Idaho Focuses On Decline Of Sage Grouse

Idaho sage grouse are ailing, but a new state plan aims to get them back on track before they are listed as an endangered species.

Drought and fires have sent certain populations of these popular desert game birds into a tailspin. Biologists, ranchers, hunters and land managers want to fix it now.

“If we jump in ahead of time, something can be done before it’s too late and we get a listing,” Idaho Farm Bureau vice president Greg Nelson said.

Idaho and other states waited too long to react to declines in salmon and bull trout populations and have lost control to federal wildlife agencies. This time, affected groups all got together earlier and wrote a plan, approved this month by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission, to restore the birds.

The plan emphasizes voluntary management partnerships and may put the state ahead of the game by:

Prompting ranchers to modify their grazing practices on the millions of acres of sagebrush desert across southern Idaho.

Cutting back hunting seasons.

Restricting desert use by visitors to cut down on fire threat.

Sage grouse, known for colorful strutting during breeding, are among Idaho’s most popular game birds. Hunters killed 27,000 in 1995, down from 57,000 in 1990.

For the Shoshone-Paiute Indians, the hearts of the birds are used in ceremonies. Many tribal members still depend on grouse for food, said Terry Gibson, of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation.

“For people with health problems, increasingly the recommendation is to go back to your native foods,” Gibson said. The problem for sage grouse is that sagebrush is disappearing.

As its name implies, the bird and the shrub are inextricably intertwined.

Unlike most game birds, sage grouse are not very productive. They only try to breed once a year.

The recent discovery that southern sage grouse are a separate species has increased the chances for protection under the Endangered Species Act. But Idaho still has millions of acres of highquality habitat, and that gives state officials time to act.

Cattle and sage grouse can live together if the birds’ critical nesting needs are met, said Clait Braun, an expert on grouse from Colorado.

The Idaho plan calls for ranchers to leave 7 inches of stubble in the nesting areas during the spring. It also requires stream-side areas to be improved in grouse habitat.

Restrictions on sturgeon

All sturgeon caught in the Columbia River and its tributaries from John Day Dam upstream to McNary Dam must be released, effective immediately, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department announced this week.

The allowable catch of 560 sturgeon from the reservoir will be taken by that date, officials estimated. Recreational anglers may continue to fish for sturgeon in the reservoir, but sturgeon must be released immediately.

All sturgeon in Bonneville and The Dalles reservoirs must be released as well.

Biologists have found signs that sturgeon are recovering in parts of the Columbia. This year, the recreational quota for sturgeon in John Day reservoir was increased to 560 fish from 100. The 1997 quota for The Dalles reservoir was increased from 100 to 200 sturgeon. The quota for Bonneville reservoir was up from 1,350 to 1,520 fish.

Trapping class scheduled

A required class for first-time trappers in Washington is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Sept. 17 at the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department office at 8702 N. Division in Spokane.

Trappers must complete the course in order to purchase a state trapping license. The free class covers trapping regulations plus safe and humane methods, said Madonna Luers, department spokeswoman.

Pre-register by calling the Spokane office at 456-4082.

Chinook bonanza in Idaho

Idaho anglers had a taste of the best chinook salmon fishing in years this summer as some runs of hatchery chinooks provided a rare but welcome opportunity.

“We got just a tiny glimpse of the possibilities,” said Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologist Dave Cannamela, after substantial returns of some hatchery stocks allowed limited seasons for the giant fish on several streams.

Many fishers who came along too late for the last Idaho general salmon seasons in the 1970s had their first chance to hook into a 12-to 20-pound chinook.

The salmon recovery issue can be highly contentious, but when the fish counts climbed high enough for Fish and Game to declare a season on hatchery fish this spring, Idahoans shifted from argument to action.

During June, July and August, the department held chinook seasons on the Lochsa River, the mainstem Clearwater river and South fork, North Fork and Middle Fork Clearwater rivers, the Little Salmon and South Fork Salmon rivers, and the Boise and Payette rivers. Fish and Game estimates 6,000 anglers logged 60,000 hours fishing for the spring- and summer-run chinook, which are named for the time they leave the Pacific Ocean and re-enter the Columbia River.

Fishers harvested at least 3,458 hatchery-raised chinooks and caught and released 1,000 more. As with steelhead, all hatchery chinook are marked as smolts. Only fish with an adipose fin clip were available for legal harvest. Anglers were not permitted to keep wild chinooks.

The salmon had to swim upstream 500 miles to reach their streams of origin.

Ed Bowles, Idaho Fish and Game’s anadromous fisheries manager, observed that while wild chinook numbers were up from the past few years, the overall declining trend has not changed.

“Even in a year like this when all the stars lined up, as far as environmental conditions and other factors go,” Bowles said, “the picture still remains bleak for the critical wild component on the runs.”

Smolts produced from the eggs of adult chinook that returned this year will head to the ocean in 1999. That will be a pivotal time because the National Marine Fisheries Service is scheduled to decide that year whether to continue the status quo or adapt a new direction in salmon recovery strategy.

Two recent studies concluded the current reliance on barging smolts down through the Columbia and Snake river dams, along with flow augmentation and water spilling at dams, will not bring about salmon recovery.

Comment sought

Each of the seven Idaho Fish and Game regions will hold public meetings seeking comment on possible elimination of two requirements from proposed new fishing regulations.

Schedules for the meetings are available from regional offices.

The department has proposed eliminating barbless hook rules for trout fishing because enforcement of barbless rules requires a disproportionate amount of conservation officers’ time and results in issuance of many citations without a definite benefit to fish resources.

A second change would eliminate the requirement for sturgeon fishing permits.

, DataTimes