Saving wolves by saving cattle
Wolf guardians enter third year
Meeting Tuesday
Defenders of Wildlife will hold an
informational meeting on its wolf guardian volunteer program Tuesday, May 20,
from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Environmental Resource Center in Ketchum.
For information, contact Laura Jones at
ljones@defenders.org, or at (208)
424-9385.
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
In the summer of 2001, 32 volunteers from
seven states gave birth to a new concept in wolf management when they spent
wide-eyed nights deep in Central Idaho’s White Cloud Mountains trying to protect
wolves from their natural instincts.
Now entering its third year, Defenders of
Wildlife’s wolf guardian program is looking for volunteers interested in spending a few weeks in Idaho’s backcountry to help deter wolves from preying on sheep and cattle, an action that often effects their own death sentences.
“Hopefully we’ll have nothing to do,” said
wolf guardian program director Laura Jones. “If we have nothing to do, that means the wolves are out of trouble. So, hopefully, we’ll be twiddling our
thumbs.”
However, as Idaho’s wolf population climbs
upward each year, conflicts with livestock and ranchers are also on the rise.
Wolves were reintroduced to Idaho in 1995 and 1996, and obstacles to the program’s success are said to be almost entirely social rather than biological.
While wolf guardian efforts concentrated
on protecting livestock in the White Cloud Mountains in 2001, emphasis shifted
last year to the mountains and ranches around Salmon, where conflicts have been
consistent since 1996.
In 2001, from June through late September,
volunteers used human hazing and radio-activated guard boxes, called RAG boxes,
to deter wolves from preying on sheep. RAG boxes are designed to frighten radio-collared wolves using strobes and ear-piercing sounds.
Three miles of fladry lines—ribbon-tied
strings derived from Europe that are designed to frighten wolves—were strung,
and transportable electric fencing was maintained.
“After the Wolf Guardian project started,
no more wolves were killed due to depredation, and the sheep were safe,” said
Cheri Beno, one of the first-year volunteers. “I’m very proud of my involvement,
and of all those guardians who worked hard and made a difference. They made it
work.”
Last year, volunteers strung a 1,000-acre
ranch near Salmon with 6 to 9 miles of fladry and worked to haze advancing
wolves. For most of the summer, the psychological barrier appears to have
worked.
“While I was there, they never broke
through the fladry and came onto the ranch, which was a good thing,” said Anita
Trigalet, who volunteered for 12 days in mid-July.
Though wolves eventually crossed the
fladry, researchers are calling the experiment a success and said fladry could
become a widespread temporary measure ranchers could use during calving season,
as an example.
Trigalet, from Tulsa, Okla., said she has
always been fond of the outdoors and found the wolf guardian program to be a
good fit for her.
“The scenery was just unbelievable,” she
said. “Being up on the mountain like that was just unbelievable, with
breathtaking views. And to hear the wolves howl in the wild was probably the
best thing for me.”
Jones admitted the jury is still out on
whether the wolf guardian program is successfully deterring wolves from killing
livestock.
“I can’t say we’ve found the one solution
that’s going to stop depredations,” Jones said. “The effectiveness is really a case-by-case situation as far as the conflicts going on with the packs.
Sometimes we’re trying our best, but it’s a no-win situation.”
But another of the program’s benefits is
as a public relations tool for the often-polarized ranching and wildlife
advocate communities.
“We made some really great connections
with some ranching families up there. The stereotypes started to break down, and
the polarization began to disappear,” Jones said.
Defenders of Wildlife also helped pioneer
the use of economic incentives to promote protection of endangered species on
private lands, and experts credit The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Trust, which pays livestock owners for losses to wolf predation, as
one of the most important factors contributing to the recent reintroduction of
wolves to the Northern Rockies.
Since wolves were reintroduced in 1995,
Defenders has paid sheep and cattle ranchers in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming
$263,088 for losses. That includes $149,455 in Idaho for nearly 300 confirmed and probable depredations on cattle and sheep.
Through the compensation program,
Defenders has also shared the cost of purchasing livestock guard dogs and hay
and has provided alternative pasture to keep livestock a safe distance from
wolves with dens. The organization has purchased predator deterrent electric
fencing and hired range riders.