OUTDOOR BRIEFS

STILL SLEEPING

January warming, but not fooling wildlife

Mild mid-January temperatures may be fooling Southern Nevada residents, but they're not fooling wildlife. If you've lived in the Mojave Desert for a while, you know that brief warm spells in the middle of winter are just a passing phase, leading us to venture out and dig in the dirt and look for animals. But spring flowers aren't in the nurseries yet, and hibernating animals are not emerging.

Christy Klinger, diversity biologist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife, says that you will still see some rodents in the daytime and some bats at night that are active year-round, but hibernating species are not fooled. They know that the continuous warm temperatures of spring are several weeks off. Some bats may be triggered to come out of "torpor" (lowered body temperature and metabolism) for a short time, but will return to their hibernation roosts.

Fish will be only slightly affected by temporary warm temperatures, according to NDOW angler educator Chris Pietrafeso. Pond and lake temperatures likely will remain stable throughout the winter, with very little warming of water at the top and at the shorelines.

BIG GAME SEASONS

Wildlife advisory boards seek input

With the upcoming Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners meeting set for Friday and Saturday in Reno, Nevada's County Advisory Boards to Manage Wildlife will be meeting over the next two weeks to gather public input and make recommendations to the commission on several important issues, including the big game season dates for the 2009-10 season.

To get more info about the CABMWs or to see their agendas and meeting places, visit www.ndow.org/learn/cab. To see the 2009 Big Game Season Setting documents, visit www.ndow.org/learn/resources/biggame_season_set.shtm.

KEEPING WATERS FULL

NDOW maps out fish stocking goals

The Nevada Department of Wildlife is pleased to announce its 2009 Fish Production and Stocking Plan, which will map out the state's goals when it comes to keeping Nevada's fishable waters stocked.

The process of creating an annual stocking plan is a big one that starts right at the source with biologists analyzing individual bodies of water and deciding how many and what type of fish would be appropriate to stock in each lake, river and stream.

This year's stocking plan includes: 465,250 fish planted in Eastern Nevada, 354,950 fish planted in Southern Nevada and 401,775 fish planted in Western Nevada.

The 2009 Fish Production and Stocking Plan can be found at www.ndow.org/fish/stocking and NDOW will begin providing weekly stocking reports every Friday at 5 p.m. at the same Web address starting in March. These stocking reports will detail the species of fish planted in Nevada waters as well as how many and their average size.