Oregon, Washington want to handle wolves on their own
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — As wolves reintroduced into the Northern Rockies push west, the states of Oregon and Washington want to manage them from here on.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already lifted federal protection for the wolf in the eastern third of Oregon and Washington, as well as in several other states.
The agency is evaluating whether to extend that throughout the lower 48 states. A preliminary decision is due by the end of the year.
Both Oregon and Washington protect wolves under state law, have formal management plans and have told the service that federal protection is redundant.
Environmentalists disagree.
Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity says federal protection requires a stronger regional plan for recovery, protects habitat and has stronger penalties for poaching.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
Both Oregon and Washington have demonstrated, on numerous occasions that they are incapable of managing the wild life that belongs to all of us. Oregon took a heavy handed approach in dealing with the Imnaha Pack and now Washington state is getting sued for it's treatment of the Wedge Pack. Both states DNR agencies are pawns of the ranching and hunting special interest groups and pander to those groups desire to kill all predators. They do not represent the interests of the majority of the citizens of Oregon and Washington. Both departments need a major overhaul and both need to place people on their boards that represent the majority interests of the state's constituents, not the brutal, archaic, intolerant, arrogant interests of the minority.Â
@Skippadoodoo what the hell do you know about what the majority of citizens in oregon want, Iam so dam tired of people who think they know what the majority want, especially the rift raft non native oregonians who move here to get away from the crap they left and then throw it on us!!!!!
@native angry rude little liberal arent you
@native I am a 5th generation Oregon Native, my family homesteaded in Oregon in the 1860's. I don't agree with everything skippadoodoo said, but I do agree with the last sentence in the comment, that starts with Both Departments need a major overhaul.....When I was a young man I did all my hunting on horseback, and rarely saw less than 10 or 12 buck deer a day, and hundreds of does, and numerous other wildlife. Today I could ride the same area all day and see several deer, a coyote, and no bucks. Poor management has led to this.
 @native  @Skippadoodoo So native, since you seem to think that you are large and in charge, please educate me. What do the majority of Oregonians want? How do you know that I am not a native? Hunters represent less than 15% of the state's population and alot of hunters that I know believe in fair chase subsistence hunting only. Agriculture (which includes cattle and sheep farmers) accounts for less than 10% of the state's income and less than 5% of the beef consumed in the US is produced in the West. So, based on the factual information I have provided in this post, most of the folks that are in favor of killing Wolves (primarily hunters and cattle farmers) represent a VERY small minority of those that live here. Please present me with factual information to back up your gibberish or find someplace else to vent your anger and frustration.Â
@Skippadoodoo @native I have hunted for 60 years, what in the world is fair chase subsistence hunting. I have never ever in all my years of hunting in my state heard that terminology used by anyone I have hunted with or run across. When I hunt I go after game because I like to eat it. I always liked the challenge of hunting, never baited anything, did hunt mostly on horseback, but not always, but have never heard of your terminology.
If you want it totally disfunctional, just get the Environmentalists involved. ODFW is bad enough already. Due to bad decisions, regarding the harvesting of game animals, and allowing outfitters, out of staters, and lotteries ODFW has almost ruined hunting in Oregon. All in the name of the mighty dollar.
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