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Street Roots • June 22-28, 2018 News Page 7 Poll: Most Oregonians want environmental preservation Oregon Wild hopes results will be a wake-up call for lawmakers on public policy BY EMILY GREEN SENIOR STAFF REPORTER esults of a cross-sectional survey conducted across Oregon in early May reveal the majority of both Republicans and Democrats within'the state agree on several pertinent environmental policy issues affecting regional habitats. Protections for wolves and wildlife refuges, along with sustainable forestry, garnered overall, wide-margined support in the public opinion poll conducted by Florida-based Mason-Dixon Polling and W IK IC O M M O N S Strategy on behalf of Oregon Wild. Grey wolf Oregon Wild spokesperson Arran Robertson said he hopes this poll will serve as “a wake up call for policy that negatively impact waterways and fish makers.” habitat, Robertson said. That’s because, like similar polls his The majority of Republicans, organization has commissioned in the Democrats and Independents in Oregon past, Robertson said issues broached do also agreed the federal government not appear to be highly partisan or should not siphon large amounts of water controversial, with results showing more from wildlife refuges to irrigate crops than 60 or 70 percent of voters in during drought. agreement on the environmental issues This question was posed to voters as it pollsters raised. relates to Southern Oregon’s Klamath “But when we propose policy solutions Basin, which contains six wildlife refuges - whether they be about forests or public and has been used as a source of water lands or wolves - those decisions become for nearby agriculture during droughts for leaders, much over the past two R m o r e c o n tr o v e r sia l,” d ecad es. he said. “The public “The wildlife is far beyond our °The public is far bejossd oar refuge, which is representation on representation on strength» supposed to be a strengthening ending environm ental protec refuge for wildlife, environmental ends up becoming tions lo r w ild life and pnbllc protections for this holding tank for lands, and there Is this dis wildlife and public water for industrial connect between ns and some agriculture,” lands, and there is this disconnect of ear p o litic a l leadership/" Robertson said. between us and An Oregon ARRAN ROBERTSON some of our political OREGON WILD SPOKESPERSON governor has leadership.” declared a drought Pollsters in the basin during conducted landline 10 of the past 16 and mobile years, and Gov. Kate Brown declared telephone interviews of 625 randomly another drought in March. The frequent selected registered voters representing water shortages have greatly strained the state’s political, demographic and farmers and cattle ranchers in the area. rural/urban makeup. Their reliance on the use of refuge water The poll found 86 percent of has in turn taxed the health of salmon Democrats and 68 percent of and other wildlife, numerous studies Republicans are either strongly or show. somewhat supportive of requiring that Sixty seven percent of the poll’s wood products used in mass timber come respondents - 71 percent Democrat and from “locally, sustainably-sourced forests 54 percent Republican - indicated they that restrict steep slope clear cutting.” do not support farming within the Steep-slope clear cutting is allowed boundaries of these wildlife refuges, as is under the Oregon Forest Practices Act currently practiced. and accounts for much of the clear Robertson said upon visiting Klamath cutting that takes place across the state. Basin, he’s seen where farmers have This can lead to erosion and landslides hung life-size eagle replicas near their V «■»Siili crops, “designed to scare wildlife off the wildlife refuge.” While more than half of Republicans voiced support of conservation measures, support was stronger among Democrats and voters who registered as Independent or other. Support was also stronger in the Portland metro and Willamette Valley areas than in rural areas, generally stronger among women than men, and stronger among people younger than 50 than people older than 50. But Republicans were not in majority support of every conservation measure. When asked if they were supportive of the Trump administration’s move to open up the Cascade Siskiyou monument in Oregon to logging and energy extraction, 56 percent of Republicans said they support it, while 88 percent of Democrats said they oppose the move. Robertson said when issues become national talking points they turn partisan. “But then when we come back with the next question, which is ‘Do you think congressional representatives should be more strident in designating public lands as parks as wilderness and refuges?’ you see the numbers go back up,” he said. The poll also sought to take the pulse of Oregonians’ perceptions of how seriously wolves threaten Oregon’s cattle industry. More than half of respondents over estimated the number of cattle killed by wolves in 2017 (there were 11 cattle deaths that were confirmed as wolf kills), but 79 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of Republicans said they “do not” believe wolves pose an economic threat to the cattle industry. Additionally, 73 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of Republicans said they support continued protections for Oregon’s wolves, with 63 percent of respondents overall in support. Oregon Wild hopes these poll results will, in part, influence Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife commissioners as they rewrite the state’s Wolf Plan. Changes under consideration include loosening regulations on wolf hunting and lowering the bar for using lethal control of wolf populations to protect cattle. The update was initially slated for completion in 2015, but has been ongoing and could be voted on as early as August. Do you support or oppose requiring wood products used in mass timber projects to come from local, sustainably managed forests that restrict steep slope clear-cutting? Generally, do you support or oppose the Trump administration opening up the Bears Ears and the Cascade-Siskiyou monuments in Oregon to logging and energy extraction? Support Do you support or oppose continued protections for Oregon’s wolves? emily@streetroots. org @greenwrites Source: Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy Margin for error is no more than ±4 percentage points et Roast coffee is now available for retail and wholesale purchase! Proceeds from the sale of each purchase support Street Roots' mission to empower people experiencing poverty and homelessness. ■ ? * S i: -: . ' Visit streetroast.com to find a distributer near you. - < - ' - i < f : ■ . ■ :..' z'
