Managing Wildlife Populations
Tucannon Bighorn Sheep: Wildlife Area Manager Dingman located the Tucannon bighorn sheep herd, and all six lambs are still alive. The herd has grouped back up down towards Merengo.
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Surveillance: Biologists Lowe and Brinkman worked at CWD check stations to collect samples from deer harvested during the late modern firearm season.
Providing Recreation Opportunities
Rainbow Lake Park Bench: Maintenance Mechanic Heimgartner and Natural Resource Technician Nielsen installed a park bench at Rainbow Lake last week. The bench was donated by the Asotin County Sportsmen’s Association.
WT Wooten Wildlife Area Campgrounds, Parking Areas, and Shooting Range: Natural Resource Technicians Jensen and Tritt checked the campgrounds and parking areas and cleaned up trash. Jensen cleaned up trash at the shooting range. Jensen and Tritt made repairs to the benches at the shooting range. Wildlife Area Manager Dingman scheduled for six vault toilets to be pumped next week. Jensen made repairs to the buck and rail fence at Campground 2.
Region 1 South Access Areas: Maintenance Mechanic Heimgartner and Natural Resource Technician Nielsen serviced access sites throughout the area this week. Nielsen used the access area tractor to smooth roads and parking areas at Couse Creek, Heller Bar, Faha, and Epson 3 on Tuesday. Nielsen also spent one day assisting wildlife area staff members with elk fence maintenance.
Chapman Lake Access: This week Wildlife Area Manager Finch, Region 1 Real Estate Specialist Stallinga, Access Manager Dziekan, Natural Resource Technician Brant, Capital and Asset Management (CAMP) Engineer Hansen and three other CAMP employees inspected the proposed route of the road to the lake, parking lot and boat launch site. The CAMP employees wanted to look at all aspect of the project to see if changes need to be made.
Providing Conflict Prevention and Education
Bear-resistant Food Lockers: Sherman Creek Wildlife Area staff members, Natural Resource Technician Graves, Wildlife Area Assistant Manager Palmer, and Wildlife Area Manager Anderson were joined by north Region 1 Water Access staff members Brant and Dziekan to prepare cement pads and install five bear-resistant food lockers at popular campsites. They installed the second and third boxes at Sherman Creek Wildlife Area, and the fourth and fifth at LeClerc Creek Wildlife Area. This now makes five lockers on the Sherman Creek Wildlife Area complex, and the very first ones on any state wildlife area!
Collection of Dead Elk: Biologist Johnson and Wildlife Conflict Technicians Keeling and Edmonson collected an elk carcass on private property. The elk was sampled for CWD and information about CWD was provided for the property owner, since they had never heard of it before. They encouraged the property owner to provide samples when they go hunting in the future.
Providing Education and Outreach
Presentation at Pioneer School: Biologist Brinkman visited Pioneer Elementary School in Spokane and gave a presentation on the differences between wildlife and domestic animals and what to do when the students encounter wild animals in their neighborhoods. The presentation was on Halloween, so the students arrived in costumes of their favorite animals.
Conducting Business Operations and Policy
Administrative Duties: WDFW archaeologists Celano and Armstrong inspected recent prescribed burn sites and sampled soil at planned post hole sites for two gates, at Sherman Creek on Thursday, November 14. The pair was assisted by WDFW Prescription Burn Coordinator Lionberger on their tour of burned locations. Celano reports that they found no archaeological items to report.
Conserving Natural Landscapes
4-O Ranch Wildlife Area Forest Management Project: Wildlife area staff members were notified at the end of the week that the forest management project is under way at the 4-O. Logging machinery that was working on adjacent private property moved in and operations to salvage burned timber and thin other areas identified by WDFW foresters is under way.
Worm Casting for Grassland Restoration: This week Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Range Specialist Shafer and Wildlife Area Manager Finch went to Otis Orchard to pick up the worm casting BLM purchased to include with the grass/forb mix when seeded. The new drill has three separate boxes. The front box will be used for the forbs, the middle box will be the grass mix, and the back box will be used for the worm casting. The worm will be applied as an experiment to see how it works with the soil and seeding. The worm castings will be applied at a full rate of 14lbs/ac on one third of the 70-acre field, one third of double the rate at 28lbs/ac and one third of the field with no worm castings. BLM Range Specialist Shafer had been doing research on this product and approached Finch about trying this product on the BLM grassland restoration project this fall.
Forest Habitat Management: Sherman Creek Wildlife Area Assistant Manager Palmer and Natural Resource Technician Graves traveled to LeClerc Creek Wildlife Area a few times during the week and removed undesirable lodgepole pine from more than 14 acres on a previously thinned site at LeClerc Creek’s half section parcel.
Lands and Facilities: Biologist Woodall went to the 4-O Ranch Wildlife Area to look at the post-burn thinning. He talked to the Bennett Forest Products representative and some of the logging crews. Bennett mentioned that one third of the projected harvest was already blue stained from bark beetles. The mills are not interested in this wood, as it is of no value. Woodall noticed very little regrowth, even after some significant rainfall.
Swegle Unit Restoration Project: Wildlife Area Manager Dingman and Natural Resource Technician Jensen spent the week planting in the Stovall fields on the Swegle Unit of the WT Wooten Wildlife Area. Natural Resource Technician Tritt spent two days helping plant. Other Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) staff members who assisted in planting this week include Safety Officer Moynahan, Private Lands Biologist Thorne-Hadley, Communications Specialist Lehman, and Acquisition Specialist Stallinga. A master hunter and an Inland Northwest Wildlife Council volunteer member from Spokane both drove down, and each spent a day assisting with the planting efforts. The week started with 3,000 plants and 2,760 plants were put in the ground. The remaining 240 plants will be planted on Monday morning.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Grassland Restoration: This weekend Wildlife Area Assistant Manager Wagner worked on the BLM Sandygrin grassland restoration project trying to get the seeding done before the weather changes. Natural Resource Technician Duclos spent all day Tuesday finishing seeding the 70-acre restoration project. After the completion of the seeding project, Wagner and Duclos moved all the equipment back to the Swanson Lakes headquarters. BLM Range Specialist Shafer and BLM Wildlife Biologist Lowe were out to see what extra work they could do with completing some of the grass seeding and worm casting. Both Shafer and Lowe will be out on Friday to pick up some extra grass seed and worm casting to distribute.
