Oregon Big Game
"Our black-tailed deer season was really good this year," said Central Point-based Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife habitat biologist Vince Oredson. "Our buck ratios are good this year and a lot of bucks were taken."
The Jackson Access and Cooperative Travel Management Area, also known as JACTMA, was formed in 1995 and is comprised of about 51,000 acres of public and private timberlands near the city of Shady Cove in Jackson County. It was created to better manage motor vehicle access and reduce the impacts of public use on private lands and wintering big game animals.
These goals typically are accomplished by forming a travel management
area, where a group of landowners come together to develop a system of temporary and permanent road closures, law enforcement patrols and wildlife management programs, coordinated by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Landowners involved in JACTMA include Boise Cascade, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a number of small, private timberland owners.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife oversees a number of travel
management areas throughout the state.
There was controversy among area residents at first over road closures and the fear that it would keep hunters and other outdoor recreationists from accessing the properties. Over time that perception has changed.
"I know people who used to be extremely against it, but now are beginning to think that it's a good idea," said Oredson.
These benefits have included less harassment of deer on their winter range by motor vehicle use, the opportunity for hunters to get away from motor vehicles for a higher-quality hunting experience and reduced levels of vandalism, littering, poaching and other violations by a few bad apples.
"It's been a good deal for Boise Cascade in terms of having Oregon State Police patrols on the ground," said company wildlife biologist Tim Burnett. "They are doing an excellent job of catching people who are doing things they shouldn't be doing."
An additional benefit is the wildlife habitat enhancement work done on JACTMA lands. These have included meadow enhancements, fertilizing and seeding with big game forage, vegetation thinning and prescribed burning. As a result, JACTMA properties are seeing increases in Roosevelt elk and wild turkey populations as well as improving black-tailed deer winter range.
One of the major financial supporters of JACTMA is the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Access and Habitat Program, which began its support of the travel management area beginning in 1996 with an $18,000 grant followed by a $52,000 grant in 1998.
The Access and Habitat program was created by the Oregon Legislature in 1993 and is funded by a $2 surcharge on hunting licenses. Funds raised by the program are distributed through grants to individual and corporate landowners, conservation organizations, and others for cooperative wildlife habitat improvement and hunter access projects throughout the state.
Earlier this year the Access and Habitat Program awarded Boise Cascade a $12,000 grant to encourage increased growth of forage for black-tailed deer by removing decadent ceanothus and small-diameter white oak from 48 acres of property within the travel management area.
"The benefits of that project will be improved deer habitat and more hunting opportunity," said Burnett.
From the hunters' point of view, that's the ultimate payoff of a travel management area.
For additional information on the Jackson Access and Cooperative Travel Management Area, callODFW wildlife biologist Vince Oredson at (541) 826-8774. For information on the Access and Habitat Program, call program coordinator Nick Myatt at (503) 947-6087 or visit www.dfw.state.or.us/AH/overview.html.
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