News - Local News

POSTED: Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008

Wildlife officials: No release of wild turkeys near Acme

ACME - The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has nixed a proposal to release wild turkeys near Acme for hunting after receiving overwhelming opposition to the idea.

The agency had been working on the proposal since 2006, when it met with affected groups that included the National Wild Turkey Federation and surveyed five possible sites in Skagit and Whatcom counties. A spot five to 10 miles from Acme was considered the best place to introduce Rio Grandes, which are native to the Great Plains states.

After holding two public meetings and receiving 93 written comments, the state wildlife agency decided against the proposal.

That's because 87 percent of the written comments, which came in from the Acme valley and other parts of Whatcom County, were against the idea, according to a memo written by Mike Davison, an agency wildlife biologist involved with the issue.

"Without question the most common concern was associated with the release of a non-native wildlife species and the potential impact on native plants and animals," Davison wrote in his memo to wildlife officials in Olympia.

He could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, Aug. 20.

Farmers living near the proposed release site also feared roaming turkeys would eat their crops or otherwise damage their small operations.

They worried that no money had been set aside to compensate them for damage.

Davison, in his memo, acknowledged those concerns.

"The five-mile radius dispersal area believed to be the probable distance that released turkeys would traverse does overlap a significant portion of the Acme valley bottomlands just to the west of Van Zandt Dike," he wrote. "It is possible that even a small group of wild turkeys (10-12 birds) could do substantial damage to these organic farm sites."

For that reason and because of the opposition, Davison recommended against releasing turkeys in the area.

The agency also had looked into releasing wild turkeys on private timberland along the

south fork of the Nooksack River, Jennifer Bohannon, wildlife biologist, said in an e-mail.

But the landowner didn't like the idea.

"In short, we do not have any plans to release wild turkeys in Whatcom County, or elsewhere in northwestern Washington, at this time," she said.

The word that no wild turkeys would be introduced to the Acme area was good news to Steve Powers, a farmer in nearby Van Zandt who didn't like the proposal.

The owner of Big Sky Garden organic farm praised the state agency for gathering public input and listening to their concerns.

"They took that to heart and made the decision accordingly," he said. "I feel grateful for that."

Reach Kie Relyea at kie.relyea@bellinghamherald.com or 715-2234.