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January 2016
CONTENTS
Leave a wildlife legacy
Finding fisher
Things to do to beat the winter blues
2015 Oregon Conservation Strategy update
Urban Ecology and Conservation Symposium
Let’s get social!
Click on images to enlarge
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| Western Snowy Plover, photo courtesy of Keith Kohl. |
LEAVE A WILDLIFE LEGACY
Donate
No one likes preparing – or paying – their taxes. But there is a bright side to filling out your 2015 Oregon tax return: you can pay it forward and help Oregon’s imperiled wildlife species.
Consider the Nongame Wildlife Fund when completing your 2015 Oregon State tax return.
Join the thousands of Oregonians who have helped conserve the species of greatest conservation concern like Willamette Valley grassland birds, native turtles and bats, and have funded wildlife habitat improvement projects on private and public lands. The Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon and Western Snowy Plover have all been brought back from the brink of extinction with help from your donations to the Nongame Wildlife Fund tax check-off.
You’ll be helping support 88 percent of the state’s wildlife that are not hunted, trapped or fished. For more information on the Nongame Wildlife Fund, visit the ODFW Website.
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| The beautiful artwork of Pallid Bat is featured on the 2016 Habitat Conservation Stamp. |
Buy
Left yourself off your holiday gift lift? Then get two gifts for the price of one when you purchase a 2016 Habitat Conservation Stamp or art print – beautiful artwork to hang in your home and the personal satisfaction of helping the wildlife you love.
The 2016 Habitat Conservation Stamp and art prints can be purchased online. This year’s stamp features the stunning artwork of Pallid Bat by Timothy Turenne. Revenue from stamp sales helps restore habitats essential to declining or at-risk species.
The stamp and art prints feature wildlife identified in the Oregon Conservation Strategy as species in need of help. Species include the Pallid Bat, Tufted Puffins, Western Painted Turtle, Kit Fox, and Western Meadowlark.
FINDING FISHERS
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| This fisher was caught on camera in southern Oregon. Photo courtesy of Jonny Armstrong. |
Fishers are medium-sized forest carnivores that once lived throughout Oregon’s Coast Range and Cascade Mountains but are now a Strategy Species in the Oregon Conservation Strategy. Currently, there is a native population in the Siskiyou Mountains and an introduced population in the southern Cascades, descendants of ODFW’s reintroductions of fishers from British Columbia and Minnesota in the 1960s and 1980s.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is reviewing the status of fisher throughout the range of the west coast distinct population segment. An April 7, 2016 decision is expected on whether or not to list this fisher population segment under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Several studies currently are being conducted by scientists at Oregon State University and federal biologists in western Oregon using cameras, radio collars, hair traps to collect DNA samples, and telemetry. Study areas include Crater Lake National Park, BLM and Forest Service lands in southern Oregon and the Mount Hood and Willamette national forests. Researchers captured images of these rare carnivores using trail cameras in the southern Cascades and as of mid-November 2015, three have been GPS-collared near the Jackson-Klamath County line.
Collaring work east of Interstate 5 is an attempt to find more cross-over of the native Siskiyou and introduced Cascades populations.
In 2012, Medford District BLM staff found genetic markers from native populations in fisher hair samples from a fisher in the Howard Prairie Reservoir area. This is the first evidence suggesting fishers from the Siskiyou population can cross Interstate 5 and reach the Cascade population.
ODFW staff is working with the USFWS, U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region (PNR) Research Station, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Institute of Natural Resources, and Oregon State University to close gaps in our knowledge of fisher locations and population numbers. Understanding the native Siskiyou population is a top priority.
Oregon Forest Industries Council, Oregon Department of Forestry, and private timber companies are also considering actions they can take to conserve the fisher and prevent a listing.
Discussions include putting Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances (CCAAs) in place with private landowners whose land has suitable fisher habitat. CCAAs limit future conservation obligations for non-federal landowners if fishers do get listed under the federal ESA.
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| The American Kestrel is one of several raptors you may see on the Raptor Road Trip. Photo courtesy of USFWS. |
THINGS TO DO TO BEAT THE WINTER BLUES
No need to wait until spring to get outside. Check out some of these things to do around the state:
Portland Metro Area
Friends of Baltimore Woods volunteer work party, January 30 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Help plant 250 native plants at the Old Oak Tree site. Volunteers of all ages (children must be supervised by an adult) should meet at North Edison and North Alta in St. Johns. Tools, gloves, snacks provided.
Raptor Road Trip. Sauvie Island, February 6 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. This family friendly event features guided bird viewing, the chance to meet live raptors, and learn from naturalists and hawk experts. Fee is $10 per car and includes a Wildlife Area parking permit, event guide, birding map, and morning coffee and donuts.
Eat and Drink for Wetlands at Oregon Public House, the nation’s first non-profit pub. The Wetlands Conservancy needs volunteers for four-hour shifts now through June. Volunteers get a free meal and a beer. Check their website for more details.
Klamath Falls
Winter Wings Festival. February 11-14. Learn everything from basic birding to photography at one of the best organized and friendliest festivals in the U.S.
Central Oregon
Eagle Watch. February 27-28 at Round Butte Overlook Park in Culver. Another family friendly event with live birds of prey, raptor education, kids’ activities, and the chance to spot eagles.
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| Help monitor Oregon’s marine reserves by joining the Marine Reserves Scientific Dive Team. Photo courtesy of Taylor Frierson. |
Coast
Volunteer divers needed. Join the Marine Reserves Scientific Dive Team and help monitor Oregon’s marine reserve sites. A two-day training will be offered in February (dates to be determined) at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. Divers must be a current AAUS scientific diver, own their own annually inspected SCUBA gear, and attend both days of training. Email Doug Batson at doug.batson@aquarium.org.
2015 Oregon Conservation Strategy Update
The 10-year revision of the Oregon Conservation Strategy, including the Oregon Nearshore Strategy component has been in the hands of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) since October 1, 2015 for review. In the meantime, ODFW is working on web-enabling the Strategy to facilitate its use and make it more accessible to the public. ODFW will launch the new website once the USFWS formally approves the revision (unknown date). Until then, the 2006 version continues to be the official Strategy.
URBAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION SYMPOSIUM
The 14th Annual Urban Ecology and Conservation Symposium is on for February 8 at Portland State University. The symposium focuses on urban environmental issues and practical application of related ecological and social science research in the Portland-Vancouver area.
Register online until January 29 for $60; students pay just $15. Registration at the door as space allows with debit or credit cards only.
LET’S GET SOCIAL!
See beautiful photos of Oregon’s wildlife and learn what’s going on in conservation and wildlife viewing by following ODFW on:
Instagram – www.instagram.com/odfw
Facebook – www.facebook.com/oregonwildlifeviewing
Twitter – www.twitter.com/ODFW
ABOUT THE OREGON CONSERVATION STRATEGY
The Oregon Conservation Strategy provides a blueprint and action plan for the long-term conservation of Oregon’s native fish and wildlife and their habitats through a voluntary, statewide approach to conservation. It was developed by ODFW with the help of a diverse coalition of Oregonians including scientists, conservation groups, landowners, extension services, anglers, hunters, and representatives from agriculture, forestry and rangelands.
PAST ISSUES OF THE NEWSLETTER
Newsletter archives from 2006
EDITOR
Meghan Dugan
Oregon Conservation Strategy Communications Coordinator
541-440-3353
meghan.c.dugan@odfw.oregon.gov
If you have story ideas, tips or activities to share, please email me!
Note: The use of trade, firm or corporation names, products and links in this publication is for the information of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. |
