Sunday, July 01, 2007

Wolf-Elk Perspective

Last Wednesday, June 27, a group of individuals met in the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association offices in Albuquerque to begin a process to determine if wolves are having an impact on the elk population in the Gila National Forest to the point that the elk hunting opportunities in the Gila will be affected.

In early April, I wrote a letter to the New Mexico State Game Commission (attached) where I made the assertion that the elk population in the Gila was being extremely impacted by wolf depredation. I also noted that in addition to the elk that were dying, many elk were leaving the Gila to distance themselves from the depredation pressure by wolves thereby further reducing the overall population.

Apparently, the Game Commission asked Director Thompson if these assertions were valid and since the Game Department had no evidence to support or negate the assertions that the wolves were impacting the elk population to any extraordinary degree, they would need to study the relationship between elk and wolves to see if there actually was any significant impact occurring.

Director Thompson commissioned R.J. Kirkpatrick, State Wildlife Manager for the NMDGF, to do a perspective on the elk/wolf relationship.

R.J. invited John Morgart (USFWS), John Oakleaf (IFT), Bud Starnes (NMDA), Caren Cowan (NMCGA), Joel Alderette (NMFB), Bob Atwood (NM Outfitters), Jack Diamond and John Diamond (Beaverhead Outfitters), Darrel Weybright, Kevin Rodden and others from the NMDGF and me to an orginizational meeting to initiate the process to develop this perspective.

The meeting was held at the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association office in Albuquerque. R.J. made introductory comments as to the purpose of pulling this group together and others in the group also made comments pertinent to the objectives of this effort.

R.J. and members of his staff then presented a model that they had developed to which data would be added and should, in the end, produce numbers that will show us the relationship between the Gila elk herd and the wolves.

The model will be based on a calendar year divided into three segments.

The first segment is a five-month period consisting of January through May, the second segment, a three-month period from June through August and the third segment, a four-month period from September through December.

The first number entered will be the total number of elk in the Gila on January 1 consisting of bulls, cows and calves. Since the NMDGF does aerial surveys of elk in January, they should have a fairly good number to start with. Then the total number of wolves in the Gila will be plugged in. This number will be a challenge.

Following that, there will be numbers plugged in that represent the number of elk that will leave the population during that period from:
(1) general reasons including death from natural causes and/or depredation by predators other than wolves.
(2) wolf depredation (how many elk are killed by wolves)
(3) other - elk migration out of the Gila due to depredation pressure

The second segment is a three-month period consisting of June, July and August. The number calves born will be added at this point. The number of elk that leave the population in the same three classifications as the previous section, will be calculated.

The third and final segment is a four-month period from September through December. The number of elk that leave the population from the three classifications in the previous sections will be calculated plus the number of elk harvested during the fall elk hunts, will be plugged in.

Since the results will only be as good as the data put into the model, the data should be the product of a concensus between participating agencies and ranchers and outfitters who live and work in the Gila National Forest.

This is where I will hold a firm line and insist that input from ranchers and outfitters from the Gila is essential and must be utilized in determining the numbers that will be used in the model. Otherwise the perspective will be flawed and of no value.

I have informed R.J. by email that I am ready to meet with him at his earliest convenience to determine how to proceed in obtaining the input from the ranchers and outfitters who live in the impacted areas around the Gila.

R.J. is scheduled to deliver a report to the New Mexico State Game Commission at their next meeting on July 18 in Gallup informing them of the status of this project. I will be attending this meeting as well.

I will keep everyone posted as we progress in this effort. Please call if you have questions or suggestions.

Joe Delk
Field Representative
Paragon Foundation

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