Columnist Paula DelGuidice: Commission funds urban fishery for Boulder City

Paula DelGuidice

Wednesday, Nov. 18, 1998 | 10:41 a.m.

Paula DelGiudice's outdoors notebook appears Wednesdays. Reach her at PDelGiudice@compuserve.com.

Wildlife Commission Supports Boulder City Fishery

The Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners approved the expenditure of Question 5 bond funds to assist Boulder City in its development of an urban fishery.

The lake, to be located near Veteran's Park in the southwest section of town, will be stocked with warmwater fish in the summer and trout from November through March.

In the agreement reached with the Commission, Boulder City will provide the land, contract for construction, the water for the project, long-term maintenance and to assist in the funding of stocking warmwater fish, in exchange for the Commission providing up to $200,000 in Question 5 money for construction and providing trout during the cool months of the year.

The Commission also established a subcommittee whose function will be to hear the public's interest and views on the commercial collection of reptiles. The subcommittee will also hear the agency's report on the evaluation of data relative to the commercial collection of reptiles.

The subcommittee will hold public meetings to hear such input: one in Reno on Dec. 9 and one in Las Vegas Dec.10. The meeting sites are yet to be determined. The subcommittee will report back to the Commission on any need for additional regulation at its regularly scheduled meeting in February in Las Vegas.

In other actions, the Commission denied a petition brought by a Carson City sportsman to add a weekday deer hunt. The hunter believed that more hunters may be accommodated in the field if there was a "weekday only" deer hunt.

Additionally, funding that was to be available for the repair of the dam at Groves Lake in Kingston Canyon was not spent due to the high level of water at the reservoir. Funding was therefore rerouted to two other projects around the state.

One is a mule deer range restoration project, sponsored in part by the Mule Deer Foundation on a range north of Reno. The other project is a bighorn sheep guzzler sponsored by the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn in Nye County.

WMA workshop

The Nevada Division of Wildlife is developing plans for the management of its wildlife management areas. This year, planning is under way for Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area near Yerington and on Kirch Wildlife Management Area, 60 miles south of Ely. Workshops have been scheduled to hear the needs and expectations of the public regarding those areas. Two will be held to hear from the public that use Kirch WMA.

The first workshop was held today in Ely. The second will be held in Las Vegas at 7 p.m. Thursday, in the NDOW conference room at 4747 W. Vegas Dr. For more information, call 486-5127.

Taking stock

Anglers can obtain current fishing reports and obtain fish stocking schedules 24 hours a day by calling the NDOW office in Las Vegas at 486-5127.

The stocking schedule and fishing report are recorded every week by late Tuesday afternoon. Additional updates occur throughout the week if schedules or fishing conditions change.

Also on NDOW's message center are upland game bird and waterfowl season dates and bag limits, a list of upcoming hunter education classes and information about applying for big game hunting tags.

Duck and cover

With the fall duck migration now under way, hunter success on area wetlands seems to depend upon weather conditions.

Pleasant weekend weather is being cited for a low weekend bird harvest at Overton Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Clark County. Less than half of the hunters who were on the area on Sunday were successful, according to NDOW reports.

On the other hand, hunters have been enjoying fair to good results at Key Pittman WMA in Lincoln County. On Sunday there were 41 ducks harvested by 13 hunters.

Bart Tanner, manager of Key Pittman, said there are approximately 5,000 ducks on the area and another 19,000 at nearby Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge.

Duck hunting has only been fair at Wayne E. Kirch WMA in Nye County. Manager Ron Mills said hunters have been taking approximately two ducks per day.

Kirch has about 4,000 ducks and 125 Canada geese. The lakes are open, but if weather predictions are accurate, ice could form by the weekend.

Report poachers

With the likelihood of poaching now very high, according to NDOW reports, the agency is asking the public to report any suspected or observed poaching incident.

Wildlife law violations may be reported to any NDOW office or Operation Game Thief at 1-800-992-3030. All calls are confidential and cash rewards are paid upon conviction.