March 17, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Wildlife Services says it’s working to avoid future wolf harm
Poison capsule
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
The state director for
USDA Wildlife Services in
Oregon said the agency has
removed M-44 cyanide poi-
son traps from “areas of im-
mediate concern” following
the unintended poisoning of
a wolf in Wallowa County in
February.
Director Dave Williams
said Wildlife Services has
reviewed what happened and
shared that information with
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife, which manages
wolves in the state. The two
agencies are in ongoing dis-
cussions about how to prevent
another wolf death, Williams
said.
“We don’t feel good about
that,” he said.
Williams said Wildlife
Services has removed M-44s
from areas identified by
ODFW as places wolves are
present. ODFW officials con-
firmed that took place.
“We appreciate that Wild-
life Services has voluntarily
removed M-44s,” ODFW
Wildlife Division Adminis-
trator Doug Cottam said in a
prepared statement.
M-44
Cyanide
Traps
M-44-style traps,
also known as
Canid pest ejectors,
or CPEs, were first
developed in the U.S.
in the 1930s as a way
to autonomously
control pest species.
Lure head
Bait/lure
material
Trigger
lock ring
Surface
grade
Trigger
Piston
Ejector
body
Spring
When the animal pulls on the
baited lure head, the trigger
releases the piston. Under
pressure of a mechanical
spring, the piston strikes the
poison capsule, ejecting a
lethal dose of sodium cyanide
into the animal’s mouth.
Ground
spike
Sources: www.predatordefense.org;
www.smithandgeorg.com.au; www.aphis.usda.gov
“We also recognize we
want to increase our commu-
nication between our agen-
cies,” he said. “We want to
develop a more effective
system to ensure that Wild-
life Services’ staff working in
areas with wolves know what
Alan Kenaga/
Capital Press
ODFW knows about wolf ac-
tivity.”
OR-48, a 100-pound male
from the Shamrock Pack,
died Feb. 26 after it bit an
M-44 device, which fires cya-
nide powder into a predator’s
mouth when it tugs on a bait-
ed or scented capsule holder.
Wildlife Services set the trap
on private land in an attempt
to kill coyotes.
The federal agency kills
predators or other wildlife
that damage or pose a threat
to property, livestock or hu-
mans. The agency describes
M-44s as an “effective and
environmentally sound wild-
life damage management
tool,” but the wildlife activist
group Predator Defense calls
them notoriously dangerous.
The devices are designed
to kill canids such as coy-
otes and foxes. The cyanide
powder reacts with saliva in
an animal’s mouth, forming
a poisonous gas that kills the
animal within one to five min-
utes. Brooks Fahy, executive
director of Predator Defense,
said M-44s indiscriminately
kill dogs attracted by the scent
and are a hazard to children or
others who might come across
them in rural areas.
The Wallowa County in-
cident is complicated by
Oregon’s management and
protection of gray wolves
over the past decade as they
entered the state from Idaho,
formed packs, quickly grew
in population and spread geo-
graphically.
Previously, Wildlife Ser-
vices did not use M-44s in
what the state designated as
Areas of Known Wolf Activ-
ity. After wolves were tak-
en off the state endangered
species list in 2015, it was
ODFW’s understanding that
Wildlife Services would con-
tinue to avoid using M-44s in
such areas.
“We discussed our con-
cerns specifically regarding
M-44s,” ODFW spokesman
Rick Hargrave said last week.
“We didn’t want those devices
in those areas.
“We believed it was clear
what our concerns were,”
Hargrave said.
Williams, the Wildlife Ser-
vices state director, said he
wants to focus on preventing
another wolf death rather than
“who messed up here.”
He said the Wallowa
County case was the first time
the agency has killed a wolf
in Oregon. Overall, the agen-
cy has recorded “lethal take”
of “non-targeted” animals —
ones it didn’t intend to kill
— in 1.3 percent of cases, he
said. He said the agency twice
unintentionally caught Ore-
gon wolves in foothold traps,
which nonetheless allowed
ODFW to put tracking collars
on them before releasing them
unharmed.
“Some of our tools are
more forgiving than others,”
Williams said.
He said Wildlife Services
puts on workshops to help
ranchers protect livestock
with non-lethal methods. In
one case two summers ago,
agency personnel spent 260
hours over four weeks help-
ing protect a sheep flock
from Umatilla Pack wolves,
he said. The work allowed
ODFW to avoid having to kill
wolves due to depredations,
he said.
Meanwhile, the Oregon
Cattlemen’s
Association
views the Wallowa County
incident as a matter of agency
to agency interaction and is
“staying on the sidelines” in
the investigation, said Todd
Nash, a Wallowa County
rancher who is the group’s
wolf policy chairman. Live-
stock producers, of course,
have a keen interest in the
state’s wolf management poli-
cies and outcomes.
“It’s never a good time po-
litically to have a dead wolf,”
Nash said.
Glyphosate-resistant tumbleweed poses problem for farmers
and direct seeding practices,
in which seeds and fertilizer
are planted into the stubble of
the previous crop with mini-
mal disturbance of the soil.
Executive Director Kay
Meyer said a couple strategies
have emerged to cope with
glyphosate resistant Russian
thistle. There’s no “silver
bullet,” she said, but some
farmers may be able to break
the weed cycle by rotating in
other cash crops rather than
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
as WeedIt and WeedSeek-
er can optically identify and
spray only growing weeds,
not bare ground. Such systems
can reduce chemical use by 80
percent, Meyer said, and the
savings might allow growers
to use more expensive chemi-
cals other than glyphosate.
The technology is expen-
sive, but in some cases farm-
ers might jointly purchase
and share the system, she
said.
Courtesy of Lynn Ketchum/Oregon State University
Judit Barroso, weed specialist at OSU’s Columbia Basin Agricultur-
al Research Center at Pendleton, removes Russian thistles (tum-
bleweeds) from a research plot. Barroso is researching ways to
control the weed in wheat fields. Some Russian thistle populations
in the northeastern part of the state have developed resistance to
glyphosate, a commonly used herbicide.
delay the onset of glyphosate
resistance by rotating the use
of different herbicides or us-
ing other weed control meth-
ods.
Blake Rowe, CEO of the
Oregon Wheat Commission,
said dryland growers in Ore-
gon and Washington are close-
ly following Barroso’s work
and are trying to figure out
the next step in research. Pos-
sibilities may include revised
chemical strategies or timing,
or planting cover crops that
would compete with Russian
thistle and perhaps weaken it.
A return to cultivation is pos-
sible, he said.
“We’re looking at this one
pretty hard,” Rowe said.
The Pacific Northwest Di-
rect Seed Association, based
in Colton, Wash., has been
monitoring the findings as
well. The organization is a
nonprofit that helps growers
transition to no-till farming
15-5/16 x 10 x 2
18-3/4 x 14-3/8 x 3
ROP-11-3-1/#7
An advocate of direct seed-
ing and no-till farming hopes
Northeastern Oregon wheat
growers don’t give up the
practice in wake of news that
patches of Russian thistle, or
tumbleweed, have developed
resistance to glyphosate, the
herbicide commonly used to
control weeds in wheat fields.
Judit Barroso, a weed sci-
entist at Oregon State Uni-
versity, recently published
her research that confirmed
what some growers have been
worried about since they first
reported trouble controlling
Russian thistle with glypho-
sate in 2015. Barroso collect-
ed thistle samples from 10 lo-
cations in Morrow, Sherman
and Umatilla counties; three
from Morrow County turned
out to be glyphosate resistant.
Barroso said those popu-
lations probably were treated
much more frequently than
others sampled, and had de-
veloped tolerance to the her-
bicide. Glyphosate is the ac-
tive ingredient in Monsanto’s
widely used Roundup weed
killer. Farmers who grow on
a summer fallow rotation typ-
ically spray their fields after
harvest and while the field
lies fallow. The practice kills
weeds without tillage, which
can cause erosion.
Russian thistle competes
with wheat plants for water
and nutrients, and can reduce
yield. When it dries, breaks
off the stem and tumbles with
the wind, it can spread seeds
across wide areas, meaning
glyphosate-resistance could
spread as well.
Barroso advises growers to
follow the grain-fallow-grain
pattern year after year. Austri-
an peas may be an option for
some, she said.
Cover crops may break
disease cycles and build up
soil, but some producers are
worried they would take too
much moisture from land that
otherwise would lie fallow,
she said.
Technology may hold an
answer as well, Meyer said.
New spot spray systems such
CALL FOR PRICING AND AVAILABILITY.
Delivery Available
503-588-8313
2561 Pringle Rd. SE
Salem, OR
WE SPECIALIZE IN BULK BAGS!
BAGS:
• Seed Bags
• Fertilizer Bags
• Feed Bags
• Potato Bags
• Printed Bags
• Plain Bags
• Bulk Bags
• Totes
• Woven Polypropylene
• Bopp
• Polyethylene
• Pocket Bags
• Roll Stock & More!
HAY PRESS SUPPORT:
• Hay Sleeves
• Strap
• Totes
• Printed or Plain
• Stretch Film
(ALL GAUGES)
WAREHOUSE
PACKAGING:
• Stretch Film
• Pallet Sheets
• Pallet Covers
LOCATIONS:
Albany, Oregon (MAIN OFFICE)
Ellensburg, Washington
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Phone: 855-928-3856
Fax: 541-497-6262
info@westernpackaging.com
.......................................................
CUSTOMER SERVICE
IS OUR TOP PRIORITY!
w w w. w e s t e r n p a c k a g i n g. c o m
11-2/#5
11-2/#7