On the hunt in Oregon for a rare Sierra Nevada red fox
BEND, Ore. In a dense forest at the base of Mount Bachelor, two wildlife biologists slowly walked toward a small cage trap they hoped would contain a rare red fox species. Jamie Bowles, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife technician in Bend, and Tim Hiller, founder of the Montana-based Wildlife Ecology Institute, stepped carefully as branches crunched under their feet.
For the past year, the state wildlife agency and Hiller’s organization have worked together to trap and place radio collars on Sierra Nevada red foxes, a rarely seen subspecies recently discovered roaming in the Oregon Cascades. Officials have no idea how many live in Oregon, and fewer than 100 live in Northern California.
On the sunny Friday morning in June, the trap was empty, as were two other traps the biologists set near Mount Bachelor.
“This is a typical day for us,” Bowles said. “Not having anything in the traps.”
But the past year has been a success for their efforts to study the Sierra Nevada red fox, which they began researching in 2012.
When a fox was trapped and given a radio collar in May 2017, it was hailed as a first for Oregon wildlife biologists, who suspected the small mammals were here, but had little proof.
Since, six more have been captured and given collars. Last month, Bowles collared three in one week, two of them in one day.
In addition, hikers and campers have steadily reported Sierra Nevada red fox sightings in the last 12 months.
The collars, programmed to stay on the foxes for one year, track the foxes as they move through the area. Data shows the collared foxes stay in an 8mile radius near Mount Bachelor. The biologists believe the foxes have become comfortable around people and are relying on being fed or are rummaging for food in dumpsters at the Mt. Bachelor ski area.
Their reliance is not safe for them or people and their pets, Bowles said. The foxes can carry diseases, such as rabies.
“This is not ideal that they are foraging for food out of the trash cans or begging for food,” Bowles said. “These foxes seem to be resort foxes.”
Outside of the Mount Bachelor area, more people are reporting sightings of the Sierra Nevada red foxes. People are seeing them in the high elevations mountains, such as the Three Sisters Wilderness, but also in lower elevations areas in Tumalo and Terrebonne.
Citizen reports are helpful for the biologists. The foxes were thought to only live in high elevation above 4,500 feet. Bowles and Hiller have 16 traps set in various elevations across the region where the foxes have been seen.
“We are finding them in places we didn’t expect to find them,” Bowles said.
A huge component of the study is learning more about their range and dispersal, the biologists said.
“We want to know what habitat they are utilizing,” Bowles said. “Both in the high, mid and low elevation now that we know they have dispersed lower.”
When the study began in 2012, it relied on trail cameras and fur and scat collection. The initial work found the foxes living in the Oregon Cascades including Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Washington. It gave the biologists an area to set traps and begin tracking the foxes. Each trap consists of bait, usually pieces of roadkill deer, to lure the foxes.
The study is funded through federal grants and support from various agencies. Hiller estimates the grants and in-kind support is valued at about $100,000. The study has funding for another year, during which the biologist hope to collar and track 13 more foxes.
DNA samples collected off the collared foxes have been sent to a laboratory at the University of California, Davis. The results confirmed the foxes are Sierra Nevada red foxes and they are living in lower elevations than originally thought, Bowles said.
The DNA data could confirm if the Oregon foxes are able to breed with the California foxes. If so, that could boost each region’s population.