Senate Bill 777, introduced this legislative session to change the methodology used to determine wolf attack loss grants, easily passed the Senate on Tuesday, March 25, and now heads to the House for consideration.
The bill removes the “missing” category from the types of depredations eligible for compensation and places a multiplier on depredation that occurs based on the type of animal impacted and the recommendation of the county advisory committee. It also increases the amount of grant program funds that must be put toward non-lethal deterrents from 30% to 50%.
Although similar bills have been introduced in prior sessions, the Association of Oregon Counties took the lead this session in working with the Oregon Cattleman’s Association and impacted Oregon counties and provided testimony on the program to articulate why, from an administrative standpoint, the bill was necessary. Although many ranchers in south-central and eastern Oregon participate in the program, there are some counties that see less than 10% of their entire ranching population participate. The changes from SB 777 are expected to encourage more participation in the program, ensuring that more deterrents are on the landscape and that ranchers will be justly compensated.
The Wolf Depredation Compensation and Financial Assistance Grant Program was established as a complementary and necessary program for the full implementation of Oregon’s Wolf Plan, when the Legislature unanimously passed House Bill 3560 in 2011. HB 3560 stipulated grant money would be made available to assist counties in compensating those who suffer loss, injury, or missing livestock due to the presence of wolves in their area. The bill also allocated financial assistance to counties that implement livestock management or nonlethal wolf control techniques. These methods could include, but are not limited to, range riders, spotlighting, pasture monitoring, fox lights, air cannons, non-lethal projectiles, carcass removal and drones with thermal optics, to name a few. HB 3560 also required counties to allocate a minimum of 30% of the funds they request to livestock management or nonlethal deterrents.
To participate in the program, counties were required to establish a county wolf depredation committee. The makeup of a county committee, per ORS 610.150, includes one sitting county commissioner, two livestock owners, two wolf conservationists, and two members of the business community (agreed upon by the other members). In 2012, only eight counties were eligible for funding; however today 18 of Oregon’s 36 counties have established wolf depredation committees.
With the Senate vote of SB 777, this is the first major change to the wolf depredation program in over 10 years.
Contributed by: Branden Pursinger | Legislative Affairs Manager