NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Ranchers on wolf ruling: ‘We’re hung out to dry’
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — A federal judge’s
decision to renew endangered
species protections for some gray
wolves in the Lower 48 states is
drawing criticism from Oregon
ranchers who say they feel defense-
less to protect their livestock from
chronic attacks.
Environmental groups sued the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
former Interior Secretary David
Bernhardt after the Trump admin-
istration removed wolves from the
endangered species list in 2020,
arguing the delisting was prema-
ture.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey
White ruled in favor of the plain-
tiffs on Feb. 10.
“Restoring federal protections
means that these vitally important
animals will receive the necessary
support to recover and thrive in the
years ahead,” said Jamie Rappa-
port Clark, president and CEO at
Defenders of Wildlife, one of six
groups that filed the lawsuit.
Oregon’s minimum wolf popu-
lation was 173 at the end of 2020.
An updated estimate from the state
Department of Fish and Wildlife is
expected later this spring.
The Oregon Cattlemen’s Asso-
ciation, which represents ranch-
ers statewide, released a statement
blasting the ruling.
OCA President Todd Nash said
while environmental groups such
as Defenders of Wildlife and the
Center for Biological Diversity
have seats at the table for develop-
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo
An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife trail camera captured this undated image of wolves. Oregon ranch-
ers now say they feel defenseless to protect their livestock from chronic attacks after a federal judge renewed
endangered species protections for some gray wolves in the Lower 48 states.
ing Oregon’s Wolf Conservation
and Management Plan, “they are
never satisfied with the brokered
compromises.”
Gray wolves were reintroduced
in Central Idaho and Yellowstone
National Park in the mid-1990s,
and since then the species has
expanded both in population and
geographical area beyond expec-
tations, Nash said.
“This decision to re-list beyond
that experimental area builds
mistrust in our legal system and
compromises the integrity of the
Endangered Species Act,” Nash
said.
The ruling does not cover
wolves in Eastern Oregon, where
the majority of packs are. State
wildlife officials will continue to
manage wolves east of highways
395, 78 and 95.
Wolve s i n t he we st e r n
two-thirds of Oregon, however,
will be returned to the federal
ESA — including the Rogue pack,
which was responsible for more
Forecast for Pendleton Area
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than half of all confirmed wolf
attacks on livestock in 2020.
Veril Nelson, a cattle rancher in
Oakland and co-chair of the OCA
Wolf Committee, said producers
are frustrated by the about-face in
wolf management.
“The bottom line is, we’re hung
out to dry,” Nelson said. “Our
options are very few.”
Upon delisting, wolves in West-
ern Oregon were placed under
Phase I of the state wolf plan,
which allows for killing wolves
Lawmakers revise proposal for $600
payments to low-income workers
By JAIMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
Partly sunny;
breezy in the p.m.
Partly sunny and
mild
Partly sunny
Becoming windier
and cooler
Morning snow
showers; cloudy
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
57° 33°
59° 34°
57° 38°
48° 29°
41° 18°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
61° 34°
63° 37°
57° 42°
53° 35°
OREGON FORECAST
47° 24°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
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Olympia
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Kennewick Walla Walla
53/36
Lewiston
49/42
61/35
Astoria
49/40
Pullman
Yakima 49/26
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Portland
Hermiston
50/41
The Dalles 61/34
Salem
Corvallis
51/34
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La Grande
49/27
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
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51/36
61/26
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46/26
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
57/33
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47°
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PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
48/38
Aberdeen
44/31
49/32
Tacoma
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Spokane
Wenatchee
48/43
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Pendleton
Medford
60/30
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WSW 8-16
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WSW 4-8
W 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
55/23
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
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Moonset today
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in defense of livestock in limited
circumstances.
Wolves could be killed if caught
in the act of chasing or biting live-
stock, or if a pack incurred four
“qualifying” depredations in a
six-month period. To qualify,
ranchers must be using some kind
of non-lethal deterrents — such
as range riders — and remove all
carcasses or bone piles that might
attract wolves.
With federal protections back
in place, those options are now off
the table, Nelson said, adding that
non-lethal tools are not 100% effec-
tive and costly to maintain.
“How many range riders do you
need to cover 40,000 acres? It’s not
doable,” he said. “You can be out
there and do the best you can, but
all of those things cost money.”
OCA is supporting House Bill
4127 in the Legislature that would
provide an additional $1 million
for the state’s wolf compensation
fund to reimburse ranchers for
dead and missing livestock, as well
as non-lethal prevention. A public
hearing for the bill was held Feb. 9.
Jonathan Sandau, a special
assistant to the director at the
Oregon Department of Agricul-
ture, said the wolf compensa-
tion fund has annually received
on average $425,000 in requests
from ranchers, while paying out
just $185,000.
Critics argued the wolf compen-
sation fund is prone to misuse, and
increasing funding may encour-
age ranchers not to look for miss-
ing animals but instead default to
blaming wolves.
SA LEM — O regon
Democrats are consider-
ing legislation that would
provide a one-time payment
of $600 to low-income
Oregon workers.
Workers who in 2020
received the earned income
tax credit, a tax break for
low- and moderate-income
workers and families, would
automatically receive the
stimulus payments.
The proposal would send
smaller checks to a larger
number of workers than
previous stimulus payment
proposals f loated by the
Legislature. Lawmakers in
2021 had proposed sending
as much as $2,000 payments
to workers who stayed on the
job during the pandemic, and
they revived that idea again
at the start of the current
legislative session.
Rep. Andrea Valder-
rama, D-Portland, who is
co-sponsoring the new bill,
said that about 260,000
workers would be eligible.
Lawmakers also plan to set
aside up to $15 million to
provide similar payments
for undocumented work-
ers who weren’t allowed to
claim the earned income tax
credit because of their immi-
gration status.
A public hearing on the
bill is scheduled for Thurs-
day, Feb. 17. The total cost of
House Bill 4157 is expected
to be about $180 million.
“We’re focusing on our
lowest-income communi-
ties who are really dispro-
portionately impacted by a
skyrocketing cost of living
right now,” Valderrama said.
The new bill will replace
a separate proposal intro-
duced earlier this session
that would have directed
payments of up to $1,000 to
workers in medium- to very
high-risk occupations.
Valderrama said lawmak-
ers ditched the original bill
because requiring workers
to apply for the money could
lead to payments being
delayed until 2023 or 2024.
In contrast, the new
proposal would direct
the Department of Reve-
nue to automatically issue
payments to eligible work-
ers. Checks would be deliv-
ered by the end of July at the
latest.
“The previous itera-
tion wouldn’t allow for
checks to be received until
2023 or 2024 and it really
wasn’t acceptable,” Valder-
rama said. “This new vehi-
cle provides for a cleaner,
direct approach to getting
the resources out in a more
timely manner.”
The proposal is a pared-
down version of a bill
that Democratic lawmak-
ers f loated in the spring
that would have set aside
federal stimulus money to
pay essential workers up to
$2,000 in stimulus payments
and provided a $1,200
payment to unemployed
Oregonians who returned
to work in front-line jobs by
last fall.
At $600, Valderrama said
the payments in the current
proposal would not be
subject to state and federal
income taxes.
“I’m very confident that
a version of this, if not this
iteration, will pass this
session,” Valderrama said.
“We continue to have strong
support in both chambers.”
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 91° in Zapata, Texas Low -24° in Estcourt Station, Maine
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Police seek alleged accomplice
in slaying of Bend man
BEND — Police are looking for a woman
they believe was an accomplice in an execu-
tion-style killing in Gresham in September.
An arrest warrant for Kassandra Kitchens,
26, of Gresham, alleges that she helped lure
Andrew Sherrell, 35, from his home in Bend
before he was shot on Sept. 24.
Sherrell was found laying face down, with
his hands bound, suffering from a single
gunshot to the head, police said.
Investigators with the East County
Major Crimes Team believe that Sherrell
was involved in drug dealing and split time
between Central Oregon and the Portland
metro area.
“The investigation found he was the
target of a kidnapping and execution-style
murder because of a drug debt, with multiple
suspects conspiring to commit the felonious
acts,” Gresham police said in a statement.
Kitchens was indicted by a Multnomah
County grand jury in December and faces
charges of second-degree murder, first-de-
gree kidnapping and third-degree assault,
along with first-degree criminal conspiracy
to commit kidnapping, third-degree criminal
conspiracy to commit assault and criminal
conspiracy to commit the unlawful delivery
of oxycodone.
Kitchens is the only alleged suspect in the
murder case who is not in custody, police
said.
— The Oregonian
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