Living Wild in PG
Are we saving the environment for people and wildlife?
Some of the most fascinating landscapes I encountered were in southern Utah.
Family members had regaled me with the unique features of the landscapes in Capital Reef National Park decades ago, when it was still classified as a National Monument. I arranged a trip there, and also to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in mid October.
Whirling snow greeted my arrival, although I had noted the scudding cloud formations on my drive there. I stayed at the only ranch located within the Monument, owned by some great folks, Lurt and Alice Knee.
The first few days I did my birding from the back of their Arabian mare, and also took many slides of the wonderful sandstone rock formations and enjoyed viewing the cake like layers of reddish brown Navaho sandstone alternating with the greenish Chinle sandstone layers and intermediate shades of buff and cream sandstone.
Lurt Knee’s delightful weimaraner dog Smokey, virtually acted as a guide in the wilder areas, which were easy to get lost in; but Smokey led the way back always.
From Capitol Reef, I went on to the Grand Staircase -Escalante National Monument.
To see Dippers again, those songbirds which can dive into turbulent running streams or rivers, and walk on the bottom, had been a compulsion of mine. Dippers are 7- 1/2 inch long, plump, short tailed, long legged, charcoal gray birds that feed on aquatic insects and tiny fish which they catch in swift running waters . They hold their breath longer than seems possible for such small songbirds, and they never emerge from the water where you expect them to. My rancher hosts in Capitol Reef suggested that I try the Paria River Canyon, in the Monument as the most likely place to see Dippers since the water level was high enough that year.
Arriving at the Paria River Canyon, I encountered a group of ORV [Off-Road-Vehicle] drivers who seemed to be either drunk and downright reckless, or both. Predominantly young, but including many others much older, they seemed annoyed over the fact that I guided my rental jeep carefully around rocks and any water filled depressions on the canyon floor. They deliberately drove into and out of the riparian habitat so the rear wheels of their vehicles hurled broken branches, mud and rocks helter skelter. They crowded my jeep, trying to force me into the river. I had no option but to hug a sheer wall of the canyon, until these crazies moved on.
Any Dippers that might have been further upstream would have quickly departed as soon as these noisy, water-churning, destructive vehicles approached nearby.. Reluctantly, I turned back, and decided to report this illegal activity to the BLM.
The BLM official I spoke to was cordial enough, if extremely nervous. Glancing around to see if any of his co-workers were within earshot, he suggested we get some coffee, then selecting a small room, started to question me, to determine if I was a member of any special organization. I showed him some ID and told him that I really was there for some wildlife and landscape photography; but wanted to report my harassment from the ORV group. His responses were guarded until I informed him that I was a career environmentalist, and favored protections for endangered wildlife, including their habitats. When I mentioned the destructive roiling up of the riparian habitat by these ORV drivers, he nodded in agreement , and then very softly told me that he was a member of Ducks Unlimited, the Izaak Walton League; and none of his co-workers knew that. He also pointed out that his job would be terminated immediately, if his superiors in the BLM found out about his secret affiliations. He went on to tell me that the large groups of ORV members and the retailers of the ORV’s , were lobbying to convert faint deer trails and hikers’ tracks in roadless areas ( the R.S. 2477 maps ) into county roads; and they had the full support of of the Kane County Commissioners, so that it would open more forested wildlands to ORV usage.
Very recently I discovered that ORV proponents already had an existing 1000 miles of motor vehicle routes in the Monument’s 10 year travel plan; and the Paria River is not one of them, as it is a river, not a road!! It also is part of the Paria-Hackberry Wilderness Study Area, and merits inclusion for the National Wild and Scenic River System. For eight years the Bush Administration’s BLM, spinelessly did not enforce the ORV travel plan, or even make a casual attempt at enforcement. The BLM states that it relied upon “voluntary compliance”, which is hypocrisy at its worst; since the BLM had previously documented the destructive impacts from illegal vehicular use, with the attending loss of critical wildlife habitat for fish, amphibians, reptiles , birds and mammals.
In early May of this year, in a fit of motorized mass dementia, several hundred ORV riders illegally drove their machines up the Paria River in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, in open defiance of the BLM’s laissez-faire attitude re: travel compliance in ecologically sensitive areas. The BLM had known in advance of this forthcoming illegal invasion, as the rider’s had already trumpeted the ride; however the BLM virtually acted as a welcoming committee when they did not issue citations, or take any legal action against the participants and organizers of this destructive ride.
How sad it is to think that the very people who so vociferously proclaim their love of the outdoors, as in this situation, are the same ones who cannot wait to trash such sensitive environment. Hopefully we may be able to enlist the help of the Secrtaryy of the Interior, Ken Salazar, to terminate this lawlessness once and for all.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, to which I have been donating, has issued a report on the relationship if any, between televised hype from ORV retailers, and the vigilante driving tactics of too many ORV owners, with the help of Responsible Trails America ( RTA). Based upon a five-year period of surveys, RTA found “troubling parallels between the advertising rhetoric, and reckless, even violent behavior taking place on off-road vehicles throughout the country.” Three of the four companies —Arctic Cat, Suzuki, and Polaris had televised ads that were the most aggressive, and were most likely to incite very aggressive, anti-social behavior and lawlessness in ORV buyers.
There are of course decent and law abiding ORV owners; however their numbers are overshadowed by the ones who commit the rapes of the very ecosystems we need to scrub our air from airborne pollutants, and to prevent the enhancement of global warming. It should also be noted that conservation of wildlands protects human communities, as well as wildlife in the forests.
Whenever I contemplate the possible extinction of some of our most interesting and impressive fauna, I ponder what mental aberrations the individuals of so-called humanity that were responsible for bringing these species to potential annihilation, possessed. Among the most endangered species are mammals and many bird species that once were so very plentiful, that that no one ever considered the possibility that human excesses regarding hunting, trapping, and destroying their habitats could wreak upon some of these popular species. Many of you may have heard of the conflicts between the Timber Industry and biologists, over the Spotted Owl. Those who live in the North Central States, and parts of the Rocky Mountain States, may be aware of the animosity that some ranchers have for the Black Tailed Prairie Dog, a member of the ground squirrel family. Others may have heard of the relentless shooting of the Passenger Pigeon, a really beautiful bird, once so numerous that ignorant wastrels had fun times shooting them out of their roosting trees, or killed them by hundreds of barrels full for feeding swine. Oddly enough, the passenger pigeon, was not an obnoxious bird like the imported European starling, nor did it damage or consume human crops, since these native American pigeons, were forest dwelling birds that fed on acorn mast and seeds, nuts and berries of our forest trees. Among the mammals, few were shot as wantonly as our American bison, whose numbers once were in the many millions, and whose range extended from Western New York and Pennsylvania to the Rocky Mountain states, south to Texas, and North deeply into Canada. As soon as the cross continental railroad was completed, many of the adventurers headed westward often amused themselves by indiscriminately shooting into the remaining bison herds from the moving trains, thereby wounding or slowly killing hundreds of bison that they never could recover. Decades later, wolves were often shot for merely being a wolf; they too were victims of unbridled ignorant hatred, and Old World phobias and superstitions. When the Northern and Western parts of America, and some Indian Lands were being ravaged by foreign settlers; trappers for the fur trade occasionally encountered the wolverine. This extremely endangered mammal is one of America’s most interesting, however more superstitions and folklore nonsense abounds regarding this intriguing member of the weasel family than virtually any other species on earth. Wolverines are the largest species and most handsome of Mustelids, to which the tiny ermine and long tailed and short tailed weasels belong to; however the closest relative to American wolverines are the Scandinavian subspecies (Gulo gulo) found in limited numbers in Northern Scandinavia, except Denmark. Humans have always tended to anthropomorphize their own behavior to non human domestic or wild animals; never considering the fact that wolverines having been pushed to the limits of habitats where prey can be very scarce. Since the trappers were a greedy and basically ignorant lot, only intent upon how much money pelts could be worth, they never considered the demise of a species, but were intent upon getting “theirs” while the supply lasted. Some of the better educated wild animal seekers were paid by zoos, to obtain wolverines for exhibits especially in Scandinavia, but countries such as Austria, Germany, and Norway wanted handsome unblemished specimens to exhibit. The uninformed gave the wolverine the name “Glutton” as the pursuit of wolverines meant these hapless animals were forced to keep running from their would be captors, or fur traders. Any mammal that has to hunt for prey animals over huge distances, especially in the taiga, or Alaskan tundra north of the tree line, is likely to be very famished when it does find any prey sources. They naturally tend to eat ravenously or gorge if possible, since they may go for weeks before additional prey is found. If possible wolverines who sometimes may overcome an injured caribou, or find the remains of a wolf or bear kill, may eat quickly and then remove some part of the carcass and try to cache it for future feedings. What do wolverines look like and how large are they? Are they a menace to humans? The average male wolverine is roughly the size of the original Shetland sheepdog, or Shelty. Their heads are broader between the ears, and their upright ears are rounded, and sort of bear like. Their muzzles are medium sized and much blunter than a Shelty’s would be, their eyes are a beautiful dark brown, not protruding, and in general their head and face is that of an intelligent looking quite attractive mammal. Their body is robustly built and their forelegs are slightly short for their torso and powerfully built, with broad paws. Their coats are usually a dark mink colored brown, with a sash of yellowish-white running lengthwise down their body. The tail is medium-short in length and bushy. Their furry coat which is quite dense in the winter is often their undoing also. I have met Alaskan trappers who still insist that frost will not form on wolverine fur, and many itinerant trappers sell the pelts to use as frost free collars, or ruffs. I found that to be another of the myths surrounding this rare mammal. The average male wolverine may weigh 40 pounds, and many are much less, depending on the availability of prey. Wolverines will and do scavenge and when hard pressed for food will attempt to chase a solitary wolf from a kill. Depending on the size of the wolf, and its determination, the wolverine may sometimes succeed, and the wolf may yield to it. However wolverines avoid wolf packs, who may or may not target it. As for its “legendary” ferocity, that too has been greatly exaggerated. Biologists that I know and trust in Alaska, have informed me that wolverines are usually quite timid of people, and even when they attempted to dig some out of a den, to see if pups were present, the mother wolverine growled and snarled but fled from the den. Wolverines that have languished in a painful leghold trap for several days, will attempt to bite as they are being dispatched, and why shouldn’t they? Like other mustelids, wolverines have anal scent glands, which they may discharge when extremely frightened or stressed just as some of our domestic dogs do involuntarily also. As for being dangerous, wolverines have far more to fear from the human biped than we ever could from them.
I’ve only seen one wild wolverine in my life, and that was when I was returning from the Alaskan North slope and was close to Gates of The Arctic, a most beautiful part of Alaska. The wolverine was quite distant, but through my binoculars, I watched as this beautiful animal was running northward, with its characteristic semi gallop semi-bounding gait. It kept this up as it traversed hills and the valley without breaking its pace. I have seen captive wolverines, in the New York Zoological Park. The keeper would enter their enclosure and they seemed to be very friendly to him. He related and demonstrated how playful they can be, and he also introduced me to a book called “Demon of the North”, written by Peter Krott, an Austrian Forester by education; who spent many years researching and owning, handling wolverines in Finland. The book is excellent reading and contains many photographs taken by the owner. I have been informed that a solitary wolverine had been seen in the Sierra Mountains of California. Hopefully it has come to no harm but ALL Fish and Game Departments are derelict if they still allow trapping of wolverines. California has had a very poor record in that respect, but Alaska is an absolute disaster regarding trapping of any fur bearing wildlife! This animal needs our protection immediately, and should be on the Endangered Species List NOW! –
Be Careful What We Wish For—-becoming a green society too often has its unintended pitfalls.
Its many important uses propel paper into the forefront of why we must limit its use, and aim to use as much of it in a recycled form as possible. The remnant Boreal Forests in the Northern States, and the larger ones in Canada are rapidly being depleted as they are being felled for making paper pulp. The numerous species of songbirds and both small and large mammals that inhabit these green and beautiful habitats, are losing their homes too rapidly. Many of our so-called winter birds breed in these evergreen coniferous forests, before they migrate here. Species such as Mountain Caribou already severely endangered, are precariously low in numbers in the northern Rockies, and even in Canada, they exist minimally better. Read more…»
Living Wild in PG: Expert Opinion
By Marvin Sheffield, DVM
Home owners would protest and be suitably outraged if people unknown to them expected them to pay part of the fee their exterminators charged them for ridding their homes of termites, carpenter ants, hornets, bats, mold, or their lawns from mole occupancy. However millions of Americans are unwittingly paying without ANY benefits, for an ill conceived agency, a little known Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, originally known as Animal Damage Control. This Agency was developed in response to the failing Bureau of Biological Survey (whose name falsified the qualifications of its employees), and eventually Congress decided to eliminate the BBS, unless it could justify its existence, which it could not.
Animal Damage Control its successor, started in essence as the private lackeys to the open range Sheep and Cattlemen’s Lobbies, who when they were not at each other’s throats, were waging war on American Wolves, Mountain Lions, and Bears. Using aircraft, traps and poisons galore, they virtually exterminated the indigenous gray wolves from the West initially; and eventually through most of the Midwest and Eastern states as well. When the wolves were eradicated, they focused their energies on coyotes, which now had expanded their range in the absence of wolves. Coyotes also were accidentally released into the Eastern States, when Eastern fox hunters who wanted to revive their “sport”, received shipments of coyote pups instead, and were unaware of the differences.
Besides coyotes the chief target of Animal Damage Control, Mountain Lions, Bobcats, Badgers, Western Grey foxes, raccoons, hawks, owls and even Bald and Golden eagles were shot or died as a result of ingesting poisoned baits set out indiscriminately, to placate the ranching groups. In 1997 A.D.C changed its name to “Animal Services” in order to improve its image to the American Public, who now began to protest the wanton killing of wildlife.
I had locked horns with ADC, when engaged in Livestock practice in Arkansas and Texas; and they asked me to falsify my necropsy reports on livestock that died of bacterial or viral diseases. These “good old Boys” wanted me to change my necropsy findings to “Wolf or coyote predation” so that the livestock owner could then fraudulently collect reparations from Uncle Sam for their “losses” on Public Lands. I turned then down firmly and flatly.
Animal Services is an unnecessary and wasteful agency that still adheres to its unsound biological practices of animal predator extermination. Removing a raccoon, or ‘possum from an attic or basement, does not justify your tax dollars being squandered and diverted to this agency.
-Marvin J. Sheffield, DVM