$10,000 in prizes at the Burbot Bash

Division of Wildlife Resources Photo

Vernal — Two state wildlife agencies and three chambers of commerce have teamed up to fight a finned invader in Flaming Gorge Reservoir.


Catching a burbot at this year's Burbot Bash could net you a cash prize. Their goal is to put some severe fishing pressure on burbot. To reach that goal, they've enhanced an annual event called the Burbot Bash.


Cash prizes
On Jan. 22, the Burbot Bash will become a formal fishing derby offering up to $10,000 in cash prizes. The event will also change from an event held on a weekend to an event that includes a full week of fishing.

A burbot with a tag on it could be worth up to $5,000. The longest burbot caught is worth $1,500.

This year's event will also include a youth derby with its own set of prizes.

Helping biologists gather data
The two wildlife agencies—the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD)—have been marking burbot with small tags. Their goal is to tag 500 fish throughout Flaming Gorge Reservoir in northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming. Because the 91-mile-long reservoir crosses into both states, the biologists have too, working together as a team to catch burbot using nets and other methods.

When biologists catch a burbot, they record where the fish was caught and its length and weight. The fish is then tagged and released where it was caught. Hopefully, some of these fish will be caught by anglers during the Burbot Bash.

Because each tag is unique, the biologists can track any changes in individual fish that are recaptured during the Burbot Bash or later during the biologists' own surveys. Recapture data supplies biologists with vital information about the structure of the burbot population, movements of the fish, how long burbot in the reservoir are living and how much each fish has grown since it was first caught.

If this aspect of the Burbot Bash continues, the agencies will tag more fish, which will allow them to acquire more years of additional data.


Removing burbot is the ultimate goal
The ultimate goal of the agencies, however, is to remove as many burbot as possible. To help reach that goal, three chambers of commerce—Flaming Gorge, Green River and Rock Springs—have joined with the wildlife agencies to enhance this year's Burbot Bash.

The chambers have raised funds and are providing prizes, lodging discounts and other incentives to help attract anglers to the event.


Burbot Bash
The derby kicks off at the Buckboard Marina on Jan. 22 with an array of demonstrations and discussions about how to catch burbot and what to do with them after you've caught them. This part of the event is free. If you want to participate in the quest for prizes, you'll have to register and pay a fee.

After the Jan. 22 opener, anglers have a week to catch burbot and bring them to a checking station. (You need to follow all of the fishing regulations, so make sure you're familiar with the fishing regulations for the state in which you're fishing and have the proper licenses and permits.)

The final check will take place at the Manila Rodeo Grounds on Jan. 29. After the final check in, the prizes will be awarded.


Fishing regulations, and more information
You can learn more about the Burbot Bash and obtain registration forms at several locations, including www.flaminggorgeresort.com/attractions.php  and http://www.daggettcounty.org/ .

Fishing regulations, guidebooks and licenses can be found and bought at many stores and shops in the Flaming Gorge area.

Regulations and licenses are also available at http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/  and http://www.gf.state.wy.us/ .

Dove Hunt opens September 1

Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

If you’re a dove hunter, you know how agonizing it can be to watch rain fall in August. No matter how many birds you’ve seen and coos you’ve heard, a single storm can move doves out of Utah in a hurry.

So why doesn’t Utah start its dove hunt sooner than Sept. 1? “We can’t,” says Tom Aldrich, migratory game bird coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources. “International law won’t allow us to.”

Aldrich is referring to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The act prohibits migratory bird sport hunts from occurring in the United States between March 11 and Aug. 31. Sport hunts can resume on Sept. 1. “So we’re tied to the Sept. 1 opening date,” Aldrich says. “But if the weather stays warm and dry, plenty of doves should be in Utah on opening day.”


Dove numbers
The number of mourning doves that bred in Utah this year was similar to the number of doves that bred in the state last year. In fact, if you average out the survey data, the number of mourning doves in Utah and the six other states that make up the Western Dove Unit hasn’t changed much in the past 10 years.

Aldrich says the number of doves that are produced isn’t the critical factor in determining how many doves you’ll see each season.“The critical factor is whether the doves that were produced are still here once the season starts,” he says.


Eurasian Collared-Doves
The Eurasian collared-dove is one dove that’s showing up in Utah in greater numbers every year.

There’s no bag limit on Eurasian collared-doves, so you can take as many as you like. But if you don’t want the birds to count as part of your 10-dove limit, wait until you get home before you pluck or breast the birds.

Aldrich says once a dove is plucked, it’s difficult to tell whether the bird is an Eurasian collared-dove, a mourning dove or a white-winged dove. “If you pluck the birds before you get them home, you’ll have to count them as part of your 10-dove limit,” he says.

Aldrich also reminds you that mourning and Eurasian collared-doves are often found together. “Make sure you can identify the two doves so you’ll know which ones have to be counted as part of your 10-dove limit,” he says.

Drawings that show the three dove species found in Utah are available on page 39 of the 2010 – 2011 Utah Upland Game Guidebook.

The guidebook is available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/guidebooks .


Take your kids hunting
If you want to get your children involved in hunting, the dove hunt is a good one to try. “You don’t need a lot of equipment,” Aldrich says, “and it’s usually warm during the hunt. “It’s also a fairly easy hunt. You don’t have to hike to the top of a mountain to find doves.”


Seeds, Seeds, Seeds
To find doves, Aldrich says you should look for two things: a water source that has cover and shade near it, and lots of wild seed.

“Doves eat mostly seeds,” Aldrich says. “If you can find the seeds they like, you should find the doves.”

Wild sunflower seeds and seeds from a variety of weeds and grasses are among the seeds doves eat. Aldrich says some of the best weed-producing areas are places where road building has disturbed the area.

Doves also eat seeds from agricultural crops, such as waste grain that’s left in fields after the grain is harvested. Safflower, wheat and sorghum seeds are especially important to doves.


Reminders
Make sure you’re registered in the Migratory Game Bird Harvest Information Program (HIP) for the 2010 season. You can register at http://www.uthip.com/ .

It’s a good idea to wear hunter orange during the dove hunt, especially on opening day. “Doves don’t seem to notice the hunter orange,” Aldrich says, “and wearing it makes you stand out to other hunters.”

Much of Utah’s dove hunting happens on private land. Make sure you get written permission from the landowner before hunting on his or her land.

It’s usually hot during the dove hunt. Make sure you clean your doves quickly (unless they’re Eurasian collared-doves you don’t want to include as part of your bag limit), and keep them cool in an ice chest.

Take good care of your dog. Bring water for it. And be careful about taking your dog into an area that might have rattlesnakes.

Burbot Captured In Green River

Photo by Ryan Mosley, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Vernal -- On July 28, researchers with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources found something they didn’t want to find: a 21-inch burbot in the Green River below Flaming Gorge dam.

Burbot are a nonnative fish from east of the Rocky Mountains. The fish was captured during an electrofishing study to recover and study endangered fish in the Green and Colorado rivers.

“The burbot was captured from an electrofishing raft roughly 1.5 miles upstream of the Split Mountain boat ramp in Dinosaur National Monument,” says Paul Badame, UDWR native fish project leader. “This is the first capture of a burbot below Flaming Gorge dam that I’m aware of.”

The burbot likely came down the Green River after someone illegally introduced the species upstream in Big Sandy Reservoir in Wyoming. The burbot have worked their way downstream, bypassing dams at Big Sandy and Flaming Gorge.


Why the concern?
Burbot are a voracious predator, capable of breeding in both rivers and reservoirs. As a result, they can have a serious impact on both native and sport fish populations.

Biologists working on Flaming Gorge Reservoir have already noticed a rapid increase in the number of burbot in the reservoir and a corresponding decline in the number of kokanee salmon.

Burbot also pose a major risk to native fish in the Green River.

“We’re concerned that burbot will negatively impact endangered fish and other native fishes in the Green River,” says Krissy Wilson, native aquatic species coordinator for the UDWR. “We’ve seen this happen before with other nonnative fish, including northern pike, redshiner and smallmouth bass.”

Wilson says the UDWR and its partners in the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program are working together to determine the best way to deal with this latest threat.


Catch and kill regulation
The UDWR has placed a ‘no tolerance’ fishing regulation on burbot in Utah: (There’s no limit on the number of burbot an angler can catch. Anglers may not release any burbot they catch.

All burbot must be killed immediately. For more information, call the UDWR’s Northeastern Region office at (435) 781-9453.

Quagga Mussel May Have Been Found in Sand Hollow

Hurricane -- Divers have found what appears to be a live adult quagga mussel in Sand Hollow Reservoir.

The reservoir is about eight miles southwest of Hurricane in southern Utah.

“After the divers made the discovery, two aquatic invasive species (AIS) biologists confirmed that the mussel appeared to be an adult quagga mussel,” says Douglas Messerly, regional supervisor for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

“If it is an adult quagga mussel, there’s a good chance more of them are in the reservoir,” Messerly says. “And if that’s the case, that’s bad news for boaters, anglers and water users.

“Quagga mussels can do all kinds of damage, including clogging systems that deliver water and devastating fish populations.”

The mussel has been sent to the DWR office in Salt Lake City. From there, it will be flown to Colorado, where two laboratories will perform DNA tests. The DNA tests will help confirm whether the mussel is a quagga mussel or another type of mussel.

“The Division of Wildlife Resources is taking this suspected sighting seriously,” Messerly says. “We’re working closely with Utah State Parks and the Washington County Water Conservancy District to develop short- and long-term plans to contain and manage the problem.”

Decontaminating your boat
To lessen the chance that mussels are spread to other waters from the reservoir, on May 22, DWR Director Jim Karpowitz signed a legal rapid response plan notice. The notice is now in effect at Sand Hollow and at waters throughout Utah.

The notice requires that any type of recreational equipment that’s been in Sand Hollow during the past 30 days must be decontaminated before launching at any other water in Utah. This includes any piece of recreational equipment capable of carrying or containing reservoir water or a quagga or zebra mussel, including any type of boat, vessel, personal watercraft, motor vehicle or trailer.

Also, all boats leaving Sand Hollow must be inspected for mussels and drained and cleaned by DWR AIS technicians.

“Decontaminating your boat is the only way to stop the spread of these mussels,” says Lynn Chamberlain, DWR regional outreach manager. “The decontamination process won’t harm your boat. In fact, it can actually help your boat by removing mussels that could clog your boat’s pumps and hoses.”

Chamberlain says there are two ways to decontaminate your boat after pulling it out of the water:

1)Clean mud, plants, animals or other debris from your boat and equipment.

2)Drain the ballast tanks, bilge, live wells and motor.

3)Dry your boat (seven days in the summer, 18 days in the spring and fall, and 30 days in the winter.

OR

Get your boat professionally decontaminated. Certified personnel will wash your trailer and boat inside and out, flushing your ballast tanks, bilge, live wells and motor with high-pressure, scalding (140 degree Fahrenheit) water.

The DWR offers this service for free at popular waters across Utah.

“No matter which decontamination method you prefer, you should make a habit of completing the decontamination process after every boating trip,” Chamberlain says. “In addition to stopping the spread of mussels, your efforts will also help limit the spread of whirling disease.”

Chamberlain says the DWR will have decontamination units at Sand Hollow and will provide the service free to boaters as they leave the park.  “Hundreds of boaters use this reservoir, so you’ll likely have to wait several minutes to use the service,” he says.


Regular dives
Sand Hollow is one of the waters at which the Washington County Water Conservancy District (WCWCD) conducts regular dives to search for quagga and zebra mussels.

Divers found the possible quagga mussel during a dive on May 21.

Kent Walker was diving with fellow diver Troy Guard under docks near the main boat ramp on the northwest side of the reservoir when he felt something suspicious in a crevice between two floatation buoys under the dock.

He pulled the item out and brought it to the surface. Michelle Deras, an AIS biologist with the WCWCD, and Crystal Stock, an AIS biologist with the DWR, were among several DWR, Utah State Parks and WCWCD personnel who were contacted.

After examining the mussel, Deras and Stock confirmed that it had all the markings and characteristics of an adult quagga mussel.

“At this point, we don’t know where the mussel came from or how many are in the reservoir,” Deras says. “What we do know is that we found one and there are likely more. We must take every precaution possible to make sure mussels aren’t spread to other waters in Utah.”

Sand Hollow Reservoir is still open for boating and fishing.

For more information about the rapid response plan notice and how you can prevent spreading quagga mussels in Utah, visit www.wildlife.utah.gov/mussels .

New online Mussel Course available

You shouldn’t have to wait as long to launch your boat in Utah this year. The Division of Wildlife Resources has launched a new online Mussel-Aware Boater program.

In addition to teaching a simple clean, drain and dry process you must follow to keep mussels out of Utah, the program should reduce the time you and other boaters have to spend in line before officials allow you to launch your boat.

You can take the program’s course at www.wildlife.utah.gov/mussels/form_options.php .

The course takes about 40 minutes to complete. Once you’ve answered all of the questions correctly, you can print a certificate that shows you’ve completed the course.

When you arrive at the water you want to boat on, show your certificate to the official at the ramp. And be prepared to answer some brief questions about the waters you’ve recently boated on.

Unless the official needs to decontaminate your boat, that’s it—you should be on the launch ramp within a minute or two.

“We’re really happy with this new course. It’s a win-win for everyone,” says Larry Dalton, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the DWR.

“Waters in Utah win because boaters will learn more about mussels—and the clean, drain and dry process they must follow to keep them out of Utah—than we can teach them at the launch ramps,” he says.

“Boaters win because they won’t have to spend as much time with us. They’ll be able to get their boats on the water faster.”

For more information, call the nearest Division of Wildlife Resources office or the DWR’s Salt Lake City office at (801) 538-4700.

Rusty Crayfish Capture the Attention of Utah Water Users

Photo courtesy of the United States Geological Survey.

Vernal -- News from Colorado is capturing the attention of biologists, anglers and water managers in Utah.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) recently reported finding rusty crayfish in the Yampa River Basin.

The Yampa flows into the Green River in northeastern Utah.

In response to their discovery, the CDOW has issued an order prohibiting the removal of live crayfish from the Yampa River and any streams, lakes, canals or rivers that adjoin it.

Utah already has a similar rule for the crayfish species found in the state.

In Utah, live crayfish are on the state’s prohibited list. Live crayfish cannot be collected, imported or transported anywhere without a valid Certificate of Registration from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

Anglers may use crayfish as bait, but only at the same water where the anglers collected them. Crayfish caught for human consumption must be dead before they’re removed from the water where they were harvested.

A major threat
The rusty crayfish is an invasive species native to the Ohio River drainage. It’s had negative effects on fisheries and aquatic ecosystems in the Great Lakes region, in at least 17 other states and in southern Canada.

Elizabeth Brown, invasive species coordinator for the CDOW, says the discovery of rusty crayfish in the Yampa Basin is the first time the species has been found in Colorado.

Rusty crayfish are large and aggressive. They can affect a fishery or an aquatic ecosystem two major ways:

- They consume a wide variety of forage that fish depend on. This forage includes small fish, fish eggs, vegetation and aquatic invertebrates—including many insects and other forage species that are highly desired by fish. By consuming aquatic plants and plant beds, they remove critical forage and cover needed by the fish and the invertebrates on which the fish feed.

- Their aggressive nature will also displace native crayfish and other aquatic species from their hiding places—making them more susceptible to predation by fish. This won’t affect the fish much at first because their usual prey will be easier to catch. Later, however, they’ll have to deal with the rusty crayfish, which can rotate its large claws over its back to defend itself.

Why rusty crayfish are spreading
People have moved the rusty crayfish well outside its native range.

No one has found the rusty crayfish in Utah. But Colorado’s recent discovery indicates the crayfish is moving westward. Crayfish are moved several ways:

- as bait transported by anglers from one water to another or bought by anglers commercially and then introduced to a water,

- through school supply houses by teachers who raise the crayfish in class and then give them to students or release them into a nearby water,

- dumping from home aquariums,

- intentional releases by misguided anglers wanting to increase forage for their favorite fish, and

- intentional releases by commercial harvesters who want more waters in which to catch crayfish that the harvesters can later sell

What you can do
Everyone in Utah has a responsibility to keep rusty crayfish and other invasive mussels, fish, snails, wildlife and plants from spreading into Utah’s waters and wild areas. Doing so is easy. It comes down to two simple things:

- Never move any species or species parts—plant or animal—from one body of water to another body of water, or from one wild area to a different wild area.

- Make sure you clean, drain and dry your boat and any recreational or fishing equipment that’s come in contact with the water before placing it in the water again.

This simple clean, drain and dry process is available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/mussels/decontaminate.php .

Ogden and Farmington Bays scheduled for Burns during Fall Months

This fall, as weather conditions permit, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) will burn phragmites at both the Ogden Bay and Farmington Bay waterfowl management areas (WMAs). To ensure hunters' safety, the DWR will temporarily close these areas during a burn. Hunters have asked many questions about the burns and closures:

What is phragmites?

Phragmites (pronounced frag-mite-ees) is an invasive plant that can reach heights of 13–15 feet. It spreads rapidly, forming dense thickets that outcompete native plants and wildlife in Utah's marshes. Areas with phragmites are inhospitable to water birds and practically inaccessible to hunters. The DWR has used a combination of herbicides and follow-up burns to remove thousands of acres of phragmites over the past few years.

Photo Courtesy Wikipedia

Why is the DWR planning to burn phragmites during the waterfowl hunt?

Weather conditions — including temperature, wind speed/direction, air quality and other factors — have to be exactly right before the DWR can burn phragmites. Those conditions did not occur in the spring or summer of 2009. There are now approximately 4,000 acres of herbicide-treated phragmites that have not yet been burned. If the weather cooperates this fall, the DWR needs to burn these treated areas.

Where and when will the burns occur?

Burns may occur in parts of two WMAs: Farmington Bay and Ogden Bay. Because burns are weather-dependent, the DWR cannot schedule them months or weeks in advance. DWR habitat crews usually have only 12 hours' notice before a burn is authorized. The DWR hopes to complete a total of three or four burns between early October and early December. Burns will only occur on weekdays.

How long will the WMAs be closed?

DWR personnel will lock the WMA gates the night before a burn occurs. The WMA will likely remain closed throughout the following day. Fire safety officials will monitor the area and let the DWR know when it is safe to reopen.

How will hunters know about WMA closures?

To notify hunters about an impending burn, DWR personnel will:

*Hang informative banners on the locked WMA gates

*Send e-mails to hunters

*Post a notice at the top of this Web page http://wildlife.utah.gov/burn/

*Post notices on Twitter (at www.twitter.com/DWRburn  )
*Alert the media
*Closures will be temporary — probably a day or two at most — and may not affect the entire WMA.

How will these burns affect hunting on the WMAs?

Hunting will improve significantly. Within two or three weeks, waterfowl will flock to the burned areas in large numbers. Hunters will need to be careful, however, because newly burned phragmites remnants are very sharp. Within a year or so, these remnants will disappear and be replaced by pockets of open water and native marsh plants. DWR employees have seen vast improvements in areas that were burned a few years ago.

In-depth information
Invasive and noxious weed control: How the Utah DWR is working to control noxious weeds on Utah's Waterfowl Management Areas. http://wildlife.utah.gov/waterfowl/pdf/Invasive_weed_control.pdf