Montana FWP wants to cut back on the Bobcat take . . .
Montana wildlife officials are considering cutting bobcat quotas across a broad swath of central and northern Montana.
John Vore of Fish, Wildlife and Parks says agency officials have seen a drop in bobcat numbers in those areas. He attributes the decline to a cyclical population shift, but says the agency doesn’t want to exacerbate the drop through hunting and trapping.
Bears are definitely on the move and looking for munchies, as witnessed by events near Big Fork earlier this month . . .
Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks caught and relocated two large grizzlies near Bigfork earlier this month during a trapping effort to capture a calf-killing bear that remains at large.
On April 2, a landowner reported that a newborn calf had been killed on his property near Mud Lake, while a second calf was missing. There were large grizzly tracks at the site, and investigators determined a large grizzly killed and consumed the missing calf.
The investigation showed that the bears trapped by FWP officials were not involved in the April 2 incident involving the deaths of the two calves, but FWP Grizzly Bear Specialist Tim Manely radio-collared and relocated the bears and continued trying to capture the target bear.
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Region 1 has a new wildlife manager . . .
A biologist who once specialized in grizzly bear diet, Neil Anderson recently took over as the new Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 wildlife manager.
Anderson officially began his new job at the Kalispell office on Feb. 9. His predecessor, Jim Williams, is now the regional director.
“I’ve worked with almost all the biologists here in one fashion or another,” Anderson said about his new position. “We’re not enforcing the laws, but we do work with game wardens a lot of the time to develop harvest strategies and season-setting. We have to make sure what we create is enforceable.”
This is a more extensive report on the bull trout population than the one posted earlier . . .
The bull trout population remains stable in Northwest Montana, according to state biologists who completed their annual inventory of spawning sites.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks recently released the results of its annual survey of the Clark Fork, Flathead and Kootenai drainages, and the data shows that the bull trout population has not experienced any significant changes, Regional Fisheries Manager Mark Deleray said.
“In FWP Region One waters, bull trout redd numbers appear stable in all basins, being very similar to 10-year averages,” Deleray said. “In each basin, this year’s count may be slightly higher or lower than last year’s, but not significantly different than recent years.”
The Region 1 bull trout redd counts are in . . .
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) Fisheries Field crews have completed the annual inventory of bull trout spawning sites in the Clark Fork, Flathead, and Kootenai drainages, which comprise northwest Montana’s FWP Region One. Experienced observers walk known spawning areas and count the number of spawning nests called redds. Female bull trout excavate a depression in the streambed where she deposits her eggs which are immediately fertilized by a male. These nests, called redds, are typically four to six feet long by three feet wide, or even larger and are easily identified when walking down the stream channel. Redd counts are indicative of the abundance levels of spawning adult bull trout each year. Redd counts are used to assess status and trends in bull trout populations in northwest Montana.
According to Region One Fisheries Program Manager Mark Deleray, there are no surprises in the 2014 bull trout redd counts for the Clark Fork, Flathead, and Kootenai drainages in Northwestern Montana.
“In FWP Region One waters, bull trout redd numbers appear stable in all basins, being very similar to 10-year averages,” says Deleray. “In each basin, this year’s count may be slightly higher or lower than last year’s, but not significantly different than recent years.” Deleray adds that his staff and cooperators put in a significant amount of field time to collect these data every year. Avista and the Bonneville Power Administration provide funding assistance…
For 37 years, Mike Gurnett has been paid to do something lots of folks would do for free . . .
The question longtime Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks filmmaker Mike Gurnett gets asked perhaps most frequently is: “Wait, you get paid to do this?”
“It reminds me that this is a good gig I’ve got going,” Gurnett said. “I figure that every month I take the trip of a year for somebody.”
In his 37 years making documentary films and short videos for FWP, Gurnett has spanned the state, filming in some of the most beautiful locations Montana has to offer. One week he may be filming biologists collaring grizzly bears. The next, it could be elk rutting in the Missouri River Breaks or sage grouse dancing on the prairie.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ South Fork Flathead Cutthroat Conservation Project is just about wrapped up. They’ve got three lakes left in their effort to restore a genetically pure westslope cutthroat trout population to the South Fork Flathead River drainage.
From the official press release . . .
Project status: The South Fork Flathead Cutthroat Conservation Project has been systematically removing non-native fish and replacing them with pure westslope cutthroat. The goal has been to maintain the world class genetically pure westslope cutthroat fishery in the South Fork Flathead River Drainage. FWP Project Biologist Matt Boyer reports that 12 mountain lakes have been successfully chemically treated and an additional 6 lakes are being genetically swamped and may not require chemical treatment. Only three lakes remain on the original list of 21 encompassed by the project in the South Fork Flathead Drainage.
This year’s activities and limit waiver: This year, Koessler Lake is scheduled for rotenone treatment in September. Koessler is an 86 acre lake located at the head of the Gordon Creek drainage within the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. The lake was historically stocked with nonnative Yellowstone cutthroat trout and presently contains westslope cutthroat/Yellowstone cutthroat trout hybrids. Koessler is a remote backcountry angling destination. In past years, anglers have asked for limit waivers to allow more harvest of fish prior to treatment. The current bag limit is 3 trout per day. The proposal to lift the fishing bag limit on Koessler Lake will be submitted to the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission. The FWP Commission will evaluate public comments and consider final approval of this proposal at their July meeting. It would go into effect immediately upon approval. Please contact your local Fish and Wildlife Commissioner if you have comments; address comments to: fwpcomm@mt.gov.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is considering a new statistical model for estimating the state’s wolf population . . .
Researchers from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the University of Montana estimate the state’s wolf population at more than 800 using a new statistical technique.
Researchers conducted a study of the new technique from 2007 to 2012. The new method, called patch occupancy modeling, uses deer and elk hunter observations coupled with information from radio-collared wolves. The statistical approach is a less expensive alternative to the old method of minimum wolf counts, which were performed by biologists and wildlife technicians. The results of the study estimate that for the five-year period, wolf populations were 25-35 percent higher than the minimum counts for each year.
“The study’s primary objective was to find a less-expensive approach to wolf monitoring that would yield statistically reliable estimates of the number of wolves and packs in Montana,” said Justin Gude, FWP’s chief of research for the wildlife division in Helena.
With the sage grouse population in decline, Montana will stop hunting them . . .
With preliminary results from Montana’s spring surveys showing a continued population decline of the state’s largest native upland game bird, wildlife officials will seek to close sage grouse hunting for the 2014 season.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will propose the season closure at the Fish & Wildlife Commission meeting in Fort Peck, Thursday, May 22.
Jeff Hagener, FWP director in Helena, said state biologists counted an average of 14.9 males per sage grouse strutting ground, or lek, last year and noted that preliminary indications show little or no improvement this year. Last year’s count was the lowest recorded since 1980…
Bears like chickens, which is causing headaches for bear management personnel . . .
Wildlife and land managers say they are seeing gradual acceptance and improvements in public education and outreach for grizzly bear conservation, but there also are setbacks in some areas, most notably the proliferation of bear-attracting chicken coops across Western Montana.
“The hobby chicken farmer is one of the greatest threats to the grizzly bear these days,” Chris Servheen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator, said Wednesday in Hungry Horse.
Servheen was one of the speakers during a meeting of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem subcommittee, a multi-agency panel that guides bear conservation and management.
As state grizzly bear management specialist Jamie Jonkel puts it, “chickens are the new garbage.”