VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, August 27, 2022
East Oregonian
A5
Wolf management in Oregon is a train wreck
ADAM
BRONSTEIN
OTHER VIEWS
I
recently received another email
update from Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s Wolf and Live-
stock Updates list. I opened the message
and clicked the link anticipating bad
news.
Another wolf had been killed by the
department in Northeast Oregon. A
2-year old male trapped, tranquilized
and then euthanized by the state. His
crime? Being a member of a commu-
nity of native carnivores trying to make
a living on a landscape overrun with
domestic livestock that have displaced
their traditional food sources, mainly
elk and deer.
This young wolf was a member of
the Chesnimnus Pack, near the town
of Joseph, whose range encompasses
many active federally managed grazing
allotments on the Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest. Reports of depredations
— wolves killing livestock — attributed
to the Chesnimnus Pack began rolling
in this April, which resulted in fish and
wildlife officials issuing an order to kill
two wolves before the end of April.
In June, an additional four wolves
were marked for death. As of today, three
of those six wolves have been wiped out
by the state. Not included in this tally
is the additional wolf lost at the hands
of a poacher in January. This onslaught
of death comes on the heels of a bloody
2021 for Oregon, where 26 wolves were
documented killed, up from 10 in 2020.
Killing wolves is counterproductive
to many of the wildlife management and
habitat conservation programs adminis-
tered by the ODFW and undermines the
benefits that having wolves on the land-
scape brings to all of us. After wolves
were reintroduced into Yellowstone
National Park, the ecology of the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem began to reset
itself.
Riparian areas — biodiversity
riparian areas for food, shelter and breed-
ing habitat. Promoting biodiversity helps
ward off extinction where one species’
existence is dependent on another. We
are now in the throes of the sixth mass
extinction and we humans depend on
a functioning biosphere for our own
survival.
As wolves rightfully return to their
native range across Northeast Oregon
and the rest of the state, livestock
producers will experience more losses
“EIGHT WOLVES WERE LETHALLY
REMOVED FOR KILLING LIVESTOCK
IN THE FALL OF 2021, DECIMATING
THE PACK TO THE POINT WHERE NO
BREEDING PAIR REMAINED. KILLING
OFF ENTIRE PACKS OF WOLVES SIMPLY
CANNOT BE THE ANSWER.”
hotspots — soon recovered from over-
grazing by deer and elk because wolves
began keeping them constantly on the
move. This dispersed movement allowed
plant communities to reestablish them-
selves, providing home and sustenance to
a host of species. Trout, juvenile salmon
and steelhead are provided with cooler
water refuges, more insects to eat and
more cover from predators because of the
shade and habitat provided by stream-
side vegetation.
Birds and land animals also rely on
unless they change the way they oper-
ate. Based on past and current responses,
department officials seem primed to
continue slaughtering wolves at an
increasing rate in lockstep with the wolf
recovery.
These dead livestock, however, are
mostly due to mismanagement. The vast
majority of livestock taken by wolves
are calves, which are tender, small-bod-
ied and easy prey. If livestock operators
wanted to cut their losses to wolf preda-
tion by wide margins, they could leave
their young-of-the-year at the home
ranch with their mothers to nurse until
they are ready to fend for themselves
before releasing them.
Perhaps the most maddening aspect
to this ongoing saga is the agency’s
disregard for the best available science.
We know now that when managers kill
wolves and deplete a pack, the remaining
wolves target livestock with more vigor,
because livestock are the easiest prey. It
is a vicious cycle of death until an entire
pack is extirpated. Take for example
the Lookout Pack, also from Northeast
Oregon.
Eight wolves were lethally removed
for killing livestock in the fall of 2021,
decimating the pack to the point where
no breeding pair remained. Killing off
entire packs of wolves simply cannot be
the answer.
The influence peddled by the livestock
industry must no longer reign supreme
over wildlife management here in
Oregon and across the West. This largely
unchecked hegemony has resulted in
untold slaughter of wolves — and myriad
other creatures ranging from beavers to
prairie dogs — over the centuries. Times
must change.
We should demand better of our wild-
life managers who are supposed to safe-
guard all of our wildlife in the public
trust for all Oregonians.
———
Adam Bronstein is the Nevada-Oregon
director for Western Watersheds Project,
a nonprofit conservation group dedicated
to protecting and restoring wildlife and
watersheds throughout the American West.
This column originally appeared on the
Oregon Capital Chronicle website.
ANDREW
CUTLER
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
A thought of
encouragement
for the future
I
am always amazed about how the
people of our region respond when
a natural disaster strikes.
The most recent example — the
work of so many in Wallowa County
after an epic hailstorm delivered havoc
— is just one of a number of cases
where people jumped in to help in the
wake of a disaster.
Yet that kind of resiliency isn’t out of
the ordinary. When the Umatilla River
flooded in 2020, the area residents
displayed the same kind of vigor to help
their neighbors.
We often spend a great deal of time
focusing on what divides us as a nation,
state or region. From the 50,000-foot
level it might appear as if our region —
or our nation — is so bitterly divided
that helping each other out in a time of
crisis would be a non-starter.
True, there is a lot that divides us
politically. Just a cursory glance at
the TV news every night — no matter
what network you view — shows that
firm battle lines are drawn over a host
of issues. And there is a whole lot of
shouting going on.
I still, though, believe in the basic
good nature of the people who live in
our great nation. I agree it is difficult to
see through the smoke of our current
political discourse to be able to realize
we have far more in common than not.
We seem to be eager to stand on the
other side of a particular political fence
and do a lot of shouting, but when a
serious crisis appears, we jump to help.
We step up and converge on places of
crisis and do all we can to help others.
Often, I am inclined to believe that
kind of performance is simply unique
to our part of the state. Those of who
live in Eastern Oregon are a hardy and
resilient bunch. We are used to chal-
lenge and familiar with overcoming
those obstacles.
When I really ponder it, though, I
see that Americans in general are resil-
ient. We flock to help out when a hurri-
cane of tornado hits an area. We give up
our time to lend a hand.
So just about the time I think we are
so polarized we can barely function a
natural disaster strikes — such as the
hail storm in Wallowa County — and
people run to help. They do it without
payment and without the goal of praise.
They do it because it’s right.
We have a diverse and beautiful
region and it is populated for the most
part by good people who are willing to
help when they are needed.
That’s not only refreshing to see but
also encouraging for the future.
———
Andrew Cutler is the editor and
publisher of the East Oregonian and the
regional editorial director for the EO
Media Group, overseeing The Observer,
East Oregonian and four more newspa-
pers in Eastern Oregon.
Free, simple tax filing puts interest of
Americans above corporate profits
JUAN CARLOS
ORDÓÑEZ
OTHER VIEWS
P
aying taxes is our civic duty. The
government’s duty is to make it as
easy and inexpensive as possible
for us to pay our taxes. But for too long,
Congress has failed to uphold this respon-
sibility, favoring instead corporations that
profit from our need to file tax returns.
A bill recently introduced in Congress
would fix this problem. Sen. Jeff Merk-
ley and Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Peter
DeFazio have co-sponsored the Tax
Filing Simplification Act, which would
create a simple and free way for Ameri-
cans to file their taxes. All other members
of Oregon’s congressional delegation
should jump on board this common-sense
reform.
Right now, it costs the average
taxpayer about 13 hours and $240 every
year to file a federal tax return, according
to Internal Revenue Service figures.
People bear these costs and hassles
even though, for many of them, the IRS
already has all the information on hand to
figure out their tax bill. Do you get a W-2
from your employer showing how much
you got paid? So does the IRS. Do you
get a 1099 form from the bank telling you
how much interest you earned? So does
the IRS. The reality is that people often
spend time and money simply to tell the
IRS what it already knows.
For some families, the harm is greater.
The cost and complexity of tax filing
deters many Americans struggling to get
by on low wages from filing a tax return.
While their low incomes may mean
they aren’t required to file a tax return,
it also means they lose out on tax cred-
its designed to help their families make
ends meet. In doing so, they miss out on
several thousand dollars that would make
their lives and that of their children a bit
easier.
The problem of families not claiming
tax credits, even though they qualify for
them, is worse in Oregon than just about
every other state.
“THE PROBLEM OF
FAMILIES NOT CLAIM-
ING TAX CREDITS,
EVEN THOUGH THEY
QUALIFY FOR THEM,
IS WORSE IN OREGON
THAN JUST ABOUT
EVERY OTHER STATE.”
The Tax Filing Simplification Act
would require the IRS to give people easy
access to wage and other data needed to
file a tax return that the agency already
has in its possession. Such a system of
pre-filled tax returns is not new; other
countries already do it this way, making
filing taxes a zip for their people.
There’s more. This legislation would
also allow taxpayers with simple returns
to choose to have the government fully
prepare their tax returns. And it would
direct the IRS to create its own free,
online tax preparation and filing service.
Yes, free.
Why doesn’t our country make it free
and easy for people to file their tax returns?
Because a few big corporations profit from
the current, dysfunctional system.
In 2002, the Bush administra-
tion proposed creating a free tax filing
system, but a massive lobbying campaign
by Intuit — owner of TurboTax — killed
the idea. Instead, the IRS agreed to allow
a handful of corporations, in theory, to
provide free tax filing software to as
many as 70% of tax filers.
In practice, few people access the free
service. In 2021, less than 3% of tax filers
used the free service. Intuit, for one,
made it so that users could not find the
free service, while steering low-income
taxpayers to its paid service. Earlier this
year, the company paid $141 million to
settle a claim it had deceived users with
promises of free tax filing — a slap on
the wrist for a corporation that hauled in
billions in profits over that period.
Ultimately, the deal between the IRS
and the corporate tax preparers collapsed
after the IRS put in place measures to
rein in the corporate shenanigans. H&R
Block pulled out of the deal in 2020,
followed by Intuit’s exit in 2021.
It’s long past due to put the interests
of the American people above those of a
few giant corporations profiting from our
civic duty to pay taxes. The Tax Filing
Simplification Act would save people
money and hassles, while enabling many
low-paid families to claim tax credits that
improve their well-being.
It’s great that some members of
Oregon’s congressional delegation are
already fighting for this common-sense
reform. The rest of the delegation should
get on board.
———
Juan Carlos Ordóñez is the communi-
cations director of the Oregon Center for
Public Policy, as well as the host of the
podcast Policy for the People. This column
originally appeared on the Oregon Capital
Chronicle website.