Emily Chung
Vancouver Sun, B5

Monday, April 24, 2006

MERRITT - The volunteers descended on the dusty hills of the Nicola Valley armed with shovels, picks and hoes. And they didn't leave until almost 100 owls were safely in the ground.

The volunteers were part of a project aimed at re-establishing B.C.'s population of burrowing owls, who live in underground tunnels in the interior grasslands rather than in trees.

The small, long-legged owls disappeared from B.C. in the early 1980s, but are making a comeback thanks to a captive breeding and release program.

The volunteers met near Merritt Saturday to set free the largest group of captive-bred burrowing owls so far in the provincial burrowing owl recovery project, which is coordinated by the non-profit Burrowing Owl Conservation Society. This was the 15th annual spring release.

Around 9:30 a.m., Mike Mackintosh and Dawn Brodie, two of the conservation society's seven directors, dispatched teams to 10 sites between Merritt and Kamloops where the birds would be released. Most sites are on cattle ranches, where the birds eat pests such as voles and grasshoppers.

Each team was led by a veteran such as Mackintosh or Brodie, who have been with the program since it started.

The volunteers ranged from students to biologists to grandparents. Many were first-timers who had heard about the program through word of mouth. Among them were Carol and Jack Madryga, two retirees from Merritt. They dug hard for 90 minutes to build an artificial burrow among tufts of yellow grass and grey sagebrush along the valley.

Burrowing owls once sought shelter and raised young in burrows built by badgers and marmots, explained Mackintosh. Now, those mammals and their abandoned homes are both in short supply, so volunteers dig artificial ones.

The job involves burying three metres of 15 centimetre-diameter drainage tubing that leads to overturned bucket. The artificial burrow must be deep enough to stay cool, which can mean hard work for the diggers.