Editorial
Some state legislators
are attempting an end run around a legal challenge to the removal of the
gray wolf from Oregon’s endangered species list.
Late last year, the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission removed the gray wolf from
Oregon’s endangered species list, threatening the recovery of a species
that had been hunted to extinction here in the early 1900s.
Three environmental groups promptly
sued, saying it was premature to remove the wolf from the protection
afforded by the list. But House Bill 4040, being carried in the
Legislature by Rep. Greg Barreto, R-La Grande, would make the
commission’s decision to de-list the wolf a law, effectively cutting off
judicial review.
The bill — which was drafted before
the legislative session began — passed the House by a vote of 33 to 23,
with 10 Democrats and 23 Republicans voting in favor and 23 Democrats
opposed. (Two Democrats and two Republicans did not vote.)
Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio has
sent a blistering letter to his fellow Democrats in the state Senate,
urging them to vote against the bill.
DeFazio said it is undermining his
fight to keep protections for the gray wolf in place at the federal
level. He described it as an attempt to block a judicial review of the
decision to de-list the wolf and called it “an extreme precedent-setting
measure that should not be taken lightly... or used as a political
bargaining chip.”
There are currently about 100 gray
wolves in Oregon, or about 7 percent of what studies show the state
could support. The species’ still-fragile recovery has occurred while
wolves were under both state and federal protection.
But wolves in Eastern Oregon are now
off the federal endangered species list — they were removed four years
ago — and federal officials are proposing that wolves in Western Oregon
also be removed. In addition, Oregon’s wolf plan is coming up for review
soon, which could mean the removal of additional protections.
The main proponents for removing
protection for wolves, including taking them off endangered species
lists, are ranchers, especially in Eastern Oregon.
Despite ranchers’ antipathy, wolves
account for very few livestock deaths, according to U.S. Department of
Agriculture statistics. In Oregon, by far the largest cause of cattle
deaths is illness, including respiratory and digestive ailments,
according to the USDA. The USDA suggested that, if ranchers want to
reduce losses, they should prevent the introduction and spread of
disease; improve preventive health and nutrition, and provide timely
assistance to cows during calving season.
Of the 3 percent of cattle that were
lost to predators, the main culprit was coyotes, according to the USDA.
Wolves are coyotes’ natural enemies.
In areas where wolf populations have
flourished under government protection, including the northern Rocky
Mountains, there has not been a corresponding increase in cattle deaths,
according to studies by the International Wolf Center, which notes that
wolves prefer natural prey such as deer and elk.
The bill now making its way through
the Legislature is an ill-advised attempt to circumvent judicial review
of an equally ill-advised decision to dismantle protection for an animal
that is an integral part of the Oregon ecosystem.
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