OUTDOORS REPORT
429
Actual number of bird species recorded in Montana, according to the Montana Bird Records Committee
Winter feeding hurts, not helps, Montana wildlife March can be a cruel month for deer, elk, and other wildlife. Late winter snowstorms and cold can tax the fat reserves that the animals put on the previous fall. But supplemental feeding in late winter by well-meaning people actually does wildlife more harm than good. Among the problems: Increases the risk of disease by concentrating the animals. Teaches fawns, calves, and other young to depend on humans for food. Causes wildlife to lose their fear of humans, possibly causing risks to human safety. Attracts predators such as mountain lions to feeding areas. Purposefully feeding wildlife is also illegal, punishable by fines and even jail time. n
The future looks grim for pheasants and ducks. The largescale conversion of CRP grasslands to wheat and corn gives the birds far fewer places to nest.
UPLAND HABITAT SURVEY FINDINGS
Good-bye grasslands FWP game warden Tom Chianelli could not prime game bird region. According to new figures believe his eyes this past fall when he returned to released by Ducks Unlimited, CRP acres along the one of his traditional pheasant hunting areas in Hi-Line have declined 54 percent since 2006, a far northeastern Montana’s Sheridan County. loss of more than 800,000 acres. Some of the “Huge chunks of CRP had been converted to biggest declines have been in Sheridan County, cropland,” says the Thompson Falls–area war- Montana’s top pheasant producer (down 68 perden, who for years was stationed in Plentywood cent), and Phillips County, the state’s top duck and met many landowners enrolled in the federal producer and home to hundreds of prairie potholes (down 66 percent). Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Concern by budget hawks over the federal The farm program provides annual payments to landowners who plant highly erodible land to deficit has made Congress leery of funding the native grasses. The grasses reduce runoff into wa- popular conservation program—part of the Farm terways and provide habitat for pheasants, water- Bill—much less adding more money to allow CRP payments to compete with crop revenue. fowl, songbirds, deer, and other wildlife. Though the large-scale grassland conversion Commodity prices were low when many farmers enrolled in the program five or ten years ago. will increase grain production for world markets No longer. With recent record grain prices, it often and boost farm revenues, it comes at a cost. Biolmakes more economic sense to plow grasslands ogists say it’s inevitable the habitat loss will result in fewer upland birds, especially pheasants, as well and plant corn or wheat. Corn prices rose largely due to a federal man- as waterfowl, songbirds, and big game across eastdate to include ethanol in gasoline, as well as ern and central Montana. Streams will run dirtier, increasing global demand for grain-fed beef. As too, with fewer grasslands to filter out sediment wheat fields have been converted to more prof- and agricultural fertilizers. “One friend of mine up there took, I think, his itable corn, wheat supplies declined, raising the price for that commodity as well. Federal pay- entire 3,000 acres out of CRP,” Chianelli says. “He said he felt bad for the wildlife, but what else ments for CRP acres can no longer compete. The grassland conversions occur in Montana’s could he do? He has to make a living.” n
8 MARCH–APRIL 2014 FWP.MT.GOV/MTOUTDOORS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ILLUSTRATION BY MIKE MORAN; SHUTTERSTOCK; COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN; SHUTTERSTOCK; MONTANA FWP; SHUTTERSTOCK
(not 294, as was mistakenly listed in this space in the NovemberDecember 2013 issue)
