Let’s tell the truth about those big, bad wolves

e return of wolves to the West has always been contentious, and the deaths last fall of more than 40 cattle really in western Colorado alarmed ranchers. But here’s the true story: Wolves did not kill those cattle found dead near Meeker. After months of investigation, the state agency, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, found no evidence of wolves in the area at all.

Yet when the news of the cattle deaths went public last October, the agency issued a press release stating it was “investigating a report of dead domestic cow calves on White River National Forest lands near Meeker that show damage consistent with wolf depredation.”

A month later, the agency’s Northwest regional manager testi ed before the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission that though some of the cattle had injuries that appeared to come from wolves, he added: “It’s perplexing; it’s confusing; it’s frustrating, trying to gure out exactly what occurred in this incident.” e story of wolves as the culprits, however, made national headlines.

Wolves are coming back to the state naturally and because in 2020, the public passed Prop 114, mandating restoration of wolves by the end of this year. rough a Colorado Open Records Act request, the Humane Society of the United States obtained documents and photos about the livestock deaths, and shared them with Carter Niemeyer, an expert on wolf-livestock con ict. He is also a member of the state’s Technical Working Group on wolf restoration.

In his Feb. 14 report, Niemeyer found that “the evidence at Meeker is inconsistent with wolf attacks.” Niemeyer and veterinarians concluded that the cattle more likely died from “brisket disease,” which commonly a icts cattle living at high altitudes.

Misunderstandings like this one, which lasted weeks, aren’t helpful. Do wolves ever come into con ict with livestock? Yes, but it is relatively rare. In the Northern Rockies where wolves are established, they account for less than 1% of cattle losses. Disease, birthing problems, weather and theft take nine times as many cattle than all predators combined, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In Washington state, which is home to at least 33 wolf packs after nearly 15 years of wolf recovery, more than 80% of the packs have no con ict with

SEE WOLVES, P16

“God has cared for these trees …but he cannot save them from fools.”

— John Muir

The International Panel on Climate

PIVOTS e river basin, which lies east of Denver, sandwiched by Interstates 70 and 76, di ers from nearly all others in Colorado in that it gets no annual snowmelt from the state’s mountain peaks. Even so, by tapping the Ogallala and other aquifers, farmers have made it one of the state’s most agriculturally productive areas. ey grow potatoes and watermelons but especially corn and other plants fed to cattle and hogs. is is Colorado without mountains, an ocean of big skies and rolling sandhills.

Change has issued its latest report, warning of a dangerous temperature threshold that we’ll breach during the next decade if we fail to dramatically reduce emissions. A Colorado legislative committee on the same day addressed water withdrawals in the Republican River Basin that must be curbed by decade’s end. In both, problems largely created in the 20th century must now be addressed quickly to avoid the scowls of future generations.

Republican River farmers face two overlapping problems. One is of declining wells. Given current pumping rates, they will go dry. e only question is when. Some already have.

More immediate is how these wells have depleted ows of the Republican River and its tributaries into Nebraska and Kansas. ose states cried foul, citing a 1943 interstate compact. Colorado in 2016 agreed to pare 25,000 of its 450,000 to 500,000 irrigated acres within the basin.

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Colorado has a December 2029 deadline. e Republican River Water Conservation District has been paying farmers to retire land from irrigation. Huge commodity prices discourage this, but district o cials said they are con dent they can achieve 10,000 acres before the end of 2024.

Last year, legislators sweetened the pot with an allocation of $30 million, and a like amount for retirement of irrigated land in the San Luis Valley, which has a similar problem. Since 2004, when it was created, the Republican River district self-encumbered $156 million in fee collections and debt for the transition.

It’s unclear that the district can achieve the 2030 goal. e bill unanimously approved by the Colorado House Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee will, if it becomes law, task the Colorado Water Center at Colorado State University with documenting the economic loss to the region – and to Colorado altogether – if irrigated Republican River Basin agriculture ceases altogether. e farmers may need more help as the deadline approaches. is all-or-nothing proposition is not academic. Kevin Rein, the state water engineer, testi ed that he must shut down all basin wells if compact requirements are not met. e focus is on the Republican’s South Fork, between Wray and Burlington.

Legislators were told that relying solely upon water that falls from the sky diminishes production 75 to 80 percent.

In seeking this study, the river district wants legislators to be aware of what is at stake.

Rod Lenz, who chairs the river district board, put it in human terms. His extended-family’s 5,000-acre farm amid the sandhills can support

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Writers On The Range

In just two years, wild re has killed an estimated 13 to 19% of all mature giant sequoia trees. ese most massive of trees grow only on certain western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, the mountain range that divides California’s Central Valley farmland from the Great Basin Desert.

e loss of so many “big trees,” as conservationist John Muir called them, is unprecedented.

Many of the best-known stands of giant sequoias grow more than 6,000 feet above sea level in three national parks — Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite. A visit to these immense trees typically begins with a drive up from Fresno. From the valley oor, Highway 180 curves into foothills, then winds onto steep, tree-covered mountainsides where cooler temperatures and higher humidity take the edge o the California sun. e road passes through Kings Canyon National Park, where visitors get their rst impression of the big trees. As Muir acknowledged, words aren’t sufcient to convey the awe of that rst encounter with giant sequoias: “No description can give anything like an adequate idea of their singular majesty, much less of their beauty.”

Joe Stone

He added, “Nothing hurts the big tree.” Except in our time: severe wild re and the chainsaw.

Muir’s words helped inspire the national parks that have protected many sequoia groves from logging, but our concern about wild res led to governmentmandated re suppression for more than 100 years. rough a federal agency’s zeal, the big trees are in trouble. In the Sierra Madre’s re regime, developed

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Arvada press

A legal newspaper of general circulation in Je erson County, Colorado, the Arvada Press is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media, 27972 Meadow Dr. Suite 320, Evergreen CO, 80439.

POSTMASTER: Send address change to: Arvada Press, 750 W. Hampden Ave., Suite 225, Englewood, CO 80110 over centuries, sequoia groves burned every 6 to 35 years. Wild re thinned the smaller trees and converted ne fuels into soil nutrients.

Without re, sequoia cones don’t open and spread their seeds. e same re also creates openings in the forest canopy, giving seedlings the sunlight they need to survive.

Research shows that giant sequoia populations were “stable or increasing” from 500 B.C. through the 1800s. en came the 1900s, when “there was a massive failure of giant sequoia reproduction.” Without re, sequoia seeds stopped sprouting, while the buildup of highly combustible ne fuels on the forest oor, and the greater density of smaller trees, increased the risk of catastrophic wild re. e challenge is avoiding catastrophic wild re, a challenge made difcult by today’s dense groves. According to Alexis Bernal, a researcher with the University of California at Berkeley, Sierra Nevada forests typically held about 20 sequoias per acre before 1860. Since then, re suppression has allowed the growth of as many as 120 to 160 trees per acre.

As scientists began to understand the problem, the National Park Service implemented a prescribed burning program in giant sequoia groves.

Evidence from recent wild res indicates the program has been successful. Areas treated with prescribed re burned less intensely, mature sequoias did not die and sequoia seedlings have since sprouted.

Clearly, sequoias need re to survive.

Bernal advocates extensive logging before re can resume its natural

EICHIN Nadene Virginia (Vance) Eichin

March 30, 1925 - January 6, 2023

Nadene Virginia Eichin, a beloved mother of three, peacefully passed on to heaven Friday evening, January 6, 2023, in Elk Grove, California. She was 97. Nadene is survived by her daughter, Karen Zounek of Sacramento, California, and her two sons: Gary Eichin of Duncan, Oklahoma and Merv Eichin of San Angelo, Texas. Nadene is also survived by 14 grandchildren and 13 greatgrandchildren. Nadene was born Nadene Virginia Vance in Akron, Colorado, March 30, 1925, to Alvin and Golde Vance.

DICKMAN role. Emergency logging by government agencies has already begun in forests with sequoia groves, including clearcuts along roadways in Yosemite National Park.

Not everyone agrees that logging is the answer. Forest ecologist Chad Hanson,with the John Muir Project, calls Bernal’s approach an excuse to continue commercial logging of public lands. He believes sequoia deaths have been far lowerthan o cial estimates and that new trees can sprout even after severe res.

Unfortunately, Congress has gotten involved. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, introduced the Save Our Sequoias Act in 2022 in the House.

Dianne Feinstein, D-California, later introduced the act in the Senate. e bill would expedite mechanical “fuel treatments” by bypassing environmental laws.

We’re just lucky that record snow-