How wolves changed rivers....

[iceman]

Diesels are for morons.

[dyna1fit]

huh... mine averages 43 mpg... so it goes

[Kenny Satch]

Better?

I can't tell which one is the Elk

For those of you getting hung up on the elk/deer thing and having difficulty telling the difference between the deer and elk, I'd imagine it might have been the sword waving.

FIFY

[KQ]

Two articles in the last 24hrs on Washington's wolves:


Washington state wolf population grows by 1
By PHUONG LE
The Associated Press

Washington’s wildlife agency reported Saturday that its annual survey tallied 52 endangered gray
wolves in the state at the end of 2013, one more than in 2012. The results come as conservation
groups urge the state to pull support from a federal effort to roll back protections for the
predators.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife also found five successful breeding pairs in 2013, the same
number as reported in the 2012 count.

The wolf population has been controversial because the predators returned to the state much
faster than expected. In 2008, there were only a handful of wolves. Last March, there were an
estimated 50 to 100 animals in 10 confirmed packs, all in Central and Eastern Washington.
Farmers and hunters in the West blame the returning gray wolves for killing livestock and
reducing elk herds.

Wolves are listed as endangered throughout Washington under state law and as endangered in the
western two-thirds of the state under federal law.

But federal officials want to remove them from the endangered-species list across much the Lower
48 states, including the western portion of Washington.

State wildlife managers support federal delisting of the wolves, saying it would give the state more
control over managing conflicts between wolves and livestock.

Phil Anderson, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, has said federal
restrictions hamper the state’s ability to resolve those conflicts in the western part of the state.
On Thursday, several conservation groups sent a letter asking Anderson to rescind the agency’s
support for federal delisting.

“Wolves are just beginning to recover in Washington and face continued persecution. Federal
protection is clearly needed to keep recovery on track,” said Amaroq Weiss, with the Center for
Biological Diversity.

Suzanne Stone, of Defenders of Wildlife, expressed concern for the safety of the wolf population.

“The stability of Washington’s wolf population is good news, but the population is still incredibly
vulnerable during these early stages of recovery in Washington, and wolves have a long way still
to go,” she said. Stone expressed hope that Washington wouldn't let anti-wolf sentiment come over
the border from Idaho and affect wolf-management practices.

“We hope Washington is observing the tragic example being set in Idaho, where wolves are
treated like vermin,” she said

************************************************** *******

Washington state confirms 4 new wolf packs


21 hours ago • By RICH LANDERS/The Spokesman-Review

Gray wolves established four new packs and expanded their territory in Washington over the past year, according to the annual status report on the state endangered species released Saturday by the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Biologists confirmed 13 wolf packs, five successful breeding pairs and at least 52 individual wolves based on surveys through the end of 2013.

The actual number of wolves is likely higher, said Donny Martorello, WDFW carnivore specialist.

Nine of the packs are in northeastern Washington with four along the east slopes of the North Cascades. Also, Oregon reports a new pack along the Washington border, bringing the number of Blue Mountains packs to at least two.

The first wolf pack in Washington in at least 70 years was documented in 2008.

The report was presented by state wildlife managers at the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting in Moses Lake.
Wolf recovery has been accomplished and federal endangered species protections have been removed in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
However, the gray wolf remains protected under state endangered species laws throughout Washington and the species’ natural repopulation in the state is guided by state and federal recovery plans.

Federal law still protects wolves in the western two-thirds of Washington.

The state spent $531,913 on wolf management in 2013, including $177,898 for wolf conflict control, $140,855 for wolf capture and monitoring, $130,610 for radio collars, flights and contracts and $82,550 for outreach.

In 2012, the agency’s reported spending $750,000 for wolf management, including $76,500 for the extreme action of employing helicopter gunners to eliminate the cattle-killing Wedge Pack in northern Stevens County.

“While we can’t count every wolf in x the state, the formation of four new packs is clear evidence of steady growth in Washington’s wolf population,” Martorello said. “More packs mean more breeding females, which produce more pups.”

All but eliminated from western states in the last century, the gray wolf was reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in the mid-1990s. Wolves have spread throughout most of the suitable habitat in the northern Rockies and are naturally moving into Washington and Oregon from Canada and Idaho.

Washington adopted a plan in 2011 that guides state management and recovery of wolves. The plan deals with restoring wolves and promoting coexistence while managing wolf-livestock conflicts and maintaining elk and deer herds that provide the wolf’s main prey base.
In developing its update, state biologists used aerial surveys, trackers and signals from 11 wolves wearing active radio collars, Martorello said.

Three of the new packs – Ruby Creek, Dirty Shirt and Carpenter Ridge – were formed by wolves that split off from the existing Smackout Pack in northeast Washington, he said.

A fourth new pack, the Wenatchee Pack, appears to be made up of two female wolves from the Teanaway Pack, whose territory stretches between Ellensburg and Wenatchee.

Under the state’s Wolf management plan, a wolf pack is defined as two or more wolves traveling together.

Despite their growing numbers, wolves were involved in fewer conflicts with humans and livestock in 2013 than in the previous year, Martorello said.

Stephanie Simek, WDFW’s wolf conflict-resolution manager, said the department investigated 20 reported attacks on pets and livestock last year, but found that wolves were involved in only four of them. Confirmed wolf attacks left one calf dead and three dogs injured, she said.
In 2012, wolves in Washington killed at least seven calves and one sheep while injuring six additional calves and two sheep, Simek said. Most of those attacks were made by the Wedge Pack on a single rancher’s cattle in northern Stevens County, she said.
The agency ultimately killed seven members of the Wedge Pack to stop the escalating series of attacks. Two wolves were still travelling as a pack in the same area in 2013, she said.

“That was an extraordinary event that we do not want to repeat,” said Martorello, noting that no wolves were killed by WDFW last year.
Five wolves are known to have died in 2013. Causes range from a car accident on Blewett Pass to a legal hunt on the Spokane Indian Reservation, where the tribe is not subject to state endangered species rules.

The case of a wolf illegally killed this winter is being investigated in northern Stevens County. A $7,500 fine is being offered for the radio-collared wolf found shot to death on Feb. 9.

Simek outlined steps the state has taken in the past year to reduce conflicts with wolves, such as:

Cooperative agreements: 29 livestock producers entered cost-sharing agreements to take proactive steps to avoid conflicts with wolves. Strategies include improving fencing and sanitation, employing range riders and using non-lethal hazing methods to repel wolves.

Increased staffing: Seven new staffers were hired for a new 13-member Wildlife Conflict Section dedicated to working with livestock producers, landowners and entire communities to avoid conflicts with wolves and other wildlife.

Wolf advisors: A nine-member advisory group was established to recommend strategies for encouraging more livestock owners to enter into cooperative agreements, providing compensation for wolf-related economic losses and other issues. Members of the group represent hunters, livestock producers and conservation groups.

“These actions have greatly improved the department’s ability to manage our growing wolf population and meet state recovery goals,” Martorello said.

Wolves can be removed from the state’s endangered species list once 15 successful breeding pairs are documented for three consecutive years among three designated wolf-recovery regions – or 18 successful breeding pairs in one year among three designated wolf-recovery regions.

A successful breeding pair is defined as an adult male and female with at least two pups that survive until the end of the year.
In 2013, biologists documented three successful breeding pairs in the Eastern Washington recovery region and two pairs in the North Cascades region.

No wolf packs or breeding pairs have been found on the South Cascades/Northwest Coast region.

Meanwhile, the federal listing of gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act is currently under review.

In June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed delisting gray wolves nationwide. A decision is expected this year.

[Kenny Satch]

FYI/PSA/PBS
Nova will be airing an episode called WILD PREDATOR INVASION on April 2nd

the description is as follows
Over the last few centuries we have shot, trapped, and skinned the predators that formerly thrived at the top of the food chain in the wild. Wild bears, wolves, and big cats are all in retreat, and a growing number of scientists are discovering that by eliminating predators, we have changed the environment. Removing predators from the wild has thrown ecosystems off-kilter, triggering domino effects that scientists are just beginning to understand. In "Wild Predator Invasion," NOVA follows scientists who are trying a simple but controversial solution: returning apex predators—like wolves, bears, and panthers—to their natural environments. Can these newly reintroduced predators restore the natural balance of their ecosystems without threatening the humans who live among them?

[FreakofSnow]

Meanwhile in Idaho they are saying, rivers....scmivvers

Idaho lawmakers are targeting the state’s wolf population, approving a bill that would set up an oversight wolf-control panel and provide funding for the termination of 500 wolves.

House Bill 470 cleared both chambers of the state Legislature and is now on its way to the governor’s desk where he is expected to sign it.

“We are of one mind, that Idaho wants to manage our wolves and we want to manage them to a reasonable number so that the species don’t get endangered again and the feds don’t come in and take it over again,” Gov. Butch Otter told The Associated Press.

Currently the state has an estimated wolf population of around 600, maybe fewer. Lawmakers would like to bring that down to the federal mandated minimum of 150 wolves or 10 breeding pairs, according to The Idaho Statesmen.

To monitor the wolf-killing agenda, HB 470 would establish a $400,000 fund and a five-member panel, known as the Wolf Depredation Control Board, to assess when a wolf pack is threatening or endangering wildlife or livestock.

Money for the panel would come from the state’s general fund, fees on sportsmen and the livestock industry, The AP reported.

In the past, wolves were on the federal government’s Endangered Species List. But in May 2011, the wolves were delisted from the Endangered Species List after the population exceeded its recovery goals for 10 consecutive years.

For some, the notion that the Fed could regulate what farmers and ranchers can shoot on their own land was not only government overstepping its authority, but also a plot to usurp property rights from citizens.

“But it’s not stupidity and insensitivity behind this evil plot. It’s an effort to get people like me out of the wilderness and back into the cities where we can be controlled, herded and numbered more efficiently,” wrote Joseph Farah of World Net Daily back in 2002.

“Just because your particular ox is not being gored by these wolves, your turn is coming. Believe me. If western ranchers don’t have any property rights, guess what? Neither do you – no matter where you live. And they’ll be gunning for you soon enough.”

Wolf conservationists, however, dismissed the notion of a big-brother government and maintain that the animals need to be protected.

“It was seen as direct government intervention into their way of life and telling them what they had to put up with and what they couldn’t shoot,” Amaroq Weiss, West Coast Wolf Organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity, told CrooksandLiars.com.

“So this goes way back,” Weiss added. “The wolf has always been a surrogate for hatred for the federal government in the areas where the reintroductions took place.”

Jodi Minion, PETA’s Wildlife Biologist, also sees HB 470 as a misguided measure.

“Idaho has essentially declared war on wolves, which is especially alarming as gray wolves were listed under the Endangered Species Act until just last year,” she told Guns.com in an email.

“Manipulating the wolf population in this way caters to the meat industry and hunting lobby by preventing federal protections from kicking in,” she continued. “Lethal methods are cruel, resulting in many non-recovered animals who succumb slowly to gunshot wounds and orphaned young who are left to starve.”

“Instead of adopting legislation to ensure constant bloodshed, Idaho should consider nonlethal wildlife-management methods that are adaptive and integrative and also consider the welfare of animals and the environment,” she concluded.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, these large marauding pack-assassins amassed 87 confirmed kills in 2011. That’s up 17 percent from the previous year. Their Idahoan victims include 50 cattle, 34 sheep and 3 dogs.

[Kenny Satch]

Meanwhile in Idaho they are saying, rivers....scmivvers
these large marauding pack-assassins amassed 87 confirmed kills in 2011. That’s up 17 percent from the previous year. Their Idahoan victims include 50 cattle, 34 sheep and 3 dogs.

50 cattle, 34 sheep and 3 dogs in one year is a surprizing number to me. I figured it would lot greater than that.

all this belly aching over 500 Wolves averging 1.67 kills per week. I just don't understand those kind of numbers justify killing 500 Wolves ?
now if one or two ranchers are losing the majority of cattle or sheep then cull those Wolves but not 500.

long live the 500

[gravitylover]

Balance. It's all about the balance between predator and prey. As it comes back into focus there will be unwanted confrontations until we learn to deal with it.

Really, that's what he is saying? Wow, guess my ears are bad because I listen to it several times.

As we age our hearing slips... Sorry KQ

[TomCrac]

Thanks for the heads up on the documentary. I'm sure somewhere there is story of the over population of sheep and cattle that need to be culled.

[Kenny Satch]

Nova's Wild Predator Invasion sets the record straight
I was able to PVR an early episode and without giving anything away its IMO very objective. It clearly shows the benefits and down side of reintroduction of Predators
I fuckin love Nova. Together with Nature and Frontline it's the best American Television period !
PBS ROCKS

[FreakofSnow]

Balance. It's all about the balance between predator and prey. As it comes back into focus there will be unwanted confrontations until we learn to deal with it.

Nail on the head for me. Balance is the key.

From a sportsmen and conservationist standpoint the tipping point was reached. Wolves and other predators have impacted game animals (namely large ungulates) to a point that level headed sportsmen/conservationist's feel its time to put things back in balance. The argument that we have to let nature sort things out it out of the question. Man has had an effect on the environment and the balance has been effected, thus wildlife management was born.

For those that think sportsman aren't helping our wildlife...

[BmillsSkier]

Who had killing bears with donuts and slaughtering wolf pups on 2020 Apocalypse Bingo? Fucking hell, it just keeps getting worse.

https://www.newstimes.com/news/artic...r-15325666.php

[rideit]

^^^^^paywall^^^^^

[BmillsSkier]

^^^^^paywall^^^^^

That’s weird I had no issue and no subscription.

Here’s a different link.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/clima...ubs-wolf-pups/

[GiBo]

Here it is:

Hunters will soon be allowed to venture into national parks in Alaska and engage in practices that conservation groups say are reprehensible: baiting hibernating bears from their dens with doughnuts to kill them and using artificial light such as headlamps to scurry into wolf dens to slaughter mothers and their pups.

In a final rule that is expected to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, the Trump administration will end a five-year-old ban on the practices, which also include shooting swimming caribou from a boat and targeting animals from airplanes and snowmobiles. It would take effect 30 days after being published.


State officials primarily composed of hunters in Alaska argued that the October 2015 regulations ordered by the Obama administration infringed on traditional native hunting practices and were more restrictive than what is allowed on state land.


National Park Service Deputy Director David Vela said in a statement that the federal government will defer to Alaska's wildlife management on national preserves. "The amended rule will support the Department's interest in advancing wildlife conservation goals and objectives, and in ensuring the state of Alaska's proper management of hunting and trapping in our national preserves, as specified in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act," Vela said.

But conservationists called the changes inhumane.


"National preserve lands at Denali, Katmai, Gates of the Arctic and others are the very places where people travel from around the world, in hopes of seeing these iconic animals, alive in their natural habitat" said Theresa Pierno, president and chief executive of the National Parks Conservation Association. "Shooting hibernating mama and baby bears is not the conservation legacy that our national parks are meant to preserve and no way to treat or manage park wildlife."

Jim Adams, the association's Alaska director, said the state's real aim is to reduce the population of wolves and other predators to increase the numbers of caribou, moose and other game animals that sport hunters enjoy harvesting. Adams said the rule was established in 2015 when the park service determined that Alaska's practices conflicted with the federal mission to protect wildlife. Reducing the predator population throws the natural ecology out of balance, conservationists say.


Opponents said the administration has "declared open season on bears and wolves" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The rule changes have been pending since 2018. That year, then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke issued a memo to department heads declaring that fish and wildlife management on federal land "should defer to states."

The National Park Service, a division of the Interior Department, says it reconsidered after determining that the "2015 rule conflicts with federal and state laws which allow for hunting and trapping in national preserves."

Alaska allows practices such as baiting with doughnuts, grease-soaked bread and other foods to lure brown bears in some areas of the state but prohibits it in others. Some of the game management areas where the practices are allowed overlap federal land.

The new rules will mean that hunting on federal land will align with hunting and trapping regulations "established by the state of Alaska by providing more consistency with harvest regulations between federal and surrounding nonfederal lands and waters," Vela said.

The move was praised by members of the state's congressional delegation and Republican Gov. Michael Dunleavy, who called it "a step toward acknowledging Alaska's rightful control over fish and wildlife resources all across the state."

National Park Service officials agreed with nearly every position taken by the state. Without naming them, it cited six national parks that allow hunting with artificial light and seven areas that allow hunting black bears with dogs, and four that allowing bear hunting with bait.

Coyotes, which proliferated from west to east after federal and state officials eliminated gray and red wolves that kept them in check, do not generally receive the same protection as wolves. The final rule does not specify the type of bait that parks in other states allow for hunting bears.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the decision "protects Alaska's hunting and fishing traditions and upholds long-standing states' rights," and she thanked Interior Secretary David Bernhardt for encouraging and signing the rule.

Alaska hunting and trapping organizations also praised the move. Outside Alaska, Safari Club International's chief executive, Laird Hamberlin, said the old rule adopted by the previous administration had been "based on the subjective views of the decision-makers, with complete disregard for biological need and the expertise of Alaska wildlife management experts."

[babybear]

^^^^^paywall^^^^^

It’s one of those faux paywalls that looks like it will be blocked, but If you just click anywhere else on the pg the window disappears

[dunfree]

Are the hunters who argued they infringed on native practices native?

[rideit]

It’s one of those faux paywalls that looks like it will be blocked, but If you just click anywhere else on the pg the window disappears

I ain’t so smrt

[babybear]

I ain’t so smrt

You’re plenty smart. Just getting old 🤣


And re : the article -hunters who bait animals are rotten scoundrels

[rideit]

You’re plenty smart. Just getting old ��

Can you repeat that? I didn’t have my hearing aid in...

[BmillsSkier]

Well this is pretty disappointing to me.

Trump officials end Gray Wolf Protections In Most States

[gretch6364]

Why should their population not be controlled?


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[old goat]

Why should our population not be controlled?


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FIFY.
Wolves are off the endangered species list because Trump is on it.

[SkiBall]

Re-introduction of grey(? I forget if correct but no matter) wolves on the ballot for CO. I voted yes.

[zion zig zag]

I can see this is going to be a fact based discussion from people who live proximate to the wolves.


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