Blackfoot Valley Trumpeter Swan Reintroduction

In early July, 1806, as Meriwether Lewis and a group of his men were passing the mouth of the Clearwater River in the Blackfoot Valley, they saw 2 swans. That evening, Lewis noted the sighting of what were most certainly trumpeter swans in his diary. This is one of the very few anecdotal records of probable breeding of these great white birds in this spectacular valley. But subsistence and market hunting likely extirpated these birds from the valley well before the end of the 19th Century. The following is an abbreviated account of an effort to bring this species back to the Blackfoot Valley over the past decade. A more detailed account can be seen here.

Advancing several hundred years to the year 2000, Louie Bouma, who owns a post and pole mill in the upper Blackfoot Valley, noticed a pair of trumpeters on the pond adjacent to his mill. They returned each succeeding year and in 2003 initiated what was the first recorded nesting attempt of this species in the Blackfoot Valley in well over 100 years. Unfortunately, when the female left the nest late one night to forage in an nearby pond, she ran into a power line on her return flight and was killed. Louie gathered the eggs the next day, made several frantic phone calls to government officials, and the eggs were taken to a facility where they were successfully hatched. Several weeks later, the young were released back into the pond with the male who readily accepted them. However after migrating out of the area to spend the winter farther south, they never returned.But Louie's dream of trumpeters returning to the Blackfoot to breed would not die with this disappointment. His love of these birds drove this soft spoken businessman to garner support from private, state, and federal participants to form a partnership for the reintroduction of trumpeters to the Blackfoot Valley. His efforts - and those of others - have resulted in a partnership that is a great model for how some energetic and dedicated folks can make something positive happen in the face of tremendous odds. The major players in this effort include many private landowners, The Blackfoot Challenge - a coalition of Valley interests, Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, The Montana Wetlands Legacy, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Hopefully, I have not omitted anyone. If so, I apologize.

The reintroduction effort began in 2006 with the release of swans raised in a captive facility near Jackson Hole, WY with eggs taken from wild trumpeters in Canada. Last Saturday, 20June2009, I had the pleasure of witnessing just one cog in this reintroduction program. Public interest in this program is high so a rather large - but intentionally limited - crowd of folks gathered at Trixie's Saloon parking lot near Ovando to get details on the third release of swans for 2009. Eleven birds were scheduled to be released on a gorgeous pothole lake owned by the very gracious Geoff and Kathy Foote. Remember, you can click on the images to make them larger! In order to raise funds for the acquiring and releasing swans, private donations were sought and many of those who donated or won lotteries were selected to release the birds.

All of the swans to be released had neck collars for future ID purposes and several of them were fitted with special GPS collars so that their movements could be tracked on a regular basis. This information is important to determine where the birds migrate to for wintering and for locating them next year when they again head north. Greg Neudecker of the USFWS along with members of The Blackfoot Challenge were the in charge of the mornings activities and Greg gave a brief history of the program and explained how the swan release would be handled. Tom Hinz with the Montana Wetlands Legacy was another individual who was instrumental in getting this this effort moving. Not everyone in the crowd was attentive to Greg's briefing, but they certainly took interest when the swans were retrieved from their temporary home in the trailer.The Last Chance Audubon Society and other folks from Helena -Sandy Shull of Birds and Beasley's and Del Straub - contributed funds for the purchase of several of the swans to be released. The individuals who participated in and won the opportunity to hold and release a swan were Lisa Pena' and Carolyn Straub. Lisa was accompanied by her daughter and grandson. And Carolyn got lots of help from one of her grandsons! Fortunately for Lisa and the other releasers, the swans are generally quite docile when being held and rarely even do any "pecking" with their large bills. Is everyone ready? On Your Mark! Get Set!! AND GO!!! Now the swans can look over their new summer home. Trumpeter swans mature in 3 to 5 years, so there has yet to be any nesting by the swans that have returned to the Blackfoot Valley. But at least one of the released birds from a previous year has returned with a mate this year so everyone is hoping that next year - 2010 - will produce the first nesting attempt. Mortality of released birds is fairly high and many do not return to the Blackfoot after wintering farther south, so this is a long term effort to get them reestablished here. But certainly, if there was ever a chance to see to Trumpeters return to breed in the Blackfoot, a monumental cooperative effort such as this would be the very best way to insure success!!