TREE TALK
by Gary Martin
How’s it going this month! Sure hope all students, teachers, bus drivers, school staff and everyone, are off to a great start with this school year! Recent events got me to thinking. And I do this kind of thinking every day. But at various points in life, something happens that gives me a good, powerful reminder. It can be easy to take things for granted. I start the day and assume everything’s going to be OK. Sometimes, it’s not going to be. Sometimes it’s a big thing; sometimes it’s a small thing. Maybe I’m not directly affected by it, but it still moves me. Moves me to the point where words don’t come easily. And feeling a little helpless clear across the country, I’ve done some personal reflection. Our photo says what I want to say. I am very glad, very thankful for where I live, for the forest that I get to explore, for what I have and for everyone I get to “talk” with each month here. Take care! Talk with you again next month J
Keller Osprey Get New Home
-Dinah Demers, Fish and Wildlife
In late August, Colville Business Councilwoman Jeanne Jerred and her husband LeRoy noticed a pair of osprey carrying nesting materials to the top of a utility pole in her pasture across from the Keller school. “We both wanted to see the nest protected, and preserved so I contacted the Natural Resource Program to ensure that that would come about”, said Jerred.
Sometimes mistaken for eagles, osprey are large, fish-eating birds whose numbers have increased in recent years. Pairs usually build their large stick nests at the top of a tall dead tree, or snag, located near water, a location that gives them a good view of their foraging area. When suitable snags are in short supply, osprey may choose utility poles for nest sites. The birds in Keller may be young birds, or an older pair that lost its nest tree this year, that were scoping out a nest site for next year.
Tribal Fish and Wildlife staff contacted Randy Sage, Ferry County PUD General Foreman and arranged a meeting on site to discuss a strategy to protect the nest. It was agreed that, in its location on the utility pole, the nest presented a risk of fire and power outages, as well as possible electrocution to the birds.
Sage agreed to install a new pole nearby, just for the birds. He contacted the Jerreds to work out the details for when the removal of the existing nest and installation of the new pole would occur. This was the second nesting pole that Ferry County PUD has installed for osprey along the San Poil River between Keller and the Ferry.
On September 6, the new 50 foot pole, with a specially designed nesting platform on top, was set in place. The nesting pole is taller than the original pole, and is situated to give the birds a good view of the San Poil River. Sage moved all of the nesting material from the utility pole to the new platform, to encourage the birds to move to the new site.
When the last of the sticks had been moved, Sage smiled broadly and called down, “I’m not a bird! I don’t know how to build a nest!” While he may not know how to build a nest to exact osprey standards, he does know how to pick a spot, because Jerred reports that she observed the osprey pair visiting the nest in its new location the next day.
Mrs. Jerred stated that she and LeRoy “appreciate the whole-hearted cooperation of the Ferry County PUD, CCT Fish and Wildlife, and the Natural Resource Departments in protecting this special nest.”
We’ll all be watching for the birds to return next spring, and successfully bring off a brood!
PUBLIC MEETING
FOUR BEARS 2007 TIMBER HARVEST PLAN
The Omak-Nespelem District of the Colville Indian Reservation is planning a timber harvest to address overstocking, insects, diseases and other forest health issues on the Four Bears project area. Four Bears is situated a mile south of Gold Lake at the headwaters of the Nespelem River. It encompasses approximately 9,035 acres of which 441 acres is fee property and 8,594 acres is tribal trust ground. There are no allotments inside the project boundary. Timber harvests were done in this watershed in the mid-1940s, 1960s, early 1980s and mid-1990s. From June 1995 to November 1996, 12.36 million board feet of timber were harvested from 1,498 acres for a total revenue of 2.77 million dollars.
Colville Tribal Forestry and the Bureau of Indian Affairs propose a combination of thinning and regeneration timber harvest treatments in 2007-2009 on approximately 2,500 acres of the Four Bears project area. A public meeting is scheduled for October 12, 2005, at the Catholic Longhouse from 5 to 8 pm for public review of the draft proposal. Maps and information about forest health conditions and recommended treatments of specific harvest areas will be available for review and comments.
For more information call 634-2561.
Colville Confederated Tribes Fish and Wildlife Department
Seeking Adult Involvement for District Archery & Gun ClubsI am seeking adults in the four districts of Nespelem, Omak, Keller, and Inchelium, interested in helping start out archery and gun clubs. By having such clubs in your area opinions or ideas about hunting or any other regulations will be heard as a group to make possible changes.
Also, it will give the youth leadership to start their education in the outdoors from different people which is needed on our reservation. My need for these clubs is to make scheduled events not in just one area,, but all areas of the reservation, such as archery shoots, hunter safety classes, rifle shoots, and taking the younger generation out to harvest their first deer.
I will be involved with these clubs to help get them off the ground. Please contact me if you are interested or have any resources to offer.
Aaron Carden
Fish and Wildlife Youth Coordinator
(509) 634-2151
