rapidly due to a loose drain petcock that caught on some vegetation and overheated severely. We believe that this will be a major repair. Hauswald has continued to focus daily on water drawdowns in wetland basins in the Vancouver Lake Unit and this task is finally nearing completion. It appears that we achieved good control of reed canary grass with the good water year and particularly in areas where disking treatments were applied last summer. This should result in good stands of native seed producing plants that are particularly attractive to waterfowl.
Klickitat Wildlife Area - DNR and WCC Collaboration: Manager VanLeuven met with DNR to discuss campground improvement work they have offered to complete. The DNR crews have already completed a lot of cleaning up this year and have placed logs to discourage people from driving into areas they shouldn't - the campgrounds look good. Manager VanLeuven took the fire crew supervisor on a driving tour and discovered that several trees had fallen across the roads. Provided with a map, the crew supervisor sawed the roads open. During the tour, Manager VanLeuven found that a patch of Canary grass is growing next to an important pond in a western gray squirrel area. It is also present along the edge of another pond near the Sheep Canyon Rd. VanLeuven will take action to eradicate this extremely invasive grass. .
Manager VanLeuven wrote a plan for the WCC crew for a forest thinning project along the Anderson Road and Old Headquarters Rd. VanLeuven toured an area that has been thinned with the WCC crew and then had the crew practice all appropriate techniques at the KWA Headquarters, observing all the rules for operating the equipment and use of appropriate safety gear.
Wildlife
Diversity Division
Western Pond Turtle Management: Biologist Holman continued the western
pond turtle capture effort at the Pierce Ranch Unit of the Ridgefield National
Wildlife Refuge. Thirty basking traps have been set in 4 different water-bodies
in an attempt to capture as large a portion of the Refuge's pond turtle population
as possible. This is an extension of the 14-day trapping effort conducted in
May. Environmental conditions for captures have been suitable but far from ideal.
While there were high levels of cold water combined with cool weather in the
May trapping effort; warm, shallow water has made the July effort a challenge.
Ideal conditions are cold water with hot sunny days. Results of the effort will
be the subject of future reports. Thanks to Wildlife Program Manager Jonker,
Fisheries Biologist Groesbeck, Scientific Technician Pyzik, Biologist Prince,
and Customer Service Specialist Varshock for their help during this stage of
the project.
Peregrine Falcons: Biologist Anderson is currently reviewing a USFS proposal for trail development near a peregrine falcon eyrie in the Columbia River Gorge. At issue is the presence of an undeveloped and unapproved trail that is being considered for upgrade that will increase recreation near an established peregrine falcon nest site. Further development of the trail will violate current federal and state guidelines for protection of peregrine nest sites. The USFS has proposed three alternatives that call for no trail, full trail development, and a trail with seasonal restrictions. Development of the trail has other problems including safety issues and modification of talus habitat.
Game
Management Division
Pigeon Mineral Springs Survey: Survey Biologist Prince completed the
Newaukum River band-tailed pigeon survey this week. The morning started off
a little slow, but picked up towards the middle of the survey and a decent amount
of pigeons were recorded. The actual mineral spring that draws the pigeons to
the area is out of site, so pigeons are recorded as they land in the trees surrounding
the site. From the survey location pigeons can be seen dropping into the site
and then returning to the trees before eventually departing. The number of pigeons
arriving and departing the site for every thirty-minute interval is recorded
on the datasheet. These surveys provide the state a long-term dataset for pigeons
and population trend information.
Boat safety: District Wildlife Biologist Miller assisted with a Motorboat Operator Certification Class (MOCC) in Spokane this week. All agency employees who operate boats need to complete MOCC within the next 2-3 years as new rules about boat training are implemented. The training is a mixture of classroom and on the water exercises lasting 3 days and employees get to operate a variety of vessels that are used within WDFW. Participants in last week’s class were from the Wildlife, Fish, and Habitat programs from all over the state. Miller will be involved in additional classes in August and October of this year and for 3-4 weeks in 2009. The class schedule for 2009 has not yet been developed, but will be announced hopefully in October of this year.
|
|
||||||||
| 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 |
|
|||||||
