<p>Wallowa County rancher Kerry Tienhaara</p>

The hunter

Duane Dungannon is an avid hunter, the state coordinator for the Oregon Hunters Association, and the editor of the association’s magazine “Oregon Hunter.” He lives in Medford.

Q. As a hunter, what’s your biggest concern about the return of the wolves?

A. No question, the impact on deer and elk herds. We’ve seen the devastation of elk herds in neighboring states that have wolves. Hunting is a big business in Eastern Oregon, and there’s a trickle-down effect for all sorts of businesses when hunters come to the area.

In Oregon, the big game carnage by wolves is not being reported, or even recorded. ODFW is concentrating on livestock. They were pretty happy a while ago that there hadn’t been any livestock kills in a certain amount of time. But that just means the wolves are up in the woods, and guess what they’re doing? They’re not eating pine cones.

Q. What about the conservationists’ position that wolves won’t kill off the elk, just make them more wary – and harder to hunt?

A. We’ve heard that argument. Well, it’s definitely harder to hunt them when they’re dead.

Look at the herd losses in recent years from cougar predation. The elk harvest today is half of what it was in 1994, when Measure 18 (barring use of dogs in cougar hunting) passed. The cougar population has doubled and the elk harvest has dropped by half – That’s a pretty clear cause and effect.

Wolves won’t improve that situation. They’re more likely to outcompete other predators, and just make things worse.

At least the other predator species are game animals; they can be controlled by regulated hunting, or by agents of the government. Right now, wolves have diplomatic immunity. As long as the kill order is on hold, they can do whatever they like and they won’t be held accountable.

Q. What about the wolf management plan? Why isn’t it enough to address the problems?

A. OHA was involved in the state plan discussion, but a lot of our concerns were ignored. I don’t think, at the time, that all of the criteria for delisting were fully understood. If you look at what’s required for delisting these wolves, we are light years away from that.

It seems like the state’s saying it’s not a pack unless a dozen members have grandchildren that have graduated from college … As much carnage as the Imnaha pack has caused in recent months, they’re no longer fitting the state’s definition of a pack. They’re dispersing all over the state. So we’re back at square one, for any delisting.

It’s sort of a Catch 22 – If we address the problems, remove the wolves that are causing damage, then it’s no longer a pack, and we’re that much farther away from delisting. It’s a situation that’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Q. Would a wolf hunting season make a difference?

A. I think it would. But by the time we get the population to that point, we’re going to have wolves behind every tree. And even when the breeding pairs get established, I expect there will be legal challenges to delisting and hunting.

– Scotta Callister

East Oregonian Publishing Group

The environmentalist

Joseph resident Peter Barry, a member of Oregon Wild and other environmental groups, has been a vocal supporter of wolves since the late 1990s, when he lived in Jackson Hole, Wyo., the area where wolves were reintroduced. He has helped manage his parents’ grazing lands in Wallowa, Union and Baker counties, and he has additionally studied grazing issues in college and on his own.

 

Q: Generally, why do you think it’s important to have a wolf population in Oregon?

    A: Wolves are fundamentally important to a healthy ecosystem. Without them, it becomes somewhat sterile and it doesn’t operate properly. … They’re a keystone species.

    Q: How many wolves do you think Oregon should strive to support?

    A: I’m no expert on that, but I would guess that many hundreds could easily live in Oregon successfully.

    Q: What’s right and what’s wrong with the state’s current management approach?

    A: I think it’s too quick to persecute wolves and to kill wolves. It’s been much too responsive to the special interest pressure of the Cattlemen’s Association.

    Q: Wildlife advocates have put up money to provide compensation when wolves kill livestock. What is your view of compensation over the long term?

    A: While I support the idea because it softens the idea of wolf reintroduction, I just think it’s one more welfare program, one more subsidy for cattlemen in this country. They’re already heavily subsidized.

    Q: Are there any circumstances under which you would condone lethal control measures for wolves?

    A: Not until there is a healthy population of wolves in Oregon, and then only perhaps for wolves that are chronically depredating, and all other controls have been tried, and that the ranchers are using all best practices to mitigate and to prevent predation. It’s the cattlemen’s job, not the taxpayers’ job. The way I look at it is, the cattlemen are already heavily subsidized and they just want more subsidies. They want the taxpayers to take away all risk of them not getting a profit. No other business has that.

    Q: Do you think there’s something more or different the advocacy community could be doing to help opponents come to terms with having wolves among us?

    A: I think the taxpayers and nature lovers and wolf advocates, which are well over 70 percent of the population, need to speak up about the truth because there is an anti-wolf hysteria that’s not based  on fact and when the truth comes out, what they’ll see is the wolf isn’t the problem, but the cattle ranching practices are the problem. But I’d like to say that there is this minority of moderate, progressive ranchers who are living with predators some in Oregon, but primarily in Montana and Canada, and other states (in the U.S.) that are successfully living alongside predators and they even sell their beef as predator-friendly beef. They charge a little more and they’re successful having few or no losses, so I believe progressive ranchers need to speak up in Wallowa County. I think there are a few.

Rob Ruth

East Oregonian Publishing Group

The rancher

Kerry Tienhaara is an Upper Prairie Creek rancher, who along with her husband and family raise cattle and hay. Their ranch is located four miles east of Joseph.

    Q: What are your personal experiences with wolves?

    A: On May 30, 2010, we found a dead calf on our ranch right over there (pointing to an area barely 700 feet from her house). It was not a normal looking dead calf; it was hollowed out and Ive never seen that.

    We called Sheriff Steen, Vic Coggins of ODFW, and Marlyn Riggs of (USDA) Wildlife Services and they came and investigated and said it was a wolf kill.

    On five different occasions weve seen wolves on our property in the daytime. One of those times, a wolf was killing a fawn. Another time, my husband and I were irrigating and we watched a wolf stalking a deer. When it saw us it disappeared. Theyre really big, and you cant mistake them for a coyote. OR-4 spent three-plus days hanging out on Mt. Howard and the south end of the moraine this past week.

    That is why we have our cows close to the house. But, we cant keep them there forever.

    A couple months after our calf was killed, we had a six-week old calf that was attacked. When we found her she had a really bad infection on her belly, her tail was nearly bitten off and her front knee was crushed classic wolf attack. Our youngest daughter doctored the calf for months. We figure a young wolf was attacking the calf and the herd must have broken it up. The mother cow just lost it though and we eventually had to sell her because she went berserk. Another result of loss due to wolf attacks no one addresses, some cows become unmanageable and dangerous.

    Q: What have you done to get personally involved in the wolf issue?

    A: After Karl Patton lost his two pregnant cows in February, a couple weeks from calving, the neighbors around here started talking and asking what we could do. It was at that point that the neighbors Lori Schaafsma, Ramona Phillips, Lori Butterfield, Connie Dunham and I decided to form a group to start to educate people on the reality of wolves in Wallowa County. We wanted to get the truth out as opposed to the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan’s feel good existence value of the wolves presence. You dont have to go to Portland to find people who dont understand the reality of what the wolves are doing; you can find them on Main Street, Joseph.

    So, we hired a videographer, Mark Bales, who spent days out filming the wolves and doing interviews. He went to Salem too during the wolf hearings. And, he filmed investigations. He took a lot of footage showing how close the wolves are to our homes and herds.

    We noticed when OPB came to do a story on the wolves that you never really get the sense of how close they are to Joseph and that this is happening on private property. Were not out in the wilderness. As the crow flies were only a mile from Wallowa Lake.

    In reality, wolves are invading grazing lands on private property and public grazing allotments that are legally and lawfully used and paid for by permit holders.

    Q: What do you think about the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan?

    A: I think it is prejudice against people’s right to protect their private property. It’s prejudice against not only livestock producers but the native wildlife population, which the ODFW is mandated to protect. Those who enjoy hunting are also on the losing end. Everyone should read the plan. It reads more like a people management plan than a plan to manage wolves.

    Its unrealistic to think you can manage wolves. Wolves are killing, maiming and wasting livestock on private property. Predators don’t recognize private property. Look at how few wolves we have in this county and how much trouble theyve caused. Its unrealistic to force ranchers to absorb these losses.

    Its not just about being compensated for the livestock that are killed. Its about our breeding stock. Its about the animals that lose weight and abort their calves. Its about our own personal loss, the stress and worry. We cant rest easy at night. Its hard enough farming and ranching and doubly hard to grasp that this is being done intentionally.

    Q: Do you think theres a place for wolves in Wallowa County?

    A: No. As stated in the Oregon Wolf Plan, Oregon was not included in the so-called recovery because it doesn’t have enough suitable habitat for wolves. The Canadian Gray Wolf is a non-indigenous species, and shouldn’t be allowed to occupy Wallowa County. We don’t hate the wolves. We do disagree with using wolf recovery as a cover to run livestock producers off private and public land.

    Its just not possible to micro-manage a highly tuned predator. How do you stop a wolf from being a wolf?

    You look out the window here and everything you see is private land. The wolves are not on public lands in the mountains. They are here, where there is better feed; livestock and wildlife, both suffer. It’s not right.

Wallowa County Chieftain

East Oregonian Publishing Group