I just returned from a trip to southeastern Oregon with ODFW wildlife biologists Tim Hiller and Scott Torland. We were there to pick up 17 trail cameras we placed in the high desert last November in an effort to detect kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis). The kit fox is the most elusive canid in the state and there hadn’t been a reported sighting since 1994. Conservationists weren’t even certain whether the species still occurs in Oregon. Then last July, an ODFW trail camera photographed a kit fox in one of the most desolate regions of the state. We went back last fall with more cameras that we widely spaced between the Sheepshead Mountains and Trout Creek Mountains. We would have been happy just to confirm that the site where the fox was observed in July was still occupied. So we were happily surprised to find that 8 of the 17 cameras had detected at least one kit fox. The cameras also detected badgers, pronghorn, bobcat, coyotes, black-tailed jackrabbits, jumping mice, and cows.
The kit fox survey is being conducted as part of a conservation assessment for the species sponsored by the BLM/US Forest Service Interagency Special Status/Sensitive Species Program. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is an important partner in the project and additional support has been provided by the Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation.
