Scott Roberts and Cody Burn, speaking for the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s Eastern Region, briefed the County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife on field work and regulation proposals. Roberts said crews are conducting a second summer mountain-goat survey and that water availability remains an issue: “Water’s continuing to be an issue in a lot of the regional guzzlers,” he said, and staff are prioritizing refills in units most likely to push animals onto private property.

Roberts reported that a small number of guzzlers were lost in recent fires but that some previously mapped losses were smaller than initially thought. He described targeted work with contractors and local partners to refill and maintain critical water sources.

Cody Burn told the board the region received a donation of about 6,000 wipers from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, which the department stocked into South Fork Reservoir as a pilot cohort; the fish are being stocked at about 2 inches to allow tracking over three years. Burn said the department will monitor how the cohort responds and that the donation was “super generous.”

Burn also previewed proposed fishing regulation changes the commission will consider in September. The Eastern Region proposal would simplify bait rules to allow commercially prepared or preserved baitfish (anchovies, sardines, salted minnows and similar products) while retaining a long-standing prohibition on using live fish as bait. White Pine County–specific proposals include a catch-and-kill requirement for northern pike at Cummins Lake and a change to ice-hole regulations to allow anglers using spearfishing or bow-fishing methods to use holes up to 1 foot by 2 feet.

Roberts asked for questions and said he would be away for the September commission meeting; Burn invited community feedback ahead of the commission’s September agenda. The CAB had no objections and noted the region would be monitoring the items as they proceed through the commission’s rulemaking process.