Kick Those Wintertime Blues

Got the wintertime blues? Want to get outside and do something for wildlife? How about partnering with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and other community-minded people and plant bitterbrush and sagebrush? The annual planting project begins March 6 and continues every Saturday through April 3, 2004. Call 327-7099 to sign up to plant bitterbrush and sagebrush or to learn more about other volunteer opportunities with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. "We need volunteers to help us plant native shrub seedlings on the Hi Crow fire that burned last summer on the Boise River Wildlife Management Area," Fish and Game volunteer coordinator Mary Dudley said. The human-caused fire burned about two thousand acres of critical big game winter range. Why plant bitterbrush and sagebrush? "The native shrubs comprise important components of big game winter ranges in Idaho and throughout the west," Dudley noted. "Besides providing essential food sources for deer, elk and other wildlife, bitterbrush and sagebrush provide nesting habitat and cover from the elements, and protection from predators." Even large animals like deer and elk find shelter among mature stands of bitterbrush and sagebrush during winter storms. The animals bed down under the shrubs - out of the wind and snow - to conserve precious body fat which they need to survive the lean winter months. And because of their deep-rooted structure, native shrubs provide for soil stabilization, reducing erosion.