State muses regulating importation

Washington big- game hunters heading to certain out-of-state areas this fall may have to plan an extra game-processing day into their travel itineraries.

What started out two years ago as a recommendation to help prevent spread of chronic wasting disease could become law.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission is considering a proposal that would prohibit hunters from bringing home unprocessed carcasses of deer and elk from states and Canadian provinces where the disease has been documented in wild game populations.

The proposal is on the agenda for the commission’s Aug. 6-7 meeting in Lynnwood.

CWD affects the central nervous system in deer and elk and is related to “mad cow” disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep. Scientists have not found a link between the disease and humans. However, the disease can spread easily among deer and elk.

Testing has turned up no deer or elk with CWD in Washington, and state wildlife managers want to keep it that way. The proposal was prompted by recent research in Colorado and Wyoming indicating the disease can be transmitted through soil contaminated by carcasses of infected animals.

“We want to take every reasonable precaution available to us to prevent CWD from entering this state,” said Jerry Nelson, department deer and elk manager.

The rule would allow hunters to bring home only boned out meat. Skulls or antlers could be brought into Washington only after being completely scraped of all soft tissue.

The carcass could be processed by a butcher or by the hunter in the field, Nelson said. The point, he explained, is to avoid bringing brains and other nervous system tissues that could harbor the disease and be deposited in Washington soil.

Taxidermy mounts finished out of state would be allowed.

The regulation would apply to sportsmen coming back into Washington from hunting trips in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska and Saskatchewan.

Fifteen other states, including California, North Dakota and Oregon, already have regulated the importation of hunter-harvested deer and elk.

De-watered ducks: Drought is putting the heat on wildlife, and the people who hunt, fish and otherwise appreciate them. Two examples:

“Montana already is sending out warnings that levels on popular rivers such as the Smith are dropping rapidly.

“Spring waterfowl surveys have documented a significant 11 percent drop in the overall North American breeding population of ducks.

Each spring for 49 years, pilots have flown some 45,000 miles across roughly two million square miles covering the Dakotas, western Montana, Alaska, the Yukon and the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba — areas that produce most of the ducks western hunters try to lure into their decoys each fall.

This year’s surveys aren’t dismal, but the trend is worrisome.

Mallards dropped to 7.4 million from last year’s 7.9 million, a one-year decline of seven percent. That’s only 1 percent below the long-term average, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife reports, but the spring mallard population is the lowest since 1994, the year the previous drought ended.

The total duck population dropped to 32 million from 2003’s 36 million, a decline of 11 percent and three percent below the long-term average, federal surveys found.

But the lower number of breeding ducks is only part of the equation. The surveys also found a 24 percent decline in the May pond count in survey areas, which usually results in poor nesting.

Hardest hit by dry conditions were prairie Alberta, which was down 43 percent from last year and 30 percent from the long-term average. Saskatchewan and the eastern Dakotas also were hurting, down more than 30 percent.

Biologists and hunters have a sliver of hope because of the above-average spring rains, which occurred in May and June, after the duck surveys were conducted. That moisture could have refreshed ponds, improving conditions for brood survival and prompting some ducks to re-nest.

But if you’re wagering your grandpa’s old Winchester Model 12, bet on lower numbers of ducks this fall.

Cayuse confined: Roadwork is cramping the style of some anglers, hikers and other Clearwater National Forest visitors accustomed to free movement in the Cayuse Creek area of the Kelly Creek drainage.

A segment of Toboggan Ridge Road 581 has been closed from Cayuse Landing to its junction with Toboggan Hill Road 581B. This is a popular “back way” to the Lolo Motorway and Lewis and Clark Trail, as well as to backpacking and angling destinations.

Info: (208) 476-4541.

Wildlife breaks ground: The official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Eastern Regional Office is set for 1 p.m. on July 27 at Mirabeau Point in Spokane Valley.

Facility plans include a more visitor-friendly two-story office, warehouse and laboratory for staff and research crews that currently are scattered in different locations.

The $3 million complex will be at 2315 N. Discovery Pl., which is north of I-90 between the Pines and Evergreen exits and southeast of the YMCA.

Lake rehabs explained: Proposals to improve fishing and waterfowl production by ridding certain lakes of non-game fish species will be presented in a public meeting tonight, 7 p.m. in the Stevens County Conservation District building, 230 Williams Lake Rd., just off Highway 395 northwest of Colville.

Lakes in that region proposed for treatment with rotenone include Rocky Lake in Stevens County and Ellen Lake in Ferry County.

A meeting was held last week in Ephrata to discuss treating Fish, Rat and Silvernail Lakes in Okanogan County and Hampton and Pillar-Widgeon chain of lakes (including Upper and Lower Hamptons, Hen, Dabbler, Marie, Pillar, Snipe, Cattail, Shoveler, Gadwall, Lemna, Poacher, Hourglass, Sago and Widgeon lakes) and the North Potholes Reserve in Grant County.

If approved by the state Fish and Game Commission in August, the treatments would be done this fall or next spring.