-----Original Message-----
From: George Wuerthner [mailto:gwuerthner@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 6:18 AM
To: bugle@rmef.org
Subject: letter on wolves/elk to Bugle Editor
From: George Wuerthner [mailto:gwuerthner@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 6:18 AM
To: bugle@rmef.org
Subject: letter on wolves/elk to Bugle Editor
To the editor of Bugle Magazine:
I just read the November-December Bugle article "Idaho's Wolves--Setting the Record Straight" by IDFG Deputy Director Jim Unsworth. Mr. Unsworth made the point that wolves appear to be causing a significant decline in elk numbers, but only in a few Idaho hunt units--leaving most elk herds at and/or above objectives. It's good for hunters to know that wolves have not, and likely will not "destroy" hunting as some suggest.
But he characterized this decline of a few elk herds in a negative perspective, as if elk declines are something that a Fish and Game agency needed to correct. His remarks remind me of engineers who see floods on rivers as a "bad" thing, ignoring the many positive effects of floods on fish and wildlife habitat, including the establishment of cottonwood seedlings and sweeping away of sediments from fish spawning beds.
Though I suspect Mr. Unsworth was writing to his audience by his emphasis on wolf/elk interactions,such single-minded focus on production of big game is the very problem that Aldo Leopold warned against when he wrote his wonderful essay "Thinking like A Mountain." Mr. Unsworth missed an important opportunity to educate hunters and the readers of Bugle about the occasional ecological need for significant wolf predation on big game. What Mr. Unsworth didn't mention is that many researchers are finding that wolf predation has many positive influences on other wildlife and vegetation, including a reduction in browsing pressure on willows, aspen and other plants creating more habitat for songbirds, and an increase in some cases of beaver which in turn creates more better trout habitat. Other studies have documented that wolves create more year round carrion that benefits scavengers from wolverine to grizzly bear. Wolves can also reduce the number and distribution of coyotes which in turn has a positive effect upon pronghorn fawn survival.
One can't manage wolves for minimum populations and enjoy these ecosystem benefits.
I might add that wolf predation creates better hunters since elk are more likely to seek out steeper terrain with more cover. In other words, you need to be a skillful hunter to be successful.
But the most important point that Mr. Unsworth did not mention is that there is a growing body of evidence that sport hunting may actually increase conflicts between predators like wolves and humans. Heavily hunted predator populations tend to be skewed towards younger animals. Young predators are less effective at hunting than older mature animals, thus more likely to attack livestock.
In addition, hunting of wolves can break up packs into smaller units. For instance,in unhunted populations you may have a hypothetical single 15 member pack consisting of 10 adults and five pups. The numerous adults have no problem feeding the five pups.
Alternatively, under hunting and/or predator control, you may also have 15 wolves, but broken into three packs with only 2 adults and 3 pups each. These smaller packs with only two adults to hunt will have a more difficult time providing for their pups and are more likely to kill easy prey like livestock. In addition, with a total of 9 pups between the three packs as opposed to the 5 pups with the larger unhunted pack, the biomass demand of growing pups may actually create a greater demand for killing prey like elk.Plus packs destablized by hunting are less able to maintain and hold territory thus more likely to move into new unfamiliar territory. Again making it more likely they will snatch a lamb or even someone's dog.
Finally hunting is an ineffective and very blunt mechanism for reducing human/wildlife conflicts. Hunters tend to focus their hunting effort on large blocks of public lands and wolves killed on these public lands are not the animals most likely to be taking pets on the edges of communities or livestock on private ranchlands.
Predators are not like elk and one can not manage them like "other wildlfe." State wildlife agencies are creating a self full filling feedback whereby sport hunting of predators creates social chaos, and more conflicts between predators and humans, which state agencies exploit to justify more predator control. The best management is to leave predators alone except for the occasional surgical removal of chronic livestock killers and/or the occasional animal that has become habituated to human settlements. .
George Wuerthner is an ecologist and a former Montana hunting guide.
I just read the November-December Bugle article "Idaho's Wolves--Setting the Record Straight" by IDFG Deputy Director Jim Unsworth. Mr. Unsworth made the point that wolves appear to be causing a significant decline in elk numbers, but only in a few Idaho hunt units--leaving most elk herds at and/or above objectives. It's good for hunters to know that wolves have not, and likely will not "destroy" hunting as some suggest.
But he characterized this decline of a few elk herds in a negative perspective, as if elk declines are something that a Fish and Game agency needed to correct. His remarks remind me of engineers who see floods on rivers as a "bad" thing, ignoring the many positive effects of floods on fish and wildlife habitat, including the establishment of cottonwood seedlings and sweeping away of sediments from fish spawning beds.
Though I suspect Mr. Unsworth was writing to his audience by his emphasis on wolf/elk interactions,such single-minded focus on production of big game is the very problem that Aldo Leopold warned against when he wrote his wonderful essay "Thinking like A Mountain." Mr. Unsworth missed an important opportunity to educate hunters and the readers of Bugle about the occasional ecological need for significant wolf predation on big game. What Mr. Unsworth didn't mention is that many researchers are finding that wolf predation has many positive influences on other wildlife and vegetation, including a reduction in browsing pressure on willows, aspen and other plants creating more habitat for songbirds, and an increase in some cases of beaver which in turn creates more better trout habitat. Other studies have documented that wolves create more year round carrion that benefits scavengers from wolverine to grizzly bear. Wolves can also reduce the number and distribution of coyotes which in turn has a positive effect upon pronghorn fawn survival.
One can't manage wolves for minimum populations and enjoy these ecosystem benefits.
I might add that wolf predation creates better hunters since elk are more likely to seek out steeper terrain with more cover. In other words, you need to be a skillful hunter to be successful.
But the most important point that Mr. Unsworth did not mention is that there is a growing body of evidence that sport hunting may actually increase conflicts between predators like wolves and humans. Heavily hunted predator populations tend to be skewed towards younger animals. Young predators are less effective at hunting than older mature animals, thus more likely to attack livestock.
In addition, hunting of wolves can break up packs into smaller units. For instance,in unhunted populations you may have a hypothetical single 15 member pack consisting of 10 adults and five pups. The numerous adults have no problem feeding the five pups.
Alternatively, under hunting and/or predator control, you may also have 15 wolves, but broken into three packs with only 2 adults and 3 pups each. These smaller packs with only two adults to hunt will have a more difficult time providing for their pups and are more likely to kill easy prey like livestock. In addition, with a total of 9 pups between the three packs as opposed to the 5 pups with the larger unhunted pack, the biomass demand of growing pups may actually create a greater demand for killing prey like elk.Plus packs destablized by hunting are less able to maintain and hold territory thus more likely to move into new unfamiliar territory. Again making it more likely they will snatch a lamb or even someone's dog.
Finally hunting is an ineffective and very blunt mechanism for reducing human/wildlife conflicts. Hunters tend to focus their hunting effort on large blocks of public lands and wolves killed on these public lands are not the animals most likely to be taking pets on the edges of communities or livestock on private ranchlands.
Predators are not like elk and one can not manage them like "other wildlfe." State wildlife agencies are creating a self full filling feedback whereby sport hunting of predators creates social chaos, and more conflicts between predators and humans, which state agencies exploit to justify more predator control. The best management is to leave predators alone except for the occasional surgical removal of chronic livestock killers and/or the occasional animal that has become habituated to human settlements. .
George Wuerthner is an ecologist and a former Montana hunting guide.
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