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CapitalPress.com
Friday, July 8, 2022
WDFW tried more range-riders before shooting wolves
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington killed two wolves in
June after an influx of range-riders
couldn’t stop the Togo pack from
attacking more calves, according to
Fish and Wildlife reports released
June 29.
Adding more state-funded
range-riders from two organizations
was a last-stand tactic to discourage
a pack with a long history of prey-
ing on cattle in Ferry County.
Fish and Wildlife employees
in May agreed that wolves likely
would attack more calves, but dis-
agreed on whether to cull the pack.
Instead, the department deployed
more range-riders.
When wolves mauled two calves
in June, Fish and Wildlife Director
Kelly Susewind approved a recom-
mendation from Regional Director
Steve Pozzanghera to remove up to
two wolves.
“Unfortunately, even with these
additional reactive non-lethal deter-
rence measures, these latest depre-
dations have occurred,” Pozzang-
WDFW
A wolf in the Togo pack in Ferry County in northeast Washington.
hera told Susewind in an email June
13.
By the end of the week, the
department had removed two of the
pack’s seven adults. The pack has
an unknown number of pups.
Fish and Wildlife released the
reports in response to a records
request from the Capital Press.
The reports provide details on the
department’s thinking in May and
June as the Togo pack renewed its
attacks on cattle.
Department staff initially met
May 23 to discuss whether to shoot
a wolf or two to teach the others to
stay away from cattle.
The pack’s size was a concern
for wildlife managers. It had grown
from three wolves in 2021 to seven
wolves in 2022 and needed more
protein.
Besides killing or injuring
calves, the pack was causing other
problems for ranchers. Wolves
chased an entire pasture of cattle
through a barbed-wire fence.
The department’s report notes
that three ranchers in the Togo pack
territory were trying to prevent the
attacks.
Ranchers tried flashing lights,
motion-activated alarms and elec-
tronic ear tags to keep track of cat-
tle. Brush ripped off most ear tags
and damaged cattle’s ears, one
rancher reported.
Fish and Wildlife set out to
shoot at least one Togo pack wolf
last summer. It failed, but the pack
moved away from cattle, according
to the department.
Once the attacks started again in
May, some Fish and Wildlife staff
argued that unless the department
acted quickly, predations would
escalate to the point where all seven
wolves would have to be killed.
Other staff, however, wanted to
try more range-riders and see if the
attacks were reduced.
Some also discounted a rancher’s
contribution to protecting his cattle
because he didn’t report the exact
times and locations of his move-
ments in pastures, as is required of
state-paid range-riders.
Without a staff consensus on
using lethal control, Pozzanghera
recommended holding off on shoot-
ing wolves. Susewind agreed.
Fish and Wildlife added flash-
ing lights to a pasture and adjusted
a radio collar on one wolf to get
more signals each day on the pack’s
whereabouts.
But the focus was on range-rid-
ing, the department’s No. 1 non-le-
thal deterrent.
In coordination with Fish and
Wildlife, the Cattle Producers
of Washington added a full-time
range-rider to the half-time range-
rider it had in the area in May.
The Northeast Washington
Wolf-Cattle Collaborative added
a full-time and second half-time
range-riders to the area.
Range-riders shifted their sched-
ules because wolf activity increased
in the late mornings and afternoons.
Range-riders checked pastures
for a total of 11 hours on the day
the Togo pack killed a calf June 8.
The department staff reconvened to
again consider lethal control.
Federal land managers face lawsuit over River Democracy Act records
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Federal land managers
are facing a lawsuit alleging
they’ve violated the Freedom
of Information Act by failing
to timely release documents
about the controversial Riv-
ers Democracy Act.
Nearly 4,700 miles of
rivers and streams in Ore-
gon would be federally des-
ignated as “wild and scenic”
under the bill, which critics
fear would restrict logging
and grazing, among other
activities.
The legislation was intro-
duced by Oregon Sens. Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley,
who claim the bill would
shield property rights from
adverse effects while tripling
the number of river miles
with “wild and scenic” pro-
tections in the state.
Federal land manag-
ers testified about the bill
before a congressional sub-
committee last year, which
prompted a FOIA request
from the Western Resources
Legal Center, a legal educa-
tion nonprofit.
“To date, we have not
been provided with any
information and therefore
resorted to legal recourse
under the Freedom of Infor-
mation Act,” said Caroline
Lobdell, the organization’s
executive director.
“The public should not
have to wait for the pro-
posed permanent designa-
tions to occur before they are
allowed to understand the
legislation,” she said in an
email.
Testimony at the hear-
ing indicated government
officials have an “enhanced
understanding of the process,
basis, and potential impacts”
of adding waterways to the
Wild and Scenic River Sys-
tem, according to the legal
center’s lawsuit.
For example, the testi-
EO Media Group File
Land surrounding northeast Oregon’s Imnaha Riv-
er would be affected if the waterway is designated as
“wild and scenic” under the proposed River Democracy
Act. A legal education nonprofit has filed a lawsuit seek-
ing federal records pertaining to the bill.
mony included information
about how many river miles
and surrounding acres man-
aged by the U.S. Forest Ser-
vice and U.S. Bureau of Land
Management would would be
affected by the bill.
The hearing revealed that
government officials “spent
significant time analyzing”
the legislation’s “effect and
methods of enforcement,”
including the need to develop
“comprehensive river man-
agement plans” that guide
how it would be implemented,
according to the legal center.
The legal center wants to
access that information to bet-
ter explain the River Democ-
racy Act to the public and its
constituents, such as farm-
ers and ranchers, who may
“rely on public lands for their
livelihood.”
In late October and early
November of 2021, the cen-
ter submitted FOIA requests
for records pertaining to
the River Democracy Act,
including
congressional
communications related to
the hearing.
No determinations regard-
ing the FOIA requests have
yet been made by the Forest
Service, the Bureau of Land
Management or their govern-
ment overseers — the USDA
and Interior Department —
even though legally mandated
deadlines have passed, the
complaint said.
In light of the “months-
long delay” and “lack of
communication,” the plain-
tiff believes the government
“seeks to hide records from
the public” regarding its inter-
pretation of the bill, the com-
plaint said.
The federal agencies had
not yet responded to requests
for comment about the law-
suit as of press time.
The River Democracy Act
has “significant implications”
for managing roughly 3 mil-
lion acres of “fire prone for-
ests” in the state, and it stands
to reason that government
officials testified “based on
information, data, and anal-
ysis provided to them,” Lob-
dell said.
“We would like to see
that information so that Ore-
gonians can understand the
implications for management
of the proposed lands and
resulting impacts to Orego-
nians and the public so they
can meaningfully engage in
the process,” she said.