Options

©Terry R. Thomas/www.nature-track.com

The beautiful American Avocet. The Great Salt Lake supports 250,000 of them, about 56 percent of the global population, during fall migration. What will they do if the lake dries up? Are there options for that many birds?

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The landowner scoffed at the idea that sage-grouse could be in trouble in part because of fires, wild or intentionally set to improve the range for cattle grazing. “Sage-grouse have dealt with fire for millions of years,” he stated emphatically. “They will just adapt,” he argued.

And in one way he was spot on. Wildfires have always been a part of the natural world. And animals did adapt by moving into adjacent habitats while those areas affected by fire recovered. Recovery was likely pretty quick too because the habitat didn’t have to compete with invasive noxious weeds like cheatgrass, leafy spurge, and knapweed, or exotic grasses and forbs intentionally planted. It was a fairly simple world in that sense.

But that world has disappeared and it is not coming back. The key to why the former world worked can be summed up in one word: options. When a wildfire tore through the pre-historic world, animals could escape into unaffected habitat. They had other places to go where they could continue with life.

Sagebrush habitat is a good example. Far from being a worthless plant as is often the view of many, sagebrush provides habitat for a number of species. Some of these, sage-grouse, sage-thrashers, sage sparrows, sage lizards, and pygmy rabbits, are obligate sagebrush dwellers, meaning that they require sagebrush for survival. In all, 350 species of wildlife use sagebrush habitat to one degree or another.

Pioneers on the Oregon Trail referred to their journey as, “800 miles through a sea of sagebrush.” Yet, 20 years ago, a Forest Service publication entitled, Big Sagebrush: A Sea Fragmented into Lakes, Ponds, and Puddles, pointed out that half of the sagebrush available 150 years ago is gone and the rest is broken into small, sometimes dysfunctional, segments. For obligate species, this is bad news. They don’t have anywhere else to go.

Another example is the Great Salt Lake. A recent report concluded that the Great Salt Lake is the number one body of water in the nation when it comes to supporting birds. Millions of avocets, stilts, grebes, phalaropes, and gulls depend upon this lake, and as pointed out several weeks ago, the lake is dying. There are not many options for this many birds if that lake fails. Remaining habitats just can’t absorb them.

Winter ranges are another example. During a normal winter, there is enough protected winter range, at least in Idaho, for the elk, deer, pronghorn, and moose. But during crunch time, when winters are long, extra cold, and with deep snow, options for these animals are limited and shrinking every year. Where their ancestors were able to push into the bottoms of the valleys and creeks, habitat there no longer exists or they are no longer welcome. That is why we find moose in our yards, elk in farmers’ haystacks, and deer dying by the thousands during harsh winters. They are out of options when the weather turns against them and they live or die where they are or they get into trouble with their human neighbors. They have no choice.

We have tried to replace lost winter range with programs like the National Elk Refuge north of Jackson, Wyoming. Consistent feeding programs have become centers for disease though, proving that concentrating animals is a bad idea. You can’t replace winter range with bales of hay.

Humans take the best and expect animals to adapt to what is left. Each time we create another development be it a new reservoir, subdivision, road, or gold mine, we are tightening the noose, backing wildlife a little further into the proverbial corner.

We use the mantra, “growth is inevitable” as our excuse. Well, if that is true, there is a corollary truth that says, “for each and every action we take, there is a price to be paid, and wildlife and wildness in general are going to pay that price.”

Man, this is depressing and I don’t really have the answer. The best I can think of begins with a citizenry that demands strong county development plans that consider wildlife an invaluable public resource worth protecting.

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Help Idaho Wildlife

When we traveled across the state in October 2017, we visited most of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game wildlife management areas. Most of the vehicles we saw using the wildlife management areas did not have wildlife plates. Buying wildlife plates is a great way for non-hunters and hunters alike to support wildlife-based recreation like birding.

C'mon folks, let's help Idaho's wildlife by proudly buying and displaying a wildlife license plate on each of our vehicles! 

See below for information on Idaho plates. Most states have wildlife plates so if you live outside Idaho, check with your state's wildlife department or vehicle licensing division for availability of state wildlife plates where you live. 

And tell them that you heard about it from Nature-track.com!

Wildlife License Plates

Great news! as of 2024, there are three NEW designs for license plates. They still are bluebird, cutthroat trout and elk, but they are beautiful.

Idaho Wildlife license plates provide essential funding that benefits the great diversity of native plants and wildlife that are not hunted, fished or trapped—over 10,000 species or 98% of Idaho’s species diversity. Game species that share the same habitats (such as elk, deer, antelope, sage-grouse, salmon, trout) also benefit from these specialty plates.

No state tax dollars are provided for wildlife diversity, conservation education and recreation programs. Neither are any revenues from the sale of hunting or fishing licenses spent on nongame species. Instead, these species depend on direct donations, federal grants, fundraising initiatives—and the Idaho Wildlife license plates.

Both my vehicles have Bluebird Plates. I prefer the bluebird because the nongame program gets 70 percent of the money from bluebird plates, but only 60 percent of the money from elk and trout plates - 10 percent of the money from elk plates supports wildlife disease monitoring and testing programs (to benefit the livestock industry) and 10 percent from cutthroat plates supports non-motorized boat access.

Incidentally, in 2014, the Idaho Legislature denied the Department of Fish and Game the ability to add new plates or even to change the name of the elk and cutthroat plates (very specific) to wildlife and fish plates, a move that would have allowed for changing images occasionally and generating more revenue. It would seem that they believe that we Idahoans don't want a well funded wildlife program.

I think it is time we let the Legislature know that Idahoan support wildlife funding and that we would like to see these generic plates come to fruition.