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Inside this issue:
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: Ken Mayer ..…. 1
MEET YOUR CHAPTER OFFICERS ………. 3
NOTES FROM THE FIELD –
An instance of a novel brood rearing
behavior in Greater sage-grouse:
Daniel Gibson …………………………… 5
Fallon Wood Duck Project: Ben
Sedinger ………………………………….. 6
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Museum of Natural History opens
on UNR campus: Angela Hornsby…… 7
Nevada Bugs and Butterflies:
Cynthia Scholl ……………………….….. 8
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WESTERN SECTION:
Mackenzie Jeffress ……………….…. 9
ANNOUNCEMENTS ………………….... 10
NEVADA CHAPTER OF THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY
Spring/Summer 2014 Newsletter
MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT KEN MAYER
Greetings Everyone!!
Well it has been 4 months since Nevada hosted the Western Section Annual
Meeting at the Grand Sierra in Reno and we held the Nevada Chapter’s
Annual meeting. I was very pleased with the turnout—both at the Section
Annual Meeting where they nearly had a record turnout and our Nevada
Chapter Annual Business Meeting that was well attended as well. In fact, I
think it was the largest gathering of Nevada Chapter Members in over a
decade. If the enthusiasm at the meeting is any indication, I expect our
Chapter to grow out of its “torpid state” and do some great things in the
coming year.
As a result of the elections at the meeting, we now have a full Executive Board
with many new faces, new perspectives and visions for our future. As
President, I plan to build on this new beginning! On May 21, 2014 we held
our first Board meeting, where we discussed a number of exciting things for
the coming year. For example, we
are planning a late summer
barbecue in Reno with the UNR
Student Chapter and an Annual
Meeting/ Technical Symposium/
Continuing Education gathering
around the first of the year. I plan
to speak with the Director of
Nevada Department of Wildlife,
the BLM Nevada State Director,
USFWS Nevada State Supervisor
and the USFS Humboldt-Toiyabe
National Forest Supervisor about
supporting our Annual Meeting.
My hope is if we can meet their
continuing education needs they
will approve their staff to attend
the meeting on travel status.
Back in the day, that is always
how it happened and the meeting
was always well attended and
frankly led the Western Section
2014 EXECUTIVE BOARD
President: Ken Mayer
(775) 741-9942 [email protected]
President-elect:
Chris Nicolai (775) 861-6333
[email protected] Secretary and Treasurer:
Derek Hall (702) 295-0364
[email protected] Rep. to the Western Section:
Mackenzie Jeffress (775) 777-2307
[email protected] Conservation Affairs:
Pete Bradley (775) 753-8542
Newsletter Editors: Dan Gibson and
Mackenzie Jeffress
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in its activities and professional innovations. With regard to the planning and execution of these endeavors, I will be
asking many of you to help out in any way you can. So stay tuned and look for these opportunities in our new newsletter
and website! (Thanks Dan and Mackenzie!!)
I would like to end this report with some words of encouragement. I have been a member of The Wildlife Society (TWS)
for my entire career. My association with TWS has done more for my career and me
personally than I have done for the Society. Yes I have served in numerous roles both
at the Chapter and Section levels. However, my small commitment to filling these
leadership roles is a minor input compared to what I have gained from being
associated with the professional society and all the great people I have an opportunity
to associate with along the way. Sure the technical sessions have all been great, but it
is the networking and professional and personal relationships I have made along the
way that has enriched me personally and professionally. Therefore, I encourage all
you to engage in the Chapter and Western Section and forge those relationships. I
would also ask that you talk to your peers and get them involved too. The challenges
we face in today’s world as wildlife professionals are daunting. Thus, to be successful
it will take all of us working together, and what better way to accomplish this than to
associate ourselves as professionals through TWS.
Ken Mayer, President NV Chapter, TWS
If you’d like to become a member, please see the form below.
Nevada Chapter
The Wildlife Society
Membership Application
Name:____________________________________________________ Phone:______________________
Email Address*:________________________________________________________________________ *To save cost, most of the Chapter’s communication is via email.
Address:_____________________________________________________________________________
City, State, and Zip Code:__________________________________________________________________
Dues: January 1, 2014-December 2014, $10.00
Please Check: ____ New _____ Renewal
Make check(s) payable to: “Nevada Chapter, TWS”
Return to: Derek Hall 6816 Beach Nest Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89130
N E V A D A C H A P T E R O F T H E W I L D L I F E S O C I E T Y
You may also join online at
http://wildlife.org/membership/join
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MEET YOUR CHAPTER OFFICERS
Ken Mayer is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and holds a B.S. and M.S. from
Humboldt State University in Natural Resource Management. Ken began
his professional wildlife career in 1981 with the California Department of
Forestry (CDF) as their first wildlife biologist. He spent 7 years with the
Forest and Rangeland Resource Assessment Program (FRRAP), serving in a
number of capacities including staff to the Board of Forestry. Ken’s most
important contribution during his stint with CDF, was as the co-founder of
California Wildlife Habitat Relationship Program. From there he moved to
the California Department of Fish and Game in 1987, now Department of
Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), where he served for 12 years as the Statewide
Deer Management Coordinator and 7 years as the Scientific Branch Chief,
for the Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR). The Scientific Branch consisted of several programs including
Field Response Operations, Analytical Laboratories, Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research, Spill Response
Support Programs, Health and Safety Program, Ballast Water Program, Resource Assessment and the Scientific Studies
and Evaluation Program. He oversaw a budget of $9 million, personnel, the statewide Oiled Wildlife Care Network and
associated Volunteer Program.
In 2007, Ken retired from the CDFG and accepted the appointment as Director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife
(NDOW), where he served nearly 7 years. As Director, Ken served on the Governor’s Cabinet, Executive Secretary of the
Wildlife Commission and the NV State Environmental Commission. He was responsible for all of the scientific and
administrative functions of NDOW and its 300 employees. Since leaving NDOW in 2013, he started his own consulting
business (K. E. Mayer & Associates, LLC), where he is continuing his work on Greater Sage-grouse conservation. Ken
believes the most valuable trait he brought to all his jobs during his career was the ability to recognize good science and
merge it with his people skills to deliver important wildlife conservation. He believes in recognizing the value of
employees and nurturing productivity by acknowledging their importance. He believes that impeccable professional
ethics and creating a positive and productive work environment, is the key to success.
Chris currently works for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Reno, NV as a wildlife
biologist within the Regional (California and Nevada) Migratory Bird Program. He
received a B.S. in Biology from Bemidji State University (Minnesota) in 1996. Chris’s
graduate degrees (M.S. Wildlife biology from University of Alaska Fairbanks (2003) and
PhD Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from University of Nevada
Reno (UNR; 2010)) focused on breeding Black Brant on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta,
Alaska. Prior to his current position, he was contracted by Nevada Department of Wildlife
to lead projects to redesign the States waterfowl surveys and waterfowl banding program,
and also helped lead a breeding study of Greater Sandhill Cranes in NE NV. Chris is an
adjunct professor at UNR and has served on the committees for two MS students at UNR
working on nesting Sandhill Cranes and Wood Ducks and is currently co-chair for a PhD student studying effects of
anthropomorphic take of Wood Ducks. Two graduate students, dozens of undergraduate students, and hundreds of
elementary students have helped him maintain a wood duck demographic study in the Fallon, NV area since 2003. Chris’s
current workload includes participating in the Pacific Flyway Study Committee, Golden Eagle working group, and working
with renewable energy projects to minimize impacts to migratory birds, particularly eagles. In his spare time, Chris enjoys
fishing, hunting, camping, decoy carving, and exploring usually with his 2 daughters and 2 yellow dogs.
President - Elect Chris Nicolai
President Ken Mayer
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MEET YOUR CHAPTER OFFICERS CONTINUED
Derek Hall is a Senior Scientist with National Security Technologies, LLC and has been
working at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) for nearly 20 years. His primary
responsibilities include monitoring the flora and fauna of the site to assess and mitigate
impacts of a variety of projects conducted on the site as well as revegetating disturbed
areas. He has conducted studies on a variety of wildlife species including bats, burrowing
owls, small mammals, reptiles and mule deer. He is currently studying the movements,
habitat use, and survival of adult and juvenile desert tortoises and the food habits and
habitat use of mountain lions. He is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and has been a member of
The Wildlife Society and the Society for Range Management for 20 years. He lives in Las
Vegas with his wife and four children. He enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, sports,
gardening and most of all spending time with his family.
Mackenzie received dual B.S. degrees in Wildlife Resources and Natural Resource
Ecology and Conservation Biology from the University of Idaho in 2005 and her M.S.
from Kansas State University in 2009. After graduate school, Mackenzie worked as a
Research Associate with the National Park Service on an inventory and monitoring
program for the American pika in parks throughout the West. In 2012, Mackenzie
joined the Nevada Department of Wildlife as a Wildlife Diversity Biologist out of Elko
(filling the big shoes of Pete Bradley – see below) and covers everything from bats and
pikas to songbirds and raptors. She was president of the University of Idaho Student
Chapter of TWS in 2004, is a 2010 TWS Leadership Institute Alumna, and just
submitted her application to be a Certified Wildlife Biologist. Mackenzie was elected as
the Nevada Chapter Representative to the Western Section in 2014 and is excited to
help reinvigorate the Nevada Chapter. In her spare time, Mackenzie enjoys hiking,
hunting, birding, cooking, and photography with her husband, Matt (also a NDOW
biologist), and her two dogs.
Pete received a B.S. (1983) in Wildlife Management and M.S. (1986) in
Wildlife Ecology from Univeristy of Nevada – Reno. Pete was the Elko
Wildlife Diversity Biologist with Nevada Department of Wildlife for over
23 years and during that time Pete was an author on almost 20
publications and presentations. In 2012, Pete took the role as NDOW’s
large carnivore staff specialist coordinating predator projects and
management throughout the State. He recently retired (congratulations,
Pete!) from a 28-year career with the agency and is looking forward to
enjoying retirement by spending time with his wonderful family, working
on manuscripts and publications, and continuing to be the amazing
naturalist he is.
Conservation Affairs Pete Bradley
Rep to the Western Section Mackenzie Jeffress
Secretary & Treasurer Derek Hall
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NOTES FROM THE FIELD
An instance of a novel brood rearing behavior in
Greater sage-grouse
By Daniel Gibson
One of the benefits of spending extended periods of time out in the field
following your study species around is that probability theory suggests that
eventually you will encounter a behavior that both surprises you as a scientist
as well as a wildlife enthusiast. For me, I had couple of these experiences, and if you try to do the math, we were extremely
lucky to observe some of these phenomena. Today, I will regale you with one of these experiences, which suggests that
children failing to launch is not specifically an experience unique to humans.
This occurred back in 2011, during my second field season as a Ph.D student on a project focused on sage-grouse
population ecology. It was early August, and we were based around the Roberts Creek Basin in central Nevada. We were
attempting to re-capture all of the chicks from the radio-marked females that successfully nested. These chicks were
previously marked the day they hatched with a metal tag located on their patagium to allow us to identify in the future,
and now, about 90 days later, the chicks were large enough to handle wearing a radio-tracking device. As such, we were
not only getting information regarding pre-fledging growth rates, variation in sex-ratios across time, and improving
precision of our estimates of chick survival, we were also bolstering our radio-marked sample size for the following spring.
I was out with a volunteer attempting to trap the brood of L22, a female that I had a kind of love-hate relationship with
because she had successfully fledged a brood of chicks each year we monitored her, but she had a penchant for being in the
worst possible places whenever I wanted to visit her. So, with a generator strapped to my back, headphones plugged into
the receiver, YAGI antenna in hand, spotlight in the other hand, binoculars strapped around my neck, and my trusty
volunteer Tony following my tail with a large fishing net, we went searching for this particular brood, and per usual, I
feared the worst.
In all honesty, the capture went off without a hitch. We ran into L22 with
three individuals huddled around her, and we captured the entire group.
One patagium-marked young-of –year male, check, one patagium-
marked young-of –year female, check, and …… one patagium-marked
second year female? Wait, what? Who is this bird? Why is a second year
hen that we obviously marked a year ago hanging out with L22, and
practically underneath her to say the least? For the sake of brevity, I’ll
just tell you who it was. It was L22’s daughter from 2010. She somehow
re-encountered her mother in 2011 with L22’s new brood, and decided to
stay and reconnected for a
little bit. Did she know that
this was her mother? Who
knows, but I like to think
that she did…
To our knowledge this was the first recorded instance of a sage-grouse
interacting with its mother post-fledging. However as sage-grouse tend to
exhibit strong site fidelity with other life history characteristics, I would
imagine this behavior is not uncommon. We just haven’t focused the time
and energy to be able to observe it.
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NOTES FROM THE FIELD
The Fallon wood duck project
By Ben Sedinger
Every year, towards the end of March, the wood ducks along the Carson
River in Northwestern Nevada begin laying eggs in tree cavities and
nest boxes. Cavity nesting is an uncommon behavior in ducks and other
waterfowl. Additionally, this behavior also provides researchers an
exceptional opportunity to monitor nesting activity. In Fallon we have ~430 nest boxes situated
along a 20 mile stretch of the Carson River and nearby irrigation ditches that we monitor
weekly from late March through early July. The stretch of the Carson River that runs through
Fallon provides a unique situation to study waterfowl ecology and harvest dynamics because a
majority of the population are year-round residents. Therefore, we are able to encounter
individuals during every month of the year which improves our ability to estimate key
demographic rates.
Currently, duck harvest management is based on a set of models and assumptions that provide an annual prescription for
how many ducks we can sustainably shoot. The problem with this approach is that in the absence of experiments,
managers are not sure how exactly hunting influence duck populations. We initiated a harvest experiment in 2011 to
assess these assumptions related to harvest as well as to investigate relationships between harvest and population
dynamics. With cooperation from the Nevada wildlife commission, we
reduced the daily possession limit for wood ducks from 7 birds per
day to 1 per day. The purpose of this temporary reduction was to
induce variation in the number of wood ducks that get harvested from
year to year. In 2012, we requested that the commission restore the
previous possession limit of 7 birds per day and we encouraged
hunters to focus on woodies and fill their limits as often as possible in
an effort to attain a high harvest rate. We are currently repeating
these treatments with 2013 being the last “low” year and 2014 being
the last “high” year.
Hopefully, with cooperation from hunters, after 4 years we will have achieved enough of a difference in harvest rates
between the low and high harvest years to get a better understanding of how hunting effects duck populations. Some of the
questions I hope to address are:
1. How does annual variation in harvest rates effects survival? In wildlife management we often talk about additive
and compensatory harvest mortality. When you shoot a bull sprig, is that pintail just another dead duck (additive)
or by shooting it did you remove a duck from the population that would have died anyways (compensatory). If
duck harvest is a compensatory source of mortality then we would expect survival rates to be stable at certain
harvest rates.
2. How does variation in wood duck harvest during the preceding hunting season influence subsequent nest and
duckling survival? Hen reproductive success may be related to local population density. As such, years following
low harvest may result in increased competition for resources among ducklings and vice versa for years following
high harvest.
3. How does variation in quality of adults influence their survival and susceptibility to harvest? In wildlife
management we often estimate demographics at the population level; however it is likely that all wood ducks are
not created equal. Is it possible that we harvest the lower quality individuals every fall that would suffer higher
mortality rates in the absence of hunting and are less likely to reproduce? If this is the case, hunting (up to some
level) will have little to no impact on the number of ducks surviving the winter.
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COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Museum of Natural History opens on UNR campus
By Angela Hornsby
In August of the year 1900, a box arrived at the newly built Nevada
Agricultural Experiment Station on the University of Nevada campus in
Reno. The contents of this box—chemicals, presumably for research—
were unpacked and, when left unattended, caught fire. Everything at
the station was destroyed. Everything, that is, but some twenty bundles
of pressed herbarium specimens, singed on the edges and soaked with
the water meant to calm the blaze. Some intrepid soul had run into the
station to save what they could of these old, flattened plants.
Was this an act of insanity or valor? Well, maybe it was both. As wildlife biologists, we know that many of the most
exciting and eye-opening experiences come from seeing our organisms up close in the field. And anyone who has also
spent time in the back rooms of natural history museums can’t help but understand how exciting and eye-opening it is to
have access to physical specimens representing decades and centuries of our natural heritage, both for display and
research. We might even run into burning buildings to save them.
That handful of specimens from the late 1800s is now joined by about
10,000 vertebrates, 500,000 insects, and nearly 100,000 plants to form the
new Museum of Natural History at the University of Nevada, Reno, opened
in March 2014. While some of these specimens were already housed and
used on the UNR campus, many of them were neglected in storage for
decades and only consolidated into the current museum through a grant to
UNR faculty Dr. Beth Leger (College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and
Natural Resources) and Dr. Chris Feldman (College of Science).
The Museum of Natural History has three goals: public outreach,
undergraduate and graduate education, and scholarly research. The small lobby is the hub of activity for outreach, and is
packed with displays including several large vertebrate mounts, live fish and invertebrates, and myriad skins, skulls, eggs,
cones, seeds, and other specimens organized by major ecozones. The museum schedule is already filling up with tours and
other activities well into the summer. In the large back room beyond the lobby, the teaching and research collections are
stored along with major research equipment including microscopes,
cameras, and other tools for both 2D and 3D digitization. As the only
museum of its kind in Nevada, it is a unique and important resource for
both research and education on our state’s natural heritage.
The Museum of Natural History lobby displays are free and open to the
public weekdays from 9 AM – 4 PM in Fleischmann Agriculture room 300,
and tours of the collections for all types and sizes of groups are available by
appointment. For more information, please contact outreach coordinator
Julie Stoughton at [email protected].
Photo Credits: Roger Moore, CABNR, UNR
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COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Nevada Bugs & Butterflies
By Cynthia Scholl
Nevada Bugs and Butterflies is a Reno-based science education nonprofit founded in 2012 by a
group of past and present UNR graduate students. The organization is led by Cynthia Scholl
(M.Sc. ’12) and Kevin Burls (Ph.D., graduating spring 2014). Our mission is to provide hands-on
experiences with science and living things to cultivate love of the natural world and local
environmental responsibility. We seek to engage the community, especially kids, in learning
about biology, the scientific method, and our native biodiversity. We do this through two main
set of activities: first, by running a butterfly house and outdoor science center in the summer
months, and second by providing outreach at
northern Nevada schools and community events.
The butterfly house is located north of Reno, in Lemon Valley in an abundant
organic garden where kids can explore, catch butterflies, collect simple data
and participate in other activities. The butterfly house contains anywhere from
10 to 15 species of butterflies, all native to Nevada, and kids can look for eggs
and caterpillars of some of the species in the house. The bigger caterpillars can
be held, along with darkling beetles, millipedes and other arthropods as part of
an insect petting zoo. This summer the butterfly house opens on June 19th and
is open for visitors Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10am to 3pm through
September. It is located at 413 Matterhorn Blvd., Reno. Visit our website,
www.nevadabugs.org for directions, information, and updates.
In 2013, Nevada Bugs reached over 1,000 kids and community members
through outreach events and school visits. Common activities include a mobile
insect petting zoo, an array of other insects such as velvet ants and scorpions that kids can see up close, using a
microscope to view butterfly eggs or wing scales. Dancing out the butterfly life cycle and using our native butterfly coloring
sheets are also popular activities with the younger kids.
If you’d like to learn more, please visit our website, www.nevadabugs.org. For
information about upcoming events and summer programming, you can also
like us on Facebook. There are many ways to help out, including growing
butterfly host plants, volunteering at outreach events and welcoming visitors to
the butterfly house. For more information about volunteering email
[email protected] or call (775)
276-1393.
Nevada Bugs is run entirely on volunteer time and supported by financial
contributions from the community. Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 21484,
Reno, NV 89515.
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WESTERN SECTION
The Western Section Annual Meeting held in Reno last January was a huge success with
almost record attendance (586 attendees - just 6 short of the record), 19+ associated meetings
and workshops, and 125+ concurrent sessions! Nevada was well representated when it came
to awards, with Nevada Department of Wildlife’s Shawn Espinosa receiving the Raymond F.
Dasmann Award for Professional of the Year, Nevada Bighorns Unlimited receiving
Conservationist of the Year, Dr. Jim Sedinger receiving the Barrett A. Garrison Outstanding
Mentor Award, and Dr. Donald A. Klebenow receiving the James D. Yoakum Award. The
awards were presented at the Reno meeting and congrats to all! Now the Western Section
Board is working hard to plan for the 2015 meeting to be held January 28-30 in beautiful Santa Rosa, CA. Workshop and
topics being considered for the meeting include northern spotted owl and barred owl management, the Armagosa vole,
and safety and wildlife health issues with illegal marijuana grows. Along with meeting planning, the Board is working hard
to implement key portions of the Strategic Plan and as always, they are looking for volunteers to help with implementation
of various Section activities.
Don’t forget - the Western Section has a new Journal, Western Wildlife, which is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal
that publishes original research, reviews, perspectives, and correspondence on the ecology, natural history, management,
and conservation biology of animals. Please consider submitting your manuscripts.
Learn more about the Western Section and its activities at: http://www.tws-west.org/index.php
Submitted by Mackenzie Jeffress, Nevada Chapter Representative to the Western Section
WE WANT TO KNOW!
About members’ upcoming articles, activities, honors, and awards
We would like to keep our membership aware of colleagues in the news so if you have an in-press article or have received a
professional honor or award, tell us about it!
Are you putting together a workshop for colleages or the public? Share it here!
Have an article idea for the newsletter? We are seeking contributions!
Send information for newsletter publication to Dan Gibson ([email protected]) and/or Mackenzie Jeffress
WANT TO GET MORE INVOLVED WITH THE NEVADA CHAPTER?
We are in search of members to serve:
As the NV Chapter Webmaster
On the annual meeting/symposium planning committee
As a NV Chapter Facebook page administrator
As artists for a NV Chapter logo to be used on t-shirts, outreach materials, etc.
If you’re interested in these or other opportunities to serve, contact Ken Mayer at [email protected].
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Volunteer Opportunity with Spotted Frog Monitoring Study
As part of ongoing efforts to promote the conservation of the Columbia
Spotted Frog in Nevada, the Toiyabe Spotted Frog Technical Team (TSFTT)
will be conducting its 11th year of a mark-recapture monitoring effort in the
Toiyabe Range of Central Nevada. The pit tag study will be conducted during
the week of July 14, 2014. Those interested in volunteering in the mark-
recapture effort should contact Teri Slatauski, Nevada Department of Wildlife
biologist @775-482-3153.
Volunteer Opportunity with the Nevada Bat Working Group
2014 Bat Blitz in Tahoe
The Nevada Department of Wildlife will be hosting the Nevada Bat
Working Group annual bat survey the week of Aug 4, 2014, in Lake
Tahoe Nevada State Park. The survey is held in a different region of
Nevada every year, and the 2014 survey will be held in the Carson
Range in an effort to help collect baseline information on bats in the
Lake Tahoe area. Little is known about bats on the Nevada side of
Lake Tahoe, and mist nets and acoustic detectors will be used during
this week-long effort to collect a variety of data, including species
occurrence, general condition, and reproductive status. Those
interested in volunteering should contact Mark Enders, Nevada
Department of Wildlife biologist @ (775) 684-2742 or
Volunteer Opportunity with the Nevada Pika Blitz
As part of an effort coordinated by Nevada Deparment of Wildlife,
agency biologists and volunteers will
be conducting inventory surveys for
pikas throughout the potential
habitat in Nevada summer and early fall 2014 in areas near Winnemucca, Battle
Mountain, Tonopah, Tahoe and more. Those interested in participating should contact
Mackenzie Jeffress, Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist @ (775) 777-2307 or
UPCOMING MEETINGS
The Wildlife Society 2014 Annual Conference Pittsburgh, PA
October 25-30, 2014 http://wildlife.org/pa/pittsburgh_2014
2015 Western Section Annual Conference
Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel & Spa – Santa Rosa, CA January 28-30, 2015
T. Slatauski 2007
M. Enders
NDOW
W. Deacy, NPS