GOPHER ADC

Between working long hours in forestry, low fur prices and not owning my own registered trapline on public land, I thought working as a nuisance wildlife control operator would be a good opportunity to extend my season, and maybe even result in more land access permissions. I figured I would be tasked with a few skunks and a raccoon or two, maybe a beaver job for the highway department if I was really lucky. I filled out the application and paid the fee. Time would only tell if I would be approved or not.

After a few months had passed, I received an email from the province stating that my application had been approved. I was ready to offer my services. The terms and stipulations were strict on my permit, but I wasted no time in getting some advertisements out. I advertised my services on a couple local community and farming pages on social media and waited for the calls to roll in. There were a few requests for ground squirrel trapping and a call for a skunk I never could catch (pretty sure it had moved on weeks before). Just as fur trapping season was starting to ramp up, I received a call from an environmental management consultant company.

The management company was retained by the Province of British Columbia to oversee and monitor a mine remediation site. The old-timers were not too careful about containing mine waste or reclaiming mines after the ore ran dry, so there are many mine remediation projects in my area. Turned out the problem was not a furbearing species, but it did pertain to furbearer conservation. Northern pocket gophers were tunneling and creating mounds in the topsoil that capped a remediated mine site. The concerns were groundwater contamination, invasive plants taking root in disturbed soils and furbearers and avian predators feeding on potentially contaminated gophers. Pocket gophers were not on my bucket list of species to trap, but I did catch a few growing up so I was ready to give it a shot.

I met a representative from the consultant company at the site to do a walk around and come up with a plan. The site sees a fair amount of recreational use, so signage would be required and traps could be tampered with. Pocket gophers are not deemed cute and most people are unaware of their existence so I felt pretty confident the traps would be fine. The environmental consultant agreed to cover the cost of a dozen gopher traps so things would be fine if a few went missing. The only hiccup was the fact that the snow line was creeping its way down the mountains.

The day came to meet the biologist at the site, but we may have missed our window. Four inches of snow had fallen and it was possible the gophers had sealed off their tunnels for winter. We were able to find one active looking mound amidst the snow covered and frozen mounds. I poked around with a screwdriver until I found the tunnel hidden below the mound. The entrance was scooped out and a gopher trap set and placed in the tunnel. Cedar boughs were placed over the trap to camouflage the trap from recreational users yet let light through to encourage the gopher inside to investigate. When the gopher travels over the trap, the jaws spring closed and dispatch a gopher, vole or mole. With a few traps set, it was time to go set for a lawn flooding beaver on my fur trapping line.

The next morning I headed to the old mine site. All of the traps were empty except for one. Against my best guesses, a gopher was caught. I’d figured it was far too late in the season for any to still be active. Knowing that the project could be successful, plans were made to set again the following weekend, weather permitting. But the following weekend the temperatures dropped and the mounds were too frozen to set. We had lost our window, and further trapping would have to wait for the following year.

Thoughts on Gopher Trapping

Pocket gopher trapping may not be as alluring as setting marten boxes the opening day of the season, but it has a value of its own. Killer traps are set in a manner to attract the desired catch, while using tactics to minimize incidental catches of other species. There are live traps designed for pocket gophers and moles, but they are in limited supply and cost prohibitive. Victor gopher traps are readily available, have a high success rate and are cost effective. Gopher mounds are probed to locate tunnels, then the tunnel opened up and the trap set in the opening. The gopher will travel the tunnel to investigate the source of light and be dispatched by the blind set trap. I like to camouflage the traps with an evergreen boughs or native grasses to allow light through but hide the traps from view.

Killing Gophers for Conservation

Killing one species to save another can sound like a contradiction to many folks. In the situation I described above, the pocket gophers are not directly impacting any species but the risk of indirect impacts is very high. The pocket gophers could be digging deep enough to be feeding on plant matter contaminated by substances released by the mining process or used in the refinement of ore. The mine tailings are capped with new soil, yet plant roots could make their way below. If the pocket gophers are in fact ingesting contaminated roots and leaves, they could pass the contaminants to predators up the food chain. The gophers I catch are removed from the traps to be sent for testing or buried on site to keep any potential contaminants on site.

Pocket gophers are fed on by many predators, many of those that are threatened or species of concern. When animals consume heavy metals and other contaminants, the contaminant levels can be concentrated up the food chain, creating a greater concern far beyond the initial site. We don’t know yet for sure, further testing will have to be done. Testing requires a key ingredient and that is expired pocket gophers.

Invasive plants are another concern with gopher mounds at old remediation sites. Eurasian Knapweed, thistles and other noxious weeds thrive and outcompete native plants in the disturbed soils. Gopher-disturbed soils can also alter water flows, and allow surface water to penetrate through these soils and pass through the contaminated materials on its way to the aquifers deep underground. Deemed an insignificant creature by most, the gopher can have a large potential impact.

Fur trappers like to think of themselves as conservationists, which they are. If all the furbearers are trapped and their habitat destroyed in the name of lumber and development, trappers are out of business. Most of the trappers I know are environmentalists with steel traps and skinning knives. They are often the first to speak out against large scale clear-cut logging, mining projects and development of wild places. In the times of low fur prices and increased pressures from anti-groups, it may be time for the trapper to be reinvented. Trapping for fur values may have to be traded for trapping for environmental benefits and wildlife conservation.

Austin Anderson with a beaver. Pocket gophers don’t make for great photo ops!

Biologists and other environmental managers utilizing trappers for conservation and management tasks keeps us relevant in a changing world. In my case, trapping pocket gophers is just one small part of a larger restoration plan. Human activity and careless resource extraction has made the gopher into an unfortunate scapegoat, an unlucky winner in a gamble of long term environmental management. They are just doing what nature designed them to do, but until science can prove their innocence, their population will have to be controlled by trapping.

Research will dictate a long-term management plan. Testing may show that the gophers are free of contaminants and natural population control may be possible. If deemed safe to eat for predator species, trapping may no longer be required. One potential option for natural gopher control is to improve habitat for weasels. Coarse woody debris could be piled near the mounds to provide weasel habitat, attracting them nearer to the gopher mounds. Weasels are far better gopher killers than I am and work cheaper too!

Killing for conservation is a delicate and contradicting topic, yet in many circumstances is the most viable option. Many furbearers require population control for the benefit of other species. Nest predators, livestock killers and even wolf populations can require human intervention to conserve and propagate other species. For the modern trapper it’s not just about fur anymore. We can help conserve and restore the natural world. In the words of conservationist Doug Duren, “It’s not ours, it’s just our turn.” 