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Southwest Washington
Wildlife Reports
October
27, 2008
Region
5 Wildlife Areas
Shillapoo Wildlife Area: Field Activities: Wildlife Area Assistant Manager
Hauswald recently finished planting several areas on the North Unit of the Wildlife
Area with a cover crop of barley. These plantings are intended to provide early
winter forage for Canada Geese. Lessees have now completed the harvest of their
portion of corn crops on the South Unit, which should improve hunting conditions
for Pheasant and also Canada Geese when the season opens in early November.
Hauswald has now turned his efforts toward completing mowing of winter goose
pasture sites on the North Unit and mowing reed canary grass in wetland basins
in other parts of the Wildlife Area. The mowing of wintering waterfowl areas
throughout the wildlife area is usually complete in early November but may be
a bit later this year due to equipment problems earlier in the year.
Mt. St. Helens Wildlife Area: Forage Maintenance and Enhancement: Wildlife Area Assistant Manager Hauswald recently fertilized approximately 40 acres at two sites near the entrance to the Wildlife Area. The two sites are among several that have been identified for more intensive treatments to increase forage production for elk. Earlier this year both of these areas were treated with lime to improve soil ph and growing conditions. Volunteer Mike Braaten and Wayne Vance also fertilized a 25-acre site that they had replanted earlier this year near the eastern boundary of the Wildlife Area. Braaten and Vance also began work on a new project near the Bear Creek bridge by harrowing 20 acres to break up heavy moss and prepare it for liming and eventually seeding next spring.
Monitoring: Wildlife Area Manager Calkins has collected clip plots from one of the elk forage sites where lime and fertilizer treatments have been applied over the past few years. Plots were also collected from an area that has not been treated for comparison. The objective is to get a general comparison of the two sites to determine any difference in total forage production due to the treatments. The results will not be known for a few weeks as the samples will be compared based upon dry weight and it will take some time for them to dry. Calkins also established two new photo points in an area where elk forage rehabilitation is about to begin, recording GPS locations so that they can be reliably replicated and recorded GPS information for another site that was established in 2007.
Conifer seedlings that were planted in the spring were also checked for survival. Of the 250 trees planted, 207 were located with 78 surviving. Although only 38 percent survived, this is an improvement over all of the past conifer plantings we have done on the site. Over time we have continued to adapt methods to establish these trees for erosion control on this site, which is difficult to work with. The improvement this year is most likely due to the use of a new style of 4 foot tall tree tube designed to not only protect the trees from grazing but also help to retain moisture for the plants.
Game
Management Division
Cougars, bears, and bobcats: Due to the amount of hunters afield during
the ongoing modern firearm deer season, individuals arriving at the Region 5
office to have other species check has increased. Specifically, four bears,
three cougars and a bobcat have been checked at the Region 5 headquarters within
the past week. Various tooth, tissue, age, sex, location, tagging and other
relevant harvest data were collected from the animals by a combination of Wildlife
Program and Customer Service Staff.
Wildlife
Diversity Division
Western Pond Turtle Management: Shillapoo/St. Helens Wildlife Area Manager
Calkins and Biologist Holman conducted a site visit to a potential habitat enhancement
area for western pond turtles. The potential enhancement area is located at
the western end of Beacon Rock State Park in Skamania County. The project would
involve establishment of an approximately 2-3-acre pond that would complement
existing on-site wetlands. Juvenile western pond turtles have been released
at the site in 2007 and 2008, making them the newest of the State reintroduced
populations. Initial inspection of the site looks favorable for wetland enhancement.
Feasibility for the project will move into further steps involving evaluation
of sub-surface water availability and topographic surveys.
Sandhill Cranes: Biologist Anderson met with the USFWS to evaluate a private parcel for a wetland habitat improvement project. The project is part of a NAWCA (wetland funding) grant proposal being submitted this winter. The private parcel is currently being used as sandhill crane foraging habitat and has the potential to be vastly improved with meadow and wetland enhancements.
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