Wildlife officials give reports to county

Local wildlife officials briefed the Sanders County Commissioners last week on several topics, from bears and hunting harvests to

According to Kim Annis with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP), bears are beginning to wake up in Northwest Montana, but there have been no conflicts reported yet this year. She stated that new legislation restricts FWP from relocating grizzlies that are caught outside of recovery zones. FWP can still move bears caught within recovery areas such as the Cabinet-Yaak Recovery Zone, which encompasses more than 2,600 square miles of northwestern Montana and northern Idaho. Annis stated that FWP worked with the Fish and Wildlife Commission to identify relocation sites in Lincoln and Sanders County, though she stated most will never be used.

Last year, FWP relocated a bear who was caught on game cameras in Heron. “We wanted to make sure the bear didn’t get into trouble,” Annis said, so FWP secured the area, caught and collared the bear and because the bear had not been involved in a conflict, relocated her south to the Elk Creek area. Annis stated this fell into a pre-emptive, non-conflict relocation. Annis noted that FWP and the federal Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) investigate each situation when it comes to bears. Wayne Kasworm with FWS said they are trying to improve social tolerances to reduce the number of instances where a bear has to be euthanized.

Game Warden Morgan Post with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) gave a presentation on a recent bear baiting case involving a former Heron resident. Game Warden Travis Johnson started his post in Sanders County last September. He said he’s enjoyed meeting the people and getting to know the area, helping to educate the public.

Derrick Olinger with the U.S. Forest Service said the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District will conduct prescribed burning of 12,000 acres in the Wilkes-Cherry Creek area near Thompson Falls. He stated the Forest Service is also applying for grant funding from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to help with weed management and improve forage in the Wilkes Creek drainage. That project is still in development, with the hopes of implementation in Fall 2022 or Fall 2023.

Local FWP Wildlife Biologist Mike Ebinger said he has been conducting spring surveys of elk and deer. Residents may see FWP flying over properties as they conduct additional surveys from the air. Ebinger gave commissioners a brief overview of changes to the hunting seasons, as well as information about the 2021 hunt harvests. Ebinger also noted that CWD has not been detected in Sanders County, but that the county should still be looking and monitoring because of the proximity to Libby and the CWD Monitoring Zone in Lincoln County. He said FWP will continue to sample animals brought through the local check station. Ebinger said that the recommendation for deer and elk carcass disposal is to take them to a landfill, but he heard from hunters that the charge was $10. He was concerned that was deterring people from disposing of carcasses properly. Commissioner Tony Cox asked if the county should look into taking the carcasses free of charge, and Ebinger said that would be something to look into before big game season this fall.

Ebinger recapped the 2021 hunt harvests, stating that Region 1, which includes Sanders County, 108 wolves were harvested. Twenty-two wolves (11 males and 11 females) were harvested in Sanders County. Of those, 18 were trapped and four were shot. There were also 735 bears harvested in Region 1 last year, which Ebinger said is the third highest harvest in the last 30 years. He said FWP is looking at revising how they monitor bears, possibly trending away from using only harvest data and integrating it with DNA data with the use of bear hair snagging methods to estimate black bear abundance. Ebinger said he is excited that the department is moving to a more analytical way of monitoring bears.

With deer and elk, Ebinger said limited data is available from the check stations at the county level, but that FWP is currently doing harvest surveys by phone. That, along with the animal surveys underway this spring, will give FWP a better understanding of the populations.

Ebinger also detailed some of the wildlife issues in Sanders County. He talked about the number of turkeys in Thompson Falls. “It’s a problem,” he said, adding that a long-term solution may be an urban turkey management plan, and that’s something local government and FWP will need to coordinate on. He also noted that last year he responded to about 60 calls of bear issues and will work on educating the public as bears wake up from hibernation. Kasworm added that FWS is going to attempt to relocate one or two grizzlies from the Flathead to the Cabinets, possible this year.