Personnel of the Alaska Unit taking a break beside overflow ice in early August in the upper Sheenjek River Valley 

 during a 110-mile trek through the Romanzof Mountains. This wilderness travel was in conjunction with a study 

 of the wildlife and recreational potential of the Arctic Wildlife Range. (Photo by David R. Klein) 



A turkey project executed by the Virginia Unit 

 M'as designed to study distribution and population 

 dynamics of turkeys as influenced by foresti-y and 

 wildlife-management practices.' Procedures in- 

 cluded live-trapping with a cannon net and mark- 

 ing birds with a photo-identification band. Trip 

 cameras were erected to pliotograph marked birds 

 on bait lines and to record flock movements. Ten 

 birds were marked and several excellent flock 

 photos were obtained, suggesting the usefulness 

 of this type of photogi-aphy as a field technique. 



Prairie chicken hnhitat preference. — In an 

 Oklahoma Unit study, a highly significant differ- 

 ence in the hal)itat of greater and lesser prairie 

 chickens is apparently associated with their use of 

 food resources. The greater chicken is highly 

 granivorous in feeding, while the lesser is highly 

 insectivorous. Greater chickens favor areas of 

 close-cropped, turflike vegetation over which 

 there are scattered clumps of the taller grasses, 

 while lessers favor areas of fairly bare soil where 

 the taller grasses are replaced with brusliy 

 vegetation. 



Ruffed grovse 7iwlsture requirements. — Research 

 conducted at the Idaho Unit in 1962 pointed out 

 tiie significance of dew on the di.stribution and ac- 

 tivity of ruffed grouse. The technique used in 

 these determinations was the measurement of dew 

 at 50 sites on a number of different surfaces at 

 different elevations and under different degrees 

 of covei-. Clover was planted on clear-cut blocks 

 adjacent to micro-climate stations, and leaves of 

 the vegetation from a square foot of each plot 

 were randomly clipped and weighed. Availabil- 

 ity of succident vegetation, particularly clover, 

 was found to be a major factor in the sm'vival of 

 grou.se broods. Clover-succulence studies and 

 measurements of dew accumulation on clover 

 leaves showed tliat ruffed grouse obtain their 

 daily moisture requirements from this source. 



FUR ANIMALS 



Beaver. — Preliminary .studies Iw the Alaska 

 I "nit on the efl'ects of beaver impoundments on 

 tlu^ Konai National Moose Range suggest that 



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