Carter Niemeyer to Replace Roy Heberger as head of Idaho Wolf Recovery

9-4-2000

---

New wolf manager brings experience, expertise to a difficult job

By N.S. Nokkentved
Magic Valley Times-News writer

TWIN FALLS -- The most important thing to know about managing wolves is how to deal with people, says the man taking over as head of the wolf recovery program in Idaho.

Communication is the most important component of any wolf recovery plan, said Carter Niemeyer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services -- formerly Animal Damage Control -- in Helena, Mont.

A good wolf recovery program is important, "but you also have to make sure that all the parties are talking," Niemeyer said in a recent interview with The Times-News. The sides don't have to agree on everything, but it's important that they understand the agency's job.

Niemeyer, 53, starts work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Boise Sept. 11 as head of the wolf recovery program in Idaho. He replaces Roy Heberger who retired in July.

Wildlife officials in Idaho give him high marks for his objectivity, professionalism and his communication skills.

Wolves were returned to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in 1995 and 1996 over the protest of the livestock industry and other critics who feared the skilled predator would kill vulnerable livestock and wipe out big game herds.

But wolf advocates say if conflicts arise the livestock should be moved, not the wolves, which belong in the wilds of Idaho and Yellowstone.

Niemeyer has tried to bridge that philosophical gap since 1987 with the first document wolf kill in recent times.

He grew up in north Iowa and holds a master's degree in wildlife biology from Iowa State University. And he served as western Montana district supervisor for Wildlife Services in Helena from 1975 to 1991.

Niemeyer became a wolf manager when wolves killed some livestock northwest of Browning, Mont., in 1987. The wolves came down from Canada, but there was little wildlife in the area and the pack turned to calves and sheep.

Government agencies at the time were ill equipped to handle the problem at the time. Ranchers wanted the wolves moved. But Fish and Wildlife didn't want them killed.

The result was an interagency scuffle with officials pointing fingers of blame at each other. The real problem was that no one had experience with wolves, and no one had traps or equipment for dealing with them.

Fish and Wildlife wrote an interim wolf plan the following year -- setting out agency responsibilities and setting up some training. Officials looked for someone to run the program. In 1990 Niemeyer got the call. He refused at first. He liked being district supervisor dealing with a variety of problems, he said. But eventually he was convinced to take the job.

At the time he didn't foresee the growth or volatility of the wolf problems or the reintroduction that were soon to come, but looking back it was the right choice.

"It was one of the best professional decisions I ever made," Niemeyer said. "It made my life more challenging, interesting and adventuresome."

Fish and Wildlife's wolf recovery program gave Niemeyer the opportunity to put his expertise in catching wolves to use.

He first learned the art of shooting wolves with tranquilizer darts from helicopter in 1989. Since then he has become the leading expert and principal dart person in Yellowstone, he said.

He led efforts to capture and collar wolves in Canada in the fall of 1994 and spring of 1995, laying the foundation for the reintroduction efforts in Idaho and Yellowstone in 1995 and 1996.

Today, Niemeyer has darted more wolves from a helicopter than anyone else in the lower 48 states, he said. It is costly, but a quick and effective way to catch wolves -- and doing it quickly can often diffuse a potential conflict.

The job Niemeyer is moving into is fraught with potential conflict. It is perhaps the most trying and difficult job in the state, said state Sen. Laird Noh, R-Kimberly. But he is extremely professional and well-trained. And he has been able to earn the respect and often admiration from both wolf advocates and ranchers, said Noh, himself a sheep rancher.

"I think he'll really expedite the process because of his communication and professional skills," Noh said.

Dallas Gudgell of the Idaho Conservation League knows Niemeyer only by reputation, and so far the impression is favorable. He knows the issue and he understands the biology and the politics, Gudgell said.

"We're looking forward to working with him," he said.

"I think he'll make a good contribution to the wolf program in Idaho," said Jon Rachael, a wildlife biologist who has handled wolf issues with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

But not everyone has an equally high opinion of Niemeyer.

"I think he's a dirty son of a b- - - -," said Ralph Weller, a rancher in Big Timber, Mont.

Weller and his son recently lost seven calves. A neighbor out riding saw the wolf, Weller said. A game warden and a local trapper said the calves were killed by wolves. But Niemeyer told the Wellers the calves died from disease, Weller said.

"He's all for the wolf, not the rancher," Weller said. The loss amounted to about $5,000.

Niemeyer told The Times-News that he investigated the incident and found no evidence of wolves having killed the calves. And he found no sign of wolves in the area.

Wolves prey primarily on elk and deer, but they also eat small animals -- and on occasion livestock. Elk and deer calves and lambs are very vulnerable --they are inexperienced and slow, Niemeyer said.

Wolves also kill weak and old animals. But they are opportunistic -- they kill and eat whatever is easy. Depending on the time of year and the weather, that can also mean healthy adults.

But it's premature to say that wolves will have an effect on the deer and elk population in Idaho. About 160 wolves are spread over a large area with 100,000 or more elk, Niemeyer said.

The job may be difficult at times, but it also brings some satisfaction.

Not long after wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone, a pair of wolves and their pups wandered up near Red Lodge, Mont., and got into trouble with livestock.

The male was shot. Niemeyer led an effort to trap the female and her pups. Six traps were set out while the trappers waited in a motel room. The traps were rigged with radio collars set to signal when the traps were sprung.

Sure enough, early in the morning one trap was sprung. They had caught the female and later found the pups in a nearby rock pile.

But it was not Niemeyer's first encounter with that wolf. It was wolf No. 9, which he had trapped in Canada. He recalled riding in a pickup truck with two wolves in his lap -- she was one of them.

The female and her pups became the foundation of the Rose Creek pack, which eventually became the most productive pack in Yellowstone. "That effort got wolf recovery off and running in Yellowstone," he said.

He sees the conflict between wolf recovery and the livestock industry as a social issue. It pits the western tradition of livestock grazing on one side against wolf advocates and environmentalists on the other.

Niemeyer says his job is to ensure the recovery of wolves without a negative effect on livestock.

But ranchers have a responsibility to take the presence of wolves into account. And wolf advocates also have to recognize the rancher has other factors to consider.

Meanwhile there are things herders can do -- shoot guns at night and communicate with wolf managers to coordinate wolves and herd locations to try to avoid conflict.

"If you drive the sheep in on top of the wolves, you're gonna have kills," Niemeyer said.

Some have questioned his switch from the agency charged with trapping, moving and killing predators to the agency that brought wolves back to Idaho and Yellowstone.

But Niemeyer said he is not changing sides. He considers himself one more solution to the problem. He brings an understanding of wolves and the principles of livestock grazing. Ultimately they will have to coexist, he said.
Wolves are here to stay.

He has spent most of his career in the middle of the issue.

"I'll give it my best effort," he said.

---