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Southwest Washington
Wildlife Reports
May
17, 2008
Region
5 Wildlife Areas
Klickitat Wildlife Area Projects: The warmer weather has brought more
people out for recreational activities on the Wildlife Area as well as the surrounding
area and Wildlife Area Manager VanLeuven responded to many recreational inquiries.
Manager VanLeuven prepared 4 project plans for the WCC crew, conducted orientation
regarding WDFW's land management objectives, held training on fencing construction
standards, and showed the WCC crew the worksites in the project plans. The WCC
crew commenced their projects this week. Manager VanLeuven also completed this
year’s grazing unit vegetation monitoring photo series and cleaned 10
guzzlers. In addition, Manager VanLeuven is working collaboratively with a Wildlife
Area neighbor to construct a new fence on a common property line to control
cattle. A construction plan was drafted including guidelines for standard specifications
for construction to meet WDFW standard of quality.
Cowlitz Wildlife Area Wetland Projects: Wildlife area staff made field visits with local habitat biologist Bell and environmental engineer Klavis to go over this year’s wetland projects. Discussions included required permitting and engineered designs for dike breaching and removal on the Spears and Kiona Units of the Wildlife Area. Recreation Information - Riffe Lake Water Levels: Tacoma Power updates lake levels and other recreation information on its toll-free Fishing and Recreation Line every weekday at 1-888-502-8690.
Game
Management Division
Mt. St. Helens Elk Mortality Survey: The Mt. St. Helens Wildlife Area
was recently surveyed for elk losses due to winter conditions. This is an annual
survey that is conducted to evaluate the winter impacts to elk in the North
Toutle valley. The area is divided into 8 survey segments and approximately
24 volunteers and 10 agency staff participated in the survey.
All of the data from this year’s elk mortality surveys has been reviewed and checked for accuracy. The final number of winter elk mortalities on Mt. St. Helen’s Wildlife Area is 158. The breakdown of age structure for the mortalities is as follows: 33% calves (52), 17% yearlings (27), 46% adults (72), and 4% (7) unknown. A little under half (48% or 76) of the mortalities were females, 16% (25) males, and 36% (57) were of unknown sex. Most of the unknowns were also classified as calves.
The winter of 2008 was a particularly harsh one with 213-250% of normal snow pack reported. Throughout SW Washington reports of elk mortalities were common, especially so in the Cascades. The high number of mortalities found on the wildlife area is probably a good indicator that mortality rates throughout the region were drastically higher this year than in previous years.
A big thank-you to all of the volunteers and WDFW employees that helped out with this survey and a special thanks to Representatives Orcutt and Blake for lending a helping hand.
Wildlife
Diversity Division
Western Pond Turtles: Biologist Holman initiated a western pond turtle
capture effort at the Pierce Ranch Unit of the Ridgefield National Wildlife
Refuge. Forty-one 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.
Following the first three days of trapping, a total of 56 western pond turtle
captures have been recorded encompassing 39 different individual turtles. Fifty
incidental captures of painted turtles have been recorded as well. Thanks to
Fisheries Biologist Groesbeck, Priority Habitat and Species Biologist Azerrad,
Technician Ridenour and Customer Service Specialist Gonzalez for their much
needed help during the first few days of this project.
Sandhill Cranes: Breeding surveys for sandhill cranes continued this week. Three territories have verified young and several other pairs continue to incubate eggs. Water levels have started to rise in wetlands as snowmelt increases with warming weather at the end of the week. This year’s runoff should prove to be beneficial for nesting sandhill cranes.
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