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Ecowrappin'
Joint provincial project yields positive results
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
There had been a release of 44 birds on the same site in 2002. Those 44 birds were released as an experiment to work out the logistics of trapping, transporting, and releasing them such a great distance. It was proven to be very successful. Certainly some birds were lost, but the test proved that they would live and adapt to Ontario. Radio telemetry monitoring has proven that these wild pheasants were able to reproduce and discovered how to forage for food in crop residue left in farm fields.
The 75 birds let go this year is the first complete restoration effort to release wild Ring Necked Pheasants in Ontario. It has taken over six years and involved the cooperation and participation of groups and individuals in two provinces.
One hurdle to get over was the question of whether or not to even attempt a rehabilitation of wild pheasants. Pheasants are not a native species to North America. They are an exotic Euroasian species that was originally introduced in Southern Ontario in the late 1890s.
The proposal was posted on the bulletin board of the Environmental Registry and publicly debated for over three years. Issues that questioned the potential for pheasants competing with other upland game birds such as wild turkey or bob white quail were thoroughly examined. In the end the decision was made that the good that should result, outweighed these other concerns.
After all, ring necked pheasants after their original introduction, thrived here for decades. They may not be native but have naturalized. Just the prospect of the rehabilitation caught the attention of both farming landowners and conservation groups. The Farmers & Friends Conservation Club in Lambton County was very active. Before the release, both years, members staged work days in the release areas, to provide a little extra feeding and shelter for the birds when they are let go.
The local landowners commitment to managing their properties for wildlife was focused to an even greater degree. This ethic spreads out across the area and benefits many other species as well.
Local hunters, anxious to have a wild population of pheasants, agreed to stop hunting and releasing pen raised pheasants. It is wrong to think that pen raised birds might bolster the wild population. Those birds, for the most part, have lost their wild instincts, and may lower the survivability of wild populations by changing wildlife traits. One theory is that wild pheasants disappeared here because of the large numbers of pen raised birds released in the past.
The Scepter Wildlife Federation of Saskatchewan offered their services in securing wild pheasants. In return Ontario offered a conservation donation to the Saskatchewan group. Both the Farmers and Friends Conservation Club and the Rural Lambton Stewardship Network, RLSN, made large donations to the Ontario Pheasant Fund. That fund made the donation to the Scepter Wildlife Federation of Saskatchewan to be used for their own conservation programs.
These wild Saskatchewan pheasants, are very different from the pen raised birds you are probably more familiar with. They are a bit smaller, and much more wary. They tend to run through the grasscover to escape predators, rather than fly. The original release of these birds was nearly ninety years ago and they have thrived in the extreme cold and dryness of Saskatchewan.
The deal to bring them here was arranged by the two provincial governments, but was made possible through the willingness of landowner/conservationists to assist landowner/conservationists. It was the respectful approach of including landowners in both provinces in the decisions that clinched the deal.
One third of the pheasants were fitted with radio telemetry bibs. Rob Buchcanan of the RLSN monitors the activities of the birds routinely. Of those released a year ago, he knows where they are, but he has only seen one of them since the release. They stay well hidden.
Now that the Lambton release site has been filled, the next site will be near the Kent Elgin line, between Highgate and Rodney. It was great to participate in the release. I hope that the rehabilitation efforts are successful. I really look forward to a few years down the road when they have become well established and we can start our own trap and transfer‚ to other areas in the province.
Darrell Randell works for Ducks Unlimited Canada as a Conservation Programs Specialist in South West Ontario. Before that he was a Lambton County Pork Producer for 25 years. He served 2 terms on Sombra Township Council, 1994-2000, and is currently a councillor in St Clair Township. He is a past president of the Lambton County Federation of Agriculture. He was a founding member of the Rural Lambton Stewardship Network and served as chairman of that group from 1995-2003. He and Nancy have 3 grown children, each of whom they are extremely proud.
