Outdoor Notes : Volunteers Sought for Two Southland Wildlife Projects

The call is out for volunteers.

Vern Bleich, coordinator of habitat improvement for the Department of Fish and Game in Southern California, is seeking about 40 people to help on wildlife enhancement projects the weekends of Jan. 11-12 and Feb. 1-2.

The January outing will be a maintenance operation on a man-made wildlife drinker in the Coxcomb Mountains just north of Desert Center in Riverside County. Deer, bighorn sheep and other animals use the drinker.

In February, workers will be in the Woods Mountains near Kelso in San Bernardino County, developing a natural spring as a year-round water source and building a special fence to keep burros away from the area. Burros often foul water sources, preventing their use by other animals.

The projects will be supervised by the DFG and the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep. Tools, equipment, material and transportation to the work sites will be provided. Volunteers must provide their own food, camping gear and drinking water.

Information and maps of the work areas may be obtained from the DFG office in Long Beach, 245 W. Broadway, or by calling (213) 590-5158.

The United States and Canada have drafted a management plan for cooperative efforts needed to conserve ducks, geese and other waterfowl through the year 2000, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Many waterfowl nest in Canada but migrate to the United States for the winter, and the management plan appears to be a major step forward in international cooperation.

It provides information on waterfowl populations, identifies major waterfowl conservation programs and proposes objectives and strategies for resolving the problems. The plan focuses especially on protecting key waterfowl habitat in both countries.

The redistribution of wildlife continues. Preparations have been made for the trapping of 250-300 Wyoming antelope and transplanting them in South Dakota and Nevada. Antelope have grown abundant in the area near Buffalo, Wyo.

About 100 of the animals will be released on the Crow Creek Indian reservation near Pierre, S.D., and about 200 will be released in Nevada, which is attempting to re-establish antelope populations with animals from Wyoming and Utah.

Briefly The state Fish and Game Commission will meet today in Ventura to receive a report from the DFG on a proposal to assess the impact of mountain lion predation on the North Kings deer herd in Fresno county. Public testimony will not be taken at the meeting. The DFG also will ask the commission to retain regulations governing the taking of mountain lions that are causing damage. . . . Joseph Wolfe, 27, of Fullerton has been fined $2,000 and has been ordered to pay $1,400 in penalty costs in connection with poaching of bighorn sheep in the Baker area of San Bernardino County, south of Death Valley. Randy E. Holder, 21, of Yuma, Ariz., was fined $1,000, was ordered to serve a 30-day jail sentence and was put on probation for three years for a similar offense. . . . Representatives of two Orange County firms will appear in court Monday to answer pollution charges. Parker Hannifin Corp. of Irvine and Auto Master, Inc., of Santa Ana are charged with allowing oil and other contaminants to enter flood control channels.