Wildlife Program report: Aug. 16-31, 2024
CONTENTS
This report summarizes recent, noteworthy activities of Wildlife Program field and headquarters staff, arranged by four divisions: Game, Lands, Science, and Wildlife Diversity, and six regions: Eastern, North Central, South Central, North Puget Sound, Southwest, and Coastal, including wildlife areas within those regions.
Managing Wildlife Populations
Deer Surveys: Wildlife Area Manager (WAM) Finch, Wildlife Area Assistant Manager (WAAM) Wagner, and Natural Resource Technician (NRT) Duclos did their first deer survey in August. In total, 85 deer were observed over 81 miles.
Deer Surveys: Biologists Lowe and Brinkman conducted pre-hunt roadside deer surveys in Spokane and Whitman counties this week. These surveys are conducted for around 2-3 hours in the morning or evening when deer are most active, and the surveys consist of driving routes through different parts of the district and recording the number of individuals and composition of each group of deer observed (i.e., ratios of buck to does and fawns to does).
Bighorn Sheep: BHS Biologist Boyle monitored bighorn sheep in the Black Butte population. In total Biologist Boyle observed 3 groups consisting of five ewes, four lambs, and six rams. Bighorn sheep still appear lethargic with runny noses from the ongoing M.Ovi outbreak.
Providing Recreation Opportunities
Rainbow Lake Algal Bloom: Rainbow Lake continues to have an algal bloom. WAM Dingman received a cost estimate from a contractor to do a characterization of Rainbow Lake, which would include water and sediment sampling and analysis. She forwarded it to the internal team and is awaiting response.
4-O Ranch Wildlife Area Gates: This week Wildlife Area staff members Hammons, Nielsen, Peters, and Whittaker continued repairing damage gates from the Cougar Creek Fire on the 4-O Ranch Wildlife Area. Staff members took turns using the mini excavator to rip out burnt up wood posts and to clean up excess debris in the hole for steel posts to be set in concrete. Gates were then mounted and installed for levelness and swing accessibility for both up and downhill directions. Teamwork was shown in both preparedness of materials and tools and synchronizing together to get jobs done. A total of 2.5 pallets of concrete were hand mixed between the crew. The “couple more repetitions and then your turn” were used to rotate and mix the concrete! May need a concrete mixer for all the concrete mixing we do. All in all the gates turned out great. Staff members next week will continue assessing damage from the Cougar Creek fire to repair other structures, fence lines and dozer lines.
ADA Duck Blind: Private Lands Biologist (PLB) Nizer met with the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council (INWC) and a private landowner to secure funding for them to install an ADA duck blind with a value of $3,000 onto hunt by reservation (HBR) ground in Spokane County. INWC will install and maintain the duck blind while Nizer will coordinate the HBR through the WDFW private lands webpage. This opportunity will provide hunting to a demographic that doesn’t always have the opportunity to hunt.
Region 1 South Access Area program: Access Manager Heimgartner serviced access sites at Heller Bar and along the upper and lower Grand Ronde River this week. Heimgartner reports that the underwater gravel bar at the Heller Bar ramp is beginning to be exposed due to lower summertime river flows. Heimgartner also serviced access sites on the Wooten Wildlife Area, sprayed Russian thistle at Stringtown parking area, and cleaned up the Asotin Creek Shooting Range.
Providing Conflict Prevention and Education
CWD Outreach: Wildlife Conflict Specialist Harris worked with customer service staff to send out information regarding emergency CWD rule changes to all producers in Spokane County that have received elk and deer damage prevention permits and landowner kill permits.
Pelican Report: Supervisor Earl assisted Conflict Specialist Wade in attempting to locate a pelican that was reported to be stuck in the mud flats new Swallows Nest State Park. One pelican was seen in the area swimming freely amongst other waterfowl.
Conserving Natural Landscapes
Native Grassland Restoration: WAAM Wagner and NRT Duclos spent several hours this week discing up the 70-acre BLM restoration field in the Telford Road area. WAAM Wagner also completed the order form for uniform clothing as well. Duclos spent the rest of day discing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 70-acre native restoration field.
NOAA Instream Flow Workshop: WAM Dingman attended a very informative 2-day workshop put on by NOAA. The workshop topics covered water rights and water law in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, as well as restoration projects being done in areas where water rights are being purchased from private landowners to keep water flows in creeks and rivers during the dry summer months.
Cougar Creek Fire Restoration and Repairs: All wildlife area staff members spent considerable time this week working at the 4-O Ranch Wildlife Area repairing damaged gates, rolling up loose fence wire, assessing boundary fence damage, assessing impacts from firefighting dozers, and cleaning up dozer lines around buildings and corrals. Bob Dice has been communicating with Department foresters in regard to setting up timber sales ASAP. Neighboring landowners are logging their land and report that insects and rot are already beginning to take hold on burned trees. NRS2 Nathan Whittaker hauled our D1 dozer back to the Wildlife Area and worked on repairing fire lines the rest of the day.
Department of Natural Resource (DNR) Silene Survey: A Botanist from DNR Sienna Wessel was at Swanson Lakes Wildlife to survey silene (spalding catchfly) populations that are currently federally threatened. Botanist Wessel checked the locations from the 2010 data base at Swanson Lakes and then a location on the Bureau of Land Management) BLM. Botanist Wessel only found a few plants of a different subspecies within the polygons.
Providing Education and Outreach
Living with Wildlife Presentation: Wildlife Conflict Specialist Harris gave a presentation on Living with Wildlife to a senior community in Spokane. The presentation focused on ways that the community residents could coexist with the various wildlife species that are present in the area, including coyotes, moose, deer, and marmots. WCS Harris was asked to give the presentation following multiple coyote attacks on dogs.
County Fair Circuit: NRT2 Moberg hosted the WDFW booth at the Walla Walla County Fair this past Wednesday through Sunday. She spoke with hundreds of people about chronic wasting disease and answered other wildlife questions the public had.
Managing Wildlife Populations
Sage and Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse Workshop: Biologist Heinlen attended the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 34th Biennial Sage and Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse Workshop hosted by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). The workshop provided an opportunity for scientists, managers, and students to share results of their latest research, activities related to management and conservation, and strategies for dealing with the many issues impacting Sage and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse in western North America. The workshop was well attended with state managers, biologists, university scientists, Tribal managers, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Geological Survey (USGS), The Nature Conservatory (TNC), Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), and others representing many western states and provinces. The Workshop Planning Team did an excellent job planning and implementing this workshop and the associated field trip to grouse habitat in Douglas County.
Lewis’s Woodpeckers: Biologists Eilers and Jeffreys, along with other WDFW and Chelan Public Utilities Department biologists, are wrapping up the final Lewis’s woodpecker (LEWO) surveys at five project areas in Rocky Reach Wildlife Area. Throughout the summer, surveyors completed occupancy surveys and monitored 20 occupied LEWO cavity nests throughout their nesting cycle. Now that birds are fully fledged and nests are unoccupied, surveyors completed habitat assessment around each of the cavity nests. The next steps are summarizing the data and writing a report of this year’s findings.
The goal of this year’s cavity nest surveys was two-part. First, learn more about LEWO nesting phenology and ecology of the population within the Rocky Reach Wildlife Area including clutch size, number of eggs hatched, number of hatchlings to reach fledging or late nestling phase, etc. Secondly, examine these data alongside habitat and microhabitat characteristics for the purpose of drawing inferences regarding nest success of LEWO at both the local scale and microsite scale (breeding territory). These inferences may in turn be useful for informing habitat management considerations at the regional scale (North Central Washington).
Lewis’s woodpecker habitat assessments: Biologist Turnock and Technicians Hara and Force have been assisting District 7 biologists with Lewis’s woodpecker habitat assessments at woodpecker nest cavities. These assessments quantify vegetation and forest characteristics around cavity nests. Biologists hope to link some of these characteristics to nesting success of Lewis’s woodpeckers in the area. These woodpeckers are declining throughout much of their range but are doing quite well in their Washington range, so information learned from this study may inform management of these birds, both where they are thriving and where they are declining.
Northern leopard frog surveys: Technicians Hara and Force and Biologist Turnock have been conducting late-season northern leopard frog surveys in new areas to get a clearer picture of this species’ current distribution. Late summer and early fall can be a fruitful time to survey for northern leopard frogs because juvenile frogs have completed metamorphosis and are more abundant on the landscape. Their tendency to disperse through wet meadows and upland habitat at this time of year can also make them easier to detect. Many of these areas historically contained leopard frogs but have not been systematically searched in over 20 years. It is likely that these surveys will not yield any new leopard frog detections, but these non-detections are just as important as positive detections to give biologists a better understanding of where these frogs are located and where they are not.
Pygmy rabbit captures: Biologists Gallie and Turnock and Technicians Hara and Force assisted with pygmy rabbit captures in the Beezley Hills area. Staff members captured 17 pygmy rabbits in the primary breeding enclosure and moved nine of them to another breeding enclosure in the area. Only the rabbits with the best body conditions were moved to avoid putting undue stress on rabbits with less body fat stored up. This translocation will more evenly distribute rabbits across breeding enclosures and will hopefully ensure that forage is more uniformly available to these rabbits.
Bumble Bees: Biologist Eilers and volunteer members conducted the fourth and final bumble bee survey of the year at a site south of Wenatchee. This year’s survey efforts included four repeated visits to the same site every few weeks to monitor changes in bumble bees and flowering plants throughout the summer season. Habitat data were collected for the grid including identifying and photographing flowering plant (food source) species.
Bees were gently caught in a net, identified to species, and released on-site. The data collected from this survey were entered into the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Bumble Bee Atlas online database. The PNW Bumble Bee Atlas is a collaborative effort between the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, WDFW, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and citizen science volunteers to track and conserve the bumble bees of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.
Biologists Eilers and Jeffreys hosted the first WDFW public outreach bat night event in early August. This event was a collaboration with WDFW, Wenatchee River Institute, and Bats Northwest for members of the public to see bats up close and learn more about these commonly misunderstood animals. The event was a success with registration booking out with thirty attendees, including a variety that traveled from across the state of Washington. Biologists caught five bats that were a mix of Yuma myotis (Myotis yumanensis) and little brown bats (Myotis californicus). We look forward to hosting this event again next year – stay tuned with Wenatchee River Institute's newsletters.
Providing Recreation Opportunities
Hunter Access: Biologist Morris continued work on updating five hunter access contracts that are expiring this month. These hunter access contracts are developed with farmers/landowners to provide regulated public hunting access on private lands. If these five contracts were to expire and not be renewed, over 10,000 acres of private land would be lost to public hunting access. Ensuring the contracts get renewed and private landowners are satisfied is an important part of Biologist Morris’ job. Morris also checked and posted signs on recently enrolled and recently renewed hunter access contracts and updated the sites on the private lands hunting access website.
Private Lands Hunter Access Program: Private Lands Biologist Braaten replaced hunter access signs burned by wildfire for landowners in Douglas County. Braaten continues to maintain and update hunter access contracts, mapping and signs.
Fishing Access: August 31st is the last day of the fishing season on Grimes Lake. Morris checked the site, which was free from trash and debris. Responsible recreation and cleaning up after yourself/respecting private property allows continued access to private lands hunting and fishing access.
Conserving Natural Landscapes
Weed Management: Wildlife area staff members have been conducting further herbicide sprays of rush skeleton weed on the Chelan Butte. Significant improvements over the last year have been made and doing controls of bull thistle where forest thinning has occurred.
Native Grass Habitat Plots: Private Lands Biologist Cook and Private Lands Habitat Technician Blanchard mowed a native grass planting in preparation for a fall herbicide application. The herbicide will target downy brome weeds to help native grasses planted this past spring to better establish. Broad leaf weeds were treated in early summer but there was no treatment option for invasive grasses due to newly seeded native grasses.
Supplemental Food and Cover Plots: Private Lands Biologist Cook and Private Lands Habitat Technician Blanchard mowed parts of an irrigated supplemental food and cover plot where Sudangrass was a main component. Mowing is encouraged because it increases root and stem density. Organic matter was added to the soil. This plot was mowed with more height to maintain some cover.
Fire Recovery Potential: Private lands Biologist Cook drove by a wildfire near Lind that affected several landowners that participate in the Hunter Access program. The farmed areas generally were not burned. Some of the burned area is in a Conservation Reserve Program. Native vegetation often regrows if there is not high weed pressure and is present before the fire. Based on the apparent high fire temperatures and the previous vegetation on site, there may be potential for assistance to landowners with revegetation efforts.
Fires: Fire season is still going strong. There have been several small fires in Morris’ area, but luckily only one has grown to a catastrophic size (the fire near Stehekin).
Providing Education and Outreach
Swakane Shooting Range: The Swakane shooting range was cleaned up so that it will be ready to be used once fire restrictions are no longer in place.
Fire Restrictions for Public Notice: To better inform the public about fire restrictions, and hopefully prevent any incidents, new and larger signage is starting to go up around high traffic locations of the wildlife area.
2024 WAFWA Grouse Workshop (Wenatchee, Washington): Private Lands Biologist Braaten gave a tour stop presentation on importance of private landowner relationships, the design of the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement Conservation Reserve Program farm bill program and discussed the realities of conservation to landowners in Douglas County. Braaten also brought along the new Private Lands Program tree/shrub planter to show tour participants the kind of equipment WDFW uses in habitat restoration projects. The field trip portion of workshop was a big hit, providing a great opportunity to connect and share knowledge with partners.
Conducting Business Operations and Policy
Annual Evaluation Process: Supervisor Rickel completed the annual evaluation process for Wildlife Conflict and Private Land staff.
Managing Wildlife Populations
Region 3 Pre-season Duck Banding: District 8 Assistant Wildlife Biologist Wilson (formerly Moore) and Statewide Waterfowl Specialist Wilson continue their duck banding efforts in Yakima County. Although repairs to pumps at the Sunnyside Wildlife Area have delayed work at this site, water has been restored to the rice paddies, allowing the team to transition their efforts from the northern Yakima County site in Moxee to Sunnyside. They will continue until the banding quota is met.
District 4 Monarch Caterpillar Surveys: District 4 Assistant Biologist Hoffman and District 4 Biologist Fidorra conducted caterpillar surveys on the Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area in Franklin County. By following up on sightings of monarch butterflies to look for caterpillars, the district team can identify breeding sites and more effectively manage wildlife area units to support declining pollinator populations.
Providing Recreation Opportunities
Region 3 Private Lands Access Agreements: Region 3 Private Lands Biologist Manderbach has been working with contracts staff members on updating and renewing expired access agreement contracts. These access opportunities will be live on the Private Land’s website in the coming weeks. Hunt dates have been added for all Hunt by Reservation opportunities in the region and those slots are open to be reserved for the hunting seasons beginning September 1st.
Region 3 Private Lands Parking Areas and Sign Maintenance: Region 3 Private Lands Biologist Manderbach and Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area Natural Resource Technician Pizzini have been mowing parking areas, updating maps and rules at registration boxes, refilling registration slips, and maintaining signs for private lands access. Hunters will be able to park safely at all parking areas and fresh maps and signs will help them with ease of access.
Providing Conflict Prevention and Education
District 4 Rattlesnake Hills Elk Hazing: District 4 Wildlife Conflict Specialist Hand continued to spend time hazing elk out of winter wheat crops near the top of Rattlesnake Mountain and recently near tree fruit and wine grape vineyards near Benton City.
District 4 Rattlesnake Mountain Wheat Harvest: District 4 Wildlife Conflict Specialist Hand continued to work with wheat harvest operations to document crop damage impacts from Hanford elk. This year’s harvest is now complete, and we are waiting for the crop adjuster and producer to compile all the necessary documents and field assessments to file the crop damage claim. Several fields received substantial elk damage, although not likely enough to file for federal crop insurance.
District 4 Benton City Elk Damage: District 4 Wildlife Conflict Specialist Hand received a new damage complaint from an orchardist in the Benton City area concerning elk damaging a new block of young cherry trees. A Damage Prevention Cooperative Agreement was developed, and damage permits issued to help minimize the crop damage.
District 4 Horn Rapids Deer Damage: District 4 Wildlife Conflict Specialist Hand patrolled and completed hazing operations at a wine grape vineyard along the Yakima River.
Conserving Natural Landscapes
L.T. Murray Wildlife Area Cole Creek Bridge: L.T. Murray Wildlife Area Assistant Manager Winegeart and Natural Resource Technician Blore hauled the wildlife area track loader to the Yakima River unit to block a new user-built road that took vehicles through Cole Creek. It was intended to block the bridge that’s unsafe to cross. They blocked the road but left the Forest Service bridge open because vehicles crossed the bridge while they were there and closing would risk trapping individuals, forcing them to take a greater risk by driving through the creek and around the new barrier.
L.T. Murray Grazing: Assistant Manager Winegeart and Natural Resource Technician Blore assisted the Wildhorse Windfarm install two virtual fence base stations that will cover a large portion of the grazing coordinated resource management project that includes Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), Department of Natural Resources, and Puget Sound Energy properties.
Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area - Sunnyside Wetlands: The pump at the Sunnyside Headquarters unit of the Sunnyside/Snake River Wildlife Area has been repaired and the rice paddies wetlands are in the process of being reflooded. The first cell has completely filled and WDFW staff members are trapping ducks.
Mesa Lake Pacman Wetland Project: The Mesa Lake Pacman Wetland Development project with Ducks Unlimited is nearing the construction phase. In preparation for contractor site visits, Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area Manager Kaelber began mowing the heavily overgrown Pacman Wetland.
Wenas Wildlife Area- Fire Restoration: Habitat Specialist Miller has been assisting Wenas Wildlife Area Manager Gray with the identification of restoration sites within the perimeter of the recent Black Canyon Fire. These sites are going to be the start of efforts to reestablish native habitat lost in the recent burn. Expedient action on these sites is essential to try and ensure that native plants and species gain a solid foothold, helping to prevent the further encroachment of noxious weeds. Gray met cultural resources staff members to conduct field surveys for immediate needs tied to the Black Canyon Fire Restoration. This includes propping up approximately 1.5 miles of elk fence until it can be fully replaced to metal, plug planting sites, aerial spraying sites and broadcast seeding sites. Gray has been working closely with cultural resources staff members and was able to get immediate work cleared. She has been coordinating with the Management Analyst Nelson to line out rehab fund needs tied to the fire.
Wenas Wildlife Area—Weed Control: Wenas Wildlife Area staff members have started to shift the focus of weed control from Russian thistle to knapweed. Wenas Natural Resource Technicians Janes and Stoltenow finished up spraying the Russian thistle surrounding the feed site and have begun spraying knapweed, mainly along the Bull Pasture Road.
Oak Creek Wildlife Area Fire Restoration: Oak Creek Wildlife Area Manager Mackey and Assistant Manager Charlet have been working to identify restoration needs across the 15,000-acre footprint of the recent Retreat Fire. The goal of these efforts is to reestablish native habitat that was lost in the recent burn and limit the spread of noxious weeds through these areas. Restoration efforts will include the planting of pine seedlings, seeding of native grasses, planting or seeding of sage brush, removal of destroyed elk fence exclosures, replacement of a half mile of elk fence, and noxious weed control. Mackey has been working with WDFW cultural resource staff members to organize cultural resource surveys before restoration work can begin. Mackey has also helped in the initiation of planning a field trip with the science community to assess impacts and forest treatment effectiveness post fire.
Other
L.T. Murray Wildlife Area Regional Awards: The L.T. Murray crew attended the annual Region 3 awards ceremony.
Oak Creek Wildlife Area Retreat Fire Continued Efforts: Oak Creek Wildlife Area Manager Mackey continues efforts to coordinate permitting and support to the Yakima-Tieton Irrigation District to replace wildlife protection features on the canal that were damaged during the Retreat Fire.
PLHO Reservation System: Region 3 Private Lands Biologist Manderbach attended three meetings with a handful of other private lands biologists and a contracting company to discuss the requirements of a new and improved reservation system. This first step towards a new system was very productive and presentations from different vendors will be following shortly. Hopefully this will lead to an updated and more conducive system by next fall.
Managing Wildlife Populations
Mountain goat surveys: District wildlife staff members, in collaboration with tribal comanagers in the region, took to the skies to conduct a regular assessment of mountain goat populations in the Cascade Mountains. Surveys entail low-level flight across mountain goat habitat and established survey blocks to determine quantity, age, location, and other sight ability factors associated with mountain goat groups. This year, many previously un-surveyed areas were covered in addition to standard survey blocks. Surveys inform population management decisions such as hunting permit levels, as well as overall health and condition of local mountain goat populations.
Bat Acoustic Survey – Maintenance and Monitoring: District 12 worked with Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission to put a long-term bat acoustic monitoring station up on a more permanent surface. Previously, it was running on a large conduit pipe. Much better location – keep the calls coming! Thanks to the support of Washington State Parks!
Biologist Anderson worked with Bat Specialist Tobin and a visiting United States Geological Survey (USGS) researcher regarding ongoing collaboration and trials in extracting eDNA from the air and surfaces. Rapid CRISPER (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) analysis is utilized for detection of the presence of Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) – the causative fungus on White-nose Syndrome (WNS) in bats. The disease, caused by a non-native, invasive Eurasian fungus, known shorthand as Pd, is decimating a large portion of certain species of bats throughout North America. Washington is unfortunately seeing some of the negative effects of WNS. Continuing to develop better bat and WNS/Pd survey and monitoring techniques will only help in understanding how to manage and monitor our local bats in this challenging time with this disease.
Providing Education and Outreach
Students of Migrant Families – High School Camp: Biologist Anderson provided bat education via a presentation and field group bat monitoring session, using the Woodland Park Zoo BAT (Bat Activity Trends) program. The students were from Pasco School District. The students were participating in an experiential program, spending time in outdoor programs and educational efforts at Rainbow Lodge, in North Bend.
Providing Recreation Opportunities
Down Trees on Access Areas: Access staff members recently encountered several down trees in Klickitat County. All of the trees that were affected had been standing snags. Fortunately, access staff members only had to clear debris from one site. Along the road to the Stinson Flat Access Site, a dead pine tree fell across the road causing a hazard to vehicles. The tree had to be bucked up with a chainsaw to be removed. Access staff members took great care to only cut what was needed and hosed down the work area to make sure that no loose sparks kindled the dry fuels.
Access Improvements: Cowlitz Wildlife Area staff members constructed a new parking area on the west side of the Davis Lake Unit off Temple Road, improving access to almost one hundred acres of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife managed lands. The new parking area provides parking for up to six vehicles. Previously, the public had to park on the shoulder of the county road which created safety issues such as emergency vehicle access.
Illegal Dumping: Access staff members found several illegal dumps around the Vancouver Lake and Shillapoo Wildlife Areas. The dumping seemed to be occurring on a daily basis, causing access staff members to make several trips to the local dump. For the week of 8/26 - 8/30, access staff members removed approximately 1,000 pounds of garbage from this area alone.
Managing Wildlife Populations
Ungulate Management: Biologists Butler and Tirhi represented District 11 at the annual Region 6 ungulate management meeting hosted by HQ Ungulate Section Manager Garrison and Black-tailed Deer/Elk specialist Oates. This is a new annual meeting designed for staff to discuss all aspects of deer and elk management, surveys, season setting, and data collection/analysis.
Snakes and Snake Fungal Disease (SFD): District 11 biologists Butler, Cheney and Tirhi and volunteer Terry continued to conduct snake collection work at JBLM, South Puget Sound Wildlife Area, and Scatter Creek Wildlife Area. The objective is to collect and swab as many garter snakes as possible for testing for Snake Fungal Disease (see previous Highlights report on this important and emerging work). To date, District staff have taken samples from 11 (JBLM) and 3 (Scatter Creek) garter snakes. Staff also mowed clearings and deployed snake cover boards at South Puget Sound Wildlife Area (35 boards) and Scatter Creek Wildlife Area (35 boards).
Mazama pocket gopher: Biologists Buter and Tirhi represented District 11 at a Mazama pocket gopher survey design work group organized by HQ Prairie Species Lead Rolls. WDFWs Prairie Ecologist Henry gave an overview of the science/mathematics behind WDFWs newest gopher density survey protocol, Rolls presented the aspects of conducting the WDFW survey, and USFWS gopher co-lead biologist Flotlin presented the USFWS screening protocol. Great group discussions allowed the participants to ask and answer important questions about all facets of gopher surveys. WDFW gopher surveys are conducted September-October of each year.
Union River Summer Chum: Wildlife Area Manager Laushman and Assistant Regional Program Manager Blankenship visited volunteers with the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement group monitoring the Union River Summer Chum Trap located at the Union River Wildlife Area Unit in Belfair. As of August 26, volunteers had already passed 1,961 Summer Chum through the trap.
Mourning Doves: Biologist Cent wrapped up her annual trapping efforts for mourning doves. As mentioned in the previous report, the doves were late to arrive to the area this year, and so total banded birds were much lower than normal, with just 42 banded birds this year.
Beller’s Ground Beetles: Beller’s ground beetles are designated as a “species of greatest conservation need” in the state of Washington with a small number of known isolated populations. These beetles only live in sphagnum bogs. WDFW is hoping to expand the known range of these beetles by identifying new populations in the state. Biologist Cent began visiting potential sites to verify the presence (or absence) of sphagnum bogs. Surveys for beetles will hopefully begin next summer.
Conserving Natural Landscapes
South Sound Prairie Habitat and Species Conservation: Biologist Tirhi continues to meet monthly with HQ Prairie Protection Lead Frediani and Prairie Species Lead Rolls to further land protection for South Sound Prairies and listed prairie species. The three are currently working on internal WDFW Lands 2020 applications, which are required by the agency for staff to seek funds to purchase targeted conservation lands. Other work of the group involves targeting/discussing priority protection sites, deciding strategies for protection, and assigning duties to further protection with Frediani assuming the majority of this work as designed by her position.
Mowing: For the past few years, District 17 has rented a skid steer with a mowing attachment to tackle invasive blackberry and scotch broom on the district’s wildlife areas. This year, Biologist Novack has rented the skid steer for a month, and he and Biologist Cent have been transporting it around to the various wildlife areas in the district as well as the regional office in Montesano to mow.
Conducting Business Operations and Policy
Personnel Development Plan: Biologists Tirhi completed her annual evaluation and expectations PDP with Regional Wildlife Program Manager Calkins.
Other
North Olympic Site Visits: Lieutenant Rosenberger, Officer Hillman, and Wildlife Area Manager Laushman showed Regional Director Hall and Regional Admin Assistant Allen some of the North Olympic Wildlife Area Units, including Rat Island, Chimacum, Protection Island, as well as a tufted puffin and rhinoceros auklet!