The wildlife box on your tax form

Filed your tax forms yet? If not, you have lots of company: more than 90 percent of federal filers do so between February 1 and April 15. As you complete the state form, look for a checkoff box to donate monies to your state's nongame or endangered wildlife program. Such donations fund work to help ensure the survival of those animal species not open to hunting (hence "nongame')--from bald eagles to swift foxes.

The wildlife tax checkoff idea began in the West--Colorado started it a decade ago. Now 32 states use this checkoff, 8 in the West: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah.

The last decade has seen a big increase in what's called nonconsumptive wildlife recreation: bird-watching, catch-and-release fishing, and wildlife viewing. Making donations through the tax checkoff shows a clear concern for these animals--and in the West, participation is high.

In Utah, for example, the program has one of the highest participation rates nationwide (8.7 percent of taxpayers give); Montana has one of the best average donations ($7.69). Totals raised last year ranged from Montana's $31,000 to California's $930,000; funds are administered by nongame offices of state wildlife departments.

How is the money spent? Most goes to research, with habitat restoration and public education following. No small side benefit is that many of these nongame programs eventually enhance game species as well.

In Idaho, more than 3,000 nestboxes were built for Idaho's state bird, the mountain bluebird. In Oregon, biologists are studying bald eagle nesting and three-toed woodpecker habitat. In New Mexico, researchers in the San Andreas

Mountains are tracking mountain lions to learn about territoriality. Colorado traded bighorn sheep for another state's river otters to replant them in Front Range streams. A Utah program is transplanting prairie dogs from private to public lands.

California programs are wide ranging--one project brought the bald eagle back to Catalina Island, while another restored a breeding colony of least terms on a Southern California beach, where they now nest next to sunbathers and beachcombers.

In the past, state agencies spent the lion's share of time and money on management and habitat for game species, since monies were derived from fishing and hunting license fees. Yet some 90 percent of wildlife species are nongame. Many of these creatures are facing uncertain futures. In California alone, some 68 species face extinction.

"The nongame wildlife tax checkoff program does have a drawback--it's an unstable form of funding,' points out Sara Vickerman, of the Defenders of Wildlife. Since donations vary each year, wildlife managers can't count on funding for long-range programs. Some states also have made the tax checkoff money replace other funds, rather than use it as a supplement, as intended under original plans.

"The program may have some warts, but it's a terrific first step and has already funded some wonderful, needed projects,' says Chris Wille of the National Audubon Society. To help ensure its continued success, just check that little box at the bottom of your state tax form.

Photo: WINDOW ON THE WEST: Back to the wild

Near the cottonwoods along the Rio Grande on Albuquerque's west side, a great horned owl gets released back into the wild. Arms upraised, gloved handler tosses the bird up gently to give it a flying start. The big owl was one of about 800 animals nursed back to health last year by Wildlife Rescue, Inc., whose work is funded in part by New Mexico's Share With Wildlife tax checkoff option.