Oregon House will decide on wildlife act changes
MICHELLE COLE
The Oregon House is expected to vote today on changes to the state
Endangered Species Act that conservationists argue could not only
undermine the return of the gray wolf but also have implications for
salmon and other endangered species.
Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife and the governor’s office
disagree, saying that the changes are meant to streamline the state’s
Endangered Species Act.
“This will help the Department of Fish and Wildlife to deal with a couple
of species on the list that shouldn’t be there,” Jim Myron, the governor’s
advisor on fish and wildlife issues, said Monday.
House Bill 2458 is what remains of several legislative proposals
introduced this year to rewrite the state’s Endangered Species Act. The
law applies only to state agencies and state-owned lands.
Thirty-six fish, birds, reptiles and mammals are listed by the state as
either threatened or endangered. All but eight species on Oregon’s list
are also listed as threatened or endangered under federal law.
House Bill 2458 establishes new conditions and procedures for removing a
species from the state’s threatened or endangered list. It would allow for
a species to be removed if it is “secure” outside the state.
The measure would also allow the Fish and Wildlife Commission to delist a
species if the commission finds the species is “not of cultural,
scientific or commercial significance” to Oregonians.
The changes are intended to solve problems state Fish and Wildlife
officials have encountered when a species is delisted by the federal
government.
For example, Oregon would like to follow the federal government’s lead and
delist the Aleutian Canada Goose, said Ron Anglin, the state department’s
wildlife division administrator.
But, Anglin said, as Oregon’s law is written today, the Aleutian Canada
Goose cannot be removed from the state list until its ability to reproduce
in Oregon is assured.
The catch: The Aleutian Canada Goose winters in Oregon but does not
reproduce here.
“We cannot ensure reproductive success of those birds,” Anglin said.
But conservationists — including the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife
and the Hells Canyon Preservation Council, say House Bill 2458 affects
more than just the delisting of the Aleutian Canada Goose.
Delisting a species because it does not have any cultural, scientific or
commercial value to Oregonians means the gray wolf, or any other
“politically unpopular” species could be removed from state protection,
said Martin Taylor, Sierra Club lobbyist.
Of the dozen or so Endangered Species Act bills introduced this session,
Taylor said this bill becomes the last option for rural lawmakers
concerned about the presence of wolves in Eastern Oregon.
Three wolves from a population introduced in Idaho have strayed into the
state and more are expected. Two of the three were killed, and the other
returned to Idaho.
If House Bill 2458 passes a floor vote, it will go to the Senate where a
similar measure was stopped in committee.
Should it clear the Legislature and be signed into law by Gov. Ted
Kulongoski, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association may lobby for the removal
of the gray wolf from the state’s endangered species list.
A delisting could only occur following public hearings.
“This bill would allow the commission to make some common sense
decisions,” Glen Stonebrink, executive director of the Cattlemen’s
Association said Monday.
“We did not write the bill,” he said. “But we’re pleased overall.”