Managing Wildlife Populations
Artificial Burrows Ready for Owls: District 4 Wildlife Biologists Fidorra and Hoffman repaired and maintained artificial burrows for burrowing owls near Pasco prior to the breeding season. Due to the mild winter conditions, many owls over-wintered and remained onsite. This allowed Fidorra and Hoffman to recapture/band many adults during cleaning. Banding studies contribute greatly to our understanding of the survival and dispersal of this species.
Fidorra and Hoffman removed two non-functional transmitters that were placed on owls last season and stopped working.
Pasco Mitigation Project Gets Owl Approval: District 4 Wildlife Biologist Fidorra assisted the City of Pasco with their burrow mitigation project, which appears to be successful so far. Follow-up photos of burrows in late February already show at least one pair of owls using the newly installed artificial burrows!
District 8 Bighorn Sheep Disease Testing: Disease results from February 2024, bighorn sheep capture and testing efforts in the Yakima Canyon population detected three Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (M. Ovi) positive sheep. Of the three positive sheep, one was indeterminant in the 2023 capture year and will be removed in the coming weeks as an identified chronic carrier of M. Ovi.
District 8 Mule Deer Collar Retrievals: Assistant Wildlife Biologist Moore continues to work to retrieve dropped mule deer collars. These collars were part of a study designed to help inform scientists of mule deer migration and habitat use across the Okanagan-Wenatchee population.
Providing Recreation Opportunities
Wenas Wildlife Area Durr Road Shooting Range Development: Wenas Recreation Specialist Frame and Natural Resource Technician Janes picked up approximately 1,500 pounds of garbage from the Durr Road shooting area. They were cleaning the area prior to future construction. The shooting range will start development on March 18. Wenas Wildlife Area Manager Gray conducted outreach throughout the local area and to the Wenas Target Shooting Advisory Committee. Gray participated in a press interview regarding the shooting range for additional outreach to go out to the public.
Providing Conflict Prevention and Education
Rattlesnake Hills Elk: District 4 Wildlife Conflict Specialist Hand monitored for elk activity on the Hanford National Monument and adjoining private lands. Several reports of elk being observed outside the Hanford National Monument have been received. Two elk were reported harvested on damage permits.
District 4 Deer Hazing Equipment Return: Wildlife Conflict Specialist Hand coordinated with a tree fruit producer on the return of several acoustic alarms that were deployed on access points to their orchard.
Conserving Natural Landscapes
Wenas Wildlife Area Firebreak Maintenance: Wenas Wildlife Area staff members burned weeds along the fire break off Bull Pasture and Lower Buffalo areas and the Sheep Company Shooting Range. Old skeletons from Russian thistle and kochia are being burned. After the area is cleaned up, wildlife area staff members will be chemically treating the firebreaks to control weeds from growing this spring and summer.
Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area Litter Removal: Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area Assistant Manager Ferguson and Natural Resource Technician Cardenas have been occupied recently cleaning up the above-normal amounts of trash being deposited in different locations around the Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area. They have devoted several days in recent weeks to garbage removal, including removing an entire semi-truck that was cut up into pieces and dumped in a pile on wildlife area lands.
Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area Culvert Failures: Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area staff members discovered another culvert that rusted out over the past 30 years. Currently there are three of these water control structures that will require replacement to prevent further damage to access roads. Cultural Resource staff members surveyed these areas last week. Sunnyside-Snake River Wildlife Area Manager Kaelber will explore funding options and be working on the replacement of these structures in the summer months.
Private Lands Habitat Monitoring: Region 3 Private Lands Biologist Manderbach checked out two shrub plantings implemented last year by former Private Lands Biologist Hulett. Three separate areas were planted at the South Ridge Road Hunt by Written Permission site.
An existing Mule Deer Foundation plot was added to and cleaned up last year. Those shrubs are growing well with little space remaining for future shrub planting. Russian thistle and other debris caught in branches of the shrubs were removed.
The other two areas they visited were planted with riparian shrubs, which took a big hit from the deer and pronghorn but did show some life. The Rice Road Hunt by Reservation site was also checked by Manderbach. Sagebrush planted there has grown very well, but the site will have to be cleaned up and monitored more often to reduce the invasive weed pressure.
Providing Education and Outreach
District 4 Conflict Specialist Job Shadow: Wildlife Conflict Specialist Hand had a student ride-along this past week. The freshman student from the University of Idaho is interested in a career in Enforcement or Wildlife Conflict and wanted to get some exposure on each job class.
Washington State University Tri-Cities Conservation Biology Course: District 4 Wildlife Biologist Fidorra presented local conservation issues and shrubsteppe species information as a guest lecturer for the Conservation Biology class at Washington State University (WSU).
Other
Sunnyside Headquarters Unit Wildlife Viewing: March is a great time of year to observe migratory waterfowl at the Sunnyside Headquarters Unit. This year thousands of snow geese have been using agriculture fields and lakes within the unit. The wetlands have had very large numbers of pintail, mallards, and northern shovelers.
