﻿Project Area Wildlife Census 



This census was designed to collect data that would allow comparison of wildlife 

 use of the project area between months and between years. The methods used were 

 patterned after the standard winter bird study (Kolb 1965) and breeding bird census 

 techniques (Hall 1964, Van Velzen 1972) used in the original inventory, but were 

 expanded to include all vertebrate species. The area censused included: the entire 

 Kootenai River and its shorelines from 50 m (164 ft) below the proposed dam outlet 

 to the upper end of the proposed reservoir; the lend thet would be inundated by the 

 dam at a forebay elevation of 610 m (2,000 ft); the land that would be effected by 

 railroad relocation; and all remaining land between U.S. Highway 2 and the Kootenai 

 River (see appendix B) . The entire area was censused for three consecutive days 

 during each of four study periods, following the instructions outlined in the 

 baseline report (DNRC 1979, appendix F) . 



Bald Eagle Survey 



The Kootenai River between Libby and Troy was surveyed for bald eagles on 

 December 30, 1982, and Januery 1, 1983 (1 count each day), following the methods of 

 Meyer (1979). Observations were made from U.S. Highway 2. Bald eegles seen during 

 project aree wildlife censuses end other monitoring field work elso were recorded. 



