More antelope released on reservation

In a joint effort between the Colville Tribes and the Nevada Department of Wildlife, 98 more pronghorn antelope have been released on the Colville Indian Reservation, the second time the animal was released there since January 2016.

"We captured 12 males and 87 females from Nevada," said Eric Krausz, wildlife biologist for the Colville Tribes Fish and Wildlife program in a Nov. 3 press release. "The total composition included 26 fawns, 20 yearlings, and 53 female adults. We lost one female antelope due to injury."

"We collared 50 adult female antelope with GPS/VHF collars," Krausz said. "The collars will track their locations approximately every 12 hours, detect mortalities after 24 hours of inactivity, and last for up to four years."

In January of 2016, 52 pronghorn antelope were released on the southwest part of the reservation in an effort to return the species to the land where they once lived.

According to a 2016 Seattle Times article, pronghorn antelope were a native species in and around the reservation for 8,000 years, disappearing in the early 1900s.

"The way our fish and wildlife program looks at this, it's part of the natural environment and bringing things back to the way they were," CCT's History and Archaeology Department Manager Guy Maura told the Times. "That is important from an ecological sense, as well as there had to be spiritual connections."

The animals were taken from near Elko, Nevada, using net guns and helicopters, and transported in horse trailers to the Colville Indian Reservation.

"Our interest in targeting these animals was due to the loss of critical winter range caused by wildfires in Nevada during 2017," said Cody McKee, big game biologist for NDOW. "Our objective was to reduce densities of pronghorn in these areas, and allow for those being transported to Colville lands time to acclimate to their new environment before the arrival of winter. We are optimistic that the pronghorn that remain in Nevada will have less competition for food on degraded winter range."

The Bureau of Indian Affairs paid for the capture effort of the pronghorn antelope.