spectr17
09-26-2001, 08:28 PM
TORTOISES VS. RAVENS -- Jim Matthews outdoor column 26sep01
http://www.jesseshuntingpage.com/images/raven-on-del-taco-sign.jpg
Tortoise salvation is as easy as shooting ravens.
### ### ### ###Probably 100 or more press releases move across my desk into the circular file each week. One from the Nevada Division of Wildlife, however, caught my attention. That state recently approved a $46,000 series of predator control projects. Three of the six projects involve raven control measures to protect a variety of game species, including dwindling or introduced populations of sage grouse and sharptail grouse.
### ### ### ###Ravens are voracious predators on eggs and young of many species.
### ### ### ###The news made me think of the federal Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service staff who work in the Mojave Desert where the desert tortoise is of such critical concern. These so-called land managers have known for some time that the exploding population of ravens in the desert are one of the biggest factors why tortoises have declined to levels so low they are now endangered.
### ### ### ###Yet, these two agencies are unwilling to call for control measures on ravens to help tortoises. It would be simple, good science, and it might be a very simple fix to what has become a complex land use problem.
### ### ### ###I have read estimates that raven numbers, because of human influences, have skyrocketed in the desert by as much as 1,000 percent. Ravens do well in and around humans. They nest in planted trees in suburban areas, and eat dog food and trash off our porches and parking lots. They love fast food restaurants. But they are very mobile birds and when young tortoises hatch, the ravens head to the desert to get in on the feast. Where there once might have been one or two ravens, there are now one or two hundred. Under raven roosts, baby tortoise shells stack up like poker chips.
### ### ### ###But the land managers want to get rid of cattle, cars, and people in the desert instead of looking at the real problem. The is almost no documentation that cattle or vehicles are a detriment to tortoises. Cattle were grazed in the desert for 100 years or more before the decline started to occur in tortoise numbers. Most drivers will wreck their car before running over a tortoise. I know, I’ve about done that myself on Highway 395. No, more tortoises have been stolen by people who wanted them for unusual pets (pet rocks make about as much sense -- but I forget, we have those, don’t we) that have been injured or killed by cars and cattle.
### ### ### ###So instead of ravens, we become the targets.
### ### ### ###Raven control has never been seriously considered by the BLM or park staff. Why? Because in their minds, it’s “unnatural” to control predation on an endangered species. We have to remove the man-made influences first. Well, wake up. The raven population is unnaturally high -- and that is a man-made influence. Why is it that states like Nevada and Arizona recognize that predator control can be an effective tool to accomplish a goal.
### ### ### ###Some dispute the raven is the main problem for tortoises. They’d rather blame “hunters” or “shooters” (when what they really mean is “vandals with guns,” but they like to get a dig on legitimate hunters and recreational shooers whenever they can) or “trampling and destruction of critical habitat by cattle,” even though there is far less evidence to make those cases than to make a case against ravens.
### ### ### ###It would be a simple test, do serious raven control for three years and just see how tortoise survival improved. If it didn’t work, ravens numbers would bounce back quickly. If it did work, tortoise numbers could improve markedly as we kept ravens numbers in check. That’s the scary part for BLM and park biologists. The tortoise numbers could improve rapidly. Then what would they do, and what excuse would they use to keep the public off public lands.
### ### ### ###The park service, and increasingly the BLM staff, don’t want to actually have tortoises recover. They wouldn’t be able to recommend for the closures of roads, ending of cattle grazing, stopping of target shooting, and a host of other things that would keep people out of the desert.
### ### ### ###Heaven forbid we’d actually do a good thing for tortoises and the human users of those public lands.
http://www.jesseshuntingpage.com/images/raven-on-del-taco-sign.jpg
Tortoise salvation is as easy as shooting ravens.
### ### ### ###Probably 100 or more press releases move across my desk into the circular file each week. One from the Nevada Division of Wildlife, however, caught my attention. That state recently approved a $46,000 series of predator control projects. Three of the six projects involve raven control measures to protect a variety of game species, including dwindling or introduced populations of sage grouse and sharptail grouse.
### ### ### ###Ravens are voracious predators on eggs and young of many species.
### ### ### ###The news made me think of the federal Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service staff who work in the Mojave Desert where the desert tortoise is of such critical concern. These so-called land managers have known for some time that the exploding population of ravens in the desert are one of the biggest factors why tortoises have declined to levels so low they are now endangered.
### ### ### ###Yet, these two agencies are unwilling to call for control measures on ravens to help tortoises. It would be simple, good science, and it might be a very simple fix to what has become a complex land use problem.
### ### ### ###I have read estimates that raven numbers, because of human influences, have skyrocketed in the desert by as much as 1,000 percent. Ravens do well in and around humans. They nest in planted trees in suburban areas, and eat dog food and trash off our porches and parking lots. They love fast food restaurants. But they are very mobile birds and when young tortoises hatch, the ravens head to the desert to get in on the feast. Where there once might have been one or two ravens, there are now one or two hundred. Under raven roosts, baby tortoise shells stack up like poker chips.
### ### ### ###But the land managers want to get rid of cattle, cars, and people in the desert instead of looking at the real problem. The is almost no documentation that cattle or vehicles are a detriment to tortoises. Cattle were grazed in the desert for 100 years or more before the decline started to occur in tortoise numbers. Most drivers will wreck their car before running over a tortoise. I know, I’ve about done that myself on Highway 395. No, more tortoises have been stolen by people who wanted them for unusual pets (pet rocks make about as much sense -- but I forget, we have those, don’t we) that have been injured or killed by cars and cattle.
### ### ### ###So instead of ravens, we become the targets.
### ### ### ###Raven control has never been seriously considered by the BLM or park staff. Why? Because in their minds, it’s “unnatural” to control predation on an endangered species. We have to remove the man-made influences first. Well, wake up. The raven population is unnaturally high -- and that is a man-made influence. Why is it that states like Nevada and Arizona recognize that predator control can be an effective tool to accomplish a goal.
### ### ### ###Some dispute the raven is the main problem for tortoises. They’d rather blame “hunters” or “shooters” (when what they really mean is “vandals with guns,” but they like to get a dig on legitimate hunters and recreational shooers whenever they can) or “trampling and destruction of critical habitat by cattle,” even though there is far less evidence to make those cases than to make a case against ravens.
### ### ### ###It would be a simple test, do serious raven control for three years and just see how tortoise survival improved. If it didn’t work, ravens numbers would bounce back quickly. If it did work, tortoise numbers could improve markedly as we kept ravens numbers in check. That’s the scary part for BLM and park biologists. The tortoise numbers could improve rapidly. Then what would they do, and what excuse would they use to keep the public off public lands.
### ### ### ###The park service, and increasingly the BLM staff, don’t want to actually have tortoises recover. They wouldn’t be able to recommend for the closures of roads, ending of cattle grazing, stopping of target shooting, and a host of other things that would keep people out of the desert.
### ### ### ###Heaven forbid we’d actually do a good thing for tortoises and the human users of those public lands.