Phase Two Of Wild Pig Eradication In San Diego County

Coming soon to a location near you - at least if all goes according to plan.

Op Ed May 20, 2013

The planned wild pig eradication in the Cleveland National Forest and in San Diego and adjacent counties will soon be entering phase two if all goes as planned and scheduled.

According to an undated strategy document prepared by an unnamed author the planned wild pig eradication should enter its second phase in July of 2013.

While 2009 to early 2012 were mainly dedicated to organizational work, forming working groups and alliances and to a public relations campaign with the goal of convincing the general public of the necessity to eliminate a menacing foreign invader that recklessly tramples native toads into the dirt, 2013 is scheduled to be the year of the wholesale eradication of a non-native and invasive invader.

A fairly anonymous strategy document allows us to understand quite well the responsibilities, the motives and the quest for the common good pursued by foresters, nature conservators and quick-witted, profit oriented professionals. It was apparently prepared for decision makers involved in planning the wild pig eradication campaign. The California Hunting Post received it as part of our FOIA request. Let us take a quick look at the official three year schedule of work and budget laid out as a three year systematic approach.

Quoting the strategy paper:

Year One – March, 2012 to June 30, 2013

One of the keys to project success (eradication of all pigs in the County) is to prevent the current population from expanding into other pig-occupied territories in other counties or countries, i.e. Riverside County or the Republic of Mexico. Towards that goal, the following are scheduled for Year One:

Continue the work of the Western Tracking Institute to survey the extreme north and south ends of San Diego County for current pig distribution. Their current contract expires in the fall of 2012. Action: renew that contract for another year at a cost of $15,000.

Continue the work of the Vista Irrigation District in the north County and the volunteer trappers in the south County to trap and remove pigs from those locations and other new, problematic locations. No cost.

Begin trapping and collaring pigs in the Palomar Mountain and Chocolate Canyon geographies. Little to no cost, if done in cooperation with UC Davis.

Enter into a contract with APHIS (federal governmental agency that assists with wildlife management problems) or a private contractor to trap and remove pigs from public lands and private lands with landowner permission in the north and south ends of the County with the goal of removing all pigs that have the potential to migrate to Riverside County or Mexico. Cost: $200,000.

Continue the work of the facilitator and the interim project coordinator. Cost: $100,000.

Total cost need: $315,000

Year Two – July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014

The goal this year is the full implementation of the systematic campaign. A contract is let with a private contractor to eradicate the feral pig population. Professional hunters and dogs are used in conjunction with helicopters to trap and shoot all pigs, with the exception of a few collared, sentinel pigs.

Total cost need: $1.5 to 2.0 million.

Year Three – July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015

The goal this year is to monitor the success of the systematic campaign. Monitor the collared pigs, and determine whether to eliminate those collared pigs.

Total cost need: $15,000

These projected costs do obviously not include the funds spent in forming working groups, preparing tons of paperwork to deal with legal issues, organizing meetings, attending meetings and writing position papers to name a few. They are also only estimates. The final costs may be lower or, more likely, much higher. But at least the interested public can see how and where their hard-earned tax dollars are equally hard at work improving and protecting the environment.

Please note the new-found concern for keeping American wild pigs from invading the Republic of Mexico. A case of reverse immigration?

An estimated 2.5 million dollar price tag to get rid of 600 to 900 wild pigs is a hefty sum to burden for the taxpayer. This is particularly true in a time of forced budget cuts to comply with sequestration and an increased tax burden for many of us. I am tempted to question not only the wisdom of this eradication campaign but also the need to cut much deeper into the budget of the Forest Service. Apparently this branch of your government does have plenty of discretionary funds to use for pet projects of environmental pressure groups and to keep hunting professionals well fed.

This strategy paper, whether fully implemented or not, also highlights another aspect of paramount importance of the wild pig eradication project in San Diego county. It can be summed up in the well known adage 'Follow the Money'.

The money trail is wide and strong. Let us check next time where it might lead.

PJJ

Are California Deer Going Bald?

Non-native lice blamed for hair-loss syndrome and low fawn survival rate.

May 17, 2013 CDFW News

More deer in California than ever before suffer from what researchers of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are calling “deer hair loss syndrome”.

Affected animals show a threadbare or a nearly bald coat. Researchers speculate that the syndrome may be somehow associated with less than perfect nutrition. The syndrome also brings with it an increased fawn mortality. Consequently not enough fawn survive to replace the natural mortality rate among adult deer.

Researchers have captured over 600 deer and elk in oder to study the hair loss syndrome. The captured animals suffered from a heavy infestation with non-native lice. Many of the deer tested also had a massive infestation of internal parasites.

CDFW researchers speculate that the syndrome may be 'attributed to an environmental deficiency of copper or selenium or some other underlying environmental factor such as a difficult to detect disease agent'. Greg Gerstenberg, CDFW senior wildlife biologist, put it this way:

 

“Some of us speculate that the louse-infested deer spend so much time grooming they become easy targets of predation by coyotes or mountain lions. . . While this theory is still under investigation, what we do know is that the louse has impacted migratory populations of California deer which now have a low fawn survival rate, making it difficult to replenish the herd.”

Pam Swift, CDFW state veterinarian, added:

“Regardless, we are conducting a comprehensive coordinated effort that will hopefully shed some light on this perplexing syndrome and minimize its effect on California’s precious deer population.”

The hair-loss syndrome is also observed in other western states. Researchers are therefore sharing information in order to identify not only trends but also possible treatments.

I have a question: Should they not also share information with the Nature Conservancy? After all, the lice or non-native and quite apparently invasive.

Maybe I should ask the Conservancy. But they still have not replied to my question about their position with regard to free ranging cattle in national forests. I wonder why?

PJJ

Wild Pigs on Camp Pendleton?

Hunting wild pigs on public land in California immediately brings to mind Fort Hunter Liggett and Camp Roberts. The majority of boar harvested on public land comes from Fort Hunter Liggett. Camp Roberts was not available for public hunting during the past years.

Vandenberg Air Force Base is another location for boar hunting. Unfortunately, it is mainly accessible to active military or retired military personnel.

Farther south is Camp Pendleton, another military installation. It is primarily known for good deer hunting. Now the Camp may even have become a spot to hunt wild pigs – while they are still around.

One of our readers is familiar with the Base. He sent us an e-mail with a comment and a question. Here are his remarks pertaining to wild pigs on Camp Pendleton and surrounding areas.

“This email is regarding an expanding pig population near the Orange/San Diego county border.

I contacted my site rep at Camp Pendleton for an update. He says that hogs have established a presence on the base over the past few months. They have been using traps as a method of control, which indicates to me that the hogs already have a good foothold in the area. My rep tells me that groups of hogs are not an uncommon sighting now.

If I recall correctly, the USFS pig eradication plan mentioned having access to military bases to trap. I wonder if this trapping is part of that process or Pendleton's own efforts.

I have confirmed the location of one hog trap in the bed of San Mateo Creek on base. This is consistent with my speculation that hogs are entering national forest lands through the San Mateo Creek. They may have already moved into Orange County, along the borders of San Clemente and Rancho Mission Viejo.

Any thoughts on pigs within the Forest?”

Yes, of course, I have thoughts about the wild pigs in the Cleveland National Forest (CNF).

I have talked about the subject of wild pig control in general and specifically in the CNF in several past articles. And I will publish another article in the near future that will inform about lessons to be learned from the proposed 'wild pig eradication' plans and schedules and implementation.

Suffice it to say that hunters, specifically wild pig hunters, in California and other states must organize on a broad basis in order to balance the overbearing force of anti-hunting groups.

In response to a request for documents under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)The California Hunting Post received numerous documents related to wild pigs in the Cleveland National Forest. My preliminary conclusion:

There is an unholy coalition of government entities of all stripes concerned about the damage wild pigs can inflict on the environment, extremist environmentalists that want to turn back the clock several hundred years with great ideological zeal, scientists or budding scientist who make a living studying whether a species is endangered or not and powerful commercial hunting interests that have found a niche in professional eradication campaigns directed at 'pests'.

Oh, let us not forget the politicians who allow themselves to become entangled in campaigns against environmental enemies of which they know next to nothing. Some of them may still wonder whether wild pigs are edible at all. But they are 'pests' – doesn't the Nature Conservancy say so?

To answer the question our reader posed:

Yes, there are wild pigs in the Cleveland National Forest and adjacent lands. They are also found on private, tribal and land controlled by local government agencies or quasi-public agencies. Since at least 2010 many of them have been 'test' trapping wild pigs, tracked them using the services of private trackers and installed game cameras to photograph them.

We have published maps that show the progressive expansion of the boar population over the course of several years. Search for 'wild pig locations Cleveland Forest' to find the articles with maps.

And yes, the San Mateo creek area and wilderness are included in the wild pig eradication process.

It is however an open question who placed the trap in the San Mateo creek on the Base. The CNF has used numerous other entities to place test traps, test cameras and send out test trackers and personnel.

Since an inter-agency work group that encompasses all kinds of interested parties (for various and maybe even selfish reasons) has been diligently at work for the past years to prepare the final onslaught, it is difficult to say who is the owner of the trap our reader saw. If the trap is on base land, it was most likely placed there by military authorities or contractors working on their behalf.

Our reader is right to assume that the wild pig population has been and is expanding into all areas hospitable to boar along water sources, food sources and good cover.

Wild pig control in the Cleveland National Forest and area adjacent to the CNF is of great importance. If the pigs remain unchecked, their numbers will go out of control. Damage done by the boar to the environment will be significant.

The big question is whether an all out aerial war on wild pigs in San Diego county was a well tempered and reasoned decision commensurate with the imminent danger of wild pigs taking over San Diego and the Cleveland National Forest. The known cast of characters and their own individual interests of ideological, financial and commercial interests so far has cast doubt on the process.

Wouldn't you be an environmental protectionists if you could make about 2 million dollars blowing away wild pigs?

PJJ

Boar Hunting In The Cleveland National Forest For The Fit and Brave Only

Get your wild pig while they are still around.

In my articles about the wholesale eradication of wild pigs in San Diego County's Cleveland National Forest (CNF) and adjacent lands as well as some Riverside County locations) Prompted by the overly zealous, one-sided approach to the topic by many of the involved federal and local agencies I have harshly criticized and sometimes almost ridiculed their opinions, positions and suggestions. Among them was the glaring bias towards wild pig eradication by shooting from helicopters used by 'professional hunters'. It is equally offensive to think that the 'professionals' are determined to shoot any wild pig trapped in a corral or small trap right in the trap and in the presence of other pigs.

I will take a closer look at the actors and speculate about their motivations in a separate article. Suffice it to say here that several of the protagonists have strong agendas that are driven either by environmentalist fervor or by financial considerations.

However that may be, the days of the abundance of wild pigs roaming and destroying the Cleveland National Forest and adjacent private, tribal and public lands are coming to an ignominious end.

The time to hunt these wild pigs was between 2009 and 2012. Unfortunately, most boar hunters did not really know about the presence of wild pigs so far south in Southern California. Those that did kept it a secret. Government agencies of all stripes, the zealots from the Nature Conservancy, local property owners, local hunters, professional hunters, the water district and, last but not least, the San Diego Museum of Natural History did know, tracked, counted and trapped wild pigs beginning at least in 2010. Their biologists contributed greatly to the information reflected in the proposed plans to eradicate the pigs.

Though it is already quite late in the year for boar hunting in hot San Diego county, there are still opportunities. But they are only for those who can tolerate extreme heat, parched landscapes, crawling snakes while they manage not to trample a rare horned something toad under their hunter jackboots.

In 2011and 2012 the wild pigs were spotted and their signs located in the area shown on the following picture. It looks like the animals are expanding their range southwestward and in a northerly direction – sort of, if the map presented by the CNF and the Public Utilities Department is accurate. The yellow marks are wild pigs signs found in early 2012.

Just in case you have not been in or near the Cleveland National Forest, here are some aerial pictures of known wild pig locations in the Cleveland National Forest. They were taken by Microsoft Virtual Earth and came to us through the courtesy of a Forest Botanist working for the USDA Forest Service. The pictures reflect the steep hills and deep canyons that make hunting in the area so physically demanding and difficult.

Note the arrow indicating a wild pig locations or signs in the lower part of the picture below.

 

And here is a closeup of the location. The marked pig location is bare visible near the center of the picture.

No

 

Now do you feel like pig hunting if I tell you the coordinates of the marked spots? Mind you, temperatures in that area will be in triple digits soon if they are not already so.

But there are also good news. Despite the forbidding dry look of the area, there are also better and cooler locations. Just ask the wild pigs. They know where to go.

Don't you just like this “black Russian boar”? A ranch owner would charge you $ 500.00 access fee and another $ 450.00 or so as a trophy fee. 
If it is black, it is not necessarily a true boar, Russian or not. This one is a feral pig because, as we all know, pigs are not native to the United States or the Americas. Yet once roaming free in the forests and no longer considered “livestock”, they revert quickly back to their original nature, size, colors and behaviors.

He has arrived! Finally some refreshing water in a cool forest area.

Time to relax. Come join the communal pool to wash off the dust from your arduous trek! You deserve it.
 

These pictures were taken with a digital trail cam in September of 2011 for the CNF administration. They are part of the FOIA materials we received from the Cleveland National Forest foresters and through the courtesy of intrepid biologists and trackers working for the CNF and/or indirectly for the Nature Conservancy.

What a delight it would be to chance on this pool when fatigue from a long, tiring, hot trek through dense brush and over steep hills has set in and screams for you to take a rest.

The pool will still be there for a long time. The wild pigs - that's another question.

PJJ

PS: No endangered toads were trampled during the taking of these pictures and the writing of this article.