spectr17
12-28-2002, 06:50 PM
Drought stressed wildlife
By MICHAEL MARIZCO, Arizona Daily Sun Staff Reporter
12/27/2002
Threatened by the worst drought in 100 years and encroached upon by the expanding urban/wildland interface, the wildlife of northern Arizona faced a particularly challenging year in 2002.
Reservoirs and water tanks in the forests dried up. Mud cracks flourished where hundreds of gallons of water once stood.
The matrix of trees giving shelter to the wildlife grew bare as the bark beetles infested pinyons and ponderosas, leaving them brown and withered in an area twice the size of the Rodeo-Chediski fire.
"We ended up hauling a tremendous amount of water this year and tried to sustain wildlife throughout the region," said Ron Sieg, the regional supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. "We received a great deal of help from volunteers and hunting organizations in bringing water out to the thirsty forest wildlife."
In the new year, if the drought persists, Game and Fish will be delivering even more water next summer, he said.
And folks can expect the wildlife -- deer, elk and even javelina -- to raid bird baths and lawns for water and food.
"Our goal for next year will be to stabilize wildlife populations and put them in better health conditions," Sieg said.
In other developments from 2002, the Bellemont Shooting Facility, touted as one of the greatest shooting ranges in the country, broke ground in October. But a lawsuit filed in December against the land exchange between Game and Fish and the U.S. Forest Service has stopped the range. The Game and Fish Commission, which pushed for the 770-acre, $8 million shooting range since 1993, fears its dreams of a northern Arizona fully-equipped range will be left floundering.
The California condor project had two of its great birds shot dead and left as carrion on the side of the road, one in the Kaibab National Forest. Game and Fish and the Peregrine Foundation have worked on the condor program, seeking to increase its numbers and move the bird off the endangered species list.
A Mexican Spotted Owl preserve, also in the Kaibab forest, was destroyed by the Trick Fire in August. At this point, wildlife managers do not yet know whether the two owls in the preserve are dead or alive.
Native fish issues, including the Little Colorado Spinedace and the Apache trout, are at the forefront of wildlife management work, Sieg said.
He hopes these two fish, listed as endangered species, will be recovered and delisted next year.
Forest restoration and its impact on wildlife such as the forest thinning project in the Kachina Village area, will be a key focus for Game and Fish in 2003. In the Kachina Village area, the department is looking for more patchiness in the remaining timbers, instead of clearing space to provide wildlife cover and fire control.
Meanwhile, Sieg's rangers will spend the beginning of the new year looking at the sky for more water. Or else, there will be more 1,500-gallon water trucks negotiating their way over dusty lands with canopies of dead or dying trees overhead, to fill more holding tanks and large plastic troughs in the coming year.
"Without a doubt, it was the key issue this year," Sieg said. "We hauled more water that we've ever hauled in the history of Arizona."
Reporter Michael Marizco may be reached at 556-2257 or mmarizco@azdailysun.com
By MICHAEL MARIZCO, Arizona Daily Sun Staff Reporter
12/27/2002
Threatened by the worst drought in 100 years and encroached upon by the expanding urban/wildland interface, the wildlife of northern Arizona faced a particularly challenging year in 2002.
Reservoirs and water tanks in the forests dried up. Mud cracks flourished where hundreds of gallons of water once stood.
The matrix of trees giving shelter to the wildlife grew bare as the bark beetles infested pinyons and ponderosas, leaving them brown and withered in an area twice the size of the Rodeo-Chediski fire.
"We ended up hauling a tremendous amount of water this year and tried to sustain wildlife throughout the region," said Ron Sieg, the regional supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. "We received a great deal of help from volunteers and hunting organizations in bringing water out to the thirsty forest wildlife."
In the new year, if the drought persists, Game and Fish will be delivering even more water next summer, he said.
And folks can expect the wildlife -- deer, elk and even javelina -- to raid bird baths and lawns for water and food.
"Our goal for next year will be to stabilize wildlife populations and put them in better health conditions," Sieg said.
In other developments from 2002, the Bellemont Shooting Facility, touted as one of the greatest shooting ranges in the country, broke ground in October. But a lawsuit filed in December against the land exchange between Game and Fish and the U.S. Forest Service has stopped the range. The Game and Fish Commission, which pushed for the 770-acre, $8 million shooting range since 1993, fears its dreams of a northern Arizona fully-equipped range will be left floundering.
The California condor project had two of its great birds shot dead and left as carrion on the side of the road, one in the Kaibab National Forest. Game and Fish and the Peregrine Foundation have worked on the condor program, seeking to increase its numbers and move the bird off the endangered species list.
A Mexican Spotted Owl preserve, also in the Kaibab forest, was destroyed by the Trick Fire in August. At this point, wildlife managers do not yet know whether the two owls in the preserve are dead or alive.
Native fish issues, including the Little Colorado Spinedace and the Apache trout, are at the forefront of wildlife management work, Sieg said.
He hopes these two fish, listed as endangered species, will be recovered and delisted next year.
Forest restoration and its impact on wildlife such as the forest thinning project in the Kachina Village area, will be a key focus for Game and Fish in 2003. In the Kachina Village area, the department is looking for more patchiness in the remaining timbers, instead of clearing space to provide wildlife cover and fire control.
Meanwhile, Sieg's rangers will spend the beginning of the new year looking at the sky for more water. Or else, there will be more 1,500-gallon water trucks negotiating their way over dusty lands with canopies of dead or dying trees overhead, to fill more holding tanks and large plastic troughs in the coming year.
"Without a doubt, it was the key issue this year," Sieg said. "We hauled more water that we've ever hauled in the history of Arizona."
Reporter Michael Marizco may be reached at 556-2257 or mmarizco@azdailysun.com