Document text
41 °F 5 Day Forecast Thursday, December 4, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 2, 2003 Orchardists foot bill for hungry elk herd By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Ranchers and rural landowners may enjoy having the Foothill herd of Roosevelt elk visit their yards and pastures, but it’s the area’s orchardists who pick up much of the food bill. And that’s OK with Bear Creek Orchards, as long as the herd doesn’t grow large enough that the amount of pears eaten and trees damaged gets too high. "We kind of write it off as the price you pay for farming on the fringe," says Keith Emerson, director of Bear Creek’s east valley orchards, the largest of the pear-growers in rural northeast Medford. The write-off can be huge. Advertisement The elk herd, which numbered last year at around 80 animals, chomped and chewed their way through an estimated 100 tons of pears in Bear Creek’s 137 acres in the Foothill-Vilas road areas, Emerson says. These elk also have good taste. The orchards there are all Comice pears, the ones Harry & David sells as its spendy Royal Riviera trademark pears in Christmas gift boxes. And it’s not just how much they eat. Their table manners seem a bit sloppy. As they wander or run through the orchards, the elk routinely topple heaters, mangle young trees and trash irrigation systems, Emerson says. "We found that they don’t pick up their feet when they walk," Emerson says. "They can drag an irrigation hose through three rows of trees." In winter, the pregnant cows lounge in the clover ground cover between tree rows, and sometimes they remain even as tree-pruners work around them. The bulls also will scrape against the young trees, killing them. "It looks like somebody drove a truck over them, then backed over it two or three times," Emerson says. "There goes a young tree we’d expect to get 40 years of production from." Emerson, who sits on a statewide advisory panel that advises agencies on such damage issues, says orchardists continue to grapple with how to minimize elk damage there. Bear Creek Corp. does not allow nor condone hunting in the orchard, with safety concerns high, Emerson says. "We discovered very quickly from all the neighbors out there that that’s not the environment to do that," he says. Fears also are that shooting at the elk, even by archers, while in the orchard could cause them to smash through more trees or cause a hazard on nearby Foothill Road. Similarly, hazing them could spook elk into the roadway. "The last thing we want to do is run 20 or 30 elk across that road," Emerson says. Bear Creek Corp., which suffered much less damage this year from the dwindling herd, is looking at things like some fencing and moats to steer the herd clear, Emerson says. The best way to reduce damage is to keep the herd size down, says Emerson, who hopes the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife can accomplish that through damage-control hunting tags issued for neighboring properties. Ideally, a herd of 10-20 elk would suffice the desires of those who like seeing the elk as well as keep orchardists’ losses low, Emerson says. "If it were 100, I don’t think we could stand the economic loss," he says. "I don’t know if we would deal with it through the ODFW or build a cinder-block fence." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times