LOS PADRES FOREST : Opposition Delays Turkey Release Plan

A plan to introduce a non-native species of wild turkeys into Los Padres National Forest has been delayed because of public opposition, officials said.

Forest Service biologists said the plan’s environmental and economic impact studies, which were to be released for public comment in mid-August, are still in the draft stages.

“There was a lot more controversy than we expected,” said George Garcia, biologist for the Ojai Ranger District. Garcia said he could not estimate when the final documents will be ready.

“We’re hoping for some releases in the spring and fall of 1991,” Garcia said. “If it’s appealed, that could postpone the process.”

About 35 letters have been received from environmentalists and animal rights activists opposing the plan and 60 letters in support from hunting organizations and other groups and individuals, said Patty Bates, a biologist with the Mt. Pinos District.

“We don’t govern on majority rule,” Bates said. “We are giving all the concerns careful consideration.”

The Sierra Club and Audubon Society are concerned that the turkeys could migrate into wilderness areas, a problem which is difficult to address, Garcia said, partly because several federal bills proposing new wilderness areas in the forest have yet to pass the U.S. Senate.

“The turkeys don’t know if a boundary is a wilderness,” Garcia said. “If it’s more suitable, they might move in.”

The California Fish and Game Department plans to release the Merriams species of the American wild turkey in four areas of the forest in Ventura County and another five areas in Kern County where a suitable habitat has already been identified. Forest rangers would help maintain the population.

Sally M. Reid of Pine Mountain, the Sierra Club’s wilderness coordinator for the Los Padres forest, said many release areas are either inside or adjacent to proposed wilderness areas.

If the plan goes into effect, Reid said the issue will go before the Sierra Club’s attorneys for a possible legal challenge of what she calls a “serious breach of responsibility by the Forest Service” to carry out the intent of the Wilderness Act of 1964.

“We don’t believe in introducing exotic species anywhere, especially in areas we believe might be against the intent of the Wilderness Act,” Reid said.

Another concern, she said, is whether the turkeys will compete for food with native species, such as quail, or disturb endangered species, such as the blunt-nosed leopard lizard.

Bill Cullen, vice president of Quail Unlimited in Ventura, has said he does not believe that quail and turkeys will compete for resources. Despite the state’s four-year drought, forest biologists say there is enough food to sustain both bird populations.