Perspectives on Conservation
October, 2006
Bob Meulengracht, Regional Director
To bring this discussion into perspective, I feel it necessary to define a couple of items. First, we all know (or should know) that the mission of the Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) is to “ensure the conservation of mule deer, black-tailed deer and their habitat.” I was taught in college that conservation is defined as simply as “stewardship.” We could say the mission of MDF is to “ensure the ‘stewardship’ of mule deer, black-tailed deer and their habitat.” Second, MDF is a non-profit conservation organization with a tax designation of 501(c)(3) by the IRS. This designation limits what MDF can do as far as the political process and as a lobby.
Almost weekly we, the MDF staff, are approached by members, other conservation organizations, and the general public to “help carry the flag” of a cause they are interested in. Many of these calls are about a localized situation that will affect only local deer. One situation that is not only local in scale but is having significant impacts throughout the west is the energy development occurring throughout the west, and MDF is currently looking at the best way for us to address this issue on a large landscape scale.
Some of the localized issues are a road closure in an area where a particular hunter deer hunts. Personally, I have spoken with a gentleman about the installation of a wind generator on the mountain where he hunts. All of these are concerns, but in the grand scheme of mule deer conservation, they are small issues affecting only a localized herd or group of deer. Rich Fletcher (former MDF Board member and current California State Co-Chair) put this into perspective. Rich stated in a recent e-mail “In order to be effective, MDF must carefully evaluate these types of situations to remain focused and effective in the best interests of western deer.”
One such localized issue is the Santa Rosa Island deer herd. For those of you unfamiliar with this issue, a herd of deer resides on Santa Rosa Island, CA. The Vail & Vickers, Ltd. privately owns the mule deer on the island. The deer were introduced in the 1920’s and are descendents of the famous Kaibab deer herd. In 1980, Congress declared the Channel Islands, of which Santa Rosa Island is one, a National Park. In 1986 the National Park Service (NPS) took control of Santa Rosa Island. Prior to the island being part of the National Park System, Vail & Vickers, Ltd. ran a successful cattle operation as well as private deer and elk hunting on the island. Since the deer and elk are non-native to the island, the NPS wants them removed from the Island. The deer were scheduled to be eliminated from the island by 2011. The hunting operation on the island is managed by Multiple Use Managers. It should be noted that elk reside on the island too and were also scheduled to be eliminated.
After receiving several inquiries about this situation, Eddie Reynoso (MDF Regional Director in CA) was directed to make a few contacts and make an assessment of the situation. The following is a synopsis of those telephone conversations.
In speaking with the National Park Service (NPS), MDF was informed that the deer and the elk are destroying a plant species found only on the Channel Islands. This and the fact that the animals are non-native is the main driving force behind the removal plan.
Multiple Use Managers informed MDF that Vail & Vickers, Ltd. tried to fight the removal, but were denied by the court. Vail & Vickers, Ltd. presented information stating that no studies had been done to confirm what the NPS was claiming about the destruction of the plants by the ungulates.
California Game and Fish Dept. (CADG&F) was contacted regarding the situation on Santa Rosa Island. Mr. Craig Stowers, a biologist for the Department, confirmed the deer and elk were privately owned by the Vail & Vickers Company and that Multiple Use Managers ran the hunting operations. He stated that CADG&F was not responsible for the management of the deer on the island due to their being on private property. He also informed MDF that CADG&F had not been approached about relocating the animals and that as far as he knew two groups, one from Arizona and one from Texas, had discussed trying to relocate the deer but may have encountered problems with those states over concerns of disease or other issues.
As of early October 2006 the United States Senate and House of Representatives had agreed to language in the 2007 Defense Authorization Act that saves the deer and elk from a court ordered eradication. As you can guess this has caused a rash of threats of lawsuits and unhappy U.S. Senators and Representatives promising to propose legislation to have the deer and elk removed.
This situation presents MDF with no easy answers. First, this is a privately owned deer herd and the owners have not approached the Foundation to get involved in the situation. Secondly, if MDF were to get involved in situations like this, it would likely require resources beyond what the Foundation currently has at our disposal. Lastly, and the most important question is, should MDF get involved in situations such as the Santa Rosa Island deer and elk eradication/litigation forsaking most or all other mule deer issues throughout the west? I say this because this situation would require a very significant amount of funding and time that are currently being allocated to projects/conservation throughout the west. Finally, I bring you back to the mission of MDF to “ensure the conservation (read “stewardship”) of mule deer, black-tailed deer and their habitat.” And again I would like to quote a recent e-mail from Rich Fletcher, “I personally encourage our members to speak out on game management decisions, but, based upon my knowledge, the conflict between the owners of the Santa Rosa Island’s deer and the National Park Service falls outside this organization’s arena.”
In closing, I would like to let you know that it is your right and obligation to get involved, as an individual, with the management of our deer herds. If you have a personal opinion on the Santa Rosa Island deer herd I encourage you to do your research and then contact your local Representative or Senator. We need to remember that because of MDF’s mission and tax status there are certain issues, like the current situation with Santa Rosa Island, that the Foundation will not be able to get involved with. Should you have concerns, whether local or regional in scope, with regards to mule deer or black-tailed deer issues please contact your Regional Director. If you want or need more information on the Santa Rosa situation please contact me at 303-384-0103 or Eddie Reynoso at 559-679-8463. We will keep our finger on the pulse of this situation and possibly at a later date this will be a situation that MDF will need to get involved with.