Groups spar over wolves
MICHAEL MILSTEIN in the Oregonian
06/11/02
Supporters and opponents of bringing wolves back to Oregon are forcing the
issue, pressing the state Fish and Wildlife Commission to act on a state
Endangered Species Act that has long gone unnoticed.
The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Oregon Farm Bureau Federation and
Oregon State Grange have petitioned the commission to remove wolves from
the state’s list of endangered species, saying the predators exterminated
decades ago are effectively extinct and do not warrant protection.
At the same time, nine conservation groups have formally petitioned the
commission to take the first steps mandated by the state Endangered
Species Act to return wolves to Oregon.
Neither move would have immediate effect, because wolves remain protected
by the federal Endangered Species Act. But federal officials are proposing
to begin the process of declaring wolves recovered and dropping their
federal protection later this year. That would leave wolf management up to
the states.
Three wolves are known to have entered Oregon since federal wildlife
authorities began reintroducing the species to central Idaho and
Yellowstone National Park in 1995 as part of a government recovery
program. Biologists say more wolves may be roaming remote parts of the
state undetected.
Oregon’s Endangered Species Act appears to give the petition by
conservation groups the upper hand, because state attorneys acknowledge
the law affords wolves special protection in the state. It also requires
the Fish and Wildlife Commission to develop survival guidelines for
state-listed endangered species.
The commission has not done so for most species, including wolves.
“Failure to take action will result not only in the continued violation of
the Oregon ESA, but also in continued dereliction for the recovery
potential of this endangered species,” says the petition submitted by the
Oregon Natural Desert Association, Hells Canyon Preservation Council,
Humane Society of the United States and six other groups.
It says the Fish and Wildlife Commission must immediately begin drawing up
survival guidelines for wolves in Oregon and determine whether state land
can play a role in wolf recovery, as the state law mandates.
The law also says the Fish and Wildlife Commission must decide within 90
days whether the petition by ranching groups to drop the wolf from the
state endangered list provides “sufficient scientific evidence” to warrant
further consideration, said state Department of Justice attorney Bill
Cook.
The ultimate showdown may come in the Oregon Legislature early next year,
where wolf opponents are mobilizing to revise or repeal the state
Endangered Species Act. Al Elkins of the Oregon Hunters Association told
the Fish and Wildlife Commission at a meeting last week that two lawmakers
have contacted him to lend assistance.
The hunters association opposes the return of wolves to Oregon because of
“the absolute devastation it does to wildlife,” Elkins said.
Others at the meeting said, though, that wolves are one of the state’s
original species of wildlife and can be accommodated if there are ways to
capture or kill those that attack livestock and provide compensation for
ranchers who lose animals to wolves.
“It is not doom and gloom,” said Carl Scheeler, wildlife manager for the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. “We have got to
manage wolves as populations that are part of the ecosystem.”
The meeting was the second “workshop” the commission has held to learn
more about wolf recovery and management as wolves spread from the
reintroduction zones to other parts of the West. The panel has taken no
position on wolves, although Chairman John Esler said the state must
eventually decide how to handle the animals.