Effects of snowmobile activity on wintering pheasants and wetland vegetation in northern Iowa marshes

Abstract

Local movements of nine, female ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) in response to snowmobile activity were monitored by radiotelemetry in a cattail (Typha spp.) marsh in northwest Iowa during February 1978. Snowmobiling was confined to six trails, each about 1120 m long and 160 m apart through a section of a large marsh used by pheasants as winter cover. No radio-equipped birds left the area traversed by snowmobile trails during snowmobile treatment, and no changes in roost-site location or daily behavior patterns were observed. Movement by a pheasant during snowmobiling \Alas detected with certainty only once in 24 instances, and in this case the bird moved toward rather than away from the trail area. In cattail marshes similar to the one studied, snowmobiling probably would have little or no effect on pheasant populations if traffic could be confined to a few, widely-spaced trails. Effects of snowmobiling on wetland vegetation also were examined from December 1976 to June 1978. No differences (f > 0.10) in densities of cattail, Carex, or bur reed (Sparganium eurycarpum) resulted from trail grooming without subsequent snowmobiling, but a 12 cm decrease (f 0.75). No difference was detected between trails with 440 snowmobile trips and