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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2018
On the hunt for a rare Sierra Nevada red fox
Hikers and
campers report
sightings
By KYLE SPURR
The Bulletin
BEND — In a dense forest
at the base of Mount Bachelor,
two wildlife biologists slowly
walked toward a small cage
trap they hoped would contain
a rare red fox species. Jamie
Bowles, an Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife tech-
nician in Bend, and Tim Hiller,
founder of the Montana-based
Wildlife Ecology Institute,
stepped carefully as branches
crunched under their feet.
For the past year, the state
wildlife agency and Hiller’s
organization have worked
together to trap and place radio
collars on Sierra Nevada red
foxes, a rarely seen subspecies
recently discovered roaming in
the Oregon Cascades. Officials
have no idea how many live in
Oregon, and fewer than 100
live in Northern California.
On the sunny Friday morn-
ing in June, the trap was
empty, as were two other traps
the biologists set near Mount
Bachelor.
“This is a typical day for
us,” Bowles said. “Not having
anything in the traps.”
But the past year has been
a success for their efforts
to study the Sierra Nevada
red fox, which they began
researching in 2012.
When a fox was trapped
and given a radio collar in May
2017, it was hailed as a first
for Oregon wildlife biologists,
who suspected the small mam-
mals were here, but had little
proof.
Since, six more have been
captured and given collars.
Last month, Bowles collared
three in one week, two of them
in one day.
In addition, hikers and
campers have steadily reported
Sierra Nevada red fox sight-
ings in the last 12 months.
The collars, programed to
stay on the foxes for one year,
track the foxes as they move
through the area. Data shows
the collared foxes stay in an
8-mile radius near Mount Bach-
elor. The biologists believe the
foxes have become comfort-
able around people and are rely-
ing on being fed or are rummag-
ing for food in dumpsters at the
Mount Bachelor ski area.
Their reliance is not safe for
them or people and their pets,
Joe Kline/The Bulletin
Andy Tullis/The Bulletin
A Sierra Nevada red fox wanders near Mount Bachelor, west of Bend.
Bowles said. The foxes can
carry diseases, such as rabies.
“This is not ideal that they
are foraging for food out of
the trash cans or begging for
food,” Bowles said. “These
foxes seem to be resort
foxes.”
Outside of the Mount
Bachelor area, more people
are reporting sightings of the
Sierra Nevada red foxes. Peo-
ple are seeing them in the high
elevations mountains, such
as the Three Sisters Wilder-
ness, but also in lower ele-
vations areas in Tumalo and
Terrebonne.
Citizen reports are helpful
for the biologists. The foxes
were thought to only live in
high elevation above 4,500
feet. Bowles and Hiller have
16 traps set in various eleva-
tions across the region where
the foxes have been seen.
“We are finding them in
places we didn’t expect to find
them,” Bowles said.
A huge component of the
study is learning more about
their range and dispersal, the
biologists said.
“We want to know what
habitat they are utilizing,”
Bowles said. “Both in the
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SCHEDULE
T UESDAY E VENING
L
mates the grants and in-kind
support is valued at about
$100,000. The study has fund-
ing for another year, during
which the biologist hope to
collar and track 13 more foxes.
The High Desert Museum
supports the study through
its own carnivore-monitor-
ing project in the Deschutes
National Forest. The museum
has 13 trail cameras set up
to capture video of animals,
including the Sierra Nevada
red fox.
The museum hosts an edu-
cational program for local
WANTED
WHEN THE
UNEXPECTED HAPPENS
THE DAILY
ASTORIAN
A
high, mid and low elevation
now that we know they have
dispersed lower.”
When the study began in
2012, it relied on trail cam-
eras and fur and scat collec-
tion. The initial work found
the foxes living in the Oregon
Cascades including Mount Jef-
ferson and Mount Washington.
It gave the biologists an area
to set traps and begin tracking
the foxes. Each trap consists of
bait, usually pieces of roadkill
deer, to lure the foxes.
The study is funded through
federal grants and support from
various agencies. Hiller esti-
Jamie Bowles, a wildlife
tech with the Oregon De-
partment of Fish and Wild-
life, uses an antenna to
pick up signals from radio
collared Sierra Nevada red
foxes near Mount Bachelor.
children and their families
that allows them to take home
a trail camera for six weeks
and capture images of passing
animals.
Last year, one family in
the program captured valuable
footage of a Sierra Nevada red
fox in the lower elevation of
Dry Canyon in Redmond.
Jon Nelson, curator of
wildlife at the museum, said
he regularly gets tips from
people about Sierra Nevada
red fox sightings. Just this
week, someone reported see-
ing a den. Nelson passed the
tip on to the biologists.
“The museum’s role has
been to educate the public and
increase awareness about the
species,” Nelson said. “As a
result, there are a lot of peo-
ple in the community who are
looking for them or recognize
them when they see them.”
DNA samples collected
off the collared foxes have
been sent to a laboratory at
the University of California,
Davis. The results confirmed
the foxes are Sierra Nevada
red foxes and they are living
in lower elevations than origi-
nally thought, Bowles said.
The DNA data could con-
firm if the Oregon foxes are
able to breed with the Cal-
ifornia foxes. If so, that
could boost each region’s
population.
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