It would permit the animals to be killed only as a last resort
Russ Morgan, Oregon’s wolf coordinator, during radio-collaring. (AP Photo/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife)
Published:
GRANTS PASS — Conservation groups
and cattle ranchers have agreed to a landmark settlement in a lawsuit
that, for the past year and a half, has kept the state of Oregon from
killing wolves that prey on livestock.
The agreement announced Friday by the
governor’s office creates a new rulebook for wolf management in Oregon
that makes killing the ones that prey on cattle and sheep a last resort
after nonlethal protections have been tried and livestock attacks have
become chronic.
It also gives ranchers greater authority to kill wolves that attack or chase their herds as long as certain conditions are met.
Brett Brownscombe, the governor’s natural
resources adviser, said the agreement will help bring peace to a
longstanding and bitter conflict.
“Before, there had always been a lot of
rhetoric about, ‘We can’t tolerate wolves here, and all this nonlethal
stuff won’t work,’ ” Brownscombe said. “Now the reality is wolves are
here, and we have to be able to protect our property through reasonable
means.
“Nonlethal techniques are going to be part
of the expected approach forward. People are going to have assurances
that if there are problems, they will have some recourse and things
won’t be stuck in the courts.”
Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and the
Center for Biological Diversity sued the state in October 2011 after the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a kill order for two
wolves in the Imnaha Pack. It was the first pack to form in Oregon from
wolves crossing the Snake River from Idaho, and the one blamed for more
livestock kills than any other.
The lawsuit claimed the kill order violated the state Endangered Species Act and would doom the pack.
Saying conservation groups were likely to
win, the Oregon Court of Appeals barred the state from killing wolves
until the lawsuit was resolved. That made Oregon the only state with
wolves where authorities could not kill those that preyed on livestock.
During the course of that court order, the
numbers of wolves went up in Oregon, while the number of livestock
killed went down. In neighboring Idaho, hunting brought down the numbers
of wolves, but livestock attacks went up.
The Center for Biological Diversity dropped out of the settlement because it allowed wolves to be killed.
“This is going to become the most
progressive management plan in the country for avoiding these conflicts
before they happen,” said Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon
Wild.
“If everybody stays true to the agreement, I
think you will see lethal control very rarely,” said Rob Klavins of
Oregon Wild. “It will be an option of last resort.”
Wallowa County cattle rancher Rod Childers,
a longtime hardliner on wolves and chairman of the wolf committee for
the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, said the agreement formalizes
standards that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife already had
been following.
Childers added that the numbers of attacks
attributed to wolves had been rising in May, and cattlemen agreed to the
settlement to bring back the ability of state biologists to manage
wolves. Ranchers also get new authority to shoot wolves that chase their
herds.
“This does not bring resolution to everybody,” he said, “but it does get management back.”
The settlement was filed with the court
Thursday night, Brownscombe said. The original kill order on the Imnaha
Pack has been lifted, but if the pack is blamed for one more livestock
attack, members of the pack will be eligible for a kill order under the
new rules.
The new rules update a wolf management plan
adopted in 2005. Under the new rules, a pack would have to be linked by
hard evidence to four separate attacks on livestock over six months
before becoming eligible for lethal control.
For an attack to count, ranchers must have
used basic nonlethal protections, such as alarm boxes and low strings of
plastic flags known as fladdery. The state must conduct an open and
thorough investigation.
Ranchers would get statutory authority to
kill wolves attacking their livestock. They could shoot wolves seen
chasing livestock if they have taken nonlethal steps to protect herds
and they are the victims of chronic attacks.
The department has adopted a temporary rule
putting the new lethal control standards into effect, but they still
must be adopted permanently by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission,
Brownscombe said.
The Legislature still has to enact a law to put the authority to kill wolves attacking and chasing herds into effect.
“Before, there had always been a lot of rhetoric about, ‘We can’t tolerate wolves here, and all this nonlethal stuff won’t work.’ Now the reality is wolves are here, and we have to be able to protect our property through reasonable means. Nonlethal techniques are going to be part of the expected approach forward. People are going to have assurances that if there are problems, they will have some recourse and things won’t be stuck in the courts.”Brett Brownscombethe governor’s natural resources adviser
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