John Rohrer

Program Manager, US Forest Service

Methow Valley, Washington

8/28/22

I attentively stare at John Rohrer’s tall leather boots that wrap around both ankles and search for evidence of bites. Nearsighted, I place my glasses upon my nose and sure enough, there are no marks, given decades of prior experience handling rattlesnakes as a youth in the southwest.

As an adolescent in Arizona, the desert and John’s father’s interest in snakes together instilled a fascination with the reptiles, and brewed an interest in pursuing the career as a wildlife biologist. Enthused that ectothermic animals such as rattlesnakes are able to exist in a much cooler climate like Washington, John moved to Twisp in 1991.

He wishes to flip the negative paradigm surrounding rattlesnakes, and inform the masses that these are ectothermic creatures simply focused on maintaining their body temperature so they can survive. Spending only five months of the year out of the den, the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake resides underground during the other seven. The objective is to stay warm, and “attacks” he says are generally instances of defense or accidents, as only one person is bit in the Methow every three to four years. He ruminates on those who blindly “whack” rattle snakes on site, “…and people are evil,” he hesitates, “…some people, not everybody.”

John later shares a story with the students on wolverine tracking while working as a field coordinator for the USFS, this span being the highlight of his career. One wolverine that took the name of “Special K,” given its high tolerance for a certain sedative, appeared multiple times coincidentally over the years despite the reclusive nature of wolverines. With shakiness in his delicately weathered raspy voice, he states that wolverine conservation and tracking work is what he was born for.

By Leo Cohen