Photo by Arnie Fredrickson

ROCKY MOUNTAIN POPULATION (RMP)

Status

• Rocky Mountain Population (RMP) is an administrative term that refers to several geographically disjunct breeding groups that are linked more or less to the Rocky Mountains.
• The RMP/Canadian segment includes the rapidly increasing Western Canada Population (nesting in central and eastern Yukon, Northwest Territory, northeastern British Columbia, Alberta, and likely now extirpated from southwest Sasketchewan).
• The much smaller RMP/U.S. segment includes the Greater Yellowstone (or Tri-state) Population that nests in the Greater Yellowstone region of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, and small restoration flocks in the Malheur NWR vicinity of Oregon, and the Ruby Lakes NWR vicinity of Nevada. A new restoration flock in western Montana’s Flathead Valley may soon be considered part of the RMP/U.S. segment, if successful nesting is established.
• The Greater Yellowstone Population is the only nesting group in the lower 48 states that persisted as the species neared extinction in the early 1900s.
• The entire RMP was petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act in 1989 and the Greater Yellowstone Population was petitioned for listing as a distinct population segment (DPS) in 2001. Both petitions were denied by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Though TTSS has great concern for the security of both the Western Canadian and Greater Yellowstone populations, we concurred with both decisions because we did not believe that listing was legally appropriate or beneficial for the swans.
• Most swans from the Western Canada and Greater Yellowstone populations winter together in the Greater Yellowstone region, where over 5,000 swans were censused in February 2005.
• When last surveyed in September 2004, the entire RMP/U.S. segment (all breeding groups in the western US) contained only 417 Trumpeters, including 318 adults and 99 cygnets. Of these, 385 (291 adults and 94 cygnets) summered in Greater Yellowstone, 15 (10 adults and 5 cygnets) in Oregon, and 17 (17 adults with no cygnets) in Nevada.
• When last surveyed on its summer range in 2000, the Western Canada Population numbered about 3,184 swans (including 2,175 adults and 1,009 cygnets). This population will next be surveyed during summer 2005 and has likely grown to over 4,700, based on the February 2005 survey that found over 5,000 swans wintering in Greater Yellowstone.

Issues

• Greatly diminished wintering distribution of Western Canadian and Greater Yellowstone Trumpeters due to historic loss of migratory traditions to diverse suitable wintering sites.
• Increasing concentration of almost the entire Western Canadian and Greater Yellowstone breeding populations at wintering sites in the Greater Yellowstone region due to the elimination of Trumpeters that once migrated to other wintering areas.
• High probability of a large die-off of Western Canadian and Greater Yellowstone Trumpeters when a severe winter strikes the Greater Yellowstone wintering areas and freezes essential feeding areas.
• Mortality of Trumpeter Swans that attempt to migrate south from Greater Yellowstone and the loss of opportunities for Trumpeters to establish use on key National Wildlife Refuges in Utah and Nevada due to Tundra Swan hunting.
• Very small numbers, low productivity, and diminished breeding range of the RMP/U.S. segment.
• Loss and degradation of breeding habitat in the Greater Yellowstone region due to human development and drought.
• The decline of the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge flock following termination of artificial feeding.
• The restoration flocks in Oregon and Nevada are extremely small and will likely become extirpated without concerted efforts to build up these groups in the next few years.

TTSS' Efforts
• Coordinating protection, habitat improvement, and research at swan nesting territories in Idaho.
• Reviewing all agency projects and management actions that might impact important habitats or population security.
• Conducting the first-ever satellite telemetry of Western Canadian Trumpeters with our Trumpeter Swan Migration Project .
• Developing a network of volunteers to document the changing distribution and survival of migrating Trumpeters.
• Monitoring the impacts of Tundra Swan hunting on efforts to rebuild secure Trumpeter Swan migrations and distributions.
• Providing technical assistance to state/provincial and federal range expansion efforts.
• Assembling and publishing historical information on the Greater Yellowstone Population.

TTSS' Accomplishments
• Launched a 10-year Greater Yellowstone Trumpeter Swan Initiative (GYTSI) to protect and improve key nesting territories and to increase nesting success and cygnet production.
• Identified and planned projects and provided partial funding for improvement of historic nesting territories on the Targhee National Forest in eastern Idaho.
• Currently developing site plans for the long-term protection and management of nesting territories on the Targhee National Forest.
• Currently summarizing all nesting data for Idaho (1980-2005) to identify trends and population/habitat relationships.
• Launched a 3-year effort in Montana’s Centennial Valley to document all past swan nesting use of wetlands and to improve habitat conditions on wetlands with mixed public/private ownership.
• Played a lead role in assembling data and developing strategies that were adopted into the revised Pacific Flyway Implementation Plan for the RMP in 2002.
• Obtained genetic samples from over 50 Yukon, British Columbia, and Idaho breeding Trumpeter Swans to aid ongoing genetic research.
• Substantially raised public awareness regarding the vulnerability of the Greater Yellowstone Population and the need for consistent and proactive restoration efforts.

RMP Working Group

This group, headed by TTSS Director Ruth Shea, works on issues and projects relating to the Rocky Mountain Population. Contact:

Ruth Shea
3934 Hwy 34
Wayan, Idaho 83285

email: ruthshea@srv.net