Year 2: 2001

In the 2001 field season we surveyed dragonflies in selected areas throughout the Vanderhoof-Omineca-Williston region, concentrating on the areas around the south end of Williston Lake, the Omineca mountains west of the lake, the Fort St. James - Takla Lake region and the Highway 16 area near Vanderhoof. Rob Cannings, Leah Ramsay, and Syd Cannings each visited the study area once, for a total of 35 days in the field by the principal biologists. Six additional provincial government biologists were temporarily assigned to this project, and contributed about 33 days total. Two government vehicles were made available to us at cost, reducing our expected costs. Two biologists were contracted to search for and collect dragonflies: Cris Guppy surveyed the Fort St. James Forest District, and Gord Hutchings surveyed the southern portion of the Mackenzie Forest District. Pamela Hengeveld was again hired to visit major sample sites and describe the habitat in detail. A total of six professional biologists, dragonfly specialists and local naturalists volunteered their services. We were especially fortunate to secure the volunteer participation of Tim Vogt, Illinois State Museum, one of North America's leading experts on boreal dragonflies.

A total of 250 sites was visited at least once. Again, poor weather plagued the survey, especially in the early weeks. Until August 8, the summer was almost uniformly cloudy and wet, so fewer adult dragonflies were encountered and sampled than would be expected with the effort made. Approximately 2500 adult and 200 larval specimens of at least 50 species were collected. Somatochlora forcipata was added to the regional list, bringing the total to 63 species. This species of mountainside fen springs was only added to the provincial list during our Rocky Mountain survey in 1998; this year's collection represents a range extension of over 600 kilometres to the northwest. Three species formerly on the Blue List were found with such frequency that they were delisted: Aeshna septentrionalis, Ophiogomphus colubrinus, and Somatochlora cingulata. Thus, after the 2001 field season, the number of species of management concern dropped from 14 to 11. The major discovery of 2000, Somatochlora brevicincta, was found at several more sites, and its rank was changed from S1 to S2 to reflect its greater range, although records are still very sparse. A new ranked provincial dragonfly list was produced in October 2001 and was posted on the CDC's website.

The response from the naturalist community for the project was again encouraging; we had a positive response from six local biologists and naturalists from Mackenzie and Fort St. James. Syd Cannings and Cris Guppy visited the area in July and gave evening presentations in Mackenzie and Fort St. James on dragonfly biology, collection and identification, followed by a day-long field workshop to those who had expressed enthusiasm in developing their inventory skills. A successful partnership was forged with Slocan Forest Products and Forest Renewal B.C. where helicopter time was shared, allowing the project into areas that were otherwise not accessible.

Publications. Preliminary communications of important findings were sent to the volunteers involved via electronic mail