From Redding Record-Searchlight – Ranchers concerned about lone wolf in north state

YREKA — Ranchers and Siskiyou County’s supervisors told state and federal wildlife biologists Tuesday they were concerned livestock and the public would be put at risk if a pack of wolves moves to California in the wake of a lone wolf that entered the state last month.

In the first of a series of meetings with local government officials to be held across the north state, federal and state biologists told the board and a standing-room-only crowd the wolves’ entry into the state is a certainty, though it’s unclear when a pack will make its way down from Oregon.

“We didn’t think the wolf would be here so soon,” Mark Stopher, Department of Fish and Game policy specialist, said at the meeting. He added that it’s reasonable to expect wolves may disperse to California, but it’s likely going to be years before they set up a pack.

Members of the board said they were worried about the threat to ranchers’ stock as well as to struggling elk and deer herds. They also expressed worries the federally protected species would mean even more land-use restrictions in an area already coping with limits on agriculture because of threatened coho salmon and still reeling from restrictions on logging because of the spotted owl.

“Siskiyou County is inundated with endangered species,” Supervisor Michael Kobseff said.

In 2001, Siskiyou County’s supervisors passed a resolution condemning the introduction of wolves and grizzly bears to the state. The resolution describes bears and wolves “an uncontrollable and deadly threat” to man and livestock.

For much of November and December, OR-7, a 2½-year-old male gray wolf, stayed in southern Oregon’s Klamath and Jackson counties before crossing into Siskiyou County on Dec. 28. Biologists said that for the past few days he’s been in eastern Shasta County, though cloud cover Tuesday kept them from getting a fix on his exact whereabouts. Biologists said he left a small pack in Oregon and so far has traveled more than 800 miles looking for a mate or a new pack. Stopher said the wolf hasn’t killed any livestock on its journey, though it “feasted on the (already) dead carcass of a calf elk,” one of the species’ favorite prey.

Wild wolves hadn’t lived in California since 1924.

Members of the county’s ranching and farming community expressed concerns at the meeting that the state has no set plans in place on how to manage wolves and they worry there won’t be enough funding or political will to manage the predators properly.

Leo Bergeron, president of the Siskiyou County Water Users Association, urged the county to pass a local law banning wolves from entering the state that would include county officials killing or relocating the animals.

“Damn it. Do your job,” Bergeron said. “Protect our county.”

But a trio of speakers defended the wolves. Karin King, 70, of Igo spoke to the board wearing a sweater with a wolf’s image on the front. She carried a wolf hand bag and a wolf coat.

“Please educate yourself on wolves’ behavior,” King said, adding that extinction is forever.

Another woman decried comments by Supervisor Marcia Armstrong, who told the Los Angeles Times the wolf needed to be shot on sight.

Regina Neri, 47, of Mount Shasta told the board Armstrong’s comments weren’t representative of everyone in Siskiyou County.

“As a Siskiyou County resident, (Armstrong’s) ‘we’ is not me,” she said.

Armstrong didn’t attend the meeting because of a death in her family.

Erin Williams, the supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Yreka field office, reminded the group shooting wolves is illegal, even if they’re caught preying on livestock. She said a person could only kill a wolf without threat of prosecution if they’re attacking, but the kill would be investigated. Those caught killing wolves without cause would be prosecuted under the federal Endangered Species Act, she said.

Stopher acknowledged the DFG does not yet have a wolf management plan, but the DFG released its wolf report, the precursor to a possible management plan, on Tuesday. It can be viewed at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/wolf/.

Stopher told the board his agency would need state support and funding to create a full management model that would likely pattern itself on those used by other states.

He said biologists in Oregon and in other states have been successful in managing wolves and coming up with plans that reimburse ranchers for the livestock wolves invariably kill. He said they’ve also been successful in coping with the intense emotions that come along with wolves entering a region.

Stopher said biologists in Oregon told him, “This is the most controversial subject you’ll have in your career.”