Field Reports

Wildlife viewing

Bald Eagles return to Lake Coeur d’Alene

More than 50 bald eagles have already returned to Lake Coeur d’Alene for their annual feeding fest on spawning kokanee in Wolf Lodge Bay.

“The snow’s been lingering in the trees and that makes counting difficult, since the white heads are what catch our eye,” said Scott Robinson, U.S. Bureau of Lane Management biologist. “I’m sure we’re missing some eagles in our counts until the snow clears from the trees.”

A record 156 eagles were counted around the bay in December 2004, exceeding the 2003 count by 13.

The birds congregate each year from November into January or until ice forms to keep them from diving and catching the fish.

“The daily life of an eagle in Wolf Lodge includes a dawn flight from a nightly roost over a mile away,” said Phil Cooper of the Idaho Fish and Game Department. “Feeding activity begins upon arrival at the lake and continues throughout the early morning. Eagles will locate a fish from the air or a perch over the water, swoop down and grab the fish with sharp talons, then returning to a feeding perch in a tree.”

Feeding slows at mid day, resuming in late afternoon before they fly back to their roosts.

Knowledgeable birders with spotting scopes and educational materials will be at the northeast end of Lake Coeur d’Alene Dec. 26-Jan. 1, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., for the 15th annual Eagle Watch Week sponsored by the BLM.

From Coeur d’Alene, drive 8 miles east on I-90 and take Exit 22. Follow the road to eagle viewing locations at the BLM boat launch or the Mineral Ridge Trailhead.

Info: www.id.blm.gov/

eagle_watch/index.htm.

Rich Landers

FISHERIES

Sturgeon get sanctuary

A mile-long sturgeon spawning sanctuary in the Columbia River immediately downstream of McNary Dam was approved last week by the Washington and Oregon fish and wildlife commissions.

No sturgeon angling will be allowed between McNary Dam and the Interstate 82 Bridge downstream during May, June and July. McNary Dam is a few miles east of Umatilla, Ore.

Guy Norman, Southwest Washington regional director for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the Columbia River treaty tribes asked the agency last spring for a McNary sanctuary.

Brad James, a department biologist, said the pools behind the Columbia River dams, particularly John Day pool, are underseeded with sturgeon.

“Most populations are just holding their own or slowly dying out,” he said.

Sturgeon spawn in the fast water downstream of the Columbia River dams, but generally the eggs and larvae don’t survive well, probably due to predation by suckers and other scrap fish, James said.

“Predatory fish hone in on these spawning areas,” he said.

The exception, he said, is during the occasional year with extremely high runoff in the Columbia, which causes the eggs to disperse better and produce more successful spawning.

Associated Press

ENDANGERED SPECIES

Flows for Idaho sturgeon

Biologists with the Army Corps of Engineers estimate that a plan to improve sturgeon habitat in the Kootenai River in North Idaho would result in $5.86 million in crop damage to area farmers due to higher groundwater levels.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended changes in river flows in 2000 to help Kootenai River white sturgeon, which have declined more than 90 percent from the 1980s estimated population of 5,000- 6,000. The wild fish have not successfully reproduced since 1974.

Biologists said the river moves more slowly than it has historically, allowing silt to fill the bottom of the river and cover crevices where young sturgeon hide.

The plan would increase water velocity and provide faster and higher flows that would more closely match historical flows. The faster-moving water is also expected to move more sand from spawning areas.

The crop damage figure was released in a November draft environmental impact statement for the plan, which calls for high water to be released during the summer instead of January through April.

“We’re trying to bring the river back to more natural patterns,” Evan Lewis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers biologist, told The Bonner County Daily Bee.

But area residents have said they are concerned about crop damage and increased flood risk. Crop losses — hops, barley, canola and wheat are all planted along the Kootenai’s banks — are expected from higher groundwater levels when the river level is held higher for longer periods.

Crop losses due to higher groundwater levels are expected to increase by about 18 percent a year.

Anglers are concerned that higher water levels will make the river less fishable. But anglers might have more fish to go after, because the plan is intended to help many fish species, Lewis said.

Associated Press

WILDERNESS

Expanding the cause

Protecting the Rocky Mountain Front continues to be the Montana Wilderness Association’s No. 1 priority, but the group’s attitude toward accomplishing that goal is changing, MWA President Gerry Jennings said last week.

“It used to be all or nothing,” she said. “Now we’re willing to look at land conservation planning with other types of preservation.”

Jennings’ comments came during the MWA’s 47th annual convention in Billings.

In her opening speech, Jennings called for more protection of eastern Montana’s prairie and said the MWA is making a push to get more students involved in outdoor programs.

“Let’s face it. The younger generation is the future of wilderness,” she said. “But in so many ways, our young parents think everything’s been done for them, and the fight’s over. Unfortunately, like so many other things, it is in times of crisis that people get stirred up.”

Associated Press