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News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, March 1, 2017 A3 Ranchers oppose cuts to wolf compensation, predator control By Mateusz Perkowski Capital Bureau The Eagle/Rylan Boggs Kam Wah Chung Curator Don Merritt stands for a photo in the Kam Wah Chung Interpretive Center. He earned a master’s degree in anthropology with an emphasis in archaeology from University of Montana in 2010. Local museum gets new curator Merritt wants to attract more volunteers By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle The Kam Wah Chung Museum has a new curator. Don Merritt started Jan. 3 and is looking forward to re-opening the museum and interpretive center in May. Merritt said starting in the off-season is nice be- cause it allows him to famil- iarize himself with the posi- tion and history of the area. “For the fi rst few weeks, all I did was read all the books, all the documents and all the histories that were around so I had some familiarity with what’s go- ing on,” he said. He has been preparing for the season by complet- ing small maintenance proj- ects and continues to scan a plethora of documents writ- ten in Chinese that were re- covered from the Kam Wah Chung building. Roughly 20,000 documents — from personal correspondence to legal documents and med- ical records — are being scanned to more effective- ly share with translators. However, some documents are written with traditional Chinese characters, making them more diffi cult to trans- late, Merritt said. Many of the letters are from Chinese immigrant and former Kam Wah Chung owner Lung On, including personal correspondence be- tween him and his father in China and business dealings pertaining to his car dealer- ship. “It’s just amazing how much stuff they found that was in boxes,” Merritt said. “They were pack-rats. You couldn’t hardly walk into the building because they had so much stuff.” Prior to being hired at Kam Wah Chung, Merritt worked as an archaeologist for the Bureau of Land Man- agement and, before that, as a curator at the Fremont In- dian State Park in Utah. He earned a master’s de- gree in anthropology with an emphasis in archaeology from University of Montana in 2010. Merritt was drawn to the area because of its remote- ness and proximity to the outdoors. He enjoys hiking and studying the genealogy of his family, and is current- ly writing a book about Fort Owens, a trading post estab- lished in 1849 near Stevens- ville, Montana. He complet- ed his thesis there and wants to document its transforma- tion from an early outpost to a state park. In the coming years, Merritt would like to work with the Forest Service to host archaeological events and encourage more local connection and volunteer- ism. He said he’s noticed many residents haven’t been in the Kam Wah Chung Mu- seum, something he hopes to change. Ranchers who suffer live- stock losses from predators stand to lose state support un- der both budget scenarios cur- rently proposed for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Funding aimed at predator control and compensation for livestock depredation would be cut under recommendations from Gov. Kate Brown as well as the co-chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tuala- tin, and Rep. Nancy Nathan- son, D-Eugene. The proposed cuts drew objections from the livestock industry during a Feb. 22 hear- ing on ODA’s budget before a panel of Joint Ways and Means Committee members focused on natural resources. As the wolf population has grown in Oregon, livestock losses have been a continuing source of frustration for ranch- ers, said Mike Durgan of the Baker County Wolf Compensa- tion Advisory Committee. Even when wolves don’t kill cattle, they cause health prob- lems that are considered indirect losses and aren’t compensated with state dollars, Durgan said. Until wildlife offi cials fi nd a better way to manage the predators, the livestock indus- try should receive state assis- tance, he said. “I want to make it clear I’m not advocating kill- ing wolves today.” Oregon counties have stead- fastly contributed money to their partnership with ODA and USDA’s Wildlife Services divi- sion to pay for predator control, even as they’ve fallen short of funds for public safety and other vital services, said Craig Pope, a Contributed photo/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Funding aimed at predator control and compensation for livestock depredation would be cut under recommendations from Gov. Kate Brown as well as the co-chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee. Polk County commissioner. “We will have no one else to call if we let this partnership fail,” Pope said. “Counties cannot make up the difference of this funding hole.” The Oregon Hunters Asso- ciation and the Rocky Moun- tain Elk Foundation testifi ed in favor of restoring the state’s full contribution to the pred- ator control program, which they say is necessary to main- tain a balance between preda- tors and deer and elk. Under Gov. Kate Brown’s recommended 2017-2019 bud- get, the ODA would eliminate $460,000 in state funding for the USDA’s Wildlife Services division, which kills problem- atic predators. An ODA program that com- pensates ranchers for wolf dep- redation would be funded at $211,000 under the governor’s proposal, compared to $233,000 in the 2015-2017 biennium. The co-chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, meanwhile, have proposed a “budget framework” for the upcoming biennium that would decrease funding for play again. Don’t let knee or hip pain keep you from doing what you love. StCharlesHealthCare.org/Mako the wolf compensation pro- gram “and/or reduce funding for predator control.” While the co-chairs’ budget framework doesn’t specify the exact reductions for ODA pro- grams, it does propose cutting state funding for all natural re- source agencies to $405 mil- lion, down from $413.6 million during the previous biennium. Rep. Lew Frederick, D-Port- land, said he’s concerned about livestock losses and supports continued assistance from the state but raised concerns about possible hunting of wolves. While wolves aren’t cur- rently hunted in Oregon, con- trolled hunts could be allowed during a later phase of wolf recovery under the state’s man- agement plan for the species. Frederick cautioned against the display of “trophy” wolves killed by hunters, which he said would erode public support for the predator control and wolf compensation programs. “That’s a political situa- tion that will shut down a great deal,” he said. Aside from predator control, other ODA programs are on the chopping block under the proposals from Brown and the co-chairs of the Joint Ways & Means Committee. A coalition of natural re- source industry groups — in- cluding the Oregon Farm Bu- reau, Oregon Association of Nurseries, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and others — urged lawmakers not to curtail those programs. For example, the co-chairs’ budget framework recom- mends decreasing the number of positions in ODA’s agricul- tural water quality program and shifting food safety and pesticide programs from the general fund to program fees. Industry representatives fear such shifts will effective- ly increase fees on farmers, ranchers and others. Under Brown’s budget proposal, about $250,000 in general fund dollars would be cut from ODA’s inspection program for “confi ned animal feeding operations,” shifting the burden onto fee payers. A biocontrol program for controlling invasive weeds would also be eliminated, sav- ing $250,000. Don Farrar, Gilliam Coun- ty’s weed offi cer, argued against the proposal because bi- ological control with predatory insects can effectively suppress large infestations of weeds. “This program has been one of the best in the nation, and it would be sad to lose that,” he said.
