It was standing room only in Harney County Judge Pete Runnels’ office, as a crowd gathered to hear an update from the Harney County Wolf Advisory Committee during the regular meeting of the Harney County Court on Jan. 16.

The committee consists of Harney County Commissioner Patty Dorroh (representing the Harney County Court), Wayne Smith and Ken Bentz (local livestock producers), Kerry Boggs and Dr. Masie Custis (local business representatives), and Suzanne Settle and Paul Gray (representing wolf conservation).

“As the wolf population continues to grow in Oregon, we can expect increased wolf presence, whether transitory or more permanent in Harney County,” Dorroh said, adding that the committee and county will need to discuss whether to participate in the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s (ODA’s) Wolf Depredation Compensation and Financial Assistance Grant Program.

ODA’s website explains that, “After a lone gray wolf from Idaho’s experimental population entered Oregon back in 1999, gray wolves have continued to disperse into Oregon from Idaho and have established breeding populations. Livestock producers have been affected financially due to direct losses of livestock from wolf depredations.”

The website adds that House Bill 3560, which went into effect in 2011, directed the department to establish and implement the grant program. Program funds are used to compensate people who suffer loss or injury to livestock or working dogs due to wolf depredation (attack); provide financial assistance to people who implement livestock management techniques or nonlethal wolf deterrence techniques designed to discourage wolf depredation of livestock; and award counties with a wolf depredation compensation program to help with implementation and administrative costs.

Dorroh said Harney County hasn’t applied for or participated in the program in the past. Instead, the county decided to collect voluntary donations from local ranchers to self-fund wolf depredation losses.

The court will have to budget for matching funds if it decides to apply for the grant. The 2019 application period opens Feb. 4 and closes around Feb. 26.

Bentz, who is chair of the Wolf Advisory Committee, explained that Harney County chose not to participate in the grant program in the past because funding for restitution only totaled $3,500 for the county.

“With that $3,500 comes a great, big bunch of strings attached,” Bentz said.

However, Harney County Farm Bureau President Rusty Inglis said, “I’ve never been for the local ranchers funding a problem that’s not theirs.”

Inglis explained that he thinks financial resources and manpower should be directed toward ensuring that the state comes up with a viable wolf plan. He said he’s been trying to get the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW’s) Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan modified, and he’ll testify when ODFW presents the plan to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on March 15 in Salem.

“I’m going to talk about the effect on the community that has to live with it,” Inglis said.

Stating that the true cost of the wolves’ presence in Harney County is enormous, Bentz asked, “Why is it a given that we’re supposed to accept wolves in the county to begin with? Why do I carry the load of somebody’s decision to introduce great, big dogs into this area?”

Noting that he lived in an Oregon county where wolves have been present for about nine years, Smith said, “It’s already to the point where there’s younger-generation ranchers who are getting opportunities to buy grazing allotments and things like that that have had trouble with wolves, and they just say, ‘No thanks,’ because they know, financially, it’s an impossibility to make it. If you take out one generation, and that allotment goes vacant or the old guy who has it passes away and nobody takes it on, it’s never coming back.”

Asserting that the grant program hasn’t worked for the participating counties, Smith said, “We need to try to do something different and try to get ahead of this to protect our producers.”

He added, “The amount of compensation doesn’t come close to the real cost,” explaining that local businesses are also impacted. “If I’m not making money, I’m not spending money,” he said.

Boggs said, “The financial impact is far more than what people expect. One of the things we discussed in the last meeting was what happens when a wolf does kill a cow out in the field. From what I heard, those cows won’t go back to that area for a couple of years because of it. The financial impact of losing that field alone is astronomical.”

He added, “I own a business here. If these guys aren’t out raising cattle, it’s only a matter of time until I go under. The last thing I want to do is see my business go under because of  a bunch of wolves, which aren’t natural to this area to begin with.”

Dorroh said, “There are plenty of successfully reproducing wolf families now in the eastern part of Oregon,” and she asked, “How much is enough?”

Smith said, “I agree with Rusty that ranchers shouldn’t be providing the funding for the compensation, but the reason we did is [because] as soon as you apply for that grant, we felt we’re telling the state of Oregon, ‘We’re OK with the wolves as long as you give us this little penance.’”

ODFW District Wildlife Biologist Rod Klus said he doesn’t think accepting grant funds would change the county’s position on wolves. He added that, in addition to reimbursing loss, the funds can be used for preventative measures.

“As of now, the county doesn’t really have any self funding,” Dorroh noted.

“I think you can acknowledge that you have a problem by being at the table,” Inglis said. “I think that’s damn important that you do get the state to acknowledge that we are concerned and by God we’re not going to be sitting around.”

An audience member asked, if local producers are at a consensus, can Harney County stock growers and the court publicly state their opposition to the establishment of a viable wolf pack in Harney County?

“We’re here to represent you,” Runnels replied. “I think if the committee brought the court a letter with that ask, I [would] have no problem considering it and moving it forward and taking it to every place we’d have to to make a point.”

“That’s where my sympathies lie,” Dorroh said.

However, she noted that the court would have to advertise and hold a public meeting to give people “on the other side of the fence” an opportunity to share their views.

There was also some discussion about polling Harney County residents, passing a resolution, and coordinating with other Eastern Oregon counties.

The process for confirming wolf kills was also a topic of discussion.

Runnels said Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward and Lt. Brian Needham were trained to compare how different predators attack and kill their pray, and they plan to join Klus when he conducts investigations.

Klus said wolf kills are easy to confirm when the carcass is full and fresh, but difficult when the carcass has been consumed. If the department confirms that a wolf is responsible for livestock damage, the consequences for that wolf can be lethal.

The tracking of collared wolves was also discussed.

Klus said the goal is to collar members of every established wolf pack, but it can be difficult to catch them. He added that landowners will be notified if a collared wolf is stationary for a couple of days. However, real-time data is not released to the public.

“Somebody would be a hero and take [the wolf] out,” Klus said.

An audience member asked what livestock producers can do when they see a wolf attacking their cattle.

Harney County Commissioner Mark Owens replied that it depends where you live, as the wolves are federally listed under the Endangered Species Act in some areas of the county.

“If you live on the west side of [Highway] 395 and the west side of [Highway] 78 until it turns and goes to Jordan Valley, you’re in the federally listed side, [and], in my opinion, you have no rights,” Inglis said.

Owens asked the committee to bring its recommendations regarding the ODA grant to the court. He also asked the committee to come up with a list of actions that it’d like the court to consider.

Klus said he’ll notify the court when the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan can be viewed online, and Owens said the court will post it to the county’s website.

•••

In other business, the court:

• received an update from Harney County Home Health and Hospice Director Jodi McLean;

• approved an intergovernmental agreement for Harney County to provide on-site septic services for Grant County.

Runnels explained that, in addition to improving service for Grant County, the agreement will help Harney County’s inspector, Jesse Barnes, get the hours she needs;

• Approved Resolution 2019-01 in the matter of initiating proceedings to vacate a portion of Hines Logging Road.

In a letter dated July 12, 2018, County Surveyor Kenny Delano explained that a residence on Dapple Grey Road is encroaching into the Hines Logging Road right of way.

“I would suggest a partial vacation of 25 feet of the southerly right of way,” Delano wrote. “There would still be 50 feet of usable right of way. This would leave only a small portion of the landscaping in the right of way, which is not [a] serious encroachment issue.”

Harney County Roads Supervisor Eric Drushella will conduct an investigation and provide a report during a public hearing, which is scheduled for March 20 at 10 a.m. in  Runnels’ office at the courthouse.

A public notice will also be posted at the location;

• approved the Official Undertaking for Justice of the Peace, which is required by Oregon Revised Statute 51.270;

• discussed Public Notices of Water Use Requests;

• scheduled rural outreach meetings.

The Crane/Princeton meeting will be held in Crane March 13 from 6-7:30 p.m.; the Diamond/Frenchglen meeting will be held in Frenchglen April 20 from 6-7:30 p.m.; and the Fields meeting will be held May 8 from 5:30 -7 p.m.

The next regular meeting of the Harney County Court will be held Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 10 a.m. in Runnels’ office at the courthouse.