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Report of Fisher Reintroduction Presented at Carnivore Conference
USGS wildlife biologist Kurt Jenkins and co-authors will present information about the reintroduction of fishers to Olympic National Park at the 2009 Carnivore Conference on November 16-18 in Denver, CO. Fishers are reclusive members of the weasel family that were native to Washington forests, but disappeared decades ago due to over-trapping and habitat loss. To date, project cooperators have released 49 fishers in Olympic National Park over a two-year period, and they plan to release up to 45 more in their effort to reestablish a self-sustaining population. Preliminary results on survival rates, post-release movements and home range establishment will be presented. The conference is sponsored by the Defenders of Wildlife and includes sessions about coexistence, diseases, management, and other carnivore issues.
Contact: Kurt Jenkins, FRESC, 360-565-3041,
kurt_jenkins@usgs.gov
Evaluating Use of Isotopes to Detangle Food Webs in Riparian Forests
Understanding food webs can provide insights into the nature and complexity of species interactions, but conventional methods may not adequately capture the relationships among organisms. USGS ecologist Steve Perakis and co-authors from Oregon State University evaluated the use and sensitivity of stable isotopes, a method that traces the natural abundance of elements such as nitrogen and carbon, to better understand food webs in western Oregon forests. Despite the expectation that red alder and Douglas-fir trees would have distinct nitrogen and carbon isotope values, the results demonstrated that it would be difficult to discriminate food web sources across multiple sites based solely on these two tree species. However, in specific sites where the stable isotope compositions of Douglas-fir and red alder were found to be distinct, stable isotopes may prove useful in detangling their relative contributions to riparian food webs, particularly for organisms with restricted foraging ranges.
Scott, E.E., Hibbs, D.E., Perakis, S.S., 2009, The potential utility of stable isotopes for food web analysis in Douglas-fir and red alder riparian forests of western Oregon: Northwest Science, v. 83, no. 4, p. 315-324. [Highlight] [FullText] Catalog No: 2323
USGS FRESC Receives FOIA Requests for Greater Sage-Grouse Status
The USGS is a party to two FOIA requests from Pac/West received at the USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center on October 21. The FOIAs seek information about the May 29, 2009 Settlement Agreement with Western Watersheds related to the Greater Sage Grouse Status Review and the October 31, 2008 Greater Sage Grouse Interim Status Update. The FOIAs will be handled according to normal USGS procedures.
Contact: Carol Schuler, FRESC, 541-750-1030,
carol_schuler@usgs.gov
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