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October 31, 2002
Judge halts cougar-kill study
ODFW must rethink its study of deer and elk survival that had included the killing of up to 34 mountain cats
By MARK FREEMAN, Medford Mail Tribune
A federal judge this week halted a government study on deer and elk herds, saying state and federal agencies didn’t do enough biological homework on whether killing up to 34 cougars as part of the study would do environmental harm.
The ruling, issued late Tuesday, stops the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s look at whether nutrition and/or cougar predation is harming deer and elk herds in northeastern and southwestern Oregon, where the herds have declined while cougar numbers have risen.
The $5 million study, funded primarily with federal money, in part calls for killing as many as 17 cougars in each of two study areas — one near Roseburg and the other near LaGrande — as early as spring 2004 to test whether cougar densities affect the survival rates of young deer and elk.
Before beginning the groundwork for the study earlier this year, ODFW biologists conducted an environmental assessment that concludes killing the cougars will do no harm to the cougar population.
But Federal Magistrate Dennis Hubel ruled that the assessment failed to fully address effects on cougar populations and was too unclear of the killing’s impacts. He said that part of the study cannot proceed without a larger and more comprehensive look at its consequences.
"That might be the straw that breaks the cougar study’s back," said Joseph Vaile, a biologist with the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, one of several groups that sued state and federal agencies over the study.
Hubel’s ruling only bans the study’s cougar-killing portion. The overall study, which began last spring, calls for gathering two years’ worth of base data before determining whether or how many cougars will be killed over a two-year period. Agency biologists expected the total would be no more than 34 cougars.
Larry Cooper, who manages the ODFW’s deer and elk programs, said his agency now will look at whether to continue with the nutritional aspects of the study alone, drop the study altogether or look to get the cougar part re-instated.
To comply with Hubel’s ruling, the ODFW and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could do a so-called environmental impact statement on the study’s effects.
Wildlands Center attorney Brenna Bell said she believes the EIS likely would be too time-consuming and costly to undertake, and she doubts whether biologists have enough data on cougars to complete the analysis.
"A lot of people would be very happy if this lawsuit will make the study go away," Bell said.
The ODFW could side-step these criteria if it returned the $3.8 million in federal funding because the standards for state-funded studies are less stringent than those involving federal agencies.
"We may look at other funding choices or go in some other direction," Cooper said. "Nothing’s been decided yet."
Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com
Judge halts cougar-kill study
ODFW must rethink its study of deer and elk survival that had included the killing of up to 34 mountain cats
By MARK FREEMAN, Medford Mail Tribune
A federal judge this week halted a government study on deer and elk herds, saying state and federal agencies didn’t do enough biological homework on whether killing up to 34 cougars as part of the study would do environmental harm.
The ruling, issued late Tuesday, stops the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s look at whether nutrition and/or cougar predation is harming deer and elk herds in northeastern and southwestern Oregon, where the herds have declined while cougar numbers have risen.
The $5 million study, funded primarily with federal money, in part calls for killing as many as 17 cougars in each of two study areas — one near Roseburg and the other near LaGrande — as early as spring 2004 to test whether cougar densities affect the survival rates of young deer and elk.
Before beginning the groundwork for the study earlier this year, ODFW biologists conducted an environmental assessment that concludes killing the cougars will do no harm to the cougar population.
But Federal Magistrate Dennis Hubel ruled that the assessment failed to fully address effects on cougar populations and was too unclear of the killing’s impacts. He said that part of the study cannot proceed without a larger and more comprehensive look at its consequences.
"That might be the straw that breaks the cougar study’s back," said Joseph Vaile, a biologist with the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, one of several groups that sued state and federal agencies over the study.
Hubel’s ruling only bans the study’s cougar-killing portion. The overall study, which began last spring, calls for gathering two years’ worth of base data before determining whether or how many cougars will be killed over a two-year period. Agency biologists expected the total would be no more than 34 cougars.
Larry Cooper, who manages the ODFW’s deer and elk programs, said his agency now will look at whether to continue with the nutritional aspects of the study alone, drop the study altogether or look to get the cougar part re-instated.
To comply with Hubel’s ruling, the ODFW and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could do a so-called environmental impact statement on the study’s effects.
Wildlands Center attorney Brenna Bell said she believes the EIS likely would be too time-consuming and costly to undertake, and she doubts whether biologists have enough data on cougars to complete the analysis.
"A lot of people would be very happy if this lawsuit will make the study go away," Bell said.
The ODFW could side-step these criteria if it returned the $3.8 million in federal funding because the standards for state-funded studies are less stringent than those involving federal agencies.
"We may look at other funding choices or go in some other direction," Cooper said. "Nothing’s been decided yet."
Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com
