- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Lakeport City Council discusses how to address wild pigs on sewer property
City staff went to the council with a proposal to enter into a contract with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife through its Shared Habitat Alliance for Recreational Enhancement, or SHARE, program to allow for hunts on a portion of the 700-acre City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District property.
Ultimately, the council decided it wanted to further study the problem.
Utilities Superintendent Paul Harris told the council that wild pigs regularly roam the City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District property, or CLMSD, rooting up grass which decreases the feed for cattle at the site.
He said they’ve received complaints from neighboring properties and have been asked to mitigate the problem.
Fish and Wildlife staffers Victoria Barr and Joshua Bush attended the virtual meeting to discuss the SHARE program, which can contract with private landowners, government agencies and anyone else, Barr said.
“It really is just a public access program,” Barr said, explaining that all hunting regulations apply on participating properties, with landowners dictating the property rules.
Barr said there currently are 50 properties enrolled, including one city — Merced, the wastewater treatment plant for which has been in the program for seven years — along with the county of Colusa, some trust organizations but most being private landowners.
Bush, Fish and Wildlife’s unit biologist for Lake County, said that the wild or feral pig — known by the scientific name of Sus scrofa — is invasive to California.
“They cause lots of damage on private lands all throughout the state,” Bush said.
Their ancestors include domestic pigs brought to the state in the early 1700s and allowed to become feral and Eurasian wild boars brought to Monterey County for sport hunting in the 1920s, Bush said.
Today, Bush said wild boars and feral pig hybrids are found in 56 of 58 California counties.
Bush said they’re a game mammal and can be hunted year-round with a license and tags. Landowners can apply for depredation permits to remove pigs from their properties.
The US Department of Agriculture estimates wild pigs cause $1.5 billion of damage in the United States annually, Bush said in his report.
Surrounding private lands experience heavy depredation pressure on pasture, grazing land, landscaping and fencing. “They don’t respect property boundaries,” Bush said.
He said eradicating the pigs isn’t possible. Instead, Fish and Wildlife is looking for ways to mitigate damage and offer strategies to utilize the pigs as a resource.
Bush showed a picture of the Crazy Creek glider port in Middletown where a new golf course is being built. In one night, the pigs tore up all the new sod that had just been placed.
Fish and Wildlife staff met with city officials to discuss ensuring safety and a quality hunt with proposed measures including signage, procedures to sign in and out of the property, an informational flyer, and a requirement to use only archery or shotguns, not rifles, Bush said.
Councilwoman Stacey Mattina said immediate concerns from the public had included the use of firearms and hunters not being guided while on the property.
Barr said having a guide would be up to the city, but based on permit draws a maximum of four hunters would be on the property at any time.
Bush said that, for the success of the hunt, he suggested it be limited to shotguns and archery, not just archery.
“Pigs are pretty dangerous,” said Councilman Michael Froio, adding that allowing archery only could put hunters at a disadvantage.
Businessman and hunter Bobby Dutcher said if pigs are hunted for a few weeks, they’ll leave. He said the CLMSD property has been a safe haven for the pigs for years due to no hunting there.
“It’ll get better very quickly” if there is a guide and hunters out there trying to get rid of them, with Dutcher adding that the property should be hunted.
Bruce Brugler, who owns property to the west of the CLMSD property, said he’s a big supporter of the SHARE program but he did not support the plan with no guides. He said he also was not happy that the proposal came up before anyone had talked to him about it.
Like Dutcher, he said that if pigs are hunted in an area, they learn not to come around. “I just don’t think it is the right property for a SHARE program,” Brugler said.
Another neighbor, Michael Keithly, submitted a letter in which he also raised concerns about hunters coming onto his land and harming cattle. He said supervised guided hunts or youth hunts would be better.
In the end, the council didn’t move forward on the SHARE program proposal on Tuesday night.
Councilman Michael Green said the Fish and Wildlife proposal was sound. “CDFW brought a good plan to you tonight,” he told fellow council members.
The council as a whole took the neighbors’ concerns into account and reached consensus to direct staff to look at other options that could involve hunting.
Also on Tuesday, the council held a workshop on its 2021-22 fiscal year budget and discussed plans for the July 4 celebration and revisions to its classification system.
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