Oregon counties are asking the state for $145,436 to compensate ranchers for losses to wolves.
Top county requests include $30,000 from Union and Umatilla counties.
Wallowa County, site of nearly two-dozen wolf depredations in recent years — including several since the Aug. 2 implementation of the fund — requested $27,230.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has fielded several reports of wolf activity in Union and Umatilla counties, but has yet to confirm a livestock loss to wolves in those counties.
Wolf depredation losses must be confirmed by ODFW to be eligible for compensation.
The fund also compensates ranchers for missing animals and for the cost of implementing nonlethal control measures.
Oregon lawmakers established the wolf compensation fund in 2011, putting $100,000 into it for the 2011-13 biennium. Under rules governing the fund, counties submit grant requests to the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
Other county grant requests include $24,286 from Jefferson, $20,000 from Grant, $7,500 from Baker, $3,900 from Malheur, $2,520 from Crook.
The ODA expects to announce grant awards in the next few days.
— Mitch Lies