Better solution?
Dear Editor:
Regarding your headline story on Feb. 1: “If you love the valley’s deer, please don’t feed them.”
I don’t always love our valley’s deer. They wreck young trees, jump the fence into the apple orchard, hog the birdfeeder, compete with livestock for alfalfa, are dangerous to dogs, and make car travel in the upper valley a constant risk.
However … I want to strongly support County Commissioner Andy Hover in his efforts to get the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to initiate an emergency feeding program. The deer help to make this still-wild valley a place that we all cherish.
This is a tough winter in the Methow, with early deep snow covered by ice that makes it impossible for animals to break through to what little winter food is available after years of wildfires. A constantly growing human presence in the valley interrupts migration routes, and replaces deer browse with seasonal crops and fire landscaping.
Deer management policies, predator management, degraded winter range, and hotter, drier summers also contribute to the starvation event we are now witnessing.
We know from studying end-stage malnutrition in humans that any attempt to save starving children in places like Somalia are often futile, even with intensive medical intervention. Likewise, waiting until late in the winter season, when deer are already unsalvageable, can be used as an excuse not to initiate a feeding program. But as described in your article, it is part of a deliberate WDFW program to “let nature take its course.”
I don’t think a regular winter feeding program should be the valley’s goal. However, I do believe our county commissioner should continue to push for emergency feeding this difficult winter. Otherwise, our inaction doesn’t just seem callous, it is callous.
In the long run, I think we need a bigger conversation, involving valley stakeholders and WDFW directors. If we admit we all are complicit to some degree in this sad starvation event, we should be able to come to a better solution than what WDFW is now offering.
Bruce Honsinger, M.D.
Winthrop
Trails are vital
Dear Editor:
Kudos, Methow Conservancy, for taking on the proposed purchase of Sunny M Ranch outside of Winthrop. According to the Conservancy’s advance press information, there are multiple reasons to support this project, including preserving and maintaining agricultural land, vital wildlife corridors, the valley’s rural character (without the housing sprawl and overdevelopment that has plagued similar mountain towns, such as Park City, Sun Valley and Jackson Hole), and protecting the trail system close to Winthrop.
I would like to focus on this last reason. The system of trails maintained by Methow Trails is one of the valley’s most important assets. I have skied, hiked or biked every trail in the system, and the Community Trail system closest to Winthrop is almost always the busiest. This trail system serves locals and visitors, young families, scientists, school children and the elderly. It is mostly flat and easily accessed, and there is no use fee in the summer months. Many land owners have generously allowed seasonal use of the private land which we enjoy.
But what isn’t generally known is that the Community Trail system close to town could go away if the land is subdivided and sold for private development. Loss of the trails close to town would ruin the connection to both the Sun Mountain and Mazama trail system. Loss of these trails would impact the local economy, as well as our beloved access to the land in the mid-valley.
For more information, please contact the Methow Conservancy to learn more, and see how you can help. Small donations are important to convince large donors that the project is important to all of us.
Lynette Westendorf
Winthrop
