Conservation Northwest protects and connects old-growth forests and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies, vital to a healthy future for us, our children, and wildlife. Since 1989, Conservation Northwest has worke
Issue link: http://conservationnw.uberflip.com/i/395479
Looking forward 6 Fall 2014 conservationnw.org lessons to learn from the Huckleberry Pack MoVING ForWarD For WolVeS Mitch Friedman executive director, mitch@conservationnw.org What happened last month with the Huckleberry Wolf Pack and a band of sheep near Hunters was not good for any- body. e operator lost several dozen sheep and a lot of time and money. And now, with the death of its breeding female leader, the future behavior of the Huckleberry Pack—which had been thriving in that area without any livestock conflict for several years—is much harder to predict. It's not hard to look at the recent series of wolf and live- stock conflicts as a flashback to events two years ago. If any- thing, the similarities between this incident and the removal of the Wedge Pack in 2012 show just much more we need to change if both ranchers and recovering endangered predators are going to have the opportunity to be successful in our state. It's clear there are lessons to be learned from the Huckle- berry Pack incidents. And as with the Wedge Pack, it's clear that fault for this conflict cannot rest solely on the wolves. Minimizing the risk of conflict between livestock and wolves is not only best for everyone; it's the policy of the state due to bipartisan legislation. e Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is able to assist ranchers with conflict avoidance assets and expert resources through direct and stable funding from the sale of personalized license plates. Conservation Northwest is also working on-the-ground to help implement non-lethal options. Conflict avoidance tac- tics like range riders aren't a cure-all, but they can work well when undertaken with diligence. But as wolves continue to naturally recover in Washington, the unfortunate truth is there may be more livestock depre- dations. And sadly, there may be times when lethal control is warranted, times when problem wolves may be removed at the public expense. Under this premise and at the recommendation of inde- pendent biologists and wolf experts, Conservation Northwest signed off on the removal of the Wedge Pack in 2012. At the time, we made it clear that incident would be the sole case in which we supported the lethal removal of a wolf pack in the absence of a clear, documented record of operator diligence to avoid such conflicts. We don't believe such a record of clear communications and thorough operator efforts prior to and aer initial dep- redations was present in the Huckleberry Pack conflict. And we can't fully understand this new episode without knowing what happened prior to WDFW's arrival in mid-August: Was it enough for the rancher to have a single herder and four dogs with these 1,800 sheep in rough terrain? While that amount of herd attention is lawful, more early effort might have pre- vented so much loss, cost and drama. What we do know is before this grazing season started, the rancher whose sheep got mixed up with the Huckleberry Pack was offered cooperative agreements and conflict avoidance re- sources from both WDFW and Washington State University, but he declined. is is Conservation Northwest's third summer support- ing range riders in Washington's wolf country, with a total of nine project seasons. And with our assistance these ranchers and their range riders have yet to lose any livestock or wolves to conflict. e range riders have learned a ton, including re- spect and curiosity for wolves. Our ranch partners have been pleased with the weight gains that regular and thorough su- pervision have brought their cattle. And the Forest Service has been pleased with resulting range conditions. ough it can be successful, non-lethal predator manage- ment is bound to fail if it's employed in insurmountable ter- rain, among a herd of unmanageable size, or with inadequate operator effort—or if it's not employed at all. Aer the lethal removal of the Huckleberry Pack alpha fe- male, it's become clear that the public needs a basis of informa- tion for distinguishing excessively aggressive or habitual wolf behavior from behaviors that have a fairly obvious root in hu- man action, or inaction. Without this, it's easy for adversarial interests to broadcast judgment on conflict avoidance techniques simply because they don't work when employed too late or too little. is risks the state's—as well as conservation organizations'—heavy in- vestment in non-lethal conflict avoidance measures, and jeop- ardizes the recovery of native gray wolves in our region. e goal for all of us is to find ways to coexist, so we can have healthy wolves and wild ecosystems right along with suc- cessful ranches and healthy agricultural production. at goal is achievable in our region, but will take people working dili- gently together to see it realized. Conservation Northwest wants to help. Editors note: Versions of this column appeared last month in the Wenatchee World, Omak Chronicle, Colville Statesman, and Ferry County View. For more on this incident, please visit our website. Looking forward