SEQUIM — Come to sunny Sequim, tour the lavender farms and see the elk. It’s an invitation that attracts thousands of tourists every year.
Now, faced with a collision between the Roosevelt elk, farmers and suburban development, longtime residents grapple with the question:
Who was here first?
Sequim Mayor Walt Schubert expressed his opinion when introducing a speaker during Wednesday’s City Council study session on moving the elk out of the area.
“Gary Smith, local farmer. Lived here forever, before the elk,” Schubert said.
“I can remember pre-elk,” Smith said.
Two days before the study session, the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, co-manager of Sequim’s elk herd with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, dropped a bombshell in the form of a news release.
The release advocated moving the iconic animals to an as-yet-unknown location.
The Sequim City Council agrees with the Jamestown tribe that the elk herd, about 80 animals, must be removed from the area.
“I hate to see them go,” said Schubert, noting that Roosevelt elk are symbols of his city.
But after reading a 46-page report by the Dungeness Elk Working Team, watching a video on how elk wrought havoc on the city of Banff, Alberta, and hearing Smith describe how elk destroyed his crops, Schubert and the City Council supported relocation of the animals.
“Growth is happening, and we’re allowing it to happen,” Schubert said.
“But people and elk don’t mix, and our responsibility is to the people of Sequim, and keeping them safe.”
Moving the animals could possibly begin in 2007.