Chinese Imports Bolster Oregon Pheasant Count

More than 5,000 Sichuan pheasants were released in Western Oregon recently by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which plans future hunting seasons.

In its fourth year, the agency’s pheasant-release program will release birds in Yamhill, Douglas, Polk, Linn and Jackson counties.

The birds were bred from an original group of 100 Sichuan pheasants obtained in 1991 from the state of Michigan.

Wildlife officials have turned to the Sichuan to bolster populations of ringneck pheasants, which have declined as their habitat disappears.

“Michigan hasn’t found any marked differences between the two species, and it apparently augments the ringneck population,” said Mark Nebeker, an assistant manager at the agency’s E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area.

The ringneck pheasants need brushy habitat, such as fence rows and corn and wheat fields. As those areas have declined, so have the ringnecks.

The Sichuan are more adaptable. In China, where both species originated, the Sichuan live at altitudes from sea level to 15,000 feet.