Wolves have been proliferating in Plumas County since 2011, when OR-7 left her pack in Oregon on a 15-month jaunt through the mountains of California before returning to Oregon. Today the California Department of Fish and Wildlife lists seven confirmed gray wolf packs.
Three are in Plumas County. Three others are in nearby counties: Siskiyou, Lassen, Sierra and Nevada. CDFW also documents a wolf pack in Tulare County.
The number of individual wolves, estimated at a minimum of 34, has been an issue for years for ranchers in Indian and Sierra valleys. On July 2 it was a focus of attention for the Plumas County Board of Supervisors.
Wolves are killing livestock on a regular and significant basis, said Rick Roberti, a Sierra Valley rancher. His reason for reaching out to the supervisors extends beyond the economic damage local ranchers are experiencing to other wildlife and natural resources generally, he said.
“This isn’t about wolves. This is about management — the management of our wildlife,” Roberti said.
Local bear, deer and mountain lion populations are increasingly out of balance, he said. Wolves are clearly a part of the shifting dynamics. But Roberti also pointed blame at state wildlife management. Wolves are listed as a state endangered species, so management options are limited, he said.
“But we’ve got to try something. This is just wrong,” said Roberti.
The impact of wildlife management — or the lack of it — will affect the local economy as well as the natural environment, he said.
Wildlife issues are statewide
Wildlife management is not just a north state issue, said Plumas County Sheriff Todd Johns. “This is a California issue,” he told the supervisors.
When mountain lions and bears prey on livestock, officials can issue depredation permits that allow the predators to be killed. Sheriffs throughout the state are starting to issue those permits without waiting for state wildlife officials, Johns said. “They’re issuing them on their own,” he told the supervisors.
The supervisors agreed to form an ad hoc committee to work with CDFW on wolf management specifically, and other species more generally. They named Supervisors Dwight Ceresola and Kevin Goss to the committee. Together they represent the districts most heavily impacted by wolves.
Ceresola resisted a push from Supervisor Tom McGowan, who wanted to get specific numbers for wolf, lion and bear populations, and for livestock killed by predators. “Let us get to work before we start demanding,” Ceresola said.
The supervisors set no date for a report from the ad hoc wolf committee.
