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East Oregonian
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Saturday, February 12, 2022
Environmental groups oppose $1M wolf compensation bill
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Environmen-
tal groups oppose provid-
ing Oregon ranchers with
an additional $1 million in
compensation for wolf prob-
lems, arguing the bill sends a
bad message about the pred-
ators.
Supporters of House Bill
4127 counter that as wolves
spread across the state, it’s
necessary to devote more
money to pay ranchers for
lost l ive -
stock and for
prevent ive
measures.
“We need
to ensu re
t h is f u nd
doesn’t go
Levy
d r y,” said
Rep. Bobby
Levy, R-Echo, referring
to the Wolf Management
Compensation and Proactive
Trust Fund created in 2011.
“We have over twice as
many confirmed depreda-
tions as we saw in 2020,”
Levy said, noting wolves
killed 41 cows, 23 sheep, 9
goats and a guard dog last
year.
Based on previous levels
of compensation, that means
ranchers would need more
than $750,000 in compensa-
tion for last year’s confirmed
losses, she said.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo, File
A remote camera on private property in northern Umatilla County in February 2019 captures
the breeding male of the Walla Walla Pack. Environmental nonprofits oppose a bill to provide
ranchers with an additional $1 million in compensation for wolf problems.
At least 30% of the funds
must be dedicated to preven-
tion, but usually that propor-
tion is much higher, hovering
at about 70% per year, he
said.
Coalitions of environ-
mental nonprofit groups have
come out against HB 4127,
saying it will provide funds
for missing livestock not
necessarily killed by wolves.
The Oregon Conserva-
tion Network, a coalition of
For the biennium, Oregon
has $400,000 per year in
federal and state money
authorized for wolf compen-
sation, said Jonathan Sandau,
special assistant to the direc-
tor at the Oregon Department
of Agriculture.
On average over the past
three years, the wolf compen-
sation fund has annually
received $425,000 in requests
and paid out $185,000,
Sandau said.
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30 organizations, opposes
“throwing more money at
missing livestock,” partly
because it will conf late
wayward animals with wolf
depredations, said Julie
McGraw, the network’s
representative at a recent
House Agriculture, Land
Use and Water Committee
hearing.
“The more it appears
that wolves are killing live-
stock, the worse it is going to
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New
ENTERPRISE — The
nonprofit working to estab-
lish a 63-mile trail-with-rail
between Elgin and Joseph
in Northeastern Oregon
received an $18,000 grant
from Cycle Oregon.
The Joseph Branch Trail
Consor tium announced
the award in a press release
Tuesday, Feb. 8. The funds
will help cover the cost of
the construction of a covered
gazebo as well as landscap-
ing at the trail’s soon-to-be-
built western trailhead in
downtown Elgin.
The grant follows two
other grants to the nonprofit
group that total more than
$272 ,0 0 0: a n O regon
State Parks grant to fund
construction of the first
Americans with Disabilities
Act-compliant trail section
and the trailhead (that also
will serve as a pocket park
in Elgin) and a grant from
the Oregon Department of
Transportation that will
fund development of a
detailed plan for the next
15-mile segment between
First
High 92° in Thermal, Calif. Low -11° in Cavalier, N.D.
Feb 16
Feb 23
Mar 2
Mar 10
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Elgin and Lookingglass.
The trail has been in the
planning stages for about
10 years and eventually will
offer a nonmotorized alterna-
tive transportation route to
Highway 82 in the form of a
trail next to existing railroad
tracks in the railroad right-of-
way the Wallowa Union Rail-
road Authority owns. With
one end in Elgin, the other
will terminate 63 miles later
in Joseph.
City officials at each end
of the proposed trail are eager
to see it accomplished, antic-
ipating economic and health
benefits. Elgin, with a popu-
lation around 1,700 popula-
tion, has no accessible trails
from downtown, according
to a press release announc-
ing the grants. Joseph, with
roughly 1,000 people, also
will benefit from the trail, as
will Wallowa, Lostine and
Enterprise.
Brock Eckstein, who is
city administrator of Elgin
and interim city administra-
tor for Joseph, said in Novem-
ber there is a “time cap” of
December 2024 to get the
Elgin trailhead/pocket park
and the first short section of
trail out of town constructed,
as well as the planning for the
next first 13 miles refined.
“We’re just taking it piece
by piece until we get the
whole thing done,” he said.
Gregg Kleiner, the proj-
ect coordinator for the
consortium, said in the
Feb. 8 release the new grant
from Cycle Oregon is part
of “impressive momentum”
building up for this project.
“The trail will be open to
bicycles, and the trailhead
will feature a bike mainte-
nance station and an e-bike
charging station, so it’s a
perfect fit for Cycle Oregon,
and we’re very grateful for
their enthusiastic support,”
he said.
The Cycle Oregon grant
and previous small grants
from the Schwemm Family
Foundation and the Round-
house Foundation also are
supporting development of
the trailhead/pocket park.
More information about
the consortium and member-
ship can be found online at
www.josephbranchtrail.org/
membership.
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
ture on this, but there are
really no facts,” said Rep.
David Brock-Smith, R-Port
Orford.
With wolf depredations
reaching a record level in
2021, it’s worth adequately
funding the wolf compensa-
tion program to encourage
acceptance of state policies
for the species, said Rep.
Mark Owens, R-Crane.
“It’s a trend that’s start-
ing to possibly erode the
social tolerance we started
to develop with the wolf
management plan,” Owens
said of rising depredations.
“Nothing in this bill changes
the wolf management plan.
Nothing in this bill harms
wolves. In fact, this bill is
there to support that social
tolerance of wolf interactions
with our public.”
Wolves cause problems
for the livestock industry
that go beyond depredations,
such as lower conception
rates and weight loss, said
Todd Nash, president of the
Oregon Cattlemen’s Associ-
ation and a Wallowa County
commissioner.
“If we paid for the missing
livestock and the confirmed
depredations, it wouldn’t
come close to capturing the
cost incurred by ranchers,”
Nash said. “If there’s going
to be fraud in the system,
the fraud is that we have a
compensation system and
there are not funds available.”
Joseph-to-Elgin trail gets $18,000
Wallowa County Chieftain
Mostly sunny
be in terms of the quality of
the relationship with people
trying to raise livestock,” she
said.
The number of livestock
that have allegedly gone
missing due to wolves far
surpasses the number of
confirmed depredations, said
Julie Moser, wildlife program
coordinator for the Oregon
Wild nonprofit.
Meanwhile, livestock go
missing for any number of
reasons, so those claims for
compensation aren’t verifi-
able, Moser said.
“Blaming wolves for any
unaccounted livestock not
only superficially inflates
wolf-livestock conflict but
it perpetuates a problematic
stigma about wolves,” she
said.
Critics of the bill also
argued the wolf compensa-
tion fund is prone to misuse
and should be reformed,
while adding more money to
it will create a “moral hazard”
by encouraging ranchers not
to look for missing animals.
“Making the fund easier
to abuse is not a solution,”
said Bethany Cotton, conser-
vation director for the Casca-
dia Wildlands nonprofit.
The bill’s supporters
pointed out that despite the
critics’ focus on missing
livestock, the added funding
would go to the wolf compen-
sation program as a whole.
“There’s a lot of conjec-
Man arrested in Bend gets
8-plus years for sextrafficking
PORTLAND — A Gresham man is going
to federal prison for taking a woman from Cali-
fornia to Oregon to sell her for sex.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced
Monday, Feb. 7, that a federal judge sentenced
Eddie Lewis West III, 37, to eight years, eight
months in prison and a three years supervised
release.
In 2019, Bend Police officer Jeffrey Perkins
saw an ad showing the victim advertising a
service called the “girlfriend experience” on
a website Skip the Games, which police say is
used solely for prostitution, according to court
records. Perkins called the listed number and set
up a “car date” with a woman for April 14, 2019,
and agreed to pay $220.
The meeting was meant to occur at 5 a.m.
at Cascade West Grub and Alehouse on South-
west Century Drive. Police reported seeing a
Nissan Altima slowly drive by the parking lot
off Century Drive twice before they stopped the
car and arrested West and a woman appearing
to match the picture in the ad.
West’s attorney later sought to throw out the
case, arguing the government stopped West’s
vehicle without reasonable suspicion he had
committed a crime.
The case was dismissed, but West was
arrested in September 2020 for allegedly
assaulting the victim in Washington County.
Afterward, she felt safe enough to come forward
and speak with authorities about West’s alleged
crimes, according to police.
On Oct. 20, 2020, a federal grand jury in
Portland returned a two-count indictment
charging West with sex trafficking and trans-
portation of a person across state lines with the
intent of having the person engage in prostitu-
tion. West on Aug. 3, 2021, pleaded guilty to the
latter charge.
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