Help that's truly helpful

Mar. 5—When Dave Cadwallader oversaw the Clearwater Region of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, his agency would frequently ask the U.S. Forest Service to improve elk habitat.

That was about 2009, the now retired Cadwallader recalled. He remembers thinking the request ought to be more refined.

"To be frank, I didn't really know what that meant," he said Wednesday. "We just kept telling the Forest Service to go improve elk habitat, but we didn't really know what that meant in terms of some sort of specific prescription we could share with the Forest Service. It was just a generic 'let's work on winter range.' "

Now, a decade later, and with six years of research coming to a fine point, the request isn't so broad, and future efforts to improve habitat for elk will be tailored to specific places in the Clearwater Basin.

"We are going to end up with a pretty prescriptive recipe, if you will, that we can share with the Forest Service to help them incorporate those plans into their timber and vegetation management," he said.

Cadwallader and others will talk about the research that is expected to produce those detailed prescriptions for better elk habitat — The Wildlife Habitat Restoration Initiative — in a webinar March 22 and 24.

It was born out of the Clearwater Basin Collaborative, a group of diverse stakeholders that advises the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. In 2014 the collaborative, commonly known as the CBC, and entities like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game funded researches to study elk in the basin, including their habitat and nutritional needs.

In general, it is highlighting the importance of summer range — areas where elk spend most of the year. In the past, there was a focus on making sure places where elk spend the winter were in sufficient shape to feed the animals through a difficult time of year. But newer research indicates that if elk aren't in good condition heading into the lean months, their chances of survival are significantly diminished.

"Really, you want to focus on how can you provide the highest-quality forage for elk during that period when they have a calf — late spring, early summer through the fall. They really need high-quality nutrition," said Fish and Game biologist Zach Swearingen. "This tool helps identify areas you can treat to help get the highest-quality forage."

Independent researchers John and Rachel Cook, Forest Service scientists Mike Wisdom and others, including researchers at Washington State University and University of Idaho, collaborated on the work, that included placing tracking collars on elk to assess how they were using specific landscapes and determining the nutritional needs of the animals and the quality of food available to them.

Jerome Hansen, a former Fish and Game supervisor on the Clearwater Region who now works with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation praised the work and the people doing it.

"It's pretty exciting," Hansen said. "We are making progress, and the folks who have been doing the work, I still feel like we are so lucky to have them involved and looking at the elk habitat issues in the Clearwater."

Swearingen said both state and federal land and wildlife managers strive to use the best available science when making decisions. The science available from The Wildlife Habitat Restoration Initiative is unusual in that it is tailored specifically to the Clearwater Basin.

"That is really rare," he said. "It helps us determine where we should put our limited resources as far as getting the best bang for our buck."

It also was developed at a fortuitous time, just as officials on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest are authoring the still unfinished revision to forest planning documents. Much of the work has been incorporated into the forest plan that is expected to be finalized later this year.

"In my opinion, that is probably the best way for us to use that type of research: to make sure it is within those land management plans," Swearingen said.

Officials from the Forest Service weren't able to immediately respond to a request for comment.

The webinars will be held from 6-8:30 both nights. More information, including how to log in, is available at www.uidaho.edu/extension/county/clearwater/news/events.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.

"Really, you want to focus on how can you provide the highest-quality forage for elk during that period when they have a calf — late spring, early summer through the fall. They really need high-quality nutrition. This tool helps identify areas you can treat to help get the highest-quality forage."

Fish and Game biologist Zach Swearingen