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Wednesday, June 28, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Roadkill: It’s what’s for
dinner under new law
By Andrew Selsky
Associated Press
SALEM (AP) — Some
folks in Oregon might not
want to ask, when served
an elk burger or a venison
steak, where the meat came
from. Under a roadkill bill
passed overwhelmingly by
the Legislature and signed by
the governor, motorists who
crash into the animals can
now harvest the meat to eat.
And it’s not as unusual as
people might think. About
20 other states also allow
people to take meat from
animals killed by vehicles.
Aficionados say roadkill can
be high-quality, grass-fed
grub.
Washington state began
allowing the salvaging of
deer and elk carcasses a year
ago. Pennsylvania might top
the country in road kills, with
Oregon wildlife officials tell-
ing lawmakers that the east-
ern state had over 126,000
vehicle-wildlife accidents in
2015.
Gov. Kate Brown signed
Oregon’s bill last week after
the Senate and House passed
it without a single “nay”
vote.
But a few Oregonians
voiced opposition.
Vivian Kirkpatrick-Pilger,
a Republican Party official
in mountainous, forested
Josephine County, told legis-
lators that people have been
salvaging roadkill meat in
Oregon for years — since
vehicles and animals have
been colliding — and they
never needed a law or permit
to do it.
Actually, the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife said that before
last week, the only people
allowed to keep roadkill
were licensed furtakers, and
no one — not even licensed
hunters — could keep game
animals found as roadkill.
“A lot of who people
don’t hunt hear the word
‘roadkill’ and they get turned
off,” Toven said. “We’re
talking perfectly clean, cold
meat.”
Oregon’s new law calls
for the state Fish and Wildlife
Commission to adopt rules
for the issuance of permits
for the purpose of salvaging
meat for human consumption
from deer or elk that have
been accidentally killed in a
vehicle collision.
The first permits are to
be issued no later than Jan.
1, 2019. The antlers must
be handed over to the state’s
wildlife agency.
isolated public lands in central and east-
ern Oregon that many people have never
heard of—the Pillars of Rome, Crack in the
Ground, Mickey Hot Springs, etc. Most
of us love these wild places and want to
keep them forever. They support the grow-
ing outdoor recreation economy, and they
are very popular. Millions of Americans
visit them every year, and those of us living
in the West love them more than most. Just
a couple of numbers say it all: Almost 95%
of us visit public lands and over 80 percent
believe funding for these lands should not
be cut.
Sadly, some lawmakers don’t want to
support these rare and special places. They
want to “dispose of excess” public lands by
handing them over to the states. At first this
might sound like a great idea. Here in Oregon
we love our wild lands and could take care
of them very well. But where would the
money come from? Oregon has ongoing bud-
get problems, and other states are in similar
situations.
If states are forced to take over manage-
ment of public lands, they might have to raise
taxes or sell these lands to the highest bidder.
No more hunting, fishing, mountain biking,
hiking, camping, climbing, swimming, soak-
ing, picnicking, animal watching, meditating,
or enjoying our wild lands. Right now, we all
own the land and have the right to enjoy these
beautiful places. Not for much longer if greed
wins over common sense.
Make sure your representative in Congress,
Greg Walden, knows how you feel about pro-
tecting our public lands. Call him in Bend
at 541-389-4408 or email him via this web-
site: https://walden.house.gov/contact-greg/
email-me.
Paula Surmann
LETTERS
Continued from page 2
Wilt Road need to remember a few things:
This road goes through National Grasslands
and is EXTREMELY dry, and susceptible to
wildfire.
No one should attempt to camp out here,
smoke out here, or park a vehicle on the side
of the road out here for fear of igniting grasses
with the bottom of a hot car. This is not just
empty land, but family ranches, with live-
stock. We don’t need ya’ll burning us out.
There is only sporadic cell service. Verizon
is the only one I know of that gets any moder-
ate connection in certain places out here. Even
so, it is sketchy at best.
It is a difficult road and not suitable for
“cars” but more for SUVs and other vehicles
with high clearance due to rocks, ruts and wild
grasses.
Enter this area with extreme caution. It
would probably be wisest not to attempt to
access this area, unless you know what you’re
doing.
Michelle Ehr
s
s
s
To the Editor:
Public lands generate a lot of income for
local economies. Lodging, restaurants, camp-
grounds, outdoor equipment stores, guides,
souvenir shops, etc. spring up nearby. In fact,
household income increases following desig-
nation of a National Monument. Communities
leading into our National Parks benefit the
most with jobs and economic activity. By
one estimate, every tax dollar invested in the
National Park Service returns $10 to the U.S.
economy. This is a big deal.
I’ve been lucky enough to visit wild and
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