[ODFW-News] ODFW to host informational meetings about wolf conservation and management

[ODFW News]

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 	
For more information call 800-720-6339 (ODFW) or 503-947-6002	
Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us  


For immediate release	Tuesday, October 12, 2004

ODFW to host informational meetings about wolf conservation and
management

SALEM - The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a series
of six informational meetings during October and November to discuss the
Wolf Advisory Committee's draft Wolf Conservation and Management
Plan.

The meetings will begin at 7 p.m. and take place:
* Monday, Oct. 25, at the Blue Mt. Conference Center, 404 12th St., La
Grande;
* Tuesday, Oct. 26, in the Enterprise High School Multi-Purpose Room,
201 SE 4th St., Enterprise;
* Wednesday, Oct. 27, at the National Guard Armory, 875 SW Simpson
Ave., Bend;
* Wednesday, Nov. 3, in the Northwest Forestry Center's Cheatham
Hall, 4403 SW Canyon Rd., Portland;
* Thursday, Nov. 4, at the Benton County Fairgrounds, 110 SW 53rd St.,
Corvallis; and
* Tuesday, Nov. 9, in the North Medford High School Cafeteria, 1900 N
Keenaway Dr., Medford.

The purpose of the meetings is to give the public a history of the
development of the draft conservation and management plan, an overview
of the contents of the plan, and a timeline for adoption of the rules
needed to implement the plan.

The draft plan is the result of the efforts of the 14-member Wolf
Advisory Committee, which has met monthly since November 2003 to develop
a plan that addresses concerns raised by the public in a series of town
hall meetings in November and December 2002 and January 2003. Committee
members represent a range of Oregonians' interests including tribal
members, eastern Oregon county commissioners, range forestland
conservationists, trappers, rural Oregon residents, educators, wildlife
biologists and researchers, hunters, livestock producers, eastern
Oregonians, western Oregonians, economists, wolf conservationists, and
public land managers. 

The plan's goal is to conserve gray wolves as required by Oregon law
while protecting the social and economic interests of all Oregonians.
The plan does not call for actively reintroducing wolves from other
areas, but managing wolves that naturally disperse into Oregon. While no
wolves have been confirmed to be in Oregon yet, biologists expect wolves
to enter the state as the Idaho wolf population grows.

The draft plan takes a conservation approach, permitting establishment
of wolves that migrate into Oregon, promoting social tolerance, and
dividing the state into eastern and western wolf management regions with
different population objectives for each region. The plan also initiates
a comprehensive monitoring program, develops agreements with other
agencies, and proposed to reclassify the legal status of wolves.

The plan takes an adaptive management approach by proposing protection
of wolves in three phases. Phase 1 focuses on achieving the conservation
population objective of four breeding pairs for three consecutive years
and protects wolves from lethal removal unless livestock losses are
severe. Phase 2 focuses on achieving management population objectives of
seven breeding pairs for three consecutive years. Phase 3 ensures the
wolf population does not decline below Phase 1 levels or reach
unmanageable levels that cause conflicts with other land uses. 

The plan also calls for initiating the process to consider removing the
gray wolf from state and federal Endangered Species Act lists once a
conservation population is established in eastern Oregon. Future legal
status could see wolves listed as a "special status mammal" within
the state's game mammal category, allowing a range of management tools
including controlled take of wolves through hunting or trapping. Any
proposed change in legal status would require legislative action.

A key part of the wolf conservation and management plan is compensation
for wolf damage to livestock and to some classifications of working and
hunting dogs. The plan calls for a state-run compensation program for
confirmed and probable livestock losses due to wolf predation. This
includes funding all or part of the costs incurred by private
individuals implementing non-lethal wolf control methods, and potential
reimbursement for financial losses of lost or missing livestock. Any
compensation package would require legislative action.

Once the informational meetings have been completed, the Oregon Fish
and Wildlife Commission will enter a rule-making phase that will include
public hearings on the draft plan at its Dec. 10 and Jan. 6 meetings,
with final adoption Jan. 7, 2005.  

Reasonable accommodations will be provided as needed for individuals
requesting assistive hearing devices, sign language interpreters or
large-print materials. Individuals needing these types of accommodations
may call the Information and Education Division at 800-720-6339 or
503-947-6002 at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting.


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