A6
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Ranchers grapple with wolf attacks
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — It has been
another challenging summer for
Oregon ranchers working to pro-
tect their livestock from wolves.
The state Department of Fish
and Wildlife has confi rmed 50
wolf attacks so far in 2022, kill-
ing or injuring 39 cattle, eight
sheep, four goats and three
guard dogs. Of those incidents,
38 have been reported since July
6, primarily in northeast and
south-central Oregon.
That is already one more
confi rmed depredation than was
tallied by ODFW for all of last
year, though with fewer animals
harmed — 95 in 2021, versus 54
as of Oct. 20.
But for every carcass found
in rugged, mountainous terrain,
there could be as many as six or
seven more that aren’t found, said
John Williams, a retired Oregon
State University Extension agent
in Wallowa County who is wolf
committee co-chairman of the
Oregon Cattlemen’s Association.
Many producers also opt not
to report their livestock losses
to ODFW, Williams said, hav-
ing long been frustrated with
the agency’s management of
wolves.
“We need to get much more
aggressive,” he said. “We should
be acting on the management of
these wolves without having to
wait for disaster to strike.”
‘Lethal take’ permits
ODFW recently issued
“lethal take” permits for two
wolf packs that continue to
prey on livestock in neigh-
boring Union and Umatilla
counties.
One of those permits allows
the aff ected rancher to kill up
to two wolves from the Horse-
shoe pack. It was approved
Sept. 6 after wolves attacked
cattle twice in three weeks on
a 4,000-acre private pasture
in the Blue Mountains east of
Pendleton.
The permit was due to
expire Oct. 7, but was extended
until Oct. 28 after the pack
killed another calf on Sept. 26.
Since then, two more dep-
redations were confi rmed and
attributed to the Horseshoe
ODFW/Contributed Photo
Permits have been issued allowing two wolves to be culled in re-
sponse to continued attacks on livestock.
pack on Oct. 17.
Michelle Dennehy, ODFW
spokeswoman, said trapping
has been added as a tool to catch
wolves in the pasture, with
USDA Wildlife Services now
acting as the producer’s agent.
A second kill permit was
also granted Oct. 6 for up to
two wolves from the Balloon
Tree pack after ODFW con-
fi rmed four attacks on sheep
Sept. 8-26 near Elgin. That
permit expired Oct. 15, with no
wolves killed.
Ranchers face diffi culties
Williams said it is diffi cult
for ranchers to catch and shoot
wolves under restrictions writ-
ten into ODFW’s permits.
First, they can only be
killed on pastures where live-
stock depredations have already
occurred. Williams said a wolf
can easily traverse a 1,000-acre
pasture in just minutes.
Second, the agency may
specify only a certain type of
wolf may be shot to preserve
certain members of a pack, such
as the alpha male, female or any
wolf fi tted with a tracking col-
lar. Not to mention, ranchers are
already working full-time jobs,
Williams said.
“It really limits the success
of going ahead and getting those
wolves killed,” he said. “Once a
wolf pack gets into a ‘chronic
depredation’ issue like these
packs are, really the only out is
to reduce that pack’s size.”
Oregon’s wolf plan cur-
rently defi nes “chronic depre-
dation” as two attacks in nine
months for wolves east of
highways 395, 78 and 95, after
which ODFW may consider
lethal control. Wolves in West-
ern Oregon remain protected
under the federal Endangered
Species Act.
Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf
advocate with the Center for
Biological Diversity, said evi-
dence shows that in places such
as Eastern Oregon, where gov-
ernment agencies can readily
kill wolves, illegal poaching also
increases.
Four wolves have been
poached in the region this year,
most recently OR88, a radio-col-
lared adult female member of
the Lookout Mountain pack in
Baker County.
“It’s a sad cycle that keeps
repeating itself in Oregon,”
Weiss said. None of the poach-
ers have been caught.
However, Williams said
that while OCA doesn’t con-
done poaching, he believes
there would be greater toler-
ance of the predators locally if
the state were more proactive
in managing populations, and
not simply reacting to livestock
depredations.
Cattlemen want ODFW to
adopt management zones for
wolves, with population tar-
gets to prevent what Williams
described as “saturation” of the
animals in some areas.
“Here, you can expect to
see a wolf on any ridge in Wal-
lowa County, at any time,” he
said. “You can’t really run them
off . You’re just moving them
to another batch of livestock.
You aren’t really solving the
problem.”
could give the GOP control of
the House when it convenes in
2023.
The election forecasting web-
site FiveThirtyEight puts Ore-
gon’s 5th District on that shortest
of short lists.
Closed primaries in which
only party members could vote
helped progressive Democrats
rally around Terrebonne attorney
Jamie McLeod-Skinner in her
upset win over moderate U.S.
Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby.
McLeod-Skinner has been
cross-nominated by the Indepen-
dent Party and Working Families
Party.
Republicans chose for-
mer Happy Valley Mayor Lori
Chavez-DeRemer, who has
received political and fi nan-
cial backing from GOP lead-
ers aligned with former Presi-
dent Donald Trump. Some of the
earliest support came from Rep.
Elise Stefanik, R-NY, chair of
the House Republican Confer-
ence after the dismissal of Rep.
Liz Cheney, R-WY, who voted
to impeach Trump.
A win by either candidate in
the 5th District would be historic.
McLeod-Skinner would be
the fi rst open lesbian from Ore-
gon in Congress.
Chavez-DeRemer would be
the fi rst Latina elected to Con-
gress from the state, though
Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Lake
Oswego, is the Democratic can-
didate for the new — and wide-
open — 6th District seat, cen-
tered around Salem.
In a constitutional quirk
also in play for the 6th dis-
trict, Chavez-DeRemer and
McLeod-Skinner each live just
outside the boundaries of the
5th District. The U.S. Constitu-
tion requires U.S. House mem-
bers live in the states they repre-
sent, but residency in the districts
is not required.
Republicans eye District 5 race
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — When the
Democratic-dominated Ore-
gon Legislature voted on politi-
cal redistricting last September,
Republicans were apoplec-
tic about maps they said were
designed to lock in Democratic
advantages in the Legislature
and Congress.
Even a few Democrats
blanched at the outcome.
“It was supposed to be
bipartisan or nothing,” said
Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem,
who announced he would
not run for re-election. “The
change in the process is more
than I can stomach. ... This is
not OK, and I just can’t dignify
it with my vote.”
Drawing the most fi re
were congressional maps that
required adding a sixth district
the state received because of its
rapid population growth over
the prior decade.
The fi nal maps were
slammed by GOP lawmakers as
drawn to ensure a 5-to-1 Demo-
cratic advantage in the congres-
sional delegation.
It included a radically
redrawn 5th Congressional Dis-
trict, snaking from southern
Portland, over the Cascades to
scoop up the growing Demo-
cratic voter numbers in north-
ern Deschutes County east of the
mountain range.
Republicans saw two Demo-
cratic voter pools that could only
be joined by the bottleneck at the
Santiam Pass, 4,817 feet in the
Cascades. The route gets snow
from early fall to late spring.
“You have the largest geo-
graphical barrier in our state
dividing a district that is united
only because of political desire,”
said Cheri Helt, a former GOP
lawmaker who is running to
Submitted Photos
Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, left, and Democrat Jamie Mc-
Leod-Skinner
be commissioner of the state
Bureau of Labor and Industries.
Helt suggested the new mem-
ber of Congress would need a
satellite phone and avalanche
beacon to navigate the two ends
of the district from autumn to
spring.
A year later, Republican
complaints have been replaced
by bullish opinions that they can
win some of the districts — with
the most optimism aimed at fl ip-
ping he 5th. It’s the district with
the smallest Democratic voting
history tilt, and features candi-
dates from opposite ends of the
map and political spectrum.
With Democrats holding a
narrow 221-212 majority, with
two vacancies, even a handful
of seats fl ipping to Republicans
MT. VERNON
PRESBYTERIAN
Community Church
SUNDAY SERVICE..............9 am
SUNDAY SERVICE..9 am
541-932-4800
EVERYONE WELCOME
Redeemer
Lutheran Church
Come Worship with us at
627 SE Hillcrest, John Day
2 Corinthians 5:17
Every Sunday in the L.C.
Community Center
(Corner of Second & Allen)
Contact Pastor Ed Studtmann at
541-421-3888 • Begins at 4:00pm
Grace Chapel (EMC )
154 E. Williams St.
Prairie City, Oregon
541 820-4437
Pastor Robert Perkins
Sunday School (all ages)
9:30-10:30
Sunday Worship
10:45-12:00
John Day Valley
Mennonite
Church
Meeting every Sunday
at Mt. Vernon Grange Hall
Sunday School ................................ 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Morning Worship ............. 10:50 a.m.
Pastor Leland Smucker
Everyone Welcome • 541-932-2861
1 st Sunday Worship/Communion ...................10am
3 rd Sunday Worship/Communion/Potluck.....4:30pm
2 nd , 4 th & 5 th Sunday Worship..........................10am
Sunday Bible Study .....................................8:45am
24/7 Inspirational Christian
Broadcasting
Tune into KSPL 98.1 FM
For information: 541-575-2348
For more information,
call 541 620-0340
CHURCH OF THE
The John Day
NAZARENE
Sunday School ............................9:30 am
Sunday Worship Service.......... 10:45 am
Sunday Evening Service............ 6:00 pm
Children & Teen Activities
SMALL GROUPS CALL FOR MORE INFO
Weekdays: Sonshine Christian Schoo l
Pastor Randy Johnson
521 E. Main • John Day • 541-575-1895
www.johndaynazarene.com
Seventh-day
Adventist Church
110 NW Valley View Dr,
John Day, OR 97845
St. Thomas
Episcopal
Church
Join us on Facebook
live Sunday 10am
Like us on Facebook!
59357 Hwy 26 Mt. Vernon
Celebration of Worship
Sundays 5:30pm
Youth: 0-6th Grade
(541) 575-1216
Pastor Monte Wood
661-742-3635 (cell)
Midweek Service
www.johndayor.adventistchurch.org
Follow us on Facebook
Service Times; Saturday, Breakfast 9:30,
Sabbath School 10:00, Church 11:00
Jr./Sr. High
Youth Connection
Thursdays 6:30pm
Youth: 0-6th Grade
Wednesdays at 6:30pm
Overcomer’s Outreach
Mondays at 6pm at
LWCC
A Christ-Centered, 12-Step
Recovery Support Group
Pastor Sharon Miller
541-932-4910
www.livingwordcc.com
JOHN DAY
UNITED
METHODIST
CHURCH
FIRST CHRISTIAN
CHURCH
johndayUMC@gmail.com
126 NW Canton, John Day
Food Pantry Friday 3-4PM
Sunday School ..................... 9:45 am
Sunday Worship ...................... 11 am
Fox Community Church............. 3 pm
Sunday Evening Bible Talk......... 6 pm
Saturday Men’s Study ............... 6 pm
Like us on Facebook!
Full Gospel- Come Grow With Us
Sunday Worship • 9AM
(541) 575-1326
541-575-1202 Church
311 NE Dayton St, John Day
Pastor Al Altnow