SEQUIM — State Fish and Wildlife officials were at the table on Wednesday for another round of discussion about the Sequim elk herd and the people who love them.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife officials strove to make one thing clear — they’re not ready to relocate Sequim’s 69 elk.
The Dungeness Elk Working Team, a task force of state and local officials and landowners, usually holds its meetings in the little conference room at the Sequim Transit Center.
But Wednesday’s Elk Working Team meeting drew a small crowd of officials and members of the public, so it was moved to Carrie Blake Park’s Guy Cole Convention Center.
It was the first team meeting since the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, in a statement issued Feb. 6, said that transporting the herd away from Sequim was its preferred alternative for dealing with the animals.
“Moving the Sequim elk herd is the best way to save it from a slow death by development and help local farmers at the same time,” the Jamestown Tribal Council statement said.
“It’s clear from our review that the city of Sequim’s urban growth plan does not accommodate elk,” Scott Chitwood, natural resources director for the tribe, added.
The announcement touched off a communitywide debate over where to take the herd, why they can’t be fenced in instead and who’s going to pay for whatever action is taken.
‘We’ve jumped ahead’
Slow down, said Jack Smith, Fish and Wildlife’s regional manager.
The state and tribe are co-managers of the Sequim herd, and the state is nowhere near ready to choose relocation.
“Part of the real problem is we’ve jumped ahead of where we should be in the process,” Smith said.
Fish and Wildlife is still evaluating other strategies, including fencing, he added.
For now, the herd is controlled via special hunting permits.
“What we’re trying to do is hold the herd at the number it is now, and maybe drop a few,” Smith said, “to give us a little breathing room to try to develop the long-term plan.”
Hurry up was the response from Gary Smith, the farmer who’s seen his corn and cauliflower turn into elk forage over the past year.
“We need to realize we’ve been at this for 10 years,” Smith said.
“Let’s find a way to get to a conclusion and get some things done on the ground.”
