By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Golden State’s largest ranchers’ organization is giving high marks to how the state Department of Fish and Game has handled the expected arrival of wolves to the state.
The California Cattlemen’s Association has met twice with the DFG over the potential need for a wolf management plan in the state, which the cattle group agrees is warranted, said Margo Parks, the organization’s associate director of government relations.
Still, the CCA has joined other farm groups in fighting a petition from environmental groups to list the gray wolf as endangered or threatened under the state’s Endangered Species Act. The state Fish and Game Commission is set to consider the petition at its Aug. 8-9 meeting in Ventura, deputy director Adrianna Shea confirmed.
“While we certainly would like to work with the department, we do not want to see species listed in the state,” Parks said. “We do not think there is a sufficient population or enough information about the gray wolf to make it appropriate for listing in the state.”
A listing under the state’s ESA would come as the federal government may take wolves off its endangered species list in several states under urging from Congress. There were an estimated 1,774 wolves in the Northern Rockies at the end of last year, The Associated Press reported.
Shea said the federal de-listing of the wolf in other states – even Oregon – would not impact the commission’s decision. If the panel decides to move toward listing the wolf, it will go through a one-year candidacy before the commission makes a final decision.
“This is a unique one for us as well,” Shea said. “To be honest, I don’t know how this is going to play out. I’m waiting to see what the department’s first round of evaluation of the petition will be … It’s kind of an unknown at this point.”
A state listing could add new restrictions for ranchers in areas deemed critical habitat, Parks said. Already, aerial hunts for coyotes have been called off because of fears a lone wolf that entered the state late last year could be mistaken for a coyote, she said.
Officials from the DFG and other agencies scrambled to respond to a public outcry after the December arrival of OR-7, the first known gray wolf in California in decades. State and federal agency officials attended Board of Supervisors meetings in affected counties in January, and the state set up a website to track the wolf.
In a conference call in March, more than a dozen members agreed the California Cattlemen’s Association should be involved in planning for wolves’ migration into the state even though it opposes their reintroduction here.
Parks said the DFG has been “very accessible” to parties that would be impacted by the wolf.
“They have certainly tried to reach out to our community at least,” Parks said.
“We strongly believe there should be some sort of compensation fund for livestock loss,” she said. “Other states have similar models and that’s something we would be very interested in seeing. We also believe there should be depredation permits for confirmed kills. We should have at least some tools in the toolbox for dealing with this new predator.”
Online
California Department of Fish and Game wolf website: www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/wolf
California Cattlemen’s Association: http://www.calcattlemen.org/