TREE TALK
by Gary Martin“OWHI LAKE KID’S DAY”
How’s it going this month! Congratulations to all graduates and students! A BIG THANK YOU to our school systems for everything they do! Now get out there and have a safe, fun summer vacation! On May 11, we enjoyed a great day of environmental, cultural and all-around education with Nespelem School at Owhi Lake. I think this was our 13th year. As always, we had an awesome time! To allow room for photos, I’ll try to keep the talk short.
Resource workshops for the day included: U.S. Forest Service with salmon games, loon learning, soils’ fun and smokejumping, Parks & Recreation Officers with Boat, EMS with Ambulance, Smokey Bear & Fire Management, Indian Health Service & Dental Department, Language Preservation with games, Rebecca Lake Engines, U.S. National Park Service, Washington State University Cooperative Extension, Tribal Fish & Wildlife, Resource Inventory Analysis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Chief Joseph Dam) & water safety, Lake Roosevelt High School students and Nespelem School Culture Program with activities. THANK YOU ALL!
We really appreciate all of you workshop leaders, speakers, helpers and volunteers! THANKS for caring! A BIG THANKS to all you students, teachers, bus drivers and staff of Nespelem School for coming to the lake! A BIG THANKS to the Nespelem School lunch team for the tasty lunches! A BIG, BIG THANKS to the Nespelem Parent Education Committee, CTEC – Forest Products Division and TANF for sponsoring our cool t-shirts!
Thank you kids, for your willingness to enjoy some environmental and cultural education! This day is for you! Your smiles and positive attitudes really make the day special! We look forward to seeing you again next year! Hope everyone had a great, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Talk with you again next month. J
LEAVING WELL ENOUGH ALONE
It’s spring time – and the woods and fields are alive with wildlife parents and their new babies.
Each year, many young animals, including deer fawns, elk and moose calves, and baby birds are picked up and removed from the wild when people find them and assume that they have been orphaned or abandoned. However, this is almost never the case! Doe deer, and elk and moose cows leave their young babies unattended for most of the time, in order to avoid drawing in predators. Fawns and calves are born with little body scent of their own – a natural defense mechanism to help hide them from predators. Even though the young animals may appear to be all alone, their mothers are usually not far away.
Free roaming dogs often chase and attack young animals, causing injury or even death. When these injured animals are ‘rescued’, it is very difficult to treat and re-release the youngsters back into the wild. More often than not, the young animals do not survive in captivity.
Removing seemingly orphaned or injured young animals from the wild actually reduces their chance of survival, because they are very difficult to raise, become attached to humans, and fail to learn how to forage and evade predators in the wild.
The best way to help young wild animals is to leave them alone, say Tribal Fish and Wildlife biologists. If you have handled a young animal, return it to the spot where you found it as soon as possible and leave the area. The notion that does and cows will reject a fawn or calf if they smell human scent on it is false, but it is still best to minimize contact.
The Fish and Wildlife Department also ask that people keep their dogs tied up or otherwise confined to the area right around their homes, to minimize the risk of injury to young animals in the spring and early summer.
Let’s all work together to give young wildlife room to grow!
Colville Confederated Tribes
Fish & Wildlife Department
ATTENTION TRIBAL HUNTERS
We need your help in managing Big Game on the Colville Reservation and North Half
One of the major tasks of the Tribal Wildlife Program is to determine the distribution and population number of deer, elk and moose on the Reservation, and to monitor these populations over time. It is also important for us, as managers, to determine a reliable measure of the annual sex ratios (bucks to does, and bulls to cows) and age classes within the big game herds. Both the numbers of animals, as well as the composition of the herds are used to assess herd status: are the Tribes’ big game populations healthy, increasing, or on the decline??
Fish and Wildlife managers of Big Game here on the Colville Reservation have a limited number of tools available to help us track animal populations. Our most reliable tool to date has been our annual winter aerial flight surveys. These surveys allow us to develop a trend in population size within known winter ranges.
However, the data from these aerial surveys does not give us any information regarding what might be causing population increases or declines. One common tool used to give wildlife managers a better idea of the factors affecting animal populations is the data we get from Hunting Reports: this data comes from you, the hunter, when you fill out and return the bottom portions of your Hunting Tags. Unfortunately the importance of Hunting Reports is largely unknown, and tags are often viewed as being regulatory or restricting.
Tags provide information about where animals were harvested, how many were harvested, when they were harvested, and an estimated age of the animal. This data is critical in helping managers understand how herd size and herd composition (i.e. # of Bulls, Cows and Calves) is being influenced by harvest. Here is an example, if the elk herd that lives on “Wise Bull Ridge” is declining, but we know there has not been enough elk harvested to cause the decline, than we can focus our attention on other possible causes such as habitat degradation or predators.
Even hunters that are not successful provide important data.
By knowing the total number of hunters attempting to harvest an animal and the number of hunters that are both successful and unsuccessful or that didn’t even try, we can calculate what is known as “catch per unit effort”. This basically tells us how hard it is to harvest an animal. For example, a decrease in the “catch per unit effort” would signal to managers that a decline in the population has occurred.
A third reason tags are so valuable to managers is that knowing where animals are living during the summer and fall allows us to make informed decisions when reviewing areas proposed for timber harvest, prescribed fire, cattle grazing, and other land management activities that influence big game habitat. We can only protect or enhance habitat if we know it is being used by wildlife.
From a wildlife managers perspective the information received from a returned tag is way more beneficial than any regulatory mechanism that it may imply.
Please help in managing your big game by completing and returning the bottom portion of your tags, regardless of whether you were successful or not.
Thanks and have a safe hunt,
Eric Krausz
Wildlife Biologist
CCT F&W Dept.CLICK HERE FOR SPECIAL HUNT TAGS
Colville Reservation Conservation District (CRCD)
Colville Reservation Conservation District (CRCD) Supervisor Luanne Finley from Inchelium District was only too happy to help out during the 2006 Owhi Lake Kid’s Day! It was great to see so many young people with a desire to learn how they can help conserve the natural resources on their reservation. Hannah Hull from WSU Extension lead in a fun-filled game concerning Noxious weeds, yes, most kids knew what noxious weeds are. Most described noxious weeds as OBNOXIOUS and everyone can relate to anything obnoxious. They seem to really enjoy being the game pieces and rolling the large dice and answering the questions as they proceeded to the correct number they’d rolled. It is CRCD’s desire to continue to help with any activity which will help educate young people about how to do their part in destroying noxious weeds and keep from spreading them any further.
CRCD continues to work on a 7 Generation Plan which is structured to conserve Natural Resources on the Colville Reservation. Some of the topics of greatest interest to CRCD will be to take part in the following areas on the reservation:
We want to see homes and areas free of junk cars, machinery, garbage, and debris. We want to see these areas restored to clean, safe, and environmentally safe habitat. We want to see an ABUNDANCE of clean, clear, cold water and all lands free of noxious weeds. CRCD would like to see decommissioned roads restored to as close to natural as possible and home sites located in settings not having a negative impact on natural resources and landscape. We want to see this accomplished by the replanting of native trees and grass species. We have a vision of a balanced cycle of life, for future generations to acquire the knowledge as to the maintenance of the land and production through traditional values.
CRCD meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 888 Methow St. in the NRCS office at 10 a.m.
Notice: Fishery Open!
Okanogan Spring/Summer/Fall Chinook Salmon Fishery
2006 In-Season Fishing Regulations
This in-season regulation authorizes Colville Tribal Members to fish for Carson stock spring and summer/fall Chinook salmon on the Okanogan River as per the following regulations.
Justification: The Okanogan River spring Chinook salmon escapement originated from smolt releases in 2003 by the Colville Confederated Tribes Fisheries & Wildlife Department. These fish are of Carson-stock origin and were reared and released to provide a spring Chinook salmon Tribal fishery in the Okanogan River. The summer/fall Chinook salmon fishery is directed toward early arriving fish which become susceptible to elevated river temperatures prior to spawning. Also, removal of excess hatchery-origin fish may result in increased natural production.
Fishing Location: Fishing will open on the main stem Okanogan River from 400 feet downstream of Zosel Dam in Oroville, W A to the highway 97 bridge located north of Brewster, W A on the Colville Confederated Tribes Reservation boundary. It is expected that the greatest concentration of spring Chinook salmon would be in the vicinity of Tonasket, WA, where these fish were acclimated. The Similkameen River is closed. Fishing from State and County bridges is prohibited.
Fishery Period: The Okanogan River fishery will commence on June 17, 2006 and continue through September 30, 2006 or until stopped by emergency closure.
Harvest Rates: This is the second year a fishery for spring Chinook salmon in the Okanogan River has been initiated and only Carson-stock spring Chinook salmon are expected to be harvested in this fishery. The following harvest rates for summer Chinook salmon will apply: 5% harvest for projected tributary escapement of greater than 1,500 fish, 10% harvest for escapement of 1,500 -5,000 fish, 20% harvest for escapement of 5,000 -15,000 fish, and 30% harvest for escapements more than 15,000 fish. The harvest quota will be set at 6,833 fish (30% of22,775), however, this quota will increase as more adult summer/fall Chinook migrate over Rocky Reach Dam.
Authorized Gear: Gill nets, hook and line, hand dip nets, and spears will be allowed in the Okanogan River.
Gill net mesh size is a minimum of six (6) inches stretched. Gill nets used in this fishery will be clearly identified and marked with the owner’s name and Tribal identification number. The identification will be at both ends of the net and visible without having to remove the gear from the water. The location of all gill nets and the name, address, and phone number of the fishers will be registered with the Fish/Wildlife Department before the nets are set. Net lengths will not exceed one-half(1/2) of the distance of the river width or one hundred (100) feet, whichever is the lesser distance. Gill nets will be checked for fish at least once every twenty-four (24) hours. Snagging is not allowed in this fishery.
Special Regulations: All fishers will provide Tribal creel clerks and authorized Tribal Fish/Wildlife personnel with catch information upon request. All fishers who catch salmon must immediately record their catch on a salmon card available from the Tribal Fish/Wildlife Department and/or Community Centers. All fishers must return salmon cards to the Fish/Wildlife Department before November 1, 2006. Incidental catches of summer steelhead, an endangered species, must be recorded on the salmon and steelhead card and returned to the Fish & Wildlife Department. If a steelhead is entangled in a gill net but is alive and in good condition it must be released immediately.
Joe Peone, Director
Fish & Wildlife
Attention Tribal Hunters
The Deadline for Reservation Moose Special Permit Applications is July 25th.
The Deadline for the “NEW” Hellsgate Archery Elk Permit Application is July 25th.
The Deadline for North Half Moose Special Permit Applications is July 25th.
The Deadline for North Half Bighorn Sheep Special Permit Applications is July 25th.
Special Permit Applications will be available the 1st week in June at all Tribal Fish & Wildlife Offices and Community Centers.
North half Deer tags will be available at Tag Outlets starting in mid-June,
All other Tags will be available at Tag Outlets starting in early July.
**Please call the Nespelem Fish & Wildlife Office if you have any questions.**
