Dave Dashiell runs 1,000 ewes in rural
northeast Washington. He plans to double or triple the size of his
flock, but he said the growing presence of gray wolves there raises
questions about his ability to do so
Associated Press
ELLENSBURG, Wash.
Dave Dashiell runs 1,000 ewes in rural
northeast Washington. He plans to double or triple the size of his
flock, but he said the growing presence of gray wolves there raises
questions about his ability to do so.
Dashiell was one of about 75 people, many of them sheep and cattle ranchers in Wranglers and cowboy hats, who turned out Monday for a public meeting of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission to discuss a proposed plan for managing wolves in the state.
It's the latest in a series of public meetings to determine how to recover wolves in their historic territory and ultimately delist them from endangered species protections while reducing and managing wolf-livestock conflicts.
Many at the meeting hoped to give their opinions to the commission, but first had to sit through several hours of testimony from representatives of the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife educating commission members about how they devised the plan.
The agency released the plan, five years in the making, earlier this summer. However, a 17-member citizen advisory group has been unable to agree on recommendations for the plan despite many months of meetings and discussion.
Some hunting and ranching groups particularly oppose the number of wolves called for in the plan, and commissioners raised questions Monday about that number to the agency's staff.
Conservation groups have argued against reducing the number of wolves required for delisting. One woman at the meeting wore a T-shirt that read, "Little Red Riding Hood Lied."
Gray wolves were eliminated as a breeding species in Washington by the 1930s. They are listed as an endangered species statewide under Washington law, and in the western two-thirds of the state under federal law.
Wolves have never been reintroduced to Washington but numerous sightings over the years suggested that the animals had crossed its border from neighboring states and British Columbia. Today, there are five confirmed resident wolf packs in Washington.
The proposal calls for 15 successful breeding pairs for three consecutive years to delist the animals. Six verified breeding pairs would be required to downlist wolves from an endangered species to a threatened species.
Gary Donna, the commission vice chair from Kettle Falls, questioned how Washington can have similar objectives for successful recovery of wolves as Idaho and Montana when Washington has a much higher population and "a third of the habitat."
"I still wonder how we're going to be successful against those odds," he said.
Under the plan, five breeding pairs would be required in Eastern Washington, four in the North Cascades and six in the South Cascades or Northwest Coast.
The South Cascades and the Olympic Peninsula have some of the most contiguous habitat in the state for wolf recovery, and more effort should be made to address efforts there as a separate region, commented commission member David Jennings of Olympia.
"That to me seems to be a real missed opportunity, compared to having it in the northeast corner of the state, where we're going to have a lot of wolf conflicts," he said.
Three of the state's confirmed wolf packs currently reside in the northeast corner of the state, where Dashiell's sheep graze in the summer months in Stevens County.
"To my knowledge - knock on wood - I haven't lost any to wolves yet," he said as commissioners met. "We already have coyotes, bears, cougars, ravens. I don't need the apex predator on top of that."
One confirmed pack resides in the Methow Valley. Another resides in the Teanaway area of Kittitas County.
The latter raises concerns for Sam Kayser, whose cattle graze on 24,000 acres of private timber land in the Teanaway. Kayser fears losing calves to predatory wolves, but he's also concerned that higher stress on his cattle will hinder breeding and reduce their weight - and his paycheck - at sale.
"It's 24,000 acres," he said while waiting to testify. "It's not like we can go out there and cover all of it and see what's going on all the time."
source
Dashiell was one of about 75 people, many of them sheep and cattle ranchers in Wranglers and cowboy hats, who turned out Monday for a public meeting of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission to discuss a proposed plan for managing wolves in the state.
It's the latest in a series of public meetings to determine how to recover wolves in their historic territory and ultimately delist them from endangered species protections while reducing and managing wolf-livestock conflicts.
Many at the meeting hoped to give their opinions to the commission, but first had to sit through several hours of testimony from representatives of the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife educating commission members about how they devised the plan.
The agency released the plan, five years in the making, earlier this summer. However, a 17-member citizen advisory group has been unable to agree on recommendations for the plan despite many months of meetings and discussion.
Some hunting and ranching groups particularly oppose the number of wolves called for in the plan, and commissioners raised questions Monday about that number to the agency's staff.
Conservation groups have argued against reducing the number of wolves required for delisting. One woman at the meeting wore a T-shirt that read, "Little Red Riding Hood Lied."
Gray wolves were eliminated as a breeding species in Washington by the 1930s. They are listed as an endangered species statewide under Washington law, and in the western two-thirds of the state under federal law.
Wolves have never been reintroduced to Washington but numerous sightings over the years suggested that the animals had crossed its border from neighboring states and British Columbia. Today, there are five confirmed resident wolf packs in Washington.
The proposal calls for 15 successful breeding pairs for three consecutive years to delist the animals. Six verified breeding pairs would be required to downlist wolves from an endangered species to a threatened species.
Gary Donna, the commission vice chair from Kettle Falls, questioned how Washington can have similar objectives for successful recovery of wolves as Idaho and Montana when Washington has a much higher population and "a third of the habitat."
"I still wonder how we're going to be successful against those odds," he said.
Under the plan, five breeding pairs would be required in Eastern Washington, four in the North Cascades and six in the South Cascades or Northwest Coast.
The South Cascades and the Olympic Peninsula have some of the most contiguous habitat in the state for wolf recovery, and more effort should be made to address efforts there as a separate region, commented commission member David Jennings of Olympia.
"That to me seems to be a real missed opportunity, compared to having it in the northeast corner of the state, where we're going to have a lot of wolf conflicts," he said.
Three of the state's confirmed wolf packs currently reside in the northeast corner of the state, where Dashiell's sheep graze in the summer months in Stevens County.
"To my knowledge - knock on wood - I haven't lost any to wolves yet," he said as commissioners met. "We already have coyotes, bears, cougars, ravens. I don't need the apex predator on top of that."
One confirmed pack resides in the Methow Valley. Another resides in the Teanaway area of Kittitas County.
The latter raises concerns for Sam Kayser, whose cattle graze on 24,000 acres of private timber land in the Teanaway. Kayser fears losing calves to predatory wolves, but he's also concerned that higher stress on his cattle will hinder breeding and reduce their weight - and his paycheck - at sale.
"It's 24,000 acres," he said while waiting to testify. "It's not like we can go out there and cover all of it and see what's going on all the time."
source
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