Northern Idaho ground squirrel population monitoring progress report [December 2006]

Publication Type:

Report

Authors:

Diane Evans Mack

Source:

Threatened and Endangered Species Project E-28-5, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Boise, p.15 (2006)

Call Number:

U06MAC02IDUS

Keywords:

northern Idaho ground squirrel, Spermophilus brunneus brunneus

Abstract:

The report summarizes IDFG's population monitoring efforts during the 2006 field season for the northern Idaho ground squirrel (NIDGS) and also incorporates results from US Fish and Wildlife Service and from US Forest Service, Payette National Forest surveys to provide an overall assessment of the NIDGS population. Collectively, personnel discovered eight new NIDGS sites and revisited 37 known sites.
NIDGS occupied 43 sites in 2006. Of these, 5 sites supported >100 individuals, whereas 22 sites supported <20 individuals. As of December 2006, the overall NIDGS adult/yearling population was conservatively
estimated at 1,395. This represents close to a 50% increase from 2005’s estimate of 940. New sites and more thorough surveys of known areas contributed to the increase, but real gains in numbers of squirrels at some sites also contributed.