Alpaca Farm Land Eyed by State for Gopher Mitigation

August 23, 2018

The Daily Chronicle reports on a proposed WWRP grant to purchase land to create habitat for pocket gophers.

Excerpt: Brad Calkins, WDFW Region 6 Wildlife Program Manager, explained that the county and city could partner with his department, monetarily or otherwise, to use a portion of the 1,700 acres as secure habitat for the gophers. He said such a move would not only alleviate some of the burden on landowners in the short term, but aid in efforts to boost pocket gopher numbers to the point of delisting it from the endangered species list.

“This is clearly a partnership effort with the city and county in particular,” Calkins said. “The most likely other source of significant funding we would seek would be (USFWS) money. Another end of the spectrum would be where they, the county and city, purchase, hold and manage a portion of the property. We’re open to any number of arrangements.”

Read the whole article on The Daily Chronicle.