Conservation Northwest updates
10 Winter/Spring 2016 conservationnw.org
Report from the
2015 field season
RANGE RIDER UPDATE
Range rider update
Range rider Bill Johnson rides alongside his cow dog through rough
terrain as he monitors an area that showed heavy wolf activity
according to GPS collar data provided by WDFW.
Photo: Sy Bean /The Seattle Times
Jay Kehne Conservation Associate,
jay@conservationnw.org
The Range Rider Pilot Project, a collaborative effort
between Conservation Northwest and seven ranchers grazing
cattle in areas of eastern Washington occupied by six different
wolf packs in 2015, has previously produced three years with
no livestock lost to wolf conflicts in project areas. e project
seeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of non-lethal measures
in deterring or reducing conflicts where wolves and livestock
overlap in Washington, keeping cattle and wolves safe and
building social tolerance for wolves as a native predator.
In 2015, our ranching partners experienced three livestock
depredations, the first wolf–cattle conflicts confirmed within
our project areas. However, we believe the most recent field
season was a success. Along with our ranching partners, we
understand that range riding and other nonlethal deterrence
methods are not always going to be 100 percent successful
where livestock and predators share territory. e goal is to
promote coexistence and reduce conflicts as much as possible.
While we do not take these losses lightly, and neither do
the ranchers we partner with, it's important to note that to
ranchers in Idaho, Montana, and Canada, where wolves have
been back on the landscape for decades or longer, losing one
or two cows a season in these circumstances is considered a
success. is is a practical definition of success that in the past
we have not had to experience or accept here in Washington
in regards to wolf conflicts. But it's one that will sometimes be
the reality going forward where wolves and livestock overlap
on large public land grazing allotments. What's more, by all
accounts the 2015 conflicts within our project areas did not
lead to habitual depredation behavior from the wolves, likely
due in part to the removal of the livestock carcasses as well as
ramped up range riding shortly aer the conflicts occurred.
Sam Kayser, our ranching partner in the Teanaway, shared
similar perspectives in an August Seattle Times article. "I want
to believe there's room for all of us…I don't feel it's a failure. It
doesn't mean I like it, but it's just one loss in four or five years,"
Kayser said aer the first of his two losses to wolves during the
2015 grazing season.
In addition to the collaboration with Conservation North
-
west, the ranchers we partner with have livestock damage
prevention agreements with the Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). ese WDFW agreements are
also designed to help fund and implement preventative mea-
sures, such as calving on fenced property, using range riders
to increase human presence, and the removal of sick or dead
livestock to avoid attracting predators. Ranchers with damage
presentation agreements who experience losses to wolves re
-
ceive full compensation from the state for the value of their
losses.
e 2015 grazing season served as a reminder that the road
to coexistence between people, livestock and predators is not
easy. But these experiences are an expected component of a
balancing act between people, livestock and predators sharing
the same space.
Rancher Sam Kayser drives cattle across the former Dickey Creek
campground in the Teanaway Valley. Photo: Sy Bean /The Seattle Times
