Letter to the editor:

Turkeys - fair or fowl?

Editor:

It boggles the mind to read the piece on turkeys by Joe Eaton in the March-April Yodeler ("The good, the bad, and the messy").

Residents of Marin and Sonoma can attest to the explosive growth of Wild Turkey populations in recent years. It does not take a scientist to raise concerns when an introduced species grows by leaps and bounds, especially when that species has a voracious appetite and few predators to control it.

Wild turkeys were introduced by the California Department of Fish and Game, presumably for hunters. These birds are becoming ubiquitous. They roam through oak understories like pigs on a truffle hunt, rooting about and eating everything edible, including every acorn in sight. If there is a "spot in the local food chain" for this pest, then that spot is in the center of our dining room tables, although I'm told they are not very tasty.

Audubon Canyon Ranch is currently studying the impact of the Wild Turkey on native ecosystems, and data acquired to date show worrisome trends, enough to warrant serious investigation into methods of controlling Wild Turkey populations. Results of our studies will be published soon, but in the interim the Sierra Club should advise the Yodeler readership of the serious concerns raised by conservation biologists who have studied Wild Turkey impacts. We have essentially lost our beautiful Golden Trout to introduced fish species. Now we stand to lose future generations of oak trees for the sake of a few hunters. When there is any doubt about conservation issues the Sierra Club should adopt a position of concern, rather than benign neglect.

Respectfully, Len Blumin (member, Board of Directors, Audubon Canyon Ranch)

Response from Joe Eaton, writer of original article.

You can't have too many data, and I look forward to seeing the study Mr. Blumin refers to, when the results are published. If I had found research documenting environmental damage by wild turkeys in California, I would have cited it. Both the scientists I consulted, Reginald Barrett and Alan Krakauer, said they knew of no such documentation; Barrett's own work in Sonoma County indicated a diet of exotic plants. What I've read about the failure of oak woods to regenerate suggests it's a complex problem, with native deer, feral pigs, rodents, livestock, exotic annual grasses, and fire suppression all implicated. Even in dealing with non-native species, assumptions shouldn't outweigh evidence.