By MITCH LIES

Capital Press

SALEM -- A bill clarifying the state's authority to kill two wolves responsible for numerous livestock deaths met with opposition at a legislative hearing Feb. 9.

Ivan Maluski, conservation director for the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club, said killing wolves might be necessary in rare situations, but the current one doesn't rise to that level.

"It is not clear that all available non-lethal means to prevent livestock depredation related to (the Imnaha) pack have been taken," Maluski told the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

House Bill 4158, backed by the Oregon Cattlemen's Association, is in response to a lawsuit challenging the state's authority to kill wolves from the Imnaha pack in northeast Oregon.

The suit was in response to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife kill order in September. The Imnaha pack, one of the state's four known wolf packs, is responsible for killing more than 20 head of livestock, according to state wildlife officials.

The Oregon Court of Appeals on Oct. 6 issued an injunction stopping the department from executing the order.

The suit argues that the state Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, which allows the state to kill problem wolves after nonlethal attempts to stop depredation have failed, is in conflict with the state's Endangered Species Act.

Cattlemen said they brought the bill forward to clarify existing state law and expedite the "take" order. The wolves are responsible for seven livestock depredations since the court issued the injunction.

In testimony before the committee, Curt Melcher, deputy director for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said it could be a year or more before the court rules on the initial suit.

Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild, a plaintiff in the suit, characterized the bill as "a hysterical piece of legislation."

"It argues that Oregon's 29 endangered wolves constitute a state of emergency," he said.

Klavins said the public has "bent over backwards" to address concerns of a small number of livestock managers who have lost stock to wolves. And he said cattlemen can be compensated for losses through the state's wolf compensation fund.

The fund pays ranchers for losses to wolves.

Cattlemen said livestock losses to wolf depredation are but a small percentage of the damage inflicted by wolves.

Rod Childers, wolf committee chairman for the cattlemen, ranches in Wallowa County, where most of the state's wolves live. He said his labor expenses to monitor cattle have increased dramatically since wolves entered the county, and cattle weight gain and conception rates have fallen.

"We're not getting reimbursed for that," he said.

Childers also said that ranchers have tried extensive nonlethal techniques to prevent wolf depredation, but the measures have been ineffective.

Oregon Cattlemen's Association President Curtis Martin told committee members that science indicates killing wolves sometimes is necessary to preserve their populations.

"In order to develop healthy wolf populations," Martin said, "conservation science counsels strongly against maintaining a wolf pack that chronically depredates on livestock."

Also, Martin said, the state's wolf plan is "a consensus-driven plan that is based on the best available science."

He urged the committee to pass HB4158 "and allow ODFW to manage wildlife based on science and their expertise."

The committee took no action on the bill.