Post by: wolfbait on November 23, 2010, 02:19:38 PM
Ranchers point out dangers of state's plan, say they aren't being heard
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
CLE ELUM, Wash. -- Washington cattlemen say it seems inherently unfair that people whose livelihoods are not affected by wolves can push the government toward accommodating them.
"It's easy to sit in an apartment in Bellevue and say we need wolves and see no impact until you go to the market and can't buy beef anymore," Dal Dagnon, an Okanogan rancher, told the state's point person on wolves.
Harriet Allen, endangered species manager of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, gave an update on the state's upcoming wolf management plan at the 85th annual convention of the Washington cattlemen's and cattlewomen's associations at Suncadia Resort on Nov. 11.
Allen said she wants a plan that balances all interests and that she's not for one side more than the other.
But Sam Ledgerwood, a Clarkston rancher, said he doesn't think the department is listening to cattlemen and he's concerned for the safety of his family and his cattle.
"My daughter goes riding with our dogs, and if they're attacked by wolves and it spooks the horse she could be hurt," he said.
"If 40 percent of your salary disappeared because of wolves, would you think differently?" Dagnon asked Allen.
"I'm sure I would," she replied.
Dagnon accused the department of listening more to wolf supporters than ranchers and using ranchers on the department's wolf working group as pawns.
Allen said there was good give and take from both sides during difficult negotiations on the plan.
Stakeholders have been drafting the plan since 2007. The department is addressing public comment it received during the summer and plans to present a final product to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission next August.
The plan so far allows for moving wolves within the state if they become too much of a problem to livestock in a given area. It allows killing wolves to protect livestock only after the gray wolf population is recovered in the state and is no longer listed as an endangered species. The plan and legislation passed last year calls for compensating ranchers for livestock lost to wolves, but only has $30,000 in the fund.
Two known packs live in the state, one in the Okanogan and the other in Pend Oreille County, Allen said. Others are suspected in the far northeast and southeast corners of the state, she said.
"We're setting ourselves up for a major catastrophe, we only have to look at Idaho," said Jack Field, executive vice president of the Washington Cattlemen's Association. Idaho had 10 breeding pairs of wolves, it now has more than 1,000 wolves and there's livestock loss, he said.
He asked Allen for a population viability analysis to prove whether Washington has enough wildlife to support hunters and the 15 breeding pairs of wolves proposed in the plan.
Elizabeth Howard, a Portland attorney who has represented Oregon ranchers in wolf litigation, said whether ranchers have a constitutional right to kill wolves to protect their livestock is not known.
"No one has squarely taken that issue on," she said.
http://www.timberwolfinformation.org/info/archieve/newspapers/viewnews.cfm?ID=7199 (http://www.timberwolfinformation.org/info/archieve/newspapers/viewnews.cfm?ID=7199)
Post by: Archery King on November 25, 2010, 05:56:24 PM
Post by: CAMPMEAT on November 25, 2010, 06:02:51 PM
Post by: Archery King on November 25, 2010, 06:09:37 PM
Post by: CAMPMEAT on November 25, 2010, 06:15:52 PM
Do you kill really big coyotes to? :chuckle:
I wish. I saw 2 really "big" coyotes last year near Wauconda following 2 calves at ready until I drove up on them. Then they just walked off into the fog. No worries.....
Post by: woodswalker on November 25, 2010, 06:48:39 PM
As a cattle rancher it's FUC$!NG insane to even think i would half to stand there and watch as a pack of wolves kill one of my cows (or six of them). One of the cows i need to make a living a cow i need to put food in my kids mouths, oh but thank god they have a fund with a mere 30,000 thousand dollars in it to compensate for lost cows for all the ranchers in the state. Mind you cows run around $1200 a piece. Lets hope they don't kill any cows.
$1200 and that is just for THAT cow...if its Mama then the whole line is gone...how many calves does the average cow give birth to? how does THAT subtraction work with a rancher's income?
Post by: Archery King on November 25, 2010, 07:05:52 PM
Post by: boneaddict on November 25, 2010, 11:20:16 PM
Post by: nwwanderer on November 26, 2010, 08:22:50 AM
Post by: Roundhead on November 30, 2010, 09:09:25 PM
Exactly wood! a good cow will produce at least 10 calves worth $800 each at only six mouths old when we sell them. Packs of wolves will kill cattle for fun not even out of hunger. Epically after all the elk and moose are gone!
Post by: Roundhead on November 30, 2010, 09:43:44 PM
This is a very cool video. It's amazing how these gentle sheep dogs hate wolves.
Post by: carpsniperg2 on November 30, 2010, 09:54:05 PM
Post by: JimmyHoffa on November 30, 2010, 09:54:15 PM
Post by: Little Dave on November 30, 2010, 10:07:25 PM
Just as a reminder, here are a few excerpts from our draft Wolf Management Plan regarding stuff like that:
Page 63 of the Preferred Alternative:
19 Montana's Livestock Loss Reduction and Mitigation Board was created by the 2007 Montana
20 Legislature and appointed by the governor in the fall of 2007 (USFWS et al. 2009). The board
21 oversees the state's compensation program, which replaced the Defenders of Wildlife program,
22 irrespective of whether wolves were delisted and consistent with the Montana wolf plan. The
23 Montana Legislature appropriated $30,000 and Defenders of Wildlife donated $50,000 to Montana
24 for a total of $80,000 for each of the first two years. The board makes payments for direct livestock
25 losses its first priority, but hopes to expand into other program elements called for in legislation as
26 funding becomes available.
And of course:
Page 66 of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement:
5 ... Several compensation programs have been developed
6 in the western U.S. to help livestock producers recover some of the costs associated with wolf
7 predation, with the intention that this will build greater tolerance for wolf recovery. The Bailey
8 Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Trust, which is operated by the Defenders of Wildlife, has
9 been the primary program offering compensation to ranchers for livestock losses (DOW 2008).
10 Under this fund, confirmed losses of livestock and herding/guarding dogs are reimbursed at 100%
11 of their current or projected market value up to $3,000 per animal, whereas probable losses are
12 reimbursed at 50% of their current or projected market value up to $1,500 per animal.
Maybe have the governor check the sofa cushions, but there's not a lot of money for this right now.
Post by: rock on December 01, 2010, 03:13:12 PM
Hmmmm....any sheepdog breeders in Washington? ;)
you would need a couple to even do anything. and a bred heifer can go around 2000.
Post by: Special T on December 01, 2010, 04:05:47 PM
Post by: lokidog on December 02, 2010, 10:27:53 PM