Search For Jackrabbits

Where have all the jackrabbits gone?

Washington wildlife officials are trying to find out.

“Back when even the middle-age folks were kids … they remember when jackrabbits were splattered all over the roads,” biologist Jeff Bernatowicz said. “Now we just don’t see very many.”

Jim Tabor, wildlife biologist in Grant and Adams counties in Eastern Washington, plans his first search for jackrabbits on Tuesday.

“It’s a species that really hasn’t received much attention, but all of a sudden, we are getting the feeling that, `Hey, our jackrabbits are gone,”’ he said.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is sending workers into the sagebrush to find black- and white-tailed jackrabbits this fall.

Jackrabbits are a fundamental food for eagles and hawks.

“The decline of jackrabbit populations may be an indicator that the shrub-steppe ecosystem they depend on is in trouble,” said Harriet Allen, state endangered species section manager.

There is already good evidence for habitat destruction in other species such as the sage grouse and burrowing owls, which depend on the arid landscape.

As that land gets developed, habitat is just “bits and pieces in a sea of farmland,” Allen said.

The Fish and Wildlife department estimates that between 30,000 and 80,000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat are destroyed across the state each year.

Chinook restriction lifted

Anglers once again may keep chinook caught in the main stem Columbia River from Buoy 10 to the Bonneville Dam beginning today.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department lifted the restriction now that Snake River wild fall chinook, which are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, have migrated through the lower Columbia.

The lower Columbia also is open to fishing for hatchery coho and steelhead.

Idaho shooting times omitted

Idaho’s 1999-2000 season waterfowl rules pamphlet lists legal shooting times for each day of hunting except for Saturday’s opener, which was accidentally omitted.

The official shooting times for Saturday are 6:18 a.m. to 6:27 p.m. in the Pacific time zone portion of North Idaho.

The official shooting times correspond to a half-hour before sunrise to sunset.