Northern Rocky Mtn. Wolf Population Is Down

The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2012 Annual Report for the Northern Rocky Mountain (NRM) Gray Wolf Population shows fewer wolves in more packs. The overall decrease in the number of wolves is seven percent, the report found. It’s the first decrease in wolf population since restoration efforts in the region began.

An Associated Press story that ran in the Helena (Montana) Independent Press and elsewhere noted that wolf populations were down 16 percent from 2011 in Wyoming, four percent in Montana and eight percent in Idaho. There were population gains in eastern Washington and eastern Oregon, the article says.

An article in the Spokane Spokesman-Review sites a slightly different number, an 11 percent decrease, and says that state wildlife managers had hoped for a larger decrease in the population.

Read the 2012 Annual Report for the Northern Rocky Mountain (NRM) Gray Wolf Population here. (13-page PDF)
Read the US Fish and Wildlife Service press release here. (It is a less a summary of the report than support for current management strategies.)

Read the AP story in the Helena Independent Record, here.
Read the Spokane Spokesman-Review article, here.

Montana Wolf Management Advisory Council also met on the same day the report was released. It suggested a bounty system and creating a list of trappers among other things. Read the article in the [Montana] Missoulian, here.

Photo: National Elk Refuge biologist Eric Cole removes a whisker from a male yearling wolf. The sample can be used for a sample isotope analysis to learn about the animal’s diet. Credit: Lori Iverson / USFWS

Good News from Pygmy Rabbit Relocation Project

Penny Becker, a research scientist overseeing the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit recovery effort for the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife is pleased with the 40 percent survival rate of the rabbits released through a breeding program that brought in rabbits from surrounding states, according to an article in the Seattle Times.

That 40 percent survival rate compares to a survival rate of 10 percent for wildlife pygmy rabbits in Oregon, and 22 percent for wild pygmy rabbits in Idaho, the article says. The population was listed as federally endangered in 2003.

Read the entire story in the Seattle Times, here.

Photo: pygmy rabbit, perhaps in Idaho. Courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management.

Wolf News

Generally we don’t cover wolves because the news has more to do with politics than with scientific research. However, wolves have been in the news a lot these last few months, as several states had their first wolf hunting seasons, and state wildlife departments play a starring role, so it makes sense to at least round-up some of these stories. Fittingly, the first one is:

Minnesota wolf management is based on sound science and conservation principles
In response to a petition to stop the state’s first wolf hunt, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued this press release. (Press release)

Wolves kill bear hounds in Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources notices aren’t on-line, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a similar notice. Find the link to the records mentioned, here.

Wolf season closes in one of Montana’s management districts
(Flathead Beacon)

Wyoming wolf hunt began Oct. 1
(Wyoming Star Tribune)

Fish and Game Commission Vote Clears Way for Further Study of Wolf Status
The California Fish and Game Commission will perform a 12-month status review of the gray wolf before deciding if it warranted endangered species status. (Press release)

Mexican Wolf Not a Subspecies, Feds Say
WildEarth Guardians press release, here.
Federal Register, here.

Guarding Sheep to Save Wolves
A New York Times article on a Defenders of Wildlife program to use nonlethal deterrents to keep wolves away from sheep.

News from the Wyoming wolf hunt
(Jackson Hole Daily)

Classes preach caution during Montana’s first trapping season
(Missoula Independent)

Hunters ready for 1st wolf hunts in Wis., Minn.
(Associated Press/Seattle Times)
(Also, Wisc. hunt in Chippawa Herald)

Wolves play a role in Okanogan County (Washington) elections
(Wenatchee World)

Wildlife groups step up to stop [Minnesota] wolf hunts
(Minnesota Daily)

Big mamas help wolf pups thrive [in Yellowstone]
(Billings Gazette)

Oregon wolf collaring and depredation records
(Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife)

Minnesota DNR studies wolf behavior as hunting season approaches
(Minnesota Public Radio)

Recent killing in Washington reignites wolves-livestock debate
(AP/Bellingham Herald)

Photo of gray wolf by Gary Kramer, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Old-timers Keep Mountain Lions Stable

In January, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will begin using “equilibrium management” to determine the number of mountain lions (or cougars, Puma concolor) taken by hunters in each management unit, according to a press release from Washington State University. This will limit the take to the natural amount of reproduction — 14 percent, according to the release.

Research by Washington State University’s Large Carnivore Conservation Lab has found that mature, adult male mountain lions are the lynchpin of the species’ population dynamics. According to the press release, mature males will kill younger males to protect their territories, keeping the overall population low. The mature males are also less likely to prey on livestock.

There is no word, however, on how using equilibrium management will prevent hunters from killing all the mature males in an area, therefore releasing the less stable younger males.

Several news outlets have published the press release with no additional reporting. Read the press release here.
Find the current studies of the Large Carnivore Conservation Lab, including many studies on Puma, here.

Photo courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation

Here A Pig, There A Pig

Old MacDonald never had it so good with his own domestic pigs. But if he has a farm in the Northwestern US, he may soon regret the success of feral swine, which have become a big problem in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

That has led those three states to create the “Squeal on Pigs” campaign to encourage hunters and others to report feral swine sightings. Local newspaper coverage (see below) reports a toll-free phone number for reporting the swine, but no info on a website for further info.

Read the article in the Spokane Spokesman-Review, here.
Read the Idaho Statesman article, here.

More info from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, here.

Of course, knowing how many feral swine you have in your state and whether that number is growing or declining is always an issue. “Squeal on Pigs” is one solution, but another is presented in the June issue of Wildlife Biology. European researchers have had success using DNA from fecal samples to model a feral swine population.

Read more in Wildlife Biology. (Subscription or fee required for full article.)

Photo: A feral swine piglet.

Proposed ESA Listing for 2 Washington Plants

The US Fish and Wildlife Service would like to add the Umtanum desert buckwheat and White Bluffs bladderpod to the federal endangered species list, says the Spokane Spokesman-Review.

The two plants are found only in Washington State’s Hanford Reach National Monument, and were discovered during a survey of the area in 1995.

Read more in the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
Find the Federal Register listing, here. The comment period is open until July 16.

March Roundup of New Research

Spring is here and a bunch of wildlife surveys are underway around the country.

In Delaware:
-It’s the fifth and final year of the Delaware Breeding Bird Atlas.
-A special effort is being made in 2012 to tally owls as part of the atlas.
–Horseshoe crabs are being tallied again, and volunteers are being trained.
-The annual osprey count is offering a volunteer training for the first time since 2007.

Maryland is two years in to four years of surveys for an amphibian and reptile atlas and is looking for volunteers.

In Kansas, they are searching for lesser prairie chicken breeding areas, or leks, from the air with helicopters. Field crews will train on March 29-31 and conduct official survey work across all of western Kansas until the middle of May. The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is also asking people to report leks. The survey is part of a five-state effort, and the survey technique will be evaluated.

In North Dakota, the Game and Fish Department has launched a two-year study of white-tailed deer in intensely farmed agricultural areas.

In Maine, biologists at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife have visited up to 100 dens each winter for 37 years, making the survey in the nation’s oldest radio-collar monitoring program for bears. This year the Maine Sunday Telegram wrote a story about it, with lots of pics. Read it here.

And in Washington, commuters have been reporting wildlife sightings for over a year on the I-90 corridor in anticipation of road improvements. The project’s first annual report was released recently, generating articles in the Everett Herald  and The Seattle Times, and coverage other media.

Photo of I-90 Wildlife Watch billboard by Paula MacKay/Western Transportation Institute, used by permission.

Research on the Hoof

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has announced surveys of bighorn, pronghorn and elk, and Washington State is examining the health of its elk herd.

A Colorado Division of Wildlife press release describes the bighorn and elk surveys as major research projects. The aim of the elk study is to get a better idea of the population and to find elk migration patterns. The bighorn study will investigate the decline of one of the three populations of sheep in the survey area.

Read the whole press release for more details about the Colorado bighorn and elk study, including survey methods.

The pronghorn study will investigate why fawn survival is so low in a population introduced into western Colorado about 10 years ago, another Division of Wildlife press release says. In related news, on March 1, 74 pronghorns were released to supplement a population in the Gunnison Basin.

Read the pronghorn press release here, for more details, including survey techniques.

Biologists from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are examining elk organs and teeth submitted by hunters to determine the health of the herd, says an article in the Eugene Register-Guard. The teeth were used to determine the age of each animal. The organs are examined for fat, the article says. There’s a formula that converts the amount of fat observed on the organs to a percentage of fat on-the-hoof.

The fatter the better, since fat reserves are needed to get through the winter.

Read the whole article here.

Photo: A pronghorn antelope is release March 1, 2012, by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The pronghorn was captured in Limon earlier in the day and released near Delta to supplement a small herd in that area. Photo: Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit’s Last Stand

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is making what may be a final attempt to restore the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit to its native habitat. A 2007 attempt to reintroduce zoo-bred rabbits into the wild ended in most of the naive rabbits being eaten by predators.

This time the rabbits will be released into a fenced enclosure, with gradual exposure to predators through smaller enclosures with tunnels to the outside. The rabbits are not pure-bred Columbia Basin pygmies, but have been bred with pygmy rabbits from Idaho and Oregon, which are not endangered. In fact, most other pygmy rabbits in the West thrive.

Read more in this article in the Idaho Statesman. An InsideScience report on the restoration is available via US News and World Report. Or read the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife press release. Read the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s species profile (well technically, a “distinct population segment” profile) here.

Photo: A pygmy rabbit of unknown distinct population segment, likely from Idaho, courtesy of the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Photo Credit: R. Dixon (IDFG) and H. Ulmschneider (BLM)

Swans were poisoned, not shot

In January five trumpeter swans were found dead around the Dungeness Valley on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. One of them was believed to be shot because X-rays showed 41 shot ­gun pellets in the bird’s body. Trumpeter swans came near to extinction at the beginning of the 20th Century, and while they have recovered, the number of deaths in one area, and the possible shooting, were a concern.

However, further tests showed that all five of the swans had lethal levels of lead in their livers.

Local wildlife managers don’t know where the swans could have ingested the lead shot. Swans and other birds swallow stones and grit to help them grind up food in their gizzards. The wildlife managers will keep an eye out for further lead poisoning cases in the region in the future.

Read more info in this report from a local radio station. And in this article from the Peninsula Daily News.

I tried really hard to work in an “eat lead” joke here, but I just couldn’t do it.

Photo: Thomas G. Barnes, University of Kentucky, courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service