The State Board of Agriculture adopts resolutions stating their position on a number of issues impacting agriculture. The Board of Agriculture is reviewing and considering edits on their existing resolution regarding coexistence between livestock and wolves in Oregon, on page 6 of the link. When the Board considered updates to a similar resolution regarding cougar management last November, a number of environmental groups packed that record with hundreds of letters arguing against active management of cougars in Oregon.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to write the Board of Agriculture or sign up to present public comment at the meeting to discus the need for active management of wolves in the state.

The Oregon Farm Bureau has brought to light several points regarding wolves in Oregon:

• Wolf reintroduction in the state has been overwhelmingly successful, with the numbers of wolves growing significantly year to year. However, the impact of wolf reintroduction has been born exclusively by ranchers. Oregon ranchers have been left without the necessary tools to co-exist and manage wolves that kill or injure our livestock.
• The current resolution correctly recognizes many of the challenges and costs associated with wolf reintroduction in Oregon, and correctly advocates for the tools that ranchers need to help coexist with wolves. The Oregon Farm Bureau recommends adding a section supporting changes to the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan to help ensure ranchers have the tools they need to manage wolf conflicts.
• Many contend that the State of Oregon needs to normalize wolf management and treat wolves as they treat other predators in the state. We need changes to the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan to require increased management of wolf populations through collaring and wolf management zones, authorize take of problem wolves in all phases, and allow for qualified local determinations of depredations. These changes would begin to give ranchers the tools they need to coexist with wolves while protecting their livestock from repeated depredation.
• These changes were not adopted in the last update to the Plan. Some think it makes more sense for the Board to update their resolution to advocate for changes to the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan the normalize management of wolves with other predators, give landowners the tools they need to co-exist with wolves, and support adequate compensation for ranchers who experience wolf depredation.

Written comments from the public can be made by email to: Karla Valness at kvalness@oda.state.or.us by 5:00 PM on Thursday, January 14, 2021.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-01-09 16:59:03

Last Update: 2021-01-09 17:33:50