Despite conservation groups having withdrawn from the meetings, the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is finalizing a revised Wolf
Conservation and Management Plan to be presented to the state wildlife
commission next month.

Five meetings were held from August 2018 to January 2019 attended by
stakeholders representing ranching, hunting and wolf conservation but no
consensus was attained on several issues including the number of livestock
depredations that would lead to lethal removal of wolves.

Last month, four conservation groups withdrew from the meetings.

“We were disappointed these groups left the discussion and we did not have
the full stakeholder group present at the final meeting,” said Derek Broman,
ODFW carnivore coordinator. “Since the drafting of the original 2005 plan,
stakeholders remain very passionate so consensus is challenging to achieve.”

The meetings were convened by Gov. Kate Brown, but the conservation
groups notified her and state wildlife commission they were withdrawing,
citing a flawed process for updating the state’s wolf plan and lobbying by
wildlife managers wanting to make it easier for the state to kill wolves.

Oregon’s wolf population has reached 124 according to ODFW’s report of April
2018. Most of these wolves occupy areas in the eastern part of Oregon, but
two packs are currently known to inhabit the western Cascades.

“Poll after poll has shown that Oregonians support wolf recovery and believe
that conflicts with livestock should be avoided through nonlethal approaches,”
said Sean Stevens, executive director of Oregon Wild, one of the four
conservation groups involved in the meetings. “And yet ODFW continues to
insist on a plan that makes it ever-easier to kill wolves without any
enforceable standards.”

Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands, cited the return of wolves to
the Pacific Northwest as an incredible wildlife success story that all Oregonians
should be celebrating.

“Instead of assisting this recovery, our state government is fixated upon
killing the species at the behest of the commercial livestock industry,” Cady
said. “There are between 100 and 200 wolves in the state total. This is
absurd.”

Prior to talks breaking down, the groups were able to find consensus on wolf
collaring priorities, the desire to increase the use of nonlethal techniques and
funding enhanced population modeling.

In practice, ODFW has denied more lethal removal requests for wolves than it
has approved.

But the impasse continues with conservation groups – Oregon Wild, Cascadia
Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife –
continuing to believe ODFW discourages neutral oversight and guidance to
encourage meaningful discussion and collaborative brainstorming.

The wolf management plan will be presented to the governor March 15.