Show t rVVy aJ v"-1 4 ? V ' ') fi i ( ’ r i " - nVfvv' fc1 ' ’ j ' ! y ' - ' a r - ' O' t h ' f 4 m h f A ' s '" r t - " s ' n V 'V - "j ' - '''' v : - '?’ ft ' v ' Settion ' " V : r “i'v ' FHc oaoDerz4 iyr- 2003 - ’Mi The Herald Journal Page 1 V- Outdoors roport ? ' S v- "-'- Antelope Island hike? The Cache Hikers will hike Ante- lope Island on Saturday This is a short steep hike about three miles Meet at 7 ajn at the southwest cor-ner of Fined Meyet Bring water snacks and anything else you may need For more information call 3 Brian Diamond at bi ' 1 ij ?! tv ' Door hunt “ 5“ : 2003 -- 1 ’ J ' : 753-025- lab for ? Hawk watching Bridgeriand Audubon Society will host a fall hawk watching trip for beginners on Saturday There should be lots of migrating hawks and other raptors around Cache Valley at this time of year We may also take a side trip to the new sewage lagoons just off the Benson road Meet at 8 am at 50 E 150 Nordi Logan Carpool- -' information i°g will be available M' 7 call Sue or Dave Drown ' f 752-379- ' A' Y'iyA'- Zion Crater will lead a backpacking trip in 2W Zion rational Park OcL i0p$ Cost is $65 and includes transporta-tio-n food and group equipmrat'' £4 Register by Oct 24 at the ORC 4 for information? call 797-326- ipChecicstati6hs8i Pitting the grand rifle deer yg&tebunt ! v? check pmnts innorthem the Division of WkUifejKT Resources to monitor die taking imd possession of wildlife and huntrai incompliance for possessing required licenses permits tags certificates of Utah-Thes- e ®: - ’ School is sponsoring a Wilderness First Aid codification training fiav0: 3 from 8 am to 5 pm The Cost i s'"‘' J‘L course is $215 which includes : textbooks syllabus equipment and £ Scatificatioh cardsForanadditional :v students may obtain one college credit of PE 1670 For information & 1 22-2- ts Althoui most West NUe virus- ): birds in other states have positive been American crows infections also avc been confirmed in many other ? " species including game birds wt Because of thenr outdoor exposure game hunters may be at risk if they become bitten by mosquitoes in areas with West Nile virus activity The extent to which West Nile virus may be present in wild game is unknown Hunters should follow the usual - v precautions when handling wild ani- ? mats and should not collect or con- sume any animals including birds who appear to be exhibiting unusual J ' : : - or appear to be Ul or in poor condition prior to being shot Hunters should check with their local area department of wildlife and natural resourcesstate epidemiolo gist at the state health department or t local health departments Changing "'cleaned"? 4 :The sterilized lab is most often used to itor C:he Valley’s dairy hexds'but wildlife 'diseases are tiiehot topic du jour: Last week on one of these tables Baldwin confirmed ina? peregrine falcon Utah’s first incidence of West??: method of 4:: Nile virus research on a testing fish for whirling disease iq ongoing f?'and next weekend when the deer hunt begins he and his fellow scientists will be charged S with testing thousands of brain samples from j VUtah and other states for chronic wasting dis- 'ease (CWP) Although sporadic testing for ? v CWD began in 1998 this is Utah’s most corn- prehensive effort to date to monitor the brain disease which' affects deer and elkand was initially discovered in Utah in a mule deer killed last fell The disease has not been shown " v'- $ i to transfer to humans 'V 4 & ‘We’re trying to test for the prevalence of ''V 4 the disease” said Leslie McFariane a Division ? ? of Wildlife Resources wildlife biologist “We f want to determine where we have it and how ! comprehensive it is"taintdo Officials haven’t decided what to in ed areas McFarlane said? although travel restrictions are in place on deer rad elk parts from infected zones Hunters whose deer test ' positive will be contacted personally and other hunters can confirm their negative result ? on DWR’s Web siteWamings will be also posted for units that produce positive tests but non-fat- al - Virus hits game birds including an elk head which Dr Tom Baldwin head rf the Utah Vetoinary Diagnostic Labo-- 4 ratory carried out and flon)ed onto a table for mon-’5V- -- behavicMS : " f$15 - ? f“ fexamination:'?? 7 V' MfWe should build kitchras like tins” Bald-- ! 3 win said hosing the floor clean of bone chips - and blood drips while rioting that the effluent washed through the floor drains is boiled to kill germs’This place is designed to be The Wildoness Medicine Institute ? — U tests for scrapie) and various animal parts? of the National Outdoor Leadership j ''w ' 1t'tv earlier this week held a dead sheep (awaiting fallow t‘ sli ‘i television show Hoses dangle from the ceiling over stainless lsteel tables in the necropsy facility Boxes of tissue samples and records fill cupboards and workers go about their business in masks ? latex gloves and protective clothing The lab ' even has one feature CSI’s morgue probably so that air-- S fecks — it’s negative-iaessurize- d bwne pathogens such as anthrax won’t be ji sucked into the rest of the building?: 4 K Vt But instead of drawers containing hunum bodies tius lab features a walk-i- n freezer that 30-N- ov rti4 ui he Logan labcnatory diat revealed Utah’s first case of chronic wasting disease g H has much in common with the morgue on the 4' backpacking stfiav The USU Outdoor Recreation 2003 lumtere should dqecf encounter administrative wildlife : t : - Brent StevensHerald Journal head of the Utah Veterinary " Diagnostic Laboratory V at Utah State University displays an elk head awaiting testing in the necropsy facility Baldwin said researchers at the lab have found five cases of chronic wasting disease in Utah within the last year and will test thousands more deer parts for CWD during this fairs deer hunt At left Connie McManus a histologist at the lab prepares a deer part sample to go under the microscope and be tested for chronic wasting disease Samples will be collected by Division of Wildlife Resources personnel at check stations across the state Dr? Tom Baldwin ‘ - - 1 : - See TEST on C2 : v Populations Retired biologist still busy afield By Lance Frazier outdoors editor Chart rafladi Mtfmstod and praKlad wrikNfa popuMkvw in Utah Smugh Via yaara wdh sare bakig no popuMon and 10 balng tha nwonesi fimwiM popmnon bumbcb pfovwto oy nignMK 1— Anaikk tomw iTOTi “ — mwon wkm poopsi A familiar face will be missing from the Logan Crayon check station for tomorrow’s deer hunt opener But just because Dennis Austin — who initiated the check station in 1996 and has ' been there for every opener since retired from Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources in April doesn’t mean he’s lounging in his He won’t be in Logan Crayon tomorrow but he is spending more time afield than ever “I went fishing once a week” Austin said of his summer “and I had a great grouse hunt My son rad I kicked up 14 birds on opening day and he got his limit” While fishing his favorite stream this summer Austin documented every trout he caught For a recent newspaper interview he compiled a list of 23 local animal species and outlined their population fluctuations over two centuries (see accompanying graphic) He also filled seven notebook pages with observations drawn from his years on the jobs and changes he’d like to see Apparentwildlife ly being a scrupulously La-Z-B- oy PopJatoo eauU go dnmailGaly In aShar dkactlon dapandng on rMWatalad daar managamanl podey HmM Journal 9vphie note-taki- r ng Vvva r biologist is a hard habit to break “I’ve always kept track of the fish I catch" Austin said Surprisingly given the drought fids time around "die species composition was very similar" to what it was 10 &6 ‘(Austin) has got something between his ears and he tries to work with the landowners" 1 ’ - Val Slddaway Laketown rancher years ago when he conducted an official study on this stream "somewhere in Northern Utah I just won’t tell you where” So even biologists have their secrets But most of Austin’s knowledge is stored in a series of large binders familiar to people w ho worked with him during his career that he is only too willing to share Problem is the top state officials who needed the information most often turned a blind eye to his reports rad that was one of lus 30-ye- ar major complaints after leaving the division Wildlife officers and biologists "don’t have the impact on management that they should have” Austin said Personnel allocation at DWR reflects that change in emphasis: During Austin’s tenure Utah went from having one big game coordinator to having three and hours spent in the field by biologists dropped significantly Somehow Austin while raising a family in Hyrum with his wife Ann kept meticulous records and still made it out to count sage grouse at 4 am and to host weekend bitterbrush plantings "He was a true field biologist who got out and studied the land and animals” said Travis Sparks a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation "He has really good record keeping rad spent time out to actually see how things were working” Austin who began his career as an adjunct faculty member with Utah State University in 1972 before becoming a field biologist in 1994 and has 50 technical publications to his credit affirmed that "Everybody used to spend 90 percent of their time in the field and that’s drastically reduced” See AUSTIN on C2 |