IDFG braves weather for elk survey
Courtesy photo Crews with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game have been hard at work outfitting local elk with collars like the ones you can see being worn here.
Local residents may have noticed some low-flying aircraft over the forests during the last week.
These efforts were part of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game big game monitoring, which included elk, mountain goats and moose.
This is a common winter practice as biologists all over the state use these flyovers to take surveys in order to estimate herd numbers, as well as the ratio of adults to younger animals, which is a useful tool for predicting the population growth.
In Shoshone County, collaring efforts were wrapped up on Thursday as biologists collared 30 elk calves in Game Management Unit 6, which covers a sizable area in the southwest portion of the county.
The information collected is part of a larger research effort aimed at quantifying the unique ecological interactions between predators, prey, weather and habitat in North Idaho.
According to Kiira Siitari, a communications manager with IDFG, the folks in Calder and Avery were most likely to notice the efforts from the biologists.
While snow can help biologists find and identify big game animals from the air, low-cloud ceilings and inclement weather often affect daily flight plans.
The recent batch of extreme weather made their work a little more treacherous than usual, not just in Shoshone County, but all over the Panhandle.
“Today (Thursday) is a little tougher than yesterday given these weather conditions,” Siitari said. “We are grounded in Bonners Ferry right now due to snow, flights south of I-90 are still up. Blowing snow means wind, which makes for more dangerous flying conditions. Animal tracks will get filled in faster but this is less of an issue.”
Along with the elk, IDFG crews are working to collar deer, moose, mountain lions and wolves, while black bears are done in the springtime.
Since 2014, flights focused on collaring elk in the Silver Valley, North Fork Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe River drainages.
For more information, contact the Panhandle Regional Office at 208-769-1414.