This week started off driving down yet another bumpy backcountry road to find Darío before he headed off into the hills on horseback. I caught him at the perfect time. He was about to pack his equipment onto his horses and head up into the mountains where he’ll be much harder to find. I had brought him a headlamp, but also brought a few other gifts: Fox Lights. When set up near a flock, preferably up at the top of a hill or surrounding the band, these lights discourage wolves from approaching by emitting randomized flashes of blue, red, and white light. Night activated and solar powered, these lights are essential tools for the non-lethal deterrence of wolves.
Dario inspecting the new FoxLights used to scare wolves, coyotes, mountain lions and bears away from sheep bands at night.
Early the next morning, Darío called me and let me know that he’d seen a bear up on the mountain. Still no signs of wolves though.
The following day, I hiked up around Greenhorn Gulch in the hopes of finding the sheep band that I hadn’t been able to locate last week. I found the main camp around one o’clock, when shepherds normally return to camp, but they were nowhere in sight. I remembered a tip that a local hiker had provided the week before about seeing them on a south-facing slope plus sheep like to find shade during the heat of the day. I headed up a drainage that fit the description. Wildflowers gave way to small pieces of scat and some canine prints though they seemed too small to be wolf tracks.
Nearing the crest of a hill, I heard the baa-ing of a sheep band. I spotted two figures up on a far-off hill. Their camp lay below in a green pasture with four horses grazing about. I introduced myself and learned their names: Alfredo and Sixto, a father and son duo that have been up here for years. Alfredo, the son, has been working for seven years, and Sixto, his dad, for three. They seemed to be pleasantly shocked that I could speak enough Spanish to communicate with them. Exchanging numbers, I left them to return to their herd.
The herder’s life is hard but it sure is beautiful here!
Since I had seen some potential signs of wolves near them the previous week, I wanted to bring them equipment as quickly as possible. I packed up what we call a “mini band-kit.” A mini-band kit consists of several of our most tried and true methods of keeping wolves away from sheep: Fox Lights (as mentioned above), t-posts for setting the Fox Lights on, air horns, loud whistles, very bright headlamps, handheld spotlights, and binoculars for keeping an eye on the sheep and looking for nearby wolves. Normally we would include starter pistols and solar chargers, but the Project is running short on supplies. (We welcome donations of important supplies such as solar chargers, starter pistols, and airhorns! Please let me know if you’d like to help sponsor some. Logan@woodriverwolfproject.org)
While getting these kits together is fun and all, my favorite part of the week was hiking the equipment out to the guys at their camp. Alfredo and Sixto had moved camp a couple miles up the creek, so I got to add a couple miles to my trek to the many extra pounds weighing down my backpack.
A pack loaded with supplies for help keep wild predators and sheep apart.
The guard dogs started back toward me yet again, though this time there were three of them. I kept my distance, walked slow, and talked to them to let them know I’m human. They calmed down but remained suspicious. I caught Alfredo and Sixto right after they had set up their camp. Luckily for the project, these two have been around for a few years and know the drill. They’re familiar with the Fox Lights and have used noise makers like air horns to keep wolves off their herd.
While they are normally quiet reserved people, Alfredo, Sixto and I slowly started conversing in Spanish. I asked them about the prevalence of Quechua in Peru, and Alfredo told me that people are still speaking it. A moment of silence followed and then his father Sixto began to speak. “I speak Quechua,” he finally said, slowly and cautiously. “My wife practices it as well. My parents spoke it before us.” He proceeded to share a few phrases in Quechua, translating them to Spanish for me. I was deeply touched by him sharing this with me, as it represented the first steps in developing a relationship of trust and confidence between us.
Sixto ready to protect his borrega with Fox Lights and an airhorn.
This part of the project is essential. This is not a short-term, band-aid solution. Instead, the Wood River Wolf Project and our relationships with the herders represent years of work. While the project exists to protect the wolves and sheep in the valley, our goal can only be accomplished through consistently showing up for our ranching partners and creating long-lasting, face-to-face human bonds. We need to build trust, and we need to listen to them to maintain communication lines and confidence in each other. This week was a big step in cultivating these connections and demonstrated the importance of long-term human relationships in mitigating predator-livestock conflicts.
Logan Miller, Project Field Manager
Wood River Wolf Project