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An Interview with Rocky Spencer, District Wildlife Biologist This interview with Rocky Spencer was conducted in 1998 when he was the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife district wildlife biologist in North Bend. Rocky became involved with the Department in 1977 as a volunteer on a grouse trapping and banding project, and started work with WDFW in 1978 as a temporary scientific technician. Rocky has worked on studies of a number of wildlife species including Columbian whitetail deer, peregrine falcons, elk and cougars. He also has worked in Olympia and regional offices and on an intergovernmental assignment with the US. Forest Service. Rocky is a native Washingtonian. He graduated from high school in Longview and received a wildlife management degree from Western Washington University.

Q: What wildlife projects are you working on now? A: In the past I've worked with mountain lions [cougars], radio collaring and tracking the animals from 1987 to 1991 in the Green and Cedar river drainages. I'm still involved with mountain lions in terms of human encounters. Currently, I'm working on a cooperative project with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, tracking radio-collared elk in the Green and White river watersheds. We have been tracking those animals to determine their causes of mortality. Beginning in November, we'll start a deer mortality study in Snoqualmie. We're looking at sources of mortality for antlered deer. Q: How does a cougar radio collar study work? A: We go out with hunting dogs during the winter and spring period when there's snow and we can locate lion tracks by driving the roads. We release the dogs on those tracks. The lion will generally tree within a quarter to a half a mile. We dart it with an immobilization drug. We take all the biological measurements, evaluate its physical condition, heart rate, respiration, etc., and then we put a radio collar around its neck. The collars are approximately $300 apiece, and we get about three years of service out of them, so its a pretty cheap investment. After the animals are released with the collars on we go out and follow them. There are two ways you can track— from the ground or by aircraft. Each animal with a radio collar has its own unique frequency. You drive along with an antenna on the outside of your vehicle and as it scans the animal's frequency you know the animal is in the area. You get out a hand-held directional antenna and triangulate to determine the animal's location. Over the course of several years of doing that you determine the animal's home range. There are some animals we've followed for over six years. It's not uncommon for dispersing male sub-adults to move 50 to 110 miles, searching for a home range of their own, so we've tracked those animals by aircraft. We were trying to learn about their movements. From the study it appeared that mountain lion densities here are higher than they appear to be in other states. We found some causes of mortality that were surprising to me. One of the most surprising things, I think, was the high number of lions we've found were killed by other lions, particularly the males. That suggests there are territories out there that probably are full. Q: There is a lot of concern now over cougar encounters. What do people need to understand about these situations? A: My first message would be: Please, keep this in perspective. We certainly need to be conscious when we're out hiking and enjoying this beautiful state, but at the same time we need to recognize that mountain lion interactions are extremely rare. There are people who have hiked in the woods for years who have been seen by lions, but they simply never see the lion. I know I've been within 20 feet of radio-collared lions, I know they're there and I still can't see them. We had five people in the United States last year who were killed by portable TVs falling off their stands and we had one death caused by a mountain lion. We have approximately 20 or 30 people a year in North America struck by lightning, so you have more chance to get struck by lightning, I guess, than to have a serious encounter with a mountain lion. Q: Is the increased concern over cougar encounters mainly due to increasing public awareness? A: I would say it's a combination of several things. There's no question that there are more mountain lions now. And every year there are more people outdoors recreating, which increases the potential for interaction. We have a decreasing habitat base. We have increased media attention, and therefore increased numbers of reports to our agency. Frankly, I've been quite surprised at some of the things that people report as mountain lions. A lady called the other day quite concerned about a mountain lion and, as she described it to me, it was a river otter. We had a report a few weeks ago about a guy who was jogging outside Enumclaw when something jumped out of the bushes at him and when we went to look it was a cow. Not to diminish the reports we get from people but I think they need to be very conscious of what they're reporting and sure what they're really seeing. If I were to go to downtown Seattle and ask the first 20 people if they'd ever seen a mountain lion in the wild, they'd say no, so when people see a mountain lion they should cherish that moment. They should report it to us, we appreciate that, but not from the standpoint that their life is in danger. Q: Why do you think there are more cougars now? A: First of all, this animal is one of the most adaptable predators that you are going to find, so they can survive quite well, at least for a period of time, in marginal habitats — suburban fringes, greenbelts and stream corridors. And if they can't find deer and elk to eat, they'll live on cats and dogs, whatever they can find. As time goes on, the reduction of harvest [hunting] that we're seeing is going to add to mean increases in the number of lions. And as habitat becomes very limited, these animals are going to be concentrated in a smaller and smaller area. Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job? A: I guess the thing I enjoy the most is identifying issues that need attention and putting proposals together to address them, then getting the results and trying to implement them. The mountain lion project was an example; we recognized that we didn't have a lot of information on lions. We were able to put a project together to that provided some good information on mortality sources, longevity and home range size that I think has been very useful. Another rewarding aspect of the job is community involvement. I've been around here awhile. I've met some very good people; I've given a lot of presentations to groups that are interested in various projects, I've responded to development proposals. That's an important part of the job.