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July 2008 |
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An open letter from the Town of Mammoth Lakes |
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 |
The Town of Mammoth Lakes is committed to the health of our wildlife, but there appears to be a great deal of misunderstanding and misinformation on the issue as it currently stands. This is intended to facilitate public understanding and productive resolution by explaining the background, information and reasoning that led to the Town Council’s decision to pursue a community-based wildlife management group.
Background
At the Sept. 4, 2007, Town Council meeting, after a recent euthanization of a hazard bear in the Lakes Basin by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and the dispatching of a fatally injured, car-struck bear by the Mammoth Lakes Police Department, the Council formed a Wildlife Management Committee to address wildlife management policies and, as a related item, the employment status of Steve Searles. The Committee consisted of Mayor Skip Harvey, Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Sugimura, Town Manager Rob Clark, Police Chief Randy Schienle and Director of Human Resources Michael Grossblatt, and met six times over six months. The meetings included discussions with Mr. Searles, Mike Schlafman (US Forest Service), Bruce Kinney (California Department of Fish and Game), Ann Bryant (Tahoe Bear League via conference call) and wildlife management experts from Yosemite National Park.
Employment status of Mr. Searles
Mr. Searles had been employed by the Town as a part time Wildlife Management Specialist for several years prior to March of 2007. Mr. Searles rejected a contract offer to extend his employment stating, in part, that he was focused on other important issues and that the police department could handle bear incidents. The Town accepted his decision and Mr. Searles left by mutual agreement. In September 2007, due to the recent bear incidents, the Town agreed to offer Mr. Searles a short-term, emergency re-hire to address bear issues for the remainder of the summer (until Oct. 31, 2007), after which bear activity should decrease as the animals den down for the winter.
During the October 2007 employment negotiations, Mr. Searles stated he had been unfairly treated by Police Chief Schienle during his past employment. The Town agreed to look into the matter through an impartial third party investigator who specializes in employee fairness issues. Mr. Searles verbally agreed, in a conversation with Mayor Harvey, to accept and stand by the final decision made by the impartial third party investigator.
After interviewing all knowledgeable parties, the investigator determined that there had been no wrong-doing by the Police Chief, no rights had been violated, and no one had violated any laws or policies. The report is confidential because it contains, by state law, legally protected information about current and past employees. Town Council members, who do not have management authority over any Town staff except the Town Manager and Attorney, were informed of the report’s conclusion.
During the investigation and through the fall of 2007, the Wildlife Committee continued to negotiate an employment contract or arrangement with Mr. Searles. Numerous individual conversations, and finally, negotiations between Mr. Searles’ lawyer and the Town Attorney, resulted in, according to Mr. Searles, seven (7) different employment or financial compensation offers. From the Town’s perspective, we offered every imaginable option with all the benefits legally possible, including coverage by the Town’s workers compensation program to protect Mr. Searles from injuries sustained in the line of duty. The final offer of contract work included a stipend to cover personal health insurance, which had been requested by Mr. Searles. The Town, as stipulated by Resolution 90-08, cannot provide health insurance to part-time employees. The Town also could not offer a permanent either part- or full-time position directly to Mr. Searles. Any permanent position, by law, would have to be advertised publicly and competitively.
Mr. Searles rejected all seven offers, turning down all the options the Town could possibly offer.
By early 2008, the budget was facing a significant deficit for the fiscal year. Besides cutting $31 million in capital expenditures, Council chose to only fill open staff positions on a case-by-case basis. As a result, only one out of approximately 10 vacant positions has been filled since January. Under these circumstances, the Committee felt they could not recommend the reinstatement of a specific Wildlife Management position at this time. If a competitive position is offered in the future, Mr. Searles is welcome to apply.
In the end, with Mr. Searles’ rejection of all offers and the budget deficit, the Committee chose to explore new options to address wildlife management issues.
Wildlife Management Policies
While trying to resolve employment issues with Mr. Searles, the Committee also met with representatives from Yosemite National Park, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), the U.S. Forest Service, and the Tahoe Bear League to educate ourselves and ensure a common understanding of best practices. We identified the following three main components essential to a wildlife policy:
1. Public education, outreach and participation.
Yosemite National Park and the Tahoe Bear League spend at least 90 percent of their time on public education and outreach. Helping people understand their damaging impacts on wildlife and changing human behavior are the keys to a successful program. Both entities have extensive public education materials and outreach programs for residents and visitors, which we lack in Mammoth. Yosemite National Park also emphasized the need for complete, comprehensive commitment from everyone involved. In Mammoth, that commitment must come not only from Town staff, but also from our entire residential community.
2. Enforcement of laws and ordinances to eliminate unnatural food sources: “A Fed Bear Is A Dead Bear.”
Unnatural food sources, such as a lunch cooler or an open dumpster, are not only unhealthy for wildlife, but start them on a path that can lead to their death. The more a bear forages in a dumpster or scares people away from a stringer of fish, the more used to, or habituated to, people it becomes. Black bears are naturally timid and shy of people, but as they become more habituated, they may become aggressive to scare people away or protect a food source. Eventually, a bear may be considered a public safety threat and may be captured and euthanized to prevent anyone from being hurt. The fault lies not with the DFG, who has the legally unsavory responsibility of killing the bear, or with the bear, who was just doing what it always does: finding and eating food. Rather, the fault lies with all the people who allowed the bear to get unnatural food. Public education, described above, is one key to preventing this tragic string of events. Enforcement of local, state and federal laws and ordinances to eliminate unnatural food sources within Town and in the surrounding areas is the other key.
Overflowing trash dumpsters are the most common unnatural food source in Town, and staff has recently been issuing citations to repeat offenders. Enforcement of proper food storage in campgrounds and at trailheads requires state and federal assistance, in addition to Town resources. If unnatural food sources can be eliminated, wildlife will not become habituated to humans and will instead stay wild.
3. Coordination of an interagency effort.
State and federal entities are largely responsible for actions outside of the Town’s urban growth boundaries, areas such as the Lakes Basin and surrounding campgrounds, trailheads, and the backcountry. Even within the Town, the DFG has the final legal responsibility for wildlife management. Public education and outreach, enforcement and management all need to be coordinated between these jurisdictions for an effective program.
If a wildlife program is working well, deterrent tactics and hazing of bears and wildlife should be minimal. As noted by Yosemite National Park, if a bear needs to be hazed, the program has already failed. Hazing and deterrent tactics force a bear to move on, usually to the next unnatural food source, but do not change its behavior. Human behavior needs to be changed for a successful program.
The role of community involvement
To address the components above, the Town Manager directed staff and the Police Department to handle enforcement and interagency coordination, with the Police Department responsible for deterrent tactics and responding to human-wildlife incidents. While Town staff has some capacity for education and outreach, the Committee and Council decided to invite the community to participate in the educational process to foster community ownership and comprehensive commitment. The Town will keep responsibility and accountability for all aspects of the wildlife management program, but we also hope to have an engaged community to help keep our wildlife wild.
The intent was for the community-based group to focus on public education and outreach while cooperating with Town staff on the other components. We do not intend the community group to become trained in shooting rubber bullets or any other deterrent or hazing tactics. The Police Department will be responsible for enforcement, deterrent tactics and responding to human-wildlife incidents.
Other wildlife issues, such as sick, injured, trapped — for example, in someone's basement — or nuisance wildlife are handled by the Animal Control Officer with assistance as needed from the Police Department. Coyote management falls under bear management principles, with the elimination of unnatural food sources being the highest priority.
If, in the future, the community-based group and Town staff think a part- or full-time staff position is necessary, a policy decision can be brought before Council as part of the budget development process.
The Town of Mammoth Lakes is committed to the health of our wildlife, and we are asking for help from everyone in the community who shares the same concern. We look forward to working collaboratively with all those willing to invest their time, energy and passion in keeping our wildlife wild.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 15 May 2008 )
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