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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c...25/BA194992.DTL
Henry Coe State Park rooting out wild pigs
Tom Stienstra, Chronicle Outdoors Writer
Saturday, May 25, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle
Some 300 wild pigs have been killed in the past two weeks at Henry W. Coe State Park east of Morgan Hill, as rangers try to halt the spread of an animal reviled by many naturalists as "rats with hooves."
It's one of the biggest efforts ever undertaken to rid a state park of wild pigs, officials said.
The state Department of Parks and Recreation hired a trapper to try to rid the sprawling wilderness area, the largest in the state park system, of an estimated 2,000 pigs.
"We're maybe one-sixth of the way there," said Kay Robinson, superintendent at Henry Coe. "We expected a steep curve at the beginning because they haven't wised up yet. We're really happy."
Feral pigs and their rooting activity are blamed for causing severe erosion and silt problems from storm runoff in watersheds. At Henry Coe, the soil in some valleys is so heavily uprooted that after it rains, the water pouring downstream into ponds resembles pure mud. Uprooted soil is vulnerable to catching the airborne seeds of exotic plants, such as star thistle.
Pigs also damage many native wildlife species, including deer, squirrel, quail and other birds, by successfully competing with them for food, especially acorns. They rototill habitat where amphibians and reptiles live and can wipe out oak saplings.
"Five years ago, we could count on seeing them in just a few of our parks," said Joe DiDonato, wildlife program manager for the East Bay Regional Park District. "Now they're in more than 10 of our parks. They just keep on coming."
In the past five years, more than 2,000 wild pigs have been killed by professional trappers in the Bay Area foothills, primarily in watershed lands and parks. Yet the pigs have been contained only in Marin County. They're continuing to advance on the Peninsula, especially near Memorial County Park near Loma Mar, and in the East Bay hills.
The pigs are prolific breeders and are turning up in odd places as their population expands, including an Antioch golf course and in the backyard of a home in Pacifica. A herd of 12 pigs was trapped last year near the Pulgas Water Temple in Woodside.
Some parks are "like a house full of rats," said Dick Seever, a professional trapper who has been brought in with his son to try to get rid of the feral pigs at Henry Coe.
The problem is magnified at Henry Coe because of the size of its wilderness habitat. The park is south of Mount Hamilton and covers 134 square miles, more than twice the size of San Francisco. The landscape consists of oak woodlands, grasslands and canyons, with 150 ponds and small lakes -- ideal habitat for pigs to breed and expand their population.
Seever is paid roughly $150 for each pig he catches, usually by setting traps and catching the pigs at night when they are active. Once captured, the pigs are sent to a tallow factory.
Robinson said Seever would continue hunting pigs at Henry Coe for three or four months, "until the money runs out." A proposal is in place to try to finish the job next year.
Some critics of eradication programs say habitats and watersheds can be saved without killing the pigs. At public hearings, they have suggested fencing parklands or capturing the pigs live and relocating them to fenced lands.
Just such a fencing project is being attempted at Pinnacles National Monument near Hollister. But it has been 18 years since the project was started at a cost of $9,000 per mile, and it still isn't complete.
Seever said he would provide pigs he traps to anybody who has a fenced home for them and the required transport permit. So far, he said, there have been no takers.
Henry Coe State Park rooting out wild pigs
Tom Stienstra, Chronicle Outdoors Writer
Saturday, May 25, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle
Some 300 wild pigs have been killed in the past two weeks at Henry W. Coe State Park east of Morgan Hill, as rangers try to halt the spread of an animal reviled by many naturalists as "rats with hooves."
It's one of the biggest efforts ever undertaken to rid a state park of wild pigs, officials said.
The state Department of Parks and Recreation hired a trapper to try to rid the sprawling wilderness area, the largest in the state park system, of an estimated 2,000 pigs.
"We're maybe one-sixth of the way there," said Kay Robinson, superintendent at Henry Coe. "We expected a steep curve at the beginning because they haven't wised up yet. We're really happy."
Feral pigs and their rooting activity are blamed for causing severe erosion and silt problems from storm runoff in watersheds. At Henry Coe, the soil in some valleys is so heavily uprooted that after it rains, the water pouring downstream into ponds resembles pure mud. Uprooted soil is vulnerable to catching the airborne seeds of exotic plants, such as star thistle.
Pigs also damage many native wildlife species, including deer, squirrel, quail and other birds, by successfully competing with them for food, especially acorns. They rototill habitat where amphibians and reptiles live and can wipe out oak saplings.
"Five years ago, we could count on seeing them in just a few of our parks," said Joe DiDonato, wildlife program manager for the East Bay Regional Park District. "Now they're in more than 10 of our parks. They just keep on coming."
In the past five years, more than 2,000 wild pigs have been killed by professional trappers in the Bay Area foothills, primarily in watershed lands and parks. Yet the pigs have been contained only in Marin County. They're continuing to advance on the Peninsula, especially near Memorial County Park near Loma Mar, and in the East Bay hills.
The pigs are prolific breeders and are turning up in odd places as their population expands, including an Antioch golf course and in the backyard of a home in Pacifica. A herd of 12 pigs was trapped last year near the Pulgas Water Temple in Woodside.
Some parks are "like a house full of rats," said Dick Seever, a professional trapper who has been brought in with his son to try to get rid of the feral pigs at Henry Coe.
The problem is magnified at Henry Coe because of the size of its wilderness habitat. The park is south of Mount Hamilton and covers 134 square miles, more than twice the size of San Francisco. The landscape consists of oak woodlands, grasslands and canyons, with 150 ponds and small lakes -- ideal habitat for pigs to breed and expand their population.
Seever is paid roughly $150 for each pig he catches, usually by setting traps and catching the pigs at night when they are active. Once captured, the pigs are sent to a tallow factory.
Robinson said Seever would continue hunting pigs at Henry Coe for three or four months, "until the money runs out." A proposal is in place to try to finish the job next year.
Some critics of eradication programs say habitats and watersheds can be saved without killing the pigs. At public hearings, they have suggested fencing parklands or capturing the pigs live and relocating them to fenced lands.
Just such a fencing project is being attempted at Pinnacles National Monument near Hollister. But it has been 18 years since the project was started at a cost of $9,000 per mile, and it still isn't complete.
Seever said he would provide pigs he traps to anybody who has a fenced home for them and the required transport permit. So far, he said, there have been no takers.
