AR-News: Welcome wolves with a rifle?

[jim robertson]

Wolves at the door

Once they return to Oregon, do we put out the welcome mat or load the rifle?

Sunday, May 09, 2004
JACK SOUTHWORTH

M y family has been ranching in Bear Valley on the south side of the 
Strawberry Mountains since 1885. The meadows along Bear Creek and the 
Silvies River, where our cattle spend the fall and winter, are turning green 
now. Soon we'll be moving them to the rolling sage and grassland beyond the 
meadows.


Our ranch is up high, topping out at more than 6,500 feet. We average just a 
month of frost-free weather. It's not exactly a good spot for growing 
tomatoes. All we can grow is grass, and the way we can use that grass is 
through livestock. In our case, it's cattle, of which we have several 
hundred.

Our passion is to raise cattle without antibiotics or growth implants in a 
way that's good for the land and provides a good life for the four families 
this ranch supports.

Because I'm a rancher, you're probably thinking I see wolves from Idaho 
running in ravenous packs to Oregon, wiping out our cow herd. You'd be 
wrong.

But would a few packs of wolves in northeastern Oregon feel like an 
additional burden? You got it.

Whether ranchers like it or not, wolves probably are coming back to Oregon. 
It's estimated there are nearly 400 in Idaho right now. Sooner or later 
they'll make more than a casual check of Oregon. How do we handle these 
wolves once they come? The mistake would be to give them protected status.

In his 1936 book, "The Mammals and Life Zones of Oregon," Vernon Bailey 
estimated 90 wolves were left in Oregon in 1929, all living in the Cascades 
and Western Oregon.

Maybe we should introduce wolves to Western Oregon first. I'm thinking 
Forest Park in Portland's West Hills would be good. After all, it's supposed 
to be a wilderness park. Abundant deer and nearby dogs and cats would 
probably support a small pack.

Sound ludicrous? No more than wolves in the Wallowa and Blue mountains do to 
me. The difference is we Eastern Oregonians won't have much say about the 
wolves. They'll just show up one day. And they're going to show up as a 
species already listed by the federal government as a threatened animal, 
with all the protection that affords: A wolf could kill domestic livestock 
twice before it could be shot by a federal agent.

In 2002, the Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery annual report said 52 cattle, 99 
sheep, nine dogs and five llamas were killed by wolves in Montana, Idaho and 
Wyoming, according to the Associated Press. These aren't huge numbers, but 
for the ranchers who lost animals, the numbers were plenty big enough.

When wolves do take up residence, here's what Oregon should have in its 
management plan: De-list them: Take wolves off the federal and state 
threatened and endangered species lists. Let the wolves find sustainable 
niches where they could live off of wild game without killing domestic 
livestock or running through urban neighborhoods.

Maybe wolves will work in Oregon, maybe they won't, but we shouldn't spend a 
lot of time and money forcing them to in a way that will only increase wolf 
and human conflicts. Shoot problem wolves: Don't use nonlethal harassment -- 
yelling, guns firing blanks, etc. -- and don't transplant these animals. We 
should shoot problem wolves, and only the problem wolves, whenever they 
start harassing livestock. Wolves are smart and will quickly learn where 
they can exist and where it's dangerous. Monitor wolves' impact: What will 
happen to the deer, elk, cougar and coyote populations? Will the ecosystem 
be healthier and more diverse with wolves than it is now?

Bailey, a senior biologist with what was then the Bureau of Biological 
Survey, was pretty certain in his opinion of wolves in 1936: "These large 
wolves are so destructive that neither game nor domestic stock can be 
successfully maintained where they are present in any considerable numbers. 
Fortunately, however, they keep as far as possible from settlements and 
civilization, and owing to this restricted range are more easily controlled 
than are the coyotes.

"In Oregon, at the present time, they are so nearly under control that their 
damage is negligible, but a careful watch must be maintained to keep them 
from getting a fresh start."

When wolves arrive in Oregon, they should be given a chance but not a 
guarantee. We should make certain they know where they're not welcome. We 
need to protect and ensure what is good in this state. People making a 
sustainable living from the land, as my family has for four generations, is 
every bit as important as diversity in our wildlife.

As far as being a rancher in Eastern Oregon, I guess I'm like the guy who 
enjoys walking with his dog in Forest Park: I like it better without the 
wolves.

http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1083930950156830.xml


"Just remember it's the birds that's supposed to suffer, not the hunter." 
—George W. Bush, advising quail hunter and New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, 
Roswell, N.M., Jan. 22, 2004