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Aerial counts conducted in late August showed chukar populations similar to last year’s in the Salmon and Snake river drainages. Though not at all-time highs, the counts indicate numbers 74 percent above the five-year average on the Salmon from White Bird to Billy Creek, and 23 percent above the average on the Snake River from Lewiston to Corral Creek. In those areas, the birds per mile figure was 89 and 59. Last year, birds per mile were 91 and 72 in those areas.
On Fish and Game’s Wildlife Management Area on the Snake River west of Cambridge. The bird per mile count this year is 110.8 where it was 109.3 last fall.
Upland Game Bird Manager Tom Hemker said hunters should remember that aerial surveys for partridge have proven to be an excellent indication of overall trends in populations but is not considered to have the same level of precision as aerial counts of big game. A slight variation from year to year, as between this year’s count and last year’s, may not be apparent to hunters on the ground.
Aerial counts are not done in the Salmon Region, which includes the Upper Salmon River drainage, but unofficial reports indicate another “very good year” there, according to Salmon wildlife biologist Mike Scott.
Chukar numbers last year and this fall have finally returned to levels almost as high as in the early 1990s. Populations dropped dramatically in the middle 1990s throughout the chukar range in Idaho because of winter conditions. Numbers fell as low as 13 birds per square mile in the Salmon River survey area and nine birds per square mile on the Snake River in 1995.
The chukar partridge season begins September 18 and runs through January 15, 2000 with limits of eight birds per day and 16 in possession after the first day. The season dates and limits for gray (Hungarian) partridge are the same. September 18 is also the opening of quail and sage grouse seasons.
Salmon and Steelhead Days
The popular salmon barbeque, part of the annual Salmon and Steelhead Days celebration, is set for September 9 in Boise.
The dinner event uses salmon from Alaska. Murphy’s restaurant will cater the salmon steak dinner while salads are provided by Sysco Foods, soft drinks by Pepsi and Ice cream from Goody’s.
Tickets are available at Fish and Game in the lobby at 1075 Park Blvd and at all Treasure Valley Fish and Game offices including the Garden City office for $6 per person. The dinner is held at the MK Nature Center from 6-9 p.m. September 9. Seating is limited, so advance ticket purchase is encouraged.
Salmon and Steelhead Days, September 8-10, includes demonstrations by the Nez Perce, hands-on educational activities and viewing of live adult salmon recently returned to Idaho.
Summer’s Wildfires Harm Sage Grouse
This summer’s desert wildfires make life tougher for America’s largest grouse.
Sage grouse were already the focus of southern Idaho working groups because of a long-term decline seen in almost all populations in western states. These groups are made up of representatives of public lands grazing interests, hunters, conservation groups and wildlife professionals. National environmental organizations have already indicated that they will seek federal protection for sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. Fish and Game is conducting intensive research projects aimed at finding the causes of sage grouse decline.
Large wildfires across southern Idaho deserts this summer have made the situation worse.
Fish and Game Upland Game Bird program manager Tom Hemker recently prepared the following explanation:
What are all the recent wildfires doing to sage grouse habitat?
The hot wildfires fires we are having now are destroying lots of important habitat for sage grouse. Sagebrush is killed by hot fires and most if not all the seed is also destroyed. Large fires may remove all the sagebrush from thousands of acres.
Why is sagebrush so important to sage grouse?
The only thing that sage grouse eat during the winter time is the flowers and buds of sagebrush. During the spring sage grouse nest under sagebrush and, if all the sagebrush is gone, predators have a much easier time finding and destroying their nests.
Why are there so many wildfires?
A couple of reasons, first there are more and more people in Idaho and they are spending more and more time in the desert. Accidents happen and fires start. Secondly, the annual weed cheatgrass has become common throughout the West and is a fine fuel that burns easily and quickly. It has invaded vast acreages in Idaho and crowded out sagebrush and other native grasses and plants.
How do these fires affect other wildlife?
Healthy sagebrush ecosystems are important for many species of wildlife including several kinds of songbirds and rabbits, as well as deer, elk and antelope.
Is this a problems in other parts of the West?
Yes. In northern Nevada, for example, about 1.3 million acres has burned this summer burning important sagebrush habitats there too.
How long will it take for the land to repair itself?
Maybe never, if cheatgrass infests an area. It can crowd out almost all other vegetation and make an area useless for all the native wildlife that need sagebrush. At best it will take 15-20 years in mountain sagebrush areas and maybe 50 years or more in drier areas for the sagebrush to reestablish.
What can we do?
Try to prevent wildfires and, if they start, try to put them out particularly in areas with important sagebrush habitats. Replanting sagebrush where the seed has been destroyed is also going to crucial if we are going to keep sage grouse and other kinds of Idaho wildlife that need this important plant for food and shelter.
Sockeye Return Grows to Five
Five 18-inch male sockeye salmon, the first ever to return after rearing in the captive breeding program, have now returned to the Sawtooth Hatchery on the main Salmon River in central Idaho.
The first three-year-old salmon turned up at the hatchery weir early on August 12. The second sockeye arrived at the hatchery August 16 and the other two followed several days later. The most recent swam into the weir August 25. Idaho Fish and Game fisheries personnel are not sure how many more fish will be able to complete the trip from the Pacific Ocean up the Columbia and Snake Rivers, on to the headwaters of the Salmon River.
One sockeye, a wild male, came back last year. Since 1991, 21 sockeye have returned. All of those fish, until the latest arrivals, were born in Redfish Lake.
The adult males have been placed in a holding vat at the hatchery where they will remain while biologists wait to see how many more will arrive. The first two arrivals show a marked ventral fin, clipped adipose fin and a coded-wire tag which identifies them as having been among the 40,000 juvenile sockeye released into the Salmon River below Sawtooth Hatchery in May, 1998. At the same time, 20,000 juveniles were released at Redfish Lake Creek.
The fin-clips identify these adults as being second generation progeny of two female and six male sockeye which returned to Idaho in 1993. These fish, including the one that has returned all the way home, spent only one winter in the ocean rather than the typical two years at sea.
To minimize the risks in captive breeding of these endangered salmon, captive broodstocks are reared at Eagle Hatchery in Idaho, operated by Fish and Game, and at the National Marine Fisheries Service site at Manchester in Washington state. Progeny of these broodstocks are released into waters of the Stanley Basin.
Uploaded: 9/2/1999
Uploaded: 9/2/1999