Endangered Species

Our favorite spot in the area for bird watching is Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. We’re regulars, going at least once a week this time of year. One thing we’re seeing this season is a lot more Bald Eagles.

Photo By Dennis Newman

It’s not unusual for us to get a good look at a half dozen eagles or more. Of course, it’s no guarantee you’ll see that many. Last weekend we saw only two. But that’s still pretty good.

There’s no evidence backing up our observation that Bald Eagle numbers are up from the past few years. But when I spoke with refuge specialist Eric Anderson about it, he agreed there does appear to be more eagles.

We’re also seeing more River Otters. A couple of weeks ago we spent about 20 minutes watching an amazing interaction between otters and an eagle.

The eagle was sitting on a tree trunk that had fallen into a creek. There were several otters in the water below him, and we think he was trying to steal their fish. The otters climbed up the trunks to scare away the eagle, but he’d only jump to another trunk. It was a real “National Geographic” like moment.

And I forgot my camera…

I almost forgot to mention we’re seeing the eagles on the auto tour section of the refuge.  The car makes an excellent blind.

A federal judge says wildlife officials can go ahead with plans to kill salmon munching sea lions on the Columbia River.

The ruling was handed down today by U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman of Portland.

The judge says federal officials properly followed the law when they approved the lethal methods.

In 2001, wildlife officials noticed a growing number of sea lions gathering at the Bonneville Dam where it was easier for them to catch salmon,

They tried for years to use non-lethal methods to scare off the sea lions but with little or no impact.

Federal officials estimate that by the year 2007, sea lions were eating about 4% of the salmon that crossed the Bonneville Dam.

That year, federal, state and tribal officials began work on a plan to trap the worst offenders. If they couldn’t find a home for them, such as a wildlife park, they would kill the sea lions. It was approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service in March 2008. The trapping program began in April.

The case pitted one set of protected species against another. Most west coast salmon are listed as endangered or threatened species. Steller Sea Lions are also listed as an endangered species. Most of the sea lions at Bonneville are California Sea Lions which are neither endangered or threatened, but are protected by other federal laws.

The program became a huge public relations nightmare in May when a half dozen sea lions were found dead in one of the traps.

At first, officials suspected the sea lions had been shot. But necropsies showed they died from heat exhaustion. Somehow the gates on the trapped closed accidently, giving the sea lions no access to the water to cool off. The gates were supposed to stay open when wildlife officials weren’t around to monitor the situation.

It was a rough year for the Western Snowy Plover.

A little noticed press release from federal agencies says that only 71 plovers, born this summer on the Oregon coast, survived into adulthood. That’s down from 124 from 2007. In fact, it’s the lowest number of survivors since 2003. That sounds like the news from Wall Street. Isn’t that depressing.

Biologists say weather was one of the factors. We had a cooler and wet start to the summer, anyone remember “June-uary”? They also say this year’s breeding pairs were younger than average, and when you have less experienced parents, you’re going to have lower survival rates.

Here’s a quote from the press release: “It’s normal for species populations to fluctuate from year to year over the long term,” said Dave Lauten, plover monitor with Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center. “Luckily the plovers have had a string of successful nesting years that got us through this tough year.”

The Snowy Plover is a small shorebird that likes to nest in dry, open sand. It was listed as a threatened species in 1993.

Photo Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

With the Feds trying again to delist Gray Wolves, you might be wondering what will happen to Oregon’s wolves, should the Feds succeed.

Russ Morgan, with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, hears that question a lot. He’s the wolf coordinator for the northeast corner of the state. And since that’s where all the wolves are in Oregon, that makes him the go-to guy for these sorts of things.

Morgan says federal delisting will mean little in Oregon. Grey Wolves are on the state’s endangered species list. So even if they lose federal protection, they’ll still be protected under state law.

So what does that mean exactly?

Morgan outlined Oregon’s Wolf Management Plan this morning at the 2008 NW Wolf Conference sponsored by the Wolf Education and Research Center and Concordia University in Portland.

For starters, it means no one can shoot a wolf, not even if it’s attacking livestock or pets. You can scare it away, but you can’t do anything that would kill or injure the wolf. Federal delisting doesn’t change this.

But Morgan also says ODFW’s long range goal is to move wolves off the state’s endangered list.

It moves in three phases.

First, establish four breeding pairs and maintain that for three years. Once this happens, the wolves could be delisted under Oregon law.

Second, allow them to expand to 5-7 pairs. That creates a big enough population base to prevent them from having to be relisted.

The third phase begins when there’s at least 7 breeding pairs.

Along the way, Morgan says the management plan gradually decreases protection for the wolves. Wolves could be killed if they become a chronic problem for a rancher, or the rancher could use more forceful methods to scare them away. Even then it’s not a just a matter of grabbing a gun and shooting. Ranchers would need permits and would have to work with ODFW on dealing the problem wolves.

But perhaps the most telling part of the presentation is what ODFW wanted to do during the 2007 session of the Oregon legislature. Morgan didn’t say it, but it does give some insight into what ODFW would like to do in the future. The department proposed legislation that would let them change the wolf’s status to that of a game animal. Landowners could kill wolves attacking their livestock without needing a permit. And it would have created a state sponsored program to pay ranchers for their wolf caused losses and provide them with funds to help protect their livestock.

Morgan says ODFW has no plans to reintroduce changes when the legislature returns early next year.

Morgan was only one of several speakers at today’s conference. There were also representatives from Defenders of Wildlife, Oregon Sheep Growers Association, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and Salmon Safe. The Wolf Center’s Executive Director Chris Anderson said the purpose was to help find common ground between advocates for wolves, and producers who could be hurt by wolf attacks on their livestock.

For more information about the state’s wolf management plan visit:
ODFW: Wolves In Oregon

The Bush Administration is making another attempt to remove Gray Wolves in the Northern Rockies from the Endangered Species List.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it will reopen public comment on delisting in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, the eastern third of Washington and Oregon, and parts of north central Utah. The comment period opens October 28 and runs until November 28.

This is Fish and Wildlife’s second attempt this year at delisting these wolves. In March, it announced it was delisting the species, only to have a federal judge restore protection in July. The courts vacated the ruling in September but Fish and Wildlife kept the wolves on the endangered list. The agency suffered another setback earlier this month when a different federal court ordered it to put Midwest wolves on the list.

Fish and Wildlife’s position is that wolves have exceeded the minimum recovery goals in the region for six years running, and says protection isn’t necessary.

Conservation groups, including the Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council are promising a fight. They say there aren’t enough wolves to ensure they’ll survive delisting.

For more information about the proposal visit:
Fish and Wildlife: Gray Wolves In The Rocky Mountains

To file a comment visit:
http://www.regulations.gov