Third of three parts
SEQUIM — The City Council agrees with the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe: Sequim’s elk herd must be removed from the area.
“I hate to see them go,” said Mayor Walt Schubert on Wednesday about the elk during a council study session.
The Roosevelt elk are, of course, the symbols of his city.
But after reading a 46-page report by the Dungeness Elk Working Team, watching a video on how elk wrought havoc on the city of Banff, Alberta, and hearing Sequim farmer Gary Smith describe how elk destroyed his crops, Schubert and the Sequim City Council supported faraway relocation of the animals.
Relocation is the preferred alternative of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, which comanages the elk herd with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The city and the tribe disagree, however, on how the elk became a threat to farmers’ survival and people’s safety.
Development to blame?
Rapid development pushed the elk down onto the farms, Tribal Chairman Ron Allen has said.
Aside from approving more subdivisions, the city “needs to take the lead in terms of identifying greenbelts that are going to be sensitive to wildlife needs.”
In Allen’s view, city leaders lacked foresight, and that has led to the elk’s displacement.
“Growth is happening, and we’re allowing it to happen,” Schubert said.
“But people and elk don’t mix, and our responsibility is to the people of Sequim, and keeping them safe.”
