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Sections Home Page Local News AP News Archives Business Classifieds Event Calendar Forums Life Opinion Obituaries Photo Gallery Since We Asked Sports Tempo Weather Special Coverage 2006 Britt Festivals --> Shop Our Valley AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Search Our Valley Special Sections Homelife Magazine Joy Magazine Readers Choice 2006 Oregon Golf Info Oregon Wine Info Our Valley Other Publications Local Links Ashland News eSouthernOregon Newspapers In Education Personals Moving Here Movie Listings TV Listings Volunteer Customer Service Advertise With Us Media Kit Place Classified Ad Contact Us FAQ's Home Delivery Site Map --> Email Story to a Friend January 12, 2006 ODFW biologist Steve Niemela holds the head of a Roosevelt elk cow captured at Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area and released Wednesday in the Biscuit Fire area in Curry County. Location of 2002 fire now home for 17 elk By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune The rear door opens and the 17 Roosevelt elk inside the trailer initially freeze, unsure of what awaits them. Then in an instant, their cream-colored bottoms bound out of the trailer and disappear into the dark woods of eastern Curry County they now call home. This is the latest effort to get some of Oregon’s largest wild animals established in one of the state’s largest wild places. Captured Monday at a wildlife area west of Portland, these elk now reside within the 500,000 acre Biscuit fire area of southwest Oregon. Advertisement The 2002 fire, which was the largest in the nation that year, burned through huge swaths of the remote national forestland that typically has not been rich with elk. But the massive sprouting of young brush, oak shoots and native grasses make the once hardscrabble landscape a cornucopia of forage opportunities for big animals like elk — had they been there. So state and federal biologists thought they would jump-start elk’s presence there by relocating 20 animals Wednesday from the Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area into the heart of the Biscuit fire burn. "This is just a great opportunity," says Dave Clayton, a biologist for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, which is home to most of the Biscuit fire territory. "That fire burned in amazing mosaics," Clayton says. "There’s water available. There’s plenty of forage. They have a lot of room to roam around and find where they like it best. "I think they’re going to do really well," he says. The ODFW and Forest Service teamed for similar elk releases in the same general area 15 years ago as the forest rebounded from the Silver fire, 1987’s 96,500-acre fire that also burned primarily in the Kalmiopsis. Those animals initially acted very similarly — learning immediately they’re not in the proverbial Kansas anymore. Their past life at Jewell Meadows has been one of true leisure. They are part of a herd of about 200 animals that annually spend winters protected in a large meadow. Hunters are banned and the animals get fed alfalfa until they head to summer range in spring. The Kalmiopsis and accompanying forestland represents some of the most rugged and remote wildlands remaining in western Oregon. "It’s a huge, vast area," says Mark Vargas, the ODFW’s Rogue Watershed wildlife biologist. "There’s pockets of really good habitat, really good food. But it’s desolate, desolate country." Desolation, however, does have its delights in a classic version of how wildfire benefits big-game animals. Flames scorch old, less-nutritious brush to make way for new, young shoots that are tender, tasty and nutritious. Ceanothus, tan oak and saddler oak all are exploding with new growth there. Also, Forest Service crews planted native grasses on thousands of acres of forestland to help stabilize the soils immediately after the blaze. Great habitat awaits any big game that venture there, but it could take years before elk find the area and migrate into the Biscuit Fire range on their own. "We’re just trying to give them a little push here," Clayton says. Vargas says his agency plans on trapping up to 40 of the Jewell Meadows elk this winter for release in the Biscuit fire area. They could be joined by other elk deemed a bit too local for Rogue Valley landowners’ liking. Plans also include trapping elk from the so-called Foothill herd around Medford’s northeast border and relocating them in the Biscuit area. Those elk have yet to be trapped, though ODFW biologists have set open traps in an attempt to bait elk into them. Vargas also hopes to relocate about 40 of the elk that winter on private ranchlands east of Ashland off Valley View Road. Both the Foothill and Valley View elk trigger damage complaints from the landowners who house them all winter, making them prime targets for relocation. Wednesday’s release sight is Game Lake, along a remote closed forest road about 10 miles south of Agness and near the Curry/Josephine county border. The high-elevation area is far from private property and in high-elevation territory often unreachable in January because of snows. Four cow elk in Wednesday’s release have radio-transmitting collars that will allow biologists to track their movements over the next three to five years. Using radio receivers, biologists will be able to plot where the elk travel and whether they mingle with any of the remnant elk from past post-fire releases. "We’ll see what happens," Clayton says. "I hope they’ll take." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail Location of 2002 fire now home for 17 elk ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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