Outdoor Notes : Selected Hunters Might Get Bighorn Permits

Nine hunters, at least eight of whom must be California residents, will have chances to hunt bighorn sheep in San Bernardino County this year if a plan submitted to the state Fish and Game Commission is approved.

The plan, recommended by the Department of Fish and Game at a public meeting last week in Long Beach, would allow eight general permits to residents for hunting Nelson bighorn rams, four in the Marble Mountains and four at Old Dad Mountain near the Kelso Mountains. Both ranges have ample bighorn populations.

A random selection process conducted by the DFG license office in Sacramento would be used to distribute the eight general permits. Each hunter would be allowed to take one ram.

Besides the general permits, a special permit, also good for one ram, would be offered to the highest bidder, resident or nonresident, through an auction process yet to be determined.

Proceeds of the auction, which could raise $100,000 or more, would be used to continue DFG programs to bolster bighorn populations in areas where wild sheep are sparse or to reestablish bighorns in historic sheep habitat.

Applicants for the permits would be required to file a $5 nonrefundable application fee and those getting the permits would pay a $200 permit fee.

Among special conditions would be a mandatory orientation program for hunters and their guides before issuance of the permits.

The general permit holders’ season would run from Dec. 12 through Dec. 27. The holder of the special permit would be allowed to hunt either zone from Nov. 28 through Dec. 27.

The recommendation will be voted upon at the commission meeting in Sacramento April 10.

A 10-month operation to “decongest” passages that allow the ebb and flow of seawater has begun in the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve.

Dana Base, wildlife biologist for Orange County, said the project is designed to remove more than 1 million cubic yards of sediment from the lower bay. With the muck removed, seawater will again flow into the bay with the tide.

Base said that this year’s project, the last major excavation planned for the bay, will increase the reserve’s habitat for wildlife that depends on tidal marshlands for survival.

Construction will include a channel, 100 feet wide and 14 feet deep, to allow tidal water access to the basin, Base said.

Completion of the project is expected sometime in November.

Briefly The 15 Nelson bighorn sheep relocated from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County Jan. 31 are alive and doing well, according to biologist Vern Bleich of the DFG. . . . San Francisco wildlife artist Robert Steiner’s rendition of a redhead duck was chosen for the 1987-88 state duck stamp, required by California waterfowl hunters. Steiner’s design was chosen from 90 entries by state Fish and Game commissioners. . . . The Owens River trout derby will be held in Bishop March 7. Fishermen will try to match the weight of a trout caught previously by a contest official, even though the weight of that fish is not revealed until after the derby is over. Site of the derby will include 25 miles of the Owens River and the open water of the Pleasant Valley Reservoir. There is no entry fee. For additional information, contact the Bishop Chamber of Commerce, 690 N. Main St., Bishop, Calif., 93514, or call (619) 873-8405.