Turkeys run afoul of Yosemite plan

[ERIC]

Turkeys run afoul of Yosemite plan

By RONE TEMPEST
Los Angeles Times Thursday, December 01, 2005

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- Ranger Chris Cagle, a lanky six-year veteran of the National Park police force, was just following orders when, armed with his Remington model 870 pump shotgun, he ventured into the woods last spring after an illegal tom who had settled into the area with a few of his favorite hens.

The resulting demise of the 25-pound male turkey highlighted an unusual policy that has turned the park's protectors into bird hunters. For the past two years rangers here in California's most famous National Park have a shoot-to-kill order every time they spot the savage version of the Thanksgiving main course.

"We are experiencing disturbing movement of this exotic species into Yosemite," park chief wildlife biologist Steve Thompson warned in an internal park memo that led to the current turkey eradication program. "Although we have periodically been aware of turkeys along the southwestern boundary of the park, the current invasion is unprecedented in numbers and range."

Aggressive omnivores, turkeys will eat almost anything ranging from salamanders to acorns, the favorite food of California quail. In the process, they could overrun the quail's habitat and that of other native species.

Benjamin Franklin once proposed the wild turkey as the national symbol, instead of the bald eagle. But here, the wild turkey is on the same hit list as other invasive, non-native plant and animal species that include star thistle, white tailed ptarmigan and bull frogs. Last year, for example, Thompson removed 1,600 bullfrogs from the park.

Thompson and other biologists view non-native species in much the same way many people think of rats and cockroaches. The problem in the Yosemite area is that their view is not always shared by custodians of the adjacent Stanislaus and Sierra National Forests, where the turkeys have been transplanted over the years by the California Department of Fish and Game as a highly prized game bird.

The National Park Service thought they had checked the birds' advance when, several years ago, they successfully campaigned against a Fish and Game proposal to expand the state turkey hunting range by introducing a higher-elevation bird, Merriam's wild turkey, on the Sierra western slopes. That program, Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano said Wednesday, has since been put on "indefinite hold."

Until recently however, Yosemite officials took comfort in the belief that the Rio Grande variety of wild turkeys prevalent in California kept mostly to the lower elevations below Yosemite.

They were proven wrong when the Rio Grande turkeys began moving to higher ground.

The first sightings, noted in the Yosemite Park research library, were in the community of Yosemite West in the southwest corner of the park in 1986.

"Bird height 2 feet-2 1/2 inches, white banding on tail," wrote Fresno resident Milton Irvine in his report from April 2, 1986. "Observed crossing road and proceeding up slope."

Yosemite, most of which lies between 4,000-7,000 feet, was considered outside the range of the Rio Grande turkey ("meleagris gallapavo") that is native to the Great Plains states and northern Mexico. Earlier in Yosemite's history, in fact, an ill-advised attempt to implant the birds inside its boundaries had failed to take hold.

The Rio Grande birds, first imported to the state from Mexico by ranchers in the late 19th century, were the first wild turkeys in California, although the fossil remains of a turkey like bird were found in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.

The Rio Grande wild turkeys spread across the state so rapidly that they are considered a serious nuisance in many areas. Winemakers in the Sonoma and Napa valleys accuse them of feasting on grapes during peak harvest season. Citizens in rural retirement communities next to state parks and forests complain of birds defecating on their parked cars. Bicyclists along Sacramento's American River trail report attacks from aggressive birds.

Under pressure from citizens fed up with the turkey explosion, the California Department of Fish and Game earlier this month began issuing depredation permits to property owners to kill wild turkeys on their own land. That puts wild turkeys in the same category with coyotes.

While still relatively rare in Yosemite itself, the turkeys are populous in neighboring Stanislaus and Sierra National forests and in the lower lying communities of Oakhurst and Mariposa.

Biologist Thompson said he became alarmed when the birds appeared to be adapting to the conditions inside the park, possibly due to climate changes.

In a policy that has ruffled the feathers of turkey hunters and some full-time park residents, Thomas detailed in an August 2004 memo a program to eliminate the birds either by shooting them or by using a walk-in cage funnel trap.

Birds caught in the funnel traps are to be killed by "cervical separation or thoracic compression." Hunted birds are to be shot using standard police-issue shot guns and special steel pellets, instead of lead, to protect the environment.

"The number of shooters on the hunt," Thompson advised, should be equal to the number of birds. "This will minimize the chance of escape of individuals that would, from then on, be wary and difficult to capture and kill."

After death the birds are taken to the park laboratories to determine sex, age and eating habits.

So far in the relatively new program, only five birds have been killed, one by Thompson using a trap and four by park ranger Cagle, including a kill earlier this year that caused a small flap among local residents.

John Muth, 36, was relaxing that evening with his roommates in Wawona, an inhabited area just inside the park, they heard the resounding boom of Cagle's Remington. Alarmed by the sound of gunfire in the National Park, Muth, who works in the pro-shop of the nearby Wawona Hotel golf course, rushed outside with his digital camera, capturing Cagle standing over the dead bird.

"We liked those turkeys," said Muth, who said he was unaware at the time of the ranger license to kill the birds. Muth wrote the park superintendent and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., complaining about the use of firearms in residential areas and attaching the photograph.

Cagle said he actually shot the bird in the woods but that the wounded animal managed to fly close to Muth's home.

"We've had a little bit of a conflict up here over the issue," said Paul DeSantis, owner of the Pine Tree Market in Wawona. "The complaint was filed against Chris and then some of the residents passed around a petition supporting him."

Cagle, 33, said he has not heard back from park officials about the complaint. He said he has not shot at a bird since the complaint was filed. In the meantime, he keeps a copy of Muth's photograph above his desk at the Wawona ranger station.