FISH AND GAMES
It had been talked about for months. At length. In Inyo County Supervisor board meetings.
The subject: A perceived diminishing of the local mule deer herds.
The suspected culprit: A burgeoning mountain lion population, protected by the state of California via Proposition 117, passed by California voters in 1990.
At these meetings, many pointed to a future opportunity to sound the alarm – the June 19 meeting of the California Fish and Game Commission which was scheduled to take place in Mammoth Lakes.
The future became the recent past this Wednesday, as scores of Eastsiders made the trek to MMSA’s Mountainside Conference Center to attend the meeting and make public comment on agenda item 21b: Department presentation on bighorn sheep, deer and mountain lion.
The presentation was made by Dr. Tom Stephenson, a Senior Environmental Scientist and Program Leader for the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program.
He talked about the overlap of the species, and presented data which showed that the size of the Round Valley mule deer herd has declined significantly since 2018.
He said deer mortality (based upon the collared females) indicated that 44% were killed by lion. The second-leading cause of death? The automobile, at 20%.
Mortalities ran significantly higher during the big snow years of ’17 and ’23.
The population graphs Stephenson presented still showed the Round Valley herd, for example, numbering more than 1,000.
As for the bighorns, their population increased steadily from 1999-2016 before the winter of ’16-’17. The 2022-2023 winter further knocked the population back to 2007 levels.
He said “lion predation is a serious issue” in certain areas, citing the Mt. Langley herd, which has been reduced to 13.
In regard to lions, Stephenson said 22 were killed (because of demonstrated threat to bighorn sheep, which are also protected) between 1999-2010.
But then there was a fallow period where just two lions were lethally removed from 2010-2019.
Since 2019, the Department has translocated 19 problem lions within the region.
Stephenson said he could have gone on for hours but was told to keep it brief because of the long agenda.
The long agenda also prompted Commission Chair Samantha Murray to trim public comments on the item from the standard two minutes to one minute (because there were 18).
This irritated the locals who had sat for more than five hours waiting to have their say.
Murray assuaged the crowd by saying this was not the last bite of the apple and that no commission action would be taken.
Commissioner Eric Sklar described it as a “conflicting, challenging issue” and urged the public to focus less on complaining about why the current circumstances sucked and focus more on direction as to how to proceed.
With that, Brian Tillemans approached the lectern. He had presented the initial petition to the Commission which led to the item being agendized.
He said “hands-off” management does not work. That the Goodale herd numbers presented by Dr. Stephenson were way off (3,000? More like 300).
He also questioned the Round Valley herd numbers, saying 1,200 is unrealistic. “The deer are simply not there. We haven’t suddenly lost our local ability to count.”
Kevin Petersen of Hot Creek Ranch said he typically/historically sees 20-30 deer per day. This year: Less than ten. He advocated for wildlife crossings along Highway 395.
Lynn Greer suggested Gov. Newsom and Fish and Game Director Chuck Bonham were documented lion lovers and therefore biased.
Dr. John Wehausen of the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation, who has studied bighorn populations since 1974, said the sheep recovery plan he worked on called for a separate plan for predation management which has been sitting in Sacramento on a shelf somewhere gathering dust. Act on the plan, he said, and place decision-making authority on the lion/deer/sheep question back in Bishop.
Duane Rossi said we’re right back to where we were in 1872 with lions running through Big Pine every night. He said you can’t even adopt an animal out of the Big Pine shelter anymore. “If you do, you better keep ‘em in the house.”
Inyo Supervisor Jen Roeser reminded the Commission that her Board had sent a letter. She urged a restoration of ecological balance.
Warren Allsup, a former local game warden, said he would like to see a hunting season for lions in the Eastern Sierra.
So what kind of reaction did all this comment generate?
Not much.
Commissioner Eric Sklar, who throughout the meeting Wednesday (and not just on this topic) displayed a thin skin, asked that Fish and Game be treated “like a partner versus an enemy.”
He said this after he watched at least twenty people file out of the room during his remarks.
*He must’ve felt like Dean Wormer in Animal House yelling in frustration as the Deltas walked out on their disciplinary hearing whistling the national anthem.
“I wish folks who spoke [during public comment] would stick around to listen to what we have to say.”
But what he said next displayed such broad ignorance that maybe he should be glad people left.
He said that in southern California, a lot of money had been privately raised to build highway animal crossings. You could do that here, he suggested.
Yeah, with literally one thousandth of the population.
Commissioner Darius Anderson had a bit more empathy for the many speakers who had attended the meeting in person.
“Sometimes,” he said, “I feel like I need to be caustic because I feel like no one is listening to me … but there’s a willingness to work with you … and [Fish and Game Director] Chuck Bonham is the best bureaucrat in the state.”
By best bureaucrat, Anderson explained that Bonham actually listens to people.
During his remarks, Bonham suggested that a regional approach to lion management may be considered.
But, he said, “To suggest there is no management [of lions currently] is just … false.”
It should be noted that the Fish and Game Commission decided to place this item 21st out of 22 total items. Seems like an insult to people who actually bothered to attend in person versus online.
During the morning session (the commission finally took the local item out of order just before 2 p.m. to begin the afternoon session), there was a pretty interesting discussion about the mule deer herd on Catalina Island.
A group called the Catalina Island Conservancy (CIC) wishes to eradicate the herd, which was introduced on the island about 100 years ago, calling it an “invasive species.”
Dr. Lauren Denhardt, Acting Director of the CIC, testified that there are 60 wildlife species found on the island that aren’t found anywhere else in the world.
