12 CapitalPress.com
April 21, 2017
Oregon
Wolves kill a calf in Oregon’s Wallowa County
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Stock image
Wolves killed and ate most of a 150-pound calf in Oregon’s Wal-
lowa County April 7.
Wolves killed and ate most
of a 150-pound calf April 7 in
Northeast Oregon’s Wallowa
County, according to Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
A livestock owner noti-
fied ODFW after finding the
calf’s remains and a dead
cow nearby. Wolf tracks, the
size and location of bite and
scrape marks and tracking
collar data showed wolves
were responsible, according
to an ODFW report. Most of
the tissue and the hindquar-
ters of the calf were missing.
The cow was unmarked ex-
cept for a severe eye injury;
its death wasn’t attributed to
wolves.
Tracking collar data
showed a wolf designated
OR-50 was at the kill site at
6 a.m. on April 7. The wolf is
part of the newly designated
Harl Butte Pack.
The attack happened on
private land near the Imnaha
River.
ODFW recently issued
Oregon wetland exemption moves forward
Bill would allow hay
exporter to replace
burned-down barns
Capital Press
Capital Press
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Jesse Bounds runs a straw-compressing facility in Junction City, Ore., that state regulators claim was
rebuilt on a wetland after a fire. A bill addressing his situation is headed to the House floor.
you, but prepare to deal with
wetlands for another year,”
he said.
For example, lawmak-
ers should consider the cre-
ation of authoritative maps
for identifying wetlands and
whether fill-removal enforce-
ment should remain com-
plaint-driven, as it is now,
Clem said.
Another bill that was con-
sidered by the House Agricul-
ture Committee, House Bill
2786, proposed a more exten-
sive solution by exempting
properties from fill-removal
law unless they’re included
in the State Wetland Inven-
tory.
The Oregon Farm Bu-
reau and the Oregonians in
Action property rights group
supported HB 2786, arguing
that landowners need a re-
liable method to determine
if they’re subject to wetland
rules, other than waiting for a
complaint to DSL.
However, opponents of
the bill claimed the State
Wetland Inventory set the
definition for “wetland” too
narrowly, since it doesn’t in-
clude many wetlands.
Clem said that HB 2786
would die this legislative ses-
sion but he planned to con-
vene a workgroup on the wet-
land issue in February 2018.
Two committee members
who were first elected to the
House last year — Rep. Da-
vid Brock Smith, R-Port Or-
ford, and Rep. Karin Power,
D-Milwaukie — volunteered
to work toward a longer-term
solution on the wetland ques-
tion.
Clem attributed their re-
quests to “freshman enthusi-
asm.”
“Wow, you are a glutton
for punishment,” he said.
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ROP-14-4-2/#13
16-1/#8
samples taken from captured
wolves showed a high expo-
sure rate to severe infections.
Also, at least seven wolves
were killed in 2016: four of
them were shot by ODFW for
repeated livestock attacks,
one was shot while caught in
the act of attacking livestock,
and two were killed in cir-
cumstances under investiga-
tion by Oregon State Police.
Meanwhile, the ODFW
Commisson is reviewing the
state’s wolf management plan
this year. The first hearing is
April 21 in Klamath Falls.
Bill exempting some rural
Oregon counties from land
use goals survives key test
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
SALEM — While bringing
a hay exporter one step closer
to rebuilding his burned-down
barns, Oregon lawmakers are
preparing for a broader dis-
cussion about wetland regu-
lations.
After fire destroyed his
two barns last year, state reg-
ulators informed hay exporter
Jesse Bounds that rebuilding
the structures violated Oregon
fill-removal law because his
12-acre property near Junc-
tion City was a wetland.
The parcel wasn’t identi-
fied as a wetland on federal,
state or county maps, but the
Department of State Land
nonetheless determined the
project required a wetland
fill-removal permit due to
soil characteristics and other
features.
Under state law, the fact
that Bounds had received
county approval for rebuild-
ing the barn was irrelevant.
The House Agriculture
Committee has now approved
a bill that would change Ore-
gon fill-removal law to rec-
tify the situation for Bounds
and farmers who find them-
selves in a similar dilemma.
On April 13, the commit-
tee unanimously sent House
Bill 2785 to the House floor
with a “do pass” recommen-
dation.
Under HB 2785, fill-re-
moval requirements would
not apply when replacing
a dwelling or agricultur-
al building on farmland, as
long as the structure receives
county approval, existed be-
fore 2017 and would be on
the same parcel.
Committee Chairman Bri-
an Clem, D-Salem, said the
bill is “just a tiny starting
place” for dealing with con-
flicts that may arise from Or-
egon’s wetland rules.
Wetlands are “treasured
in this state” but it’s been too
long since lawmakers looked
at how they’re defined and
the process for resolving
fill-removal disputes, Clem
said.
“Sorry to spring this on
its annual wolf report, which
showed what biologists said
was weak population growth
in 2016. The report showed
Oregon had a confirmed min-
imum of 112 wolves at the
end of 2016, only two more
than the previous year.
ODFW officials say bad
winter weather made it hard
to count wolves this past year,
and believe there are more
than the survey shows. Other
factors for the low population
gain may include the disease
parvovirus, which could have
taken a toll on pups; blood
SALEM — An bill ex-
empting slow-growing coun-
ties from Oregon’s land use
goals is staying alive this
legislative session, though
it’s probably headed for re-
visions.
Local governments would
be exempt from statewide
goals intended to preserve
farmland and contain growth
under Senate Bill 432, as
long as they have 50,000 or
fewer residents and haven’t
expanded since the last fed-
eral census.
The Senate Environment
and Natural Resources Com-
mittee has unanimously re-
ferred SB 432 to the Senate
Rules Committee without
recommendation.
The action allows the bill
to survive an April 18 legis-
lative deadline that doesn’t
apply to the Senate Rules
Committee.
Lawmakers need time to
change SB 432 to ensure it
doesn’t have a negative im-
pact on the sage grouse in
Eastern Oregon, said Sen.
Mike Dembrow, D-Portland.
“This bill needs work,”
Dembrow said.
The greater sage grouse
was a candidate or federal
protection under the Endan-
gered Species Act, but the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice decided that listing the
bird as threatened was un-
warranted.
The agency’s decision
was based in part on Oregon
land use regulations as well
as voluntary conservation ef-
forts by ranchers.
Landowners would be
able to build new homes
while preserving historic
ones under House Bill 3012,
which was unanimously ap-
proved by the House Agri-
culture Committee.
New homes would be al-
lowed on parcels of at least
two acres in rural residen-
tial zones if the landowners
convert historic houses built
between 1850 and 1945 to
“accessory dwelling units.”
However, another broader
proposal related to “acces-
sory dwelling units” in rural
areas has died this legislative
session.
House Bill 1024 would
permit such dwellings to be
built on the same parcels as
existing homes in rural resi-
dential zones, regardless of
their historic status, allowing
some new development that
would otherwise be restrict-
ed under Oregon’s land use
laws.
The bill is not ready to
move forward this year but
will probably be the sub-
ject of a work group, said
Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Cor-
vallis, chair of the Sen-
ate Committee on Human
Services.
With roughly 700,000
acres of land potentially af-
fected by SB 1024, oppo-
nents worried the bill could
create conflicts with farm-
land, rural roads and wildfire
prevention.
“It was just too broad a
brush,” said Mary Kyle Mc-
Curdy, deputy director of
the 1,000 Friends of Oregon
conservation group.
McCurdy said she appre-
ciated efforts by supporters
of SB 1024 to develop “side-
boards” limiting the bill’s
scope, despite the lack of an
ultimate compromise.
Malheur County economic
development bill goes to
Ways and Means panel
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A bill to issue
$10 million in lottery bonds
to fund economic and work-
force development projects in
Malheur County passed out
of committee Monday.
It heads next to Ways and
Means, the Oregon Legisla-
ture’s bicameral budget-writ-
ing committee, where it will
face more vetting.
The legislation would cre-
ate a specific fund and adviso-
ry board. Seven voting mem-
bers appointed by the governor
would make grants and loans
intended to spur economic de-
velopment. An eighth nonvot-
ing member would be director
of the Oregon Business De-
velopment Department, which
would administer the funds
and provide staff for the board.
Since it was introduced as
legislation in February, the
area of the proposed region
has been expanded to “better
reflect” the communities in the
Treasure Valley, said Speak-
er of the House Tina Kotek,
D-Portland, a sponsor of the
bill along with State Rep. Cliff
Bentz, R-Ontario.
The proposal will face
competition for limited state
bond funds.
While the voting members
of the board would make de-
cisions about how the money
is awarded, if passed, the bill
would place another economic
development program under
the administrative umbrella of
the Oregon Business Develop-
ment Department.
In a recent audit, the Ore-
gon Secretary of State’s Office
found the department didn’t
report on some outcomes of
economic development incen-
tives and loan programs, and
could be better at reporting
information to the public and
lawmakers about awards to
specific businesses.
The prevailing argument in
favor of the legislation seems
to be that southeastern Oregon
faces a competitive disadvan-
tage vis-a-vis Idaho, which
has fewer regulations such
as land use restrictions and a
lower minimum wage.
Under an amendment to
the bill, the board could iden-
tify policies that place the
region at a competitive disad-
vantage; the bill would allow
the board to request a waiver
from the appropriate commis-
sion, board or agency on the
specific issue, which would
in turn be evaluated during a
public hearing.
Paul Skeen, of Nyssa,
the president of the Malheur
County Onion Growers As-
sociation, said the measure
would allow the area’s onion
growers to be more competi-
tive.