Watching Wildlife by Neal Darby Sage Grouse A petition will soon be filed requesting that all sage grouse be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Two small populations in Washington and Colorado were recently listed as threatened. This new request covers the entire range of sage grouse, including most of Nevada. In an attempt to stay ahead of this petition and prevent the listing of sage grouse, Nevada's Govenor initiated the Sage Grouse Conservation Planning Team. This team directs and provides guidelines for county teams to devise sage grouse management plans. A White Pine County Planning Team, including representatives from state and federal agencies, sportsmen, environmental groups, county government and agricultural interests, has been convened to prepare a plan. Neal Darby, Park biologist, was selected chairman of the planning team. If you have any questions, you can contact him at 234-7331 ext. 232. All meetings are open to the public and will be held throughout the spring, summer and fall of 2002. Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Resource Management (RM) staff will continue monitoring bighorn sheep this year. Winter counts so far this year have only found five sheep (four adults and one lamb) down from last August's count of nine sheep (six adults and three lambs). Objectives this year are: 1. To locate where the female bighorns have their lambs so we can manage these areas to prevent disturbance to the bighorns during this critical period. Searches involve hiking to vantage points and using binoculars and spotting scopes to view likely areas. 2. To conduct a classification count in late August or September where the sheep are known to congregate. Here we can obtain classification counts of rams, ewes and lambs and obtain age estimates of the rams. In conjunction with the U. S. Geologic Service Biological Resource Division, we received funding to undertake a complete assessment of the bighorn sheep. 3. To conduct helicopter surveys for other potential sheep and habitat use areas. (continued on page 4) 4. To ground truth the results of our GIS habitat model developed last year. 5. To convene a panel of experts to review the information we have on bighorn. These experts will visit the Park this summer and write a report providing management and research strategies that the Park could implement. Elk A unique opportunity has arisen to obtain better information on elk in the south Snake Range. In January of 2001, 50 elk were released by the Nevada Division of Wildlife in Horse Canyon, about 30 miles north of Baker. Ten of these were fitted with radio collars. One elk has joined the herd usually found in Weaver and Strawberry Creeks, which occasionally ventures into the Park. Resource management staff will use recently acquired telemetry equipment to track these elk. This provides the opportunity to determine detailed elk habitat and seasonal use areas, along with population counts. Three-toed Woodpeckers Three-toed woodpeckers are a spruce forest dependent species and are found around the northern hemisphere, including in the Snake Range. The three-toed woodpecker is known to follow forest disturbances such as fire and insect outbreaks because they provide forage and snags for nesting. They are generally rare and difficult to detect in bird surveys. In 2000 and 2001, Great Basin NP experienced two large fires, so it is possible that three-toed woodpeckers will move into the area. We will survey for three-toed woodpeckers in May and June to determine their continued presence and document reproduction. Information will help plan prescribed fire and prescribed natural fire management and insect outbreak management. Midden Table of Contents