This is year one of a three year project. Water developments have been, and continue to be the primary method to improve habitat and increase distribution and densities of chukar partridge in the western United States, including Utah. Over the years, Utah has installed more than 1,000 water developments for the benefit of various species. Of these, more than 400 have been built specifically with the benefit of chukars as a primary goal. Water developments have been shown to increase survival of adult chukars during dry summers, thereby increasing carry over to hunting season and the subsequent year's breeding population (Larsen 2008, Larsen et al. 2010). Most importantly, however, water developments may primarily benefit chicks, whose water demands are significantly higher than adults. The addition of water developments in otherwise dry areas may increase production and allow for increased success in the raising of broods in areas where they would otherwise fail. Despite the importance of water to chukars and the role it plays in their annual life cycle, very little is known about habitat selection and space-use patterns of this species in relation to available drinking water, water source density, and preferred habitat during the period of water use. Utah is leading the west in management and research of chukars (Alectoris chukar). Projects conducted over the past decade in Utah have dramatically improved our knowledge base concerning the management of this popular game bird. Moreover, knowledge gained from Utah's research efforts in the past decade contributed significantly to the Western States Chukar and Gray Partridge Management Guidelines (Knetter et al 2017). Although much progress has been made in the recent decade, this plan highlights the need to better understand habitat requirements, limiting factors, and seasonal distributions (Larsen et al. 2007, Robinson et al. 2009, Larsen 2008, Larsen et al. 2010). Work over the last decade with remote cameras has greatly informed our understanding of water use patterns by chukars. Analysis of these use patterns has helped develop guidelines to improve water development placement, however, there is not any research looking at brood habitat selection or space-use patterns. Knowledge of preferred brooding habitats and estimates of space use during the brooding period will enable managers to place guzzlers in locations that are preferred by chukars with broods, rather than having chukars move from preferred habitat to visit water sources. In addition, information on daily movement distances and seasonal space-use patterns will provide managers with information on minimum and optimum spacing of water sources. This knowledge will directly guide habitat management efforts for this species and provide needed justification to partner agencies for improving water availability. Increasing chukar range and density provides a direct benefit to hunters via increased opportunity. In Utah, over 6,000 hunters regularly pursue chukars, with significant potential to increase hunter numbers and success. Twenty percent of all upland game hunters pursue chukars each year and survey data suggest they are more satisfied with upland game management in Utah than pheasant hunters (USU, 2006). Chukars and chukar hunting in Utah have great potential to improve recruitment, retention, and reactivation efforts because this upland game species can still increase in numbers and distribution. Chukars are especially important as a retention species that provide a continued but abundant challenge with a long season for experienced upland game hunters.

1. Evaluate habitat selection by chukars with broods during the summer and fall period when water use is high. 2. Estimate space-use patterns (summer/fall home range size) during the water-use period. 3. Develop detailed guidelines for chukar water development placement and density. 4. Identify nest sites and develop methods for effective nest searches.

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Strategic Management Plan for Chukar Partridge: Utah is the second driest state in the United States. Intuitively, it is thought that improved water resource development will create entirely new local Chukar Partridge populations in areas where there is no free or persistent water, and will increase populations in areas where the lack of persistent water sources has suppressed populations. Issues and Concerns: a. Determining Chukar Partridge distribution in Utah. b. Establishing and maintaining Chukar Partridge in Utah. c. Lack of sufficient data (population survey, harvest management strategy) to drive management decisions. Habitat Issues and Concerns: a. Understanding and defining the importance of water to Chukar Partridge in Utah. b. Understanding and defining the importance of wildfires, and the lack of rehabilitative management to re-establish shrubs, grasses and forbs in Chukar Partridge habitats. c. Delineating optimum Utah Chukar Partridge habitats.

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This project will increase the quantity of water available on the landscape and the quality of the water source locations, after the guidelines are developed to indicate best placement and density.

UDWR will consult with federal partners before any actions are taken after the monitoring is complete. UDWR will work with BYU to mark chukars, gather data, and run analyses.

We will capture and mark a minimum of 40 chukar hens at two study sites (target 20 per site) using funnel walk-in traps placed at water sources and or capture via night lighting and netting during the winter prior to breeding. Following capture, chukars will be aged, weighed, sexed, and assessed for overall condition prior to release on site with a GPS data logger with VHF transmitter. Chukars will be marked with GPS-enabled data logging transmitters logging up to one location per hour during daylight hours. Birds/transmitter will need to be relocated and approached within 500 m for data download. Marked chukars will be distributed across two study areas with stable wild populations: 1) an area with relatively high density of water 2) an area with low water source densities. Marking chukars with GPS transmitters in both types of areas will allow us to make comparisons of space use and habitat selection across extremes of water source density. To identify preferred habitat, we will sample habitat at a minimum of 50 use (from the GPS coordinates) and 50 random locations within early (July/August) and late (September/October) brooding periods. Habitat measurements taken at each sampled site will include percent shrub cover (line intercept), percent tree cover (line intercept), slope (clinometer), obscurity measures (cover board or robel pole), distance to steep rocky escape terrain (rangefinder), and composition of understory vegetation (nested frequency or Daubenmire), etc. In the lab, we will use the field-based measurements in conjunction with remote sensing, GIS, and geostatistical analyses to model preferred brood habitat in relation to habitat variables across areas with very different water source densities. We will calculate estimates of space use using kernel densities or Browian Bridge Movement Models depending on data availability and frequency of fixes. Once estimates of space use are developed for each individual chukar, we will assess differences between areas using a linear model. In order to identify preferred habitat, we will use a resource selection function at both the 2nd and 3rd order (population level and within each individuals home range; Johnson 1980). Habitat variables will comprise the explanatory variables in mixed-effects models where use (coded as a 1) is compared to random (use-availability design; binomial distribution). We expect to incorporate a random effect for bird ID and fixed-effect of area along with habitat variables. We will follow best practices for model development and comparison using an information-theoretic approach and use of Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) adjusted for small sample sizes (AICc) (Akaike 1973, Burnham and Anderson 2002). In the event of model-selection uncertainty, we will use model averaging for our inference (Burnham and Anderson 2002). Any recovered transmitters will returned to UDWR for reuse on this or other projects.

This project serves to monitor the chukar populations to assist in establishing best practices regarding water development and placement.

Brigham Young University Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Utah Chukar and Wildlife Foundation Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife

The results of this monitoring effort will ultimately shape the future of water developments for chukars, habitat projects targeting summer and fall ranges, estimating space-use patterns of chukars, and identifying nests and developing methods for effective nest searches.

Bolstering the chukar populations throughout Utah will result in increasing chukar range and density; this provides a direct benefit to hunters and recreational economies via increased hunting opportunity. In Utah, over 6,000 hunters regularly pursue chukars, with significant potential to increase hunter numbers and success. Twenty percent of all upland game hunters pursue chukars each year and survey data suggest they are more satisfied with upland game management in Utah than pheasant hunters (USU, 2006). Chukars and chukar hunting in Utah have great potential to improve recruitment, retention, and reactivation efforts because this upland game species can still increase in numbers and distribution. Chukars are especially important as a retention species that provide a continued but abundant challenge with a long season for experienced upland game hunters.