SageGhost
New member
Spring is a busy time for wildlife habitat improvement, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has more projects than it has people to do them, so they rely on volunteers.
Projects are ongoing or planned to benefit birds, big game and a variety of other wildlife.
Volunteers have been working on nesting platforms and nest boxes along the Boise and Payette rivers. There are about 1,000 boxes or platforms along the two rivers. They give waterfowl and other animals a better chance to safely raise their young. About 90 percent of them are used every year.
Wood ducks and geese commonly use boxes and nesting platforms, but they aren't the only wildlife that benefit from them. The boxes also provide homes for screech owls, American kestrels, eastern fox squirrels and mink. Goose nesting platforms are valuable during spring because nests built on the ground are often flooded.
F&G crews and volunteers located, mapped and maintained about 600 of them so far this year, according to a statement from F&G.
F&G is gearing up for the most visible project of the year: planting bitterbrush and sagebrush in the Boise Foothills.
Nearly every summer, the Foothills are ravaged and scarred by fire, and every spring, an army of volunteers marches into the Foothills to plant sagebrush and bitterbrush seedlings to restore the ridges and slopes.
The benefits are twofold. Anyone looking up at the hills above the Treasure Valley sees brush and shrubs instead of bare, eroded soil. The deer and elk that spend their winters there have a critical food supply to help them through the harshest months.
Sagebrush and bitterbrush also provide cover from the weather and predators, as well as nesting cover for birds and food for other wildlife. The plants' deep roots hold the soil and prevent erosion.
Get involved
The annual sagebrush and bitterbrush planting projects will start March 5 and continue on March 12, 19 and 26.
Volunteers need to take warm clothes, gloves, water and lunch. Tools will be provided.
hey elkgunner nows your time to shine !!!
every idaho hunter who posts should be involved with this !!
Projects are ongoing or planned to benefit birds, big game and a variety of other wildlife.
Volunteers have been working on nesting platforms and nest boxes along the Boise and Payette rivers. There are about 1,000 boxes or platforms along the two rivers. They give waterfowl and other animals a better chance to safely raise their young. About 90 percent of them are used every year.
Wood ducks and geese commonly use boxes and nesting platforms, but they aren't the only wildlife that benefit from them. The boxes also provide homes for screech owls, American kestrels, eastern fox squirrels and mink. Goose nesting platforms are valuable during spring because nests built on the ground are often flooded.
F&G crews and volunteers located, mapped and maintained about 600 of them so far this year, according to a statement from F&G.
F&G is gearing up for the most visible project of the year: planting bitterbrush and sagebrush in the Boise Foothills.
Nearly every summer, the Foothills are ravaged and scarred by fire, and every spring, an army of volunteers marches into the Foothills to plant sagebrush and bitterbrush seedlings to restore the ridges and slopes.
The benefits are twofold. Anyone looking up at the hills above the Treasure Valley sees brush and shrubs instead of bare, eroded soil. The deer and elk that spend their winters there have a critical food supply to help them through the harshest months.
Sagebrush and bitterbrush also provide cover from the weather and predators, as well as nesting cover for birds and food for other wildlife. The plants' deep roots hold the soil and prevent erosion.
Get involved
The annual sagebrush and bitterbrush planting projects will start March 5 and continue on March 12, 19 and 26.
Volunteers need to take warm clothes, gloves, water and lunch. Tools will be provided.
hey elkgunner nows your time to shine !!!
every idaho hunter who posts should be involved with this !!
