“God gave man the ability to manage wildlife.”
— Wayne Wright, an Idaho Fish and Game commissioner, in the Idaho Statesman.
The political animals – the kind that walk on two
legs and thump their chests while exhaling promises – could fill
this page. But hip-deep in the campaign season, you might like a
break from all that. So let’s focus instead on the naturally wild
animals – and some of the arguments over them.
Wolves in the Northern Rockies: The quote on
this page from Wayne Wright shows how some people claim absolute
authority over wildlife. It came during a recent Idaho Fish and
Game Commission meeting about wolf management. Wright’s view
rankled environmentalist Jon Marvel. The two men argued. Now the
wildlife agency has ordered its staffers not to talk to Marvel
anymore, because, it charges, Marvel shoved Wright during the
argument. Marvel, head of the Western Watersheds Project, denies
doing any shoving, and says the charge is “an orchestrated …
attack” on his reputation. Other enviros who witnessed the argument
agree with Marvel’s account.
Ever since the federal
government restored wolves to Yellowstone National Park and central
Idaho in 1995, even environmentalists have argued among themselves
about it. Some greens, including the National Wildlife Federation,
favor the program. Another camp, which includes the Sierra Club,
filed suit at the beginning, seeking – unsuccessfully – to block
the program. That camp sued the feds again two weeks ago, basically
making the same complaint: The program makes it too easy for people
to kill wolves.
The program has
restored a population of 1,500 wolves in the Northern Rockies. It
has also killed hundreds of the predators on behalf of cattle and
sheep ranchers and elk hunters. Now that the feds are trying to
turn wolf management over to the state wildlife agencies in Idaho,
Montana and Wyoming – further relaxing the Endangered Species Act
protections – the Sierra Club camp thinks state agencies will allow
the total population to be reduced by more than half, possibly
dooming the program. But the federal agencies and the National
Wildlife Federation camp say the killing will remain within
tolerable limits.
Who knows: If we
live long enough, we may one day see how federal judges and courts
of public opinion – and various gods – settle the wolf issue.
Meanwhile, Oregon biologists announced the first official sighting
of a live wolf in their state since 1999 (in the mountains near
LaGrande), and researchers in Rocky Mountain National Park in
Colorado found a huge paw print they say was left by a wild wolf –
both evidence that the Northern Rockies wolves are spreading out.
Porcupines:
University of Montana researchers suspect porcupines “may be
vanishing from the West’s mountains,” reports the Missoulian. The
prickly creatures are doing OK in the valleys, but “anecdotal
reports” indicate “they have largely disappeared over the past
decade from many evergreen mountain forests.” So the researchers
have launched what they say is the first study of porcupine
populations in the West.
Sage grouse, pygmy rabbits,
ferrets, jaguars, lynx, cougars, salmon, elk, bighorn sheep,
Arizona’s 45 pairs of nesting bald eagles, Puget Sound’s 88 killer
whales (or orcas), and the huge Indonesian sea turtles that swim
across the Pacific Ocean to feed on jellyfish along the Oregon
coast: All need more protection from the activities of people,
enviros said in new rounds of court cases, studies and other
missives. Often, biologists agreed.
M-44 sodium cyanide: M-44 and a similar poison
called Compound 1080 are the anti-wildlife, and enviros have
finally persuaded the federal Environmental Protection Agency to
study how they’re used to kill thousands of coyotes and other
predators each year in the West. The EPA is accepting public
comment until March 5. Enviros want a ban, but given the political
power of ranchers who want the poisoning to continue, don’t bet on
it.
Fishers: Biologists brought 11 of
the slithery mammals from Canada and released them in the rain
forest of Olympic National Park in western Washington – beginning
an effort to restore a species that was extirpated in the state
more than 80 years ago. Similar efforts have succeeded in other
states, including Montana and Oregon, reports the Seattle Times.
Pikas: The Center for Biological
Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in January, on
behalf of a 6-inch-long mammal, the pika. The Tucson-based group
believes pikas should be put on the endangered species list because
global warming shrinks their cold alpine habitat. The lawsuit –
which also represents polar bears and ribbon seals – aims to use
the wildlife law to force the government to do more about the
impacts of global warming. It’s an interesting attempt to get
leverage on the biggest environmental problem.
Invasive procedures
In Colorado, a burgeoning
elk population is gnawing Rocky Mountain National Park down to the
nub. The National Park Service wants to use sharpshooters and birth
control to thin the herd. Wildlife biologists recently tested some
of the park’s elk for chronic wasting disease. Previously, such
testing could only be done on dead elk; this is the first time
biologists have been able to check live free-ranging elk for the
disease. During testing, researchers also injected 60 cow elk with
GonaCon, a multi-year birth control drug.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Two weeks in the West.
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