AECV93-R2 Alberta Pocket Gopher Survey ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/albertapocketgopOOniet by ALBERTA POCKET GOPHER SURVEY Marie T. Nietfeld and Laurence D. Roy Wildlife Ecology Branch Biological Sciences Division Alberta Environmental Centre March 2, 1993 This report may be cited as: Nietfeld, M.T., and L.D. Roy. 1993. Alberta Pocket Gopher Survey. Alberta Environmental Centre. VegreviUe, AB. AECV93-R2. 28 pp. ISBN # 0-7732-0911-5 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Cory Kjeldsen conducted the telephone survey and assisted with entry of survey data onto the computer. Marion Herbut produced the computer graphics. The cooperation of the Agricultural Service Board Fieldmen who participated in the survey is greatly appreciated. We thank Brad Stelfox and Michael Dorrance for reviewing the manuscript. iii iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES vii ABSTRACT ix 1 INTRODUCTION , 1 2 METHODS 1 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3 3. 1 Residence Years and Familiarity with Pocket Gophers 3 3.2 Pocket Gopher Distribution 5 3.3 Severity of Pocket Gopher Problems 5 3.4 Forage Association 8 3.5 Soil Association 8 3.6 Pocket Gopher Control 11 3.6.1 Trapping 11 3.6.2 Poisons 12 3.6.2.1 Mechanical Poisoning 13 3.6.2.2 Hand Baiting 13 3.6.3 Fumigants 13 3.6.4 Agricultural Practices 14 3.6.5 Miscellaneous , 14 3.7 Pocket Gopher Damage Estimates 14 V 4 CONCLUSION _ , 15 5 REFERENCES 16 APPENDIX A. 1990 Pocket gopher questionnaire directed at Alberta Agricultural Service Board Fieldmen A-1 vi LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table 1. Number of Agricultural Service Board Fieldmen in Alberta within residence year classes and their associated degree of familiarity with pocket gopher problems as reported in 1990 survey 4 Table 2. Number of Agricultural Service Board Fieldmen in Alberta within residence year classes and famiUarity classes that rated pocket gopher problems as severe, moderate and light as reported in 1990 survey 4 Table 3. Soil types and textures associated with areas of pocket gopher problems in Alberta as reported in 1990 survey of Agriculture Service Board Fieldmen 10 Table 4. Percent of area of severe, moderate and light pocket gopher problems occurring in Alberta within brown, dark brown, black and grey wooded soil groups as determined from 1990 survey of Agriculture Service Board Fieldmen 10 Table 5. Number of municipalities satisfied and unsatisfied with control methods in relation to severity of pocket gopher problems, as reported in 1990 Alberta Survey of Agricultural Service Board Fieldmen 12 Table 6. Estimated area of pocket gopher impact, as defined by the area of tame haylands and improved pastures, for Hght, moderate and severe problem distributions within Alberta as reported in 1990 survey of Agricultural Service Board Fieldmen 15 LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1 . Municipalities reporting the occurrence of pocket gophers 6 Figure 2. Distribution and severity of pocket gopher problems 7 Figure 3. Pocket gopher problems in relation to major soil zones in Alberta. ...... 9 vii viii