I went into the hearing last night at Sand Point Way concerning Washington State Dept of Fish and Wildlife's wolf management program with a pretty bad attitude, knowing that an entire pack of six (or seven?) wolves were gunned down last year by state officials at the behest of one cattle rancher. My attitude wasn’t helped when I discovered the warehouse we were in was very cold, nor did learning that the government officials there (state and fed) weren’t taking comments and were only taking written questions. I complained out loud about all of that.
Over the course of the three hours we were there, to my surprise, I was encouraged by what I perceived to be the knowledge and commitment of the three government biologists and animal experts. In fact, by the end I was even not annoyed by the four presenters and came to like and admire them and that wasn’t easy to do, especially when I go in loaded for bear, as they say. There were lots of slides, which I took pictures of and will share somewhere if you want to read them.
Washington State’s wolf management policies are, surprising to me, relatively new, five or six years old. Wolves were delisted from the federal Endangered Species Act in April 2011, returning management of wolves to the individual states. In the 1930s wolves were nearly wiped out in North America. They were reintroduced to the Northern Rockies in the mid ‘90s, over the objections of ranchers and hunters. Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Minn among other states, are not as humane or farsighted as Washington in managing their wolf populations.
(Ken Salazar stepping down as Interior secretary is probably a good thing. He’s not been good for wolves, and the president hasn’t been very good on this issue either.)
That being said, I was moderately encouraged by the willingness of state and fed officials to use a variety of non-lethal measures to corral wolves and the success gotten from those methods (whoever heard of fladry and why does it work!?); also their willingness to engage ranchers on a personal, one-on-one level to gain their trust and cooperation. I listened carefully to the language they used and I appreciated hearing “protection” and “flourishing,” rather than just “management.” I didn't care for the "bump in the road" describing the killing of the Wedge Pack. I was encouraged most of all by a couple of frank, off-the-record comments made by the officials after the hearing. The federal official said that citizens need to keep after state officials and that that isn’t being done enough. He believes that makes a difference. (That’s been a common theme this week in my endeavors!) The state official said (or I interpreted it this way) that the killing of the Wedge Pack last year was a mistake and was handled badly and they learned from it. We can only hope. Those killings were also done with no notice to the public, and I was left with the impression that that was illegal or at least against policy. I hope that officials will not be pressured by ranchers like they were in that awful case.
Both state and federal officials encouraged us to keep in touch with the commission that makes decisions. I’ll find out information on the commission and will share it.
From the slides we learned that wolves are extremely smart (as we know) and tenacious and hearty, and those characteristics mean they will survive and thrive if even moderately protected. The officials also acknowledged that even when wolves are eliminated from an area, others fill in in pretty short order. Today there are wolves in the area where the Wedge Pack lived and were killed; the message to ranchers being there is no point in killing them because others will take their place. The officials acknowledged that there’s more ranchers need to be doing proactively to mitigate their losses and that they can’t blame every dead cow on a wolf. There can be cost sharing for some measures.
The long and short of it is we need to keep up on what’s happening and let our officials know our opinions.
On a personal note, as is my lot in life, I am always, without fail, sitting next to the loudest, most obnoxious person at any given venue and last night was no different. Behind me was an older, overweight man with a grey and white camouflage cap hissing and grumbling when “wolf protection” or “reintroduction” or information of wolves thriving was mentioned. Two other women around him became annoyed and glared at him while I did my best to ignore him, but when he shared uttered an enthusiastic “Yeah” at a picture of a hunter with a rifle propped up against a dead wolf, I’d had enough. I turned around and said, “Do you mind? I’m trying to hear this. Have some respect!” And to my surprise he said nothing in response.
Later on, his cell phone rang and he carried on a few minutes of a loud conversation. I turned around again and “shhhhhh’d” him very loudly. He didn’t respond but he did hang up.
Later, when the hearing was over, a woman across the aisle said to me, “I’m glad you said something because I was about to throw something at him,” to which I replied, “I’m always the lucky one seated next to the a-hole, everywhere I go, so I’m used to speaking up.” “Well, I’m glad you did.” She and I chatted and hugged. She shared with me the Facebook page listed below, “Howling For Wolves.”
Later, while talking to the officials, said obnoxious guy said to me “I wouldn’t want to run into you in a dark alley,” smiling, to which I replied, “Nah, I’m harmless,” and, feeling generous mostly because I was encouraged, I shook his hand, and I felt we ended the night on a positive note.
Carter Niemeyer was one of the retired federal officials. He’s retired but still active, sharing his expertise and commitment. At the end I shared with Carter and Donald and another gentlemen that I came into the meeting pessimistic and skeptical and then was encouraged in ways I had never expected and thanked them for their involvement and commitment. Here’s Carter:
http://vimeo.com/53829916
Join up and keep informed:https://www.facebook.com/HowlingForWolves
Photos of presentation slides:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151233069848173.464337.655678172&type=1#!/media/set/?set=a.10151233069848173.464337.655678172&type=3
