Wildlife

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe: How wildlife will recolonize former Elwha lakebeds

The mouse is measured for length and weight and marked as studied before being released in the former Elwha lake beds. Click on the photo for more pictures at NWIFC's Flickr album.
The mouse is measured for length and weight and marked as studied before being released in the former Elwha lake beds. Click on the photo for more pictures at NWIFC’s Flickr album.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe is studying how wildlife might help or hinder growth of new vegetation along the restored Elwha River.

The tribe is watching how small mammals, elk, deer and birds are taking advantage of the newly opened plains of the former lakebeds of lakes Aldwell and Mills, in partnership with Olympic National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey and Western Washington University (WWU).

“We want to see how a whole complement of wildlife species recolonize the reservoirs, and what impacts they have on the re-establishment of plants on reservoir sediments,” said Kim Sager-Fradkin, the tribe’s wildlife biologist.

For the next three years, biologists will study which small mammal species are recolonizing the reservoirs and how their presence might alter revegetation efforts because of their tendency, depending on species, to either cache or consume seeds. (more…)

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Read more about the article Beavers relocated to improve salmon habitat

Beavers relocated to improve salmon habitat

Beaver familyThis summer, raceways at the Tulalip Tribes’ Bernie Kai-Kai Gobin Hatchery were renovated into temporary beaver condominiums.

Six beavers nestled together in a furry cluster in one of the manmade lodges, confirming wildlife biologists’ suspicions that this was a family unit. Tribal staff, along with biologists from the University of Washington (UW), had captured the beaver colony in Duvall, where they were flooding a blueberry farm.

“The mother beaver is more than 50 pounds,” said Jason Schilling, wildlife biologist for the Tulalip Tribes. “And there’s one kit that’s about the size of a football and pretty cute.”

The beavers were pioneers of the Skykomish Beaver Project, a partnership among Tulalip, UW, U.S. Forest Service and other agencies. The project is relocating certain beavers from the Snohomish lowlands, in places where they are considered a nuisance, to public land in the Skykomish River system.

Beavers are nature’s wetland engineers, instinctively building dams, lodges and underwater passages to store food and protect themselves from predators. In doing so, they create reservoirs of cool water that salmon need to survive, but sometimes their industriousness interferes with human development. (more…)

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Read more about the article Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Finishes River Otter, American Dipper Study in Elwha River Watershed
A river otter rests on a log in the Elwha River. Click the photo for more pictures from the three-year study. Photo: Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Finishes River Otter, American Dipper Study in Elwha River Watershed

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe is wrapping up its four-year study on river otters and American dippers in the Elwha River watershed.

The tribe has been studying how the animals use the river for food and habitat and how those needs have been impacted by the recent removal of the river’s Elwha and Glines Canyon dams.

A river otter rests on a log in the Elwha River. Click the photo for more pictures from the three-year study. Photo: Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe
A river otter rests on a log in the Elwha River. Click the photo for more pictures from the three-year study. Photo: Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe

Since the early 20th century, the dams prevented salmon from spawning beyond the first five miles of the river, denying wildlife an important food source. The upper watershed also was deprived of the marine-derived nutrients that salmon carcasses provide to the surrounding ecosystem.

As the dams have been removed and salmon have been able to move upriver, the otters and dippers have been taking advantage of the new resources, said Kim Sager-Fradkin, the tribe’s wildlife biologist.

Between 2011 and 2014, blood, feather, toenail and tissue samples were collected for genetic and diet analysis. The tribe also tagged 11 otters with radio tracking devices and tagged 246 dippers with small leg bands to track migration patterns. (more…)

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Tribes sample elk DNA to track population

Wildlife biologists from Stillaguamish, Tulalip and Western Washington University sample DNA from elk scat.
Wildlife biologists from Stillaguamish, Tulalip and Western Washington University sample DNA from elk scat.

Wildlife biologists from the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes are testing a new way to track the population of the Nooksack elk herd using the animals’ scat.

Tribal biologists have partnered with Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment to determine the most efficient way to collect DNA from elk scat. Genetic material can be found in the intestinal mucus coating the pellets. This winter, biologists sampled fresh scat using toothpicks and cotton swabs, submitting the samples to a genetics lab to determine which method is most effective at providing an animal’s unique genotype.

“This is a non-invasive method that does not require collaring animals or helicopter time to survey them,” said Stillaguamish biologist Jennifer Sevigny. (more…)

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Upper Skagit Tribe builds elk exclusion fence near Mosquito Lake

Upper Skagit natural resources technician RJ Schuyler (left) and timberland services forester Robert Schuyler install an elk exclusion fence.

The Upper Skagit Tribe is building an 8-foot-tall, 4,000-foot-long elk exclusion fence as part of a cooperative elk management project near Mosquito Lake in Whatcom County.

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) provided the materials and arranged to have the fence built at the request of the landowners because resident elk were competing with their cattle for available pasture forage and causing some property damage.

While WDFW has an obligation to preserve, protect and perpetuate wildlife, the agency also has to ensure that animals do not threaten human safety or cause unreasonable damage to crops, livestock or property. (more…)

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Upper Skagit Tribe’s BioBlitz counts hundreds of species in restored habitat

Volunteers from Alderleaf Wilderness College investigate scat near Hansen Creek during the Upper Skagit Tribe’s BioBlitz.

The Upper Skagit Tribe recruited scientists and volunteers to help document the plant and animal life taking advantage of restored habitat along Hansen Creek.

A few years ago, the tribe partnered with other agencies to restore 140 acres of freshwater floodplain and wetland habitat within the Skagit County-owned Northern State Recreation Area near the Upper Skagit reservation.

Last summer, Upper Skagit hosted a 12-hour BioBlitz, a “citizen science extravaganza,” to develop a species list reflecting the site’s biodiversity. Volunteers assisted scientists in identifying plants, mammals, birds, macroinvertebrates, fungi and insects. In all, 296 species were documented, including mayflies and midges, herons and warblers, lichen and fungus, and beavers and skunks.

“The Hansen Creek BioBlitz was a great success thanks to all the amazing experts and volunteers who came out and participated,” said environmental specialist Lisa Hainey. “We hope to conduct another BioBlitz at a different time of year to see other species. Who knows what else might be out there?” (more…)

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Upper Skagit Tribe manages elk habitat with Seattle City Light

Upper Skagit biologist Doug Couvelier, right, and timberland services forester Robert Schuyler assess a parcel of Seattle City Light land.

The Upper Skagit Tribe has been contracted to help assess more than 10,000 acres of wildlife habitat that Seattle City Light (SCL) purchased to mitigate for habitat lost due to the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project.

As required by the 1991 Wildlife Settlement Agreement among SCL, tribes, and federal and state resource agencies, the public utility has been acquiring property in the Skagit and Nooksack watersheds.

“Acquisition and protection of the South Fork Nooksack River property is a great example of investing in a nearby watershed that has high habitat mitigation value” said Ron Tressler, a wildlife biologist for SCL. South Fork Nooksack land was identified by tribal representatives and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as important habitat for the Nooksack elk herd.

Degraded and disconnected habitat is one of the main causes of the decline in numbers of Nooksack elk, which went from a population of more than 1,700 20 years ago to about 300 by 2003.

Since then, tribal and state co-managers have worked to improve elk habitat in the region. Surveys the last few years have shown that the elk population has rebounded to more than 800 animals, allowing for limited hunting opportunities. (more…)

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