Ranchers in Grant County have to abide by two sets of rules for dealing with wolves

A federal judge’s ruling earlier this year restored Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in a large swath of the U.S., including most of Oregon. Wolves in the eastern-most part of the state are still managed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. In much of the state, the dividing line is Highway 395, which runs right down the middle of Grant County. This means ranchers there have to essentially comply with two sets of rules when it comes to wolves preying on their cattle. Blue Mountain Eagle reporter Steven Mitchell recently wrote about this complex issue and fills us in on the details.

Note: The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. A federal judge’s ruling earlier this year restored Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in a large swath of the U.S., including most of Oregon. Wolves in the easternmost part of the state are still under the management of Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. Highway 395 is the dividing line for a big chunk of the state, which means some ranchers have to comply with two sets of rules when it comes to wolf predation. Blue Mountain Eagle Reporter Steven Mitchell wrote about this complex issue recently and he joins us now with the details. Steven Mitchell, welcome.

Steven Mitchell: Hello.

Miller: Hello, can you explain what the wolf rules are in the eastern 3rd of the state?

Mitchell: So essentially the ruling back in February restored federal protections as you said. And on the west side of 395, the western two thirds of Oregon, federal protections were restored and it basically removed lethal action of the taking of wolves, if you will. So in other words, if a wolf is attacking a rancher’s working dog or livestock, that rancher can no longer take lethal action. That would be a felony.

Miller: So, that’s the way it is now for the majority of the state. But what about east of 395?

Mitchell: East of 395 remains under state management, ODFW, Oregon Fish and Wildlife. So basically what the ruling did was it now only allows for the lethal taking of a wolf when that either livestock or working dog is a threat.

Miller: How is a wolf kill actually confirmed?

Mitchell: So at ODFW, Oregon Fish and Wildlife, it’s an evidence based process. So basically, for ODFW to rule a livestock, a wolf depredation, that rancher would have to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the wolf was, that a wolf was responsible for the predation. So but it’s really basically just an evidence based process.

Miller: My understanding is that in Baker County, local law enforcement is also involved. How does that work?

Mitchell: Basically, local law enforcement is involved in the sense that they run a parallel investigation alongside Oregon Fish and Wildlife and they’ll be doing that now in Grant County as well. And in Baker County, they started doing that, I want to say a little over 5 or 6 years ago as wolves began to migrate east out of Idaho in those areas. Travis Ash, the sheriff there, basically his office started doing that to kind of restore trust to the process because there was just a lot of distrust when ODFW was coming out and doing investigations for livestock depredations.

Miller: What is the relationship like? What did you hear? I’m curious about the relationship between ranchers and then local law enforcement and then folks, biologists or other people from ODFW, in terms of these investigations?

Mitchell: There’s a lot of distrust and a lot of it does come down to politics. That’s kind of what my reporting found. And that is also too, because Fish and Wildlife, like I said, it’s an evidence based process. When there’s a livestock depredation, it’s really that the ODFW goes by the evidence and if the biologists can’t find a reasonable explanation for a depredation or that they can show that it’s a wolf that was responsible for the killing, they can’t confirm that depredation and therefore that rancher isn’t compensated for that, for their livestock. So that’s just really frayed the trust between ranchers and ODFW.

Miller: What kinds of nonlethal options are available to ranchers on the west side of the highway, I mean really for two thirds of the state?

Mitchell: On the west side, the way it reads is it can be injurious harassment of wolves. So in other words, the rancher can put up an electric fence, they can remove bone piles, remove those attractants. They can shoot their gun up in the air, but there can’t be any kind of injurious kind of hazing or harassment to keep the wolves away. Most ranchers employ a range rider, in other words, that’s just somebody who camps out and rides along with their cattle or the ranchers will be out there themselves and usually they’re out there all hours of the night, because that’s when a lot of these depredations happen.

Miller: How does this work for ranchers who have to abide by both sets of rules because they have cattle grazing on either side of Highway 395?

Mitchell: Essentially when I asked an ODFW biologist this, too, and basically she said ranchers would have to abide by both sets of rules.

Miller: Meaning if wolf kill can be confirmed on one side of the highway and on the other, ranchers are gonna have to treat those very differently?

Mitchell: That is when it gets kind of convoluted a little bit, so State Fish and Wildlife would still come out and investigate the depredation. But in other words, the rancher would, if they had, let’s just say a the cow on the west side and a cow on the east side of the highway and one pack of wolves was hunting those two cows, on the west side, they wouldn’t be able to take that wolf out on the west side of the highway that was going after their livestock. But they could on the east side.

Miller: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has 60 days to decide whether to appeal the district court ruling. Have you been able to find out if they intend to do that or not?

Mitchell: I’ve been trying to get a hold of U.S. Fish and Wildlife. They declined our interview request last month when I was writing the story and I reached out to them again before this interview and have yet to hear back.

Miller: Steven Mitchell, thanks very much.

Mitchell: Thank you.

Miller: Steven Mitchell is a reporter for the Blue Mountain Eagle in John Day.

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