| |
Governor, commission decline
Orcutt invitation to visit elk death area
The governor and the Fish
and Wildlife Commission have said no to
Rep. Ed Orcutt's
invitation to visit the state-managed Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area
where the Department of Fish and Wildlife admits more than 60 elk have
perished since winter from starvation.
Orcutt, R-Kalama, said the visits could have helped spur Fish and
Wildlife to improve management of the elk herd in time to prevent more
unnecessary deaths next winter.
"It was more than a week
after I invited the governor – and just after she left for the South
Pacific – before her office informed me her schedule is ‘extremely full
for the next several months.’ I thought if she couldn’t come down from
Olympia that someone from her office might, but that wasn’t offered,”
said Orcutt, who serves on the House Natural Resources, Ecology and
Parks Committee.
“After I testified before the Fish and Wildlife Commission about the elk
deaths last month the commission increased the number of elk hunting
permits for this fall on and around the mudflow – taking action where
the agency failed. That showed me the commissioners are concerned about
what’s going on down here, and I hoped some of them could come see
firsthand. So it’s surprising that the commission chairman took even
longer to reply than the governor and wrote that he ‘does not feel
anything significant would be gained’ by a visit.
“To start with, seeing the proximity of the timber to the mudflow calls
into question Fish and Wildlife’s carcass count – I figure it’s likely
more than 150 dead, not the 63 acknowledged. That’s significant. Also,
if the agency director and his assistants knew that the governor or the
commission members had been to the mudflow, as I was last month, I have
to believe they’d be more motivated to improve management of the herd,”
said Orcutt.
Orcutt said he hopes
citizens will comment on the latest draft of the Mount St. Helens elk
management plan, which Fish and Wildlife has promised to release for
public review by June. But considering the plan has been drafted and
redrafted since 1997, he’s skeptical that a final version will be
implemented.
“Work on this new draft of the elk plan wasn’t going to begin until
fall, which wouldn’t do a thing to help the elk get through another
winter. Only after the elk deaths hit the headlines did Fish and
Wildlife say it was speeding up the timetable for the plan,” Orcutt
noted. “It’s another reason I feel the lack of responsiveness will only
be resolved with changes in top management at the department.
“The elk death issue was brought to my attention by constituents who
didn’t buy the line they were getting from Fish and Wildlife. I’ve
written to and testified before the commission and met with the director
since then because I want to work on solutions. But it’s clear that the
current WDFW officials won’t acknowledge there are problems, and that
makes it tough.”
Orcutt isn’t waiting to see how the new draft elk management plan
addresses the overpopulation angle – he’s continuing to push for better
management now.
“The plan may help the herd in the long run, but it doesn’t resolve the
problems caused by the current conditions, nor will it help elk survive
this winter,” Orcutt said.
“I’m told it will include a look at criteria for deciding whether to
feed the elk in winter and how to monitor winter mortalities. That’s
fine, but I’m concerned more about what happens before winter comes –
whether the elk population will be adjusted to match the forage
available.
“If there are too many elk for the land to support, why not bring the
herd down to a sustainable level after the tourists have gone home? That
way fewer are lost during and after the winter, and with or without
feeding, the herd will be in better shape come spring. Only then could
we be confident that tourists would see ‘watchable wildlife,’ not
emaciated elk,” Orcutt said.
# # #
For more information, contact:
Brendon Wold, Public
Information Officer: (360) 786-7698
|
|