I am an archaeologist and to the best of my knowledge, there is no
evidence of Mealgris gallapavo in the NW prehistorically although they
were heavily utilized in the East and elsewhere prehistorically.

On Mon, 6 Oct 1997, Don Baccus wrote:

> At 09:15 PM 10/6/97 -0700, you wrote:
>
> >A colleague of mine who is a zooarchaeologist, if I remember correctly, says
> >there is no evidence of Wild Turkeys anywhere in the Pacific Northwest in
> >prehistoric middens, etc.
>
> Though I don't have Gene's specific info, it has always been my
> understanding that
> they aren't native. Peggi, can you provide more details? Since you have
> one foot
> in rehab and another here in tweeters, hopefully you won't be offended by
> my observation
> that I've seen arguments that certain species (not turkeys, others) are
> native offered by
> AR folks (who are common in the rehab world) without any real evidence
> (mountain goats
> in Oly NP are a good example), but with the real intent of getting them
> treated as native
> species regardless.
>
> While I certainly wouldn't dream of assigning such a goal to you, given the
> fact that
> you do rehab stuff makes me wonder if you didn't stumble across something
> written by a
> (pardon my directness) blantant liar willing to subjagate truth in order to
> promote a
> political end (i.e. acceptance of turkeys as native).
>
> Personally, I have not problem with accepting turkeys as introduced species
> where they're
> not objected to, as in Mt. Tom in Oregon (nice, catchy, relevant name,
> no?). But the "oh,
> they're really native!" line seems to be congruent with the politics of
> those who'd argue
> against removing of unwanted turkeys.
>
>
>
> - Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
> Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
> http://donb.photo.net
>
>