The Snake River Chapter of PF replaces trees for wildlife at Cartier Slough.
By Al Eiden, Director of Field Operations – West Region
With chapter volunteers ready to get back in the field to get some mission done, our chapters in the West are finding ways to improve habitat and get new people hunting.
In Idaho, the Upper Snake River Chapter worked with an awesome group of Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) volunteers, employees and their own Bill Kelly plus other PF chapter volunteers to successfully transplant 101 trees from the Cartier Slough area to the PF/IDFG project site at Mud Lake WMA in August.
This project replaced the trees planted for winter cover that did not survive the 2020 spring planting. The trees the chapter and their partners planted were removed from Cartier Slough WMA; they were in great condition and transplanted in less than 5 hours from removal. The chapter volunteers found considerable vole damage this spring to the fruit trees/shrubs we planted in the spring of 2020. However, a good majority of those trees have survived, and estimates are to replace 15 to 20 chokecherry trees and 25 to 30 serviceberry trees next spring.
In Montana, the Yellowstone Valley Chapter hosted a youth hunter event in partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in September 2021. This event was a weekend event where the chapter set up shop at Pompey’s Pillar WMA to cook free burgers and hot dogs for the youth that came to hunt, and their parents. In total, 37 youth took advantage, and the event created unmeasurable memories for the new hunters and their parents.
This story originally appeared in the 2022 Winter Issue of the Pheasants Forever Journal. If you enjoyed it and would like to be the first to read more great upland content like this, become a Pheasants Forever member today!