Friday, April 30, 2021
CapitalPress.com 3
Advocates urge Little to
veto wolf-control bill
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
The Center for Biological
Diversity on April 27 called
on Idaho Gov. Brad Little to
veto a bill that would allow
a substantial increase in the
annual wolf harvest includ-
ing through new methods.
Little’s offi ce would not
comment on whether he will
sign the bill.
The full Senate passed
Senate Bill 1211 on April
21 by a vote of 26-7-2. The
House passed it 58-11-1 on
April 27 and sent it to Little
for his signature.
It expands harvest oppor-
tunities and allowed meth-
ods of take — including by
private contractors, snow-
mobiles and all-terrain vehi-
cles — and increases fund-
ing the Idaho Department of
Fish and Game transfers to
the Wolf Depredation Con-
trol Board from the current
$110,000 to $300,000. The
board also is funded by the
livestock industry and the
state general fund.
Idaho had just over 1,500
wolves each of the last two
summers, according to Fish
and Game counts using cam-
eras and other methods, after
harvest of around 500 each
year by hunting, trapping and
for depredation control.
A 2002 wolf conserva-
tion and management plan
calls for at least 150 wolves
and 15 packs in the state.
The state has been managing
wolves for about a decade.
Associated Press reported the
legislation’s opponents said it
threatens the 2002 plan and
could lead to the federal gov-
ernment assuming control.
“If this horrifi c bill passes,
Idaho could nearly wipe out
its wolf population,” Andrea
Zaccardi, a senior attorney
at the Center for Biological
Diversity, said in a release.
“Unless we can stop this
from becoming law, decades
of progress towards wolf
recovery will be lost.”
The center said if the gov-
ernor signs the bill, it will
consider next steps to pro-
tect Idaho’s wolves and wild-
life, which may include legal
action.
Little “must veto this
cruel and disastrous bill,”
Zaccardi said. “Idaho’s state
wildlife agency should be
allowed to continue to man-
age wolves, not anti-wolf
legislators dead-set on exter-
minating the state’s wolves.
We’re going to do everything
we can to fi ght for the sur-
vival of wolves in Idaho.”
Zaccardi said wolves kill
well below 1% of Idaho’s
livestock annually, and elk
populations are above man-
agement objectives in most
of the state.
Eastern Idaho rancher and
wolf board member Rich-
ard Savage said it’s highly
unlikely the population
would be reduced by any-
where near 90% soon.
“Hunting wolves is dif-
fi cult,” he said. “There is
not much risk we would put
much pressure on the popu-
lation. I don’t think we’ll get
even close.”
And the wolf board acts in
response to reported depre-
dations, Savage said.
“We are not a popula-
tion-management
board,”
he said. “We are depreda-
tion control.” A wolf control
action is taken only after an
investigation confi rms a live-
stock depredation as wolf-
caused and Fish and Game
approves.
He said SB 1211 “appears
to add more tools that the
Depredation Control Board
can consider to use to con-
trol depredations moving
forward. I’m optimistic we
could limit depredations and
perhaps more than anything,
where elk populations are
struggling, benefi t wildlife
more than livestock.”
Sarah Bassing/University of Washington
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife re-
ported April 23 that the state had at least 178 wolves at
the end of 2020, up 22% from the year before.
Washington Fish and Wildlife
toasts higher wolf count
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington
wildlife
managers reported Fri-
day that the state’s mini-
mum wolf count rose by
22% to 178 wolves in 2020,
with more than 100 concen-
trated in three counties in the
northeast corner of the state.
The state’s wolf popu-
lation has increased for 12
straight years. For the fi rst
time, four breeding pairs
were documented in the
North Cascades, a milestone
for meeting statewide recov-
ery objectives.
“I think it’s fabulous
news. I think it should be a
cause for celebration,” state
Fish and Wildlife Director
Kelly Susewind said.
The count was based on
year-end surveys by Fish
and Wildlife and an esti-
mate by the Colville tribe,
which manages wolves on
its northeast Washington
reservation.
Wolves have been recol-
onizing Washington since
2008. The state’s recovery
goals call for at least four
breeding pairs in Eastern
Washington, the North Cas-
cades and South Cascades
for three straight years.
The goal has long been
surpassed in Eastern Wash-
ington, especially in Ferry,
Pend Oreille and Stevens
counties, where 19 of the
state’s 29 packs roam.
The North Cascades
will need to retain at least
four breeding pairs for two
more years. The South Cas-
cades recovery zone, which
extends through southwest
Washington to the coast, has
no confi rmed wolves.
Stevens County Cattle-
men’s Association Pres-
ident Scott Nielsen said
more wolves in northeast
Washington will mean for
more problems for livestock
producers.
“It’s is not a cause for
celebration, at least not for
ranchers,” he said. “We have
more and more confl ict.”
State wildlife managers
envision wolves dispers-
ing into the South Cascades,
completing recovery and
perhaps leading to wolves
being taken off the state’s
endangered species list.
“We were told we were
going to have a little pain
and then the wolves would
disperse,” Nielsen said.
“That is the way it is sup-
posed to work. People here
can see that it’s not the way
it’s working.”
Fish and Wildlife tracked
eight dispersing wolves that
were wearing radio col-
lars. None of them headed
toward the South Cascades.
Fish and Wildlife state-
wide wolf specialist Ben
Maletzke said he expects
wolves to start colonizing
the South Cascades, espe-
cially as more packs fi ll up
the North Cascades.
Interstate 90 forms the
boundary between the
recovery zones. “I-90 is a
pretty formidable structure,
but it takes a nanosecond for
a wolf to make it across,”
Maletzke said.
Competing fi sh needs spark Klamath legal dispute
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
The competing needs of
diff erent protected fi sh spe-
cies are pitting the Klamath
Tribes against the federal
government in a court bat-
tle with legal implications
for Oregon irrigators.
The Klamath Tribes are
seeking an injunction to
scale back how much water
the federal government can
release from Upper Klam-
ath Lake to the detriment of
endangered sucker species
that inhabit it.
The tribes claim the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation has
reduced the lake’s water
level below the minimum
needed for Lost River and
shortnose suckers, contrary
to the Endangered Spe-
cies Act’s requirements for
operating the Klamath Irri-
gation project.
“These fi sh are critically
endangered. There are very
few of them left,” said Jay
Weiner, the tribes’ attorney,
during April 26 oral argu-
ments in federal court.
The bureau has priori-
tized fl ows in the Klamath
river to benefi t threatened
coho salmon, jeopardizing
the survival of the suckers
by allowing the lake to fall
below levels needed to sus-
tain them, he said.
The suckers are long-
lived species and the gov-
Associated Press File
A debate over water levels in Oregon’s Upper Klamath Lake has sparked a legal
dispute among tribes, irrigators and the federal government.
ernment is counting on
them to again withstand
insuffi cient water levels this
year, Weiner said.
“The problem with
that is the fi sh are at the
edge of their natural lifes-
pan. There’s no guarantee
they’ll be back next year
to be able to reproduce,”
he said. “We’re conduct-
ing a real-time experiment
on how far you can push an
aging population.”
While a springtime
“fl ushing fl ow” of the river
is meant to lower para-
site populations that harm
salmon, they face a less dire
situation than endangered
sucker species in the lake,
the tribes argue.
Meanwhile, the bureau
has basically given up on
assuring adequate water
levels in the lake due to this
year’s drought, Weiner said.
“They said we’re not going
to make it, so we’re just not
going to worry about it.”
Endangered species are
also entitled to greater legal
protections than threatened
species under federal court
precedents, he said. “The
needs of the endangered
species need to come fi rst.”
U.S. District Judge
Michael McShane should
prohibit the springtime
fl ushing fl ow and order that
less water be released from
Upper Klamath Lake to
bring it closer to minimum
levels required by the “bio-
logical opinion” that guides
the project’s operations
plan, the tribes argue.
The Bureau of Recla-
mation argues the tribes
have demanded an injunc-
tion that favors certain pro-
tected species over others
when there’s simply insuffi -
cient water to meet all their
needs.
An injunction isn’t war-
ranted because the scarcity
of water is due to natural
conditions, not anything the
Bureau of Reclamation has
done, the agency said.
“Reclamation can’t con-
trol the weather. It can’t
be blamed for this historic
drought,” said Robert Wil-
liams, the agency’s attor-
ney. “The lake just never
got full.”
Radish seed farmers drop $6.7 million lawsuit against bank
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A group of Oregon farm-
ers has dropped a lawsuit
that sought $6.7 million
from an out-of-state bank
that allegedly reduced their
radish seed crop’s value.
The Radish Seed Grow-
ers Association and two
seed companies have stipu-
lated to a dismissal of their
complaint against North-
west Bank of Warren, Pa.,
with each side bearing its
own litigation costs.
Attorneys for the rad-
ish seed farmers and the
bank did not respond to
requests for comment on
the dismissal.
In 2015, Northwest Bank
sought to seize radish seed
from more than 40 Oregon
farms that had contracted to
grow it for a defunct cover
crop seed broker.
When the seed bro-
ker went out of business,
Northwest Bank claimed
the 7.4 million pounds of
radish seed that served as
collateral for a loan taken
out by the company.
A federal judge rejected
the bank’s arguments and
allowed the farmers to sell
the seed because the bank
held no security interest in
it. The ruling was upheld by
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals.
The farmers fi led a
lawsuit in 2017 claiming
Northwest Bank’s actions
forced them to spend
more money on storage
costs and then sell the rad-
ish seed at a signifi cantly
diminished value.
The bank tried to get
the lawsuit thrown out
of court, arguing that its
actions were shielded by
the “absolute litigation
privilege” that protects
parties from liability for
allegations made in court.
The farmers argued the
lawsuit shouldn’t be dis-
missed because Northwest
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Bank sent letters outside
court urging seed compa-
nies not to buy the crop,
which eff ectively killed the
market for radish seed.
The bank lacked an ade-
quate “probable cause” to
believe it actually owned a
security interest in the seed
when it warned off poten-
tial buyers, according to the
farmers.
JEWETT
After a federal judge
refused to dismiss the law-
suit, fi nding that the case
should be decided by a
jury, Northwest Bank fi led
another appeal to the 9th
Circuit last year.
Briefi ng on the appeal
was postponed after a medi-
ation conference and ulti-
mately called off due to the
case’s dismissal.
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