Asplundh Assists Wildlife Research and Relocation

With thousands of crews working in the trees everyday, our employees have first hand opportunities to view many kinds of wildlife.

Through Asplundh's Wildlife Conservation Training Program, our employees are taught to never deliberately disturb an active nest, let alone touch, capture or transport wildlife. This training not only protects the animals, but the employees who could contract serious diseases carried by some wildlife.

However, the following three stories are about employees who, at the request of wildlife conservation agencies, have been able to put their Asplundh training to work to help protect animals they encounter in the trees.

Climbing for Bird Research

Foreman Donald Ray Crain of the Eugene Wyatt Region, along with Central Louisiana Electric Cooperative Supervisor Ronny Wichterich, provide climbing and data collection services to a Tulane University biologist studying hte Swallow-tailed kite.

Folks in the Southeast may have seen a swallow-tailed kite before, soaring over the coastal areas. It's a bird of prey that is currently not endangered, but its range has shrunken considerably over the years. In conjunction with the Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Tulane University Biologist Jennifer Coulson is doing research to assess the survival rate of the swallow-tailed kite and other similar species.

A few years ago, Asplundh Foreman Donald Ray Crain of the Eugene Wyatt Region and Ronny Wichterich, a supervisor for Central Lousiana Electric Cooperative (CLECO), began helping the biologist by climbing trees to retrieve chicks so that data could be collected for her study.

When the nestling chicks are about 27 to 33 days old, Donald Ray climbs the tree and gently places the chicks in a knapsack. He lowers this to the ground where Jennifer will weigh, measure, take a blood sample, and fit a radio transmitter on each chick. Donald Ray waits in the tree as the adult swallow-tailed kites soar overhead. Before placing the chicks back into the knapsack, each one is misted with water to cool them off and discourage flight. Then the knapsack is hoisted back up to Donald Ray who places the chicks gingerly back into their nest.

If not handled with the utmost care, these birds could be injured for life. However, it seems Donald Ray is not only an expert climber but an expert bird handler, too.

Assisting With Bear Relocations

After work one Monday night in early September, General Foreman Ronnie Collins of the Dave Stall Region received a call from Chris Chadwick of the New Mexico Game & Fish Department.

A female brown bear and two cubs were high up in a Ponderosa pine next to someone's home in the rural community of Tijeras, near Albuquerque. An Asplundh lift and an operator would certainly make it much easier and safer to tranquilize the bears so the department could relocate them.

Ronnie agreed to provide a lift to the department as long as he could find another employee to volunteer to help. Asplundh Foreman Donald Lovato was ready and willing. Thad Petzold of Public Service Co. of New Mexico (PNM), the utility property Asplundh serves, also joined in the effort.

Once the equipment and volunteers were assembled, Donald used the override controls to raise the dart gun shooter up high enough so he could get a good, clean shot of tranquilizer into the mama bear and cubs. A large bed of hay was laid at the foot of the tree and within minutes the female had dropped into it. Ronnie helped with tagging. Then the cubs were lowered with a sling and all of them were safely trucked to a designated relocation area for bears in the Manzano Mountains.

A similar request came about a week later. A 350-lb. male black bear was in a tree next to a church in the community of Cedar Crest. Once again, Ronnie and Donald lifted the dart gun shooter into place and within minutes the big, black bear was on the ground and soon was on his way to a less populated range of mountains. Good job!

Nest Relocation Services

In the Tim Manners Region in Texas, Superintendent Jeff Vining was called upon recently by Texas-New Mexico Power Co. to provide one of Asplundh's 70-foot lifts to relocate a Great Blue Heron's nest with five baby herons. The tall tree in which the nest was located needed to be removed and since the tree was too unsafe to climb, a big lift was needed in order to safely relocate the nest.

Under the watchful eyes of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Texas-New Mexico Power, the local Friendswood police and two television crews, our crew was able to safely remove the baby birds and then lower the nest intact so it could be relocated.

Congratulations for a job well done to the careful crew of Foreman Fravxedis Argueta and Crew Member Samuel Lainez!

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