Proposal to delist gray wolf comes to Eastern Oregon
Citizens will get opportunity to voice opinions on subject
By Phil Wright
of the East Oregonian
The only Oregon public meeting and hearing on the federal proposal to delist the gray wolf from the endangered species list comes to Pendleton Wednesday.
For meeting details, including time, date and place, please refer to the accompanying “when and where” box. Meetings also will be held next week in Boise and Spokane Valley. Others already have been held in Wyoming, Utah and Montana.
The proposal from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist wolves in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and parts of Washington, Idaho and Utah is based on the service’s determination the Northern Rocky Mountain population has exceeded recovery goals and potential threats, except inadequate state regulations in northwestern Wyoming, have been resolved.
Russ Morgan, of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, is the state coordinator of the “Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan,” the 116-page document that outlines the state’s management, monitoring and education guidelines for gray wolves. The state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted the plan in 2005 in anticipation of gray wolves coming into Oregon. Morgan said delisting the wolf at the federal level gives the state greater control.
“It’s important to make clear that federal delisting would allow state authorities more options to manage problem wolves,” Morgan said.
Under the state’s plan now, wild wolves that enter the state are fully protected by the Endangered Species Act, which the federal Fish and Wildlife Service has legal authority to administer and enforce. Further, because the wolf is listed as endangered, it’s against the law for someone to kill a wolf, even if it’s killed livestock. And that is a sticking point for some cattle ranchers and sheep herders, including Sharon Livingston, president of the Oregon Cattleman’s Association.
“This is our drop dead issue,” she said. “We should have the right to protect our property – cattle, sheep, dogs – if we’re invaded by a wolf.”
Livingston lives in Long Creek, about 90 miles south of Pendleton, where she runs about 250 head of cattle. She contends the law is on the side of wolves and not the people the predators could affect. Further, she said even if the federal government delists the wolf, the state still considers it as endangered.
Under the state’s Wolf Plan, the state can delist the gray wolf only when wolves establish four breeding pairs over three consecutive years in both the west and east of the state.
“Which in realistic terms, when we look at pack sizes, we’re looking at between 70 and 90 wolves in all of Eastern Oregon,” Morgan said.
At that point the plan would enter it’s second phase of establishing another five to seven breeding pairs.
“That’s considered a buffer phase,” Morgan said. Once the wolves are delisted, the state doesn’t want to list them again. The second phase also allows more landowners more flexibility and management options for dealing with wolves.
The final stage calls for another five to seven breeding pairs as a management objective.
But Livingston has her doubts about delisting on any level. She said conservation groups already have filed lawsuits against the federal agencies so it could be years before anyone sees any result from delisting the wolf.
“I don’t believe in my lifetime the wolves will be delisted for sure in Oregon,” she said.
But even if the delisting is hung up in court, House Bill 2295 could provide some comfort to livestock owners.
HB 2295 defines the gray wolf as a game mammal and directs the state Fish and Wildlife Commission to establish special management regulations for the animal. Morgan said also it has a lethal component that allows landowners the flexibility to deal with wolves under certain circumstances.
Right now the bill is in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, and subsequently was referred to Ways and Means. No public hearings or work sessions have been scheduled.
When and where:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will hold a public meeting and hearing to discuss delisting the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list.
The public meeting will be from 3-5 p.m. followed by the hearing from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at the Pendleton Red Lion Inn, 304 S.E. Nye Avenue. The meetings and hearings are intended to provide information about the proposal, answer citizens’ questions and receive formal testimony for the record.