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Plan would allow wolves back in state
A state commission will decide on a diverse panel's proposal to manage the animal's return
September 09, 2004
MICHAEL MILSTEIN, Oregonian
Wolves could roam Oregon for the first time in many decades under a new strategy that carves a place for eight or more packs of the predators across the state.
The plan would make Oregon the first Western state to independently accept an animal that has long inspired both admiration and hostility. The blueprint has won nearly full backing from a panel of Oregon ranchers, hunters, wildlife activists and others who drafted it for the state Fish and Wildlife Commission.
It will be presented today to the commission, which will decide in October whether to accept it. Once it does, a round of public review will begin.
A federal recovery program returned wolves to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming almost a decade ago. The animals multiplied, and packs reside just outside Northeast Oregon. Biologists predict they will spread into the state, and the Fish and Wildlife Commission last year appointed a citizen panel to craft a way to manage them.
Wolves are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. But Oregon's own Endangered Species Act also requires the state to restore the species across much of its range in the state.
It is a radical shift from six decades ago. Then, the state was determined to exterminate wolves as a threat to game and livestock. Authorities in 1946 paid a bounty for one of the last wild wolves killed in Oregon.
"I would prefer never to have a wolf in Oregon, but that's not realistic now," said rancher Clint Krebs, who summers livestock in the Wallowa Mountains and served on the panel that drew up the plan. "There's some anxiety. But all in all, given what we had to work with and the laws of the state of Oregon, it's a good first step."
Twelve of the 14 who helped draft the 100-page plan support it. The group also included a biologist, economist, teacher, tribal representative and others from around the state.
Their strategy calls for at least four breeding pairs of wolves on both sides of a north-south line that divides Oregon roughly in half. Ranchers could kill wolves they catch attacking livestock, although they would need a permit to do so on public land. A compensation fund would reimburse them for losses to wolves.
The approach does not call for moving wolves into Oregon but allowing those that enter the state to live unless they conflict with people or livestock.
Biologists expect wolves will populate Eastern Oregon first because it's closer to wolf populations in Idaho. But they say it may take a decade or two for wolf numbers to reach the plan's targets.
Protections for wolves would loosen in each half of the state as their numbers grow beyond four breeding pairs. Once seven pairs populate either half of the state, hunting could be used to control their numbers. A breeding pair of wolves typically forms the core of a pack that may number from two to 10 or more animals.
The two sides of the state would be viewed separately, so protections could be loosened in the Eastern Oregon side even if wolves had not yet made it to Western Oregon. It would also spread the responsibility for wolf recovery across the state.
"I just don't want people in Northeast Oregon to be stuck with having to deal with them while people in Portland say, 'Isn't it nice we have wolves in Oregon?' " said Joe Colver, a Portland trapper who helped draw up the plan.
The strategy would require revisions to Oregon's Endangered Species Act so ranchers may shoot wolves in the act of attacking livestock. The Legislature would have to set up a compensation fund. Wolves known to kill livestock could be destroyed.
Environmental activists said such controls will help build tolerance for wolves in Oregon.
"It says something about the strength of the plan when people of such diverse perspectives agree it's effective and it's something they can live with," said Brett Brownscombe of the Hells Canyon Preservation Council, who served on the group.
The state expects to spend up to $500,000 annually to manage wolves, and the plan says the federal government should share the expense.
Studies suggest a recovered Oregon wolf population could kill hundreds of sheep and cattle a year at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. They could also cut into hunting revenue, but people eager to see wolves may replace some of the lost money, it says.
The two panel members who do not support the final strategy are Sharon Beck, who represented livestock owners; and Ben Boswell, a Wallowa County commissioner. Both said the plan addressed some concerns, but they remained troubled by lack of assured funding and the risk ranchers must bear.
Michael Milstein: 503-294-7689; michaelmilstein@news.oregonian.com
A state commission will decide on a diverse panel's proposal to manage the animal's return
September 09, 2004
MICHAEL MILSTEIN, Oregonian
Wolves could roam Oregon for the first time in many decades under a new strategy that carves a place for eight or more packs of the predators across the state.
The plan would make Oregon the first Western state to independently accept an animal that has long inspired both admiration and hostility. The blueprint has won nearly full backing from a panel of Oregon ranchers, hunters, wildlife activists and others who drafted it for the state Fish and Wildlife Commission.
It will be presented today to the commission, which will decide in October whether to accept it. Once it does, a round of public review will begin.
A federal recovery program returned wolves to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming almost a decade ago. The animals multiplied, and packs reside just outside Northeast Oregon. Biologists predict they will spread into the state, and the Fish and Wildlife Commission last year appointed a citizen panel to craft a way to manage them.
Wolves are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. But Oregon's own Endangered Species Act also requires the state to restore the species across much of its range in the state.
It is a radical shift from six decades ago. Then, the state was determined to exterminate wolves as a threat to game and livestock. Authorities in 1946 paid a bounty for one of the last wild wolves killed in Oregon.
"I would prefer never to have a wolf in Oregon, but that's not realistic now," said rancher Clint Krebs, who summers livestock in the Wallowa Mountains and served on the panel that drew up the plan. "There's some anxiety. But all in all, given what we had to work with and the laws of the state of Oregon, it's a good first step."
Twelve of the 14 who helped draft the 100-page plan support it. The group also included a biologist, economist, teacher, tribal representative and others from around the state.
Their strategy calls for at least four breeding pairs of wolves on both sides of a north-south line that divides Oregon roughly in half. Ranchers could kill wolves they catch attacking livestock, although they would need a permit to do so on public land. A compensation fund would reimburse them for losses to wolves.
The approach does not call for moving wolves into Oregon but allowing those that enter the state to live unless they conflict with people or livestock.
Biologists expect wolves will populate Eastern Oregon first because it's closer to wolf populations in Idaho. But they say it may take a decade or two for wolf numbers to reach the plan's targets.
Protections for wolves would loosen in each half of the state as their numbers grow beyond four breeding pairs. Once seven pairs populate either half of the state, hunting could be used to control their numbers. A breeding pair of wolves typically forms the core of a pack that may number from two to 10 or more animals.
The two sides of the state would be viewed separately, so protections could be loosened in the Eastern Oregon side even if wolves had not yet made it to Western Oregon. It would also spread the responsibility for wolf recovery across the state.
"I just don't want people in Northeast Oregon to be stuck with having to deal with them while people in Portland say, 'Isn't it nice we have wolves in Oregon?' " said Joe Colver, a Portland trapper who helped draw up the plan.
The strategy would require revisions to Oregon's Endangered Species Act so ranchers may shoot wolves in the act of attacking livestock. The Legislature would have to set up a compensation fund. Wolves known to kill livestock could be destroyed.
Environmental activists said such controls will help build tolerance for wolves in Oregon.
"It says something about the strength of the plan when people of such diverse perspectives agree it's effective and it's something they can live with," said Brett Brownscombe of the Hells Canyon Preservation Council, who served on the group.
The state expects to spend up to $500,000 annually to manage wolves, and the plan says the federal government should share the expense.
Studies suggest a recovered Oregon wolf population could kill hundreds of sheep and cattle a year at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. They could also cut into hunting revenue, but people eager to see wolves may replace some of the lost money, it says.
The two panel members who do not support the final strategy are Sharon Beck, who represented livestock owners; and Ben Boswell, a Wallowa County commissioner. Both said the plan addressed some concerns, but they remained troubled by lack of assured funding and the risk ranchers must bear.
Michael Milstein: 503-294-7689; michaelmilstein@news.oregonian.com
