Oregon Wild Executive Director Sean Stevens' statement following the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Commission's vote to strip Oregon's 81 gray wolves of endangered species protections:
Today, Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife voted to remove gray wolves from Oregon’s endangered species list.
This outcome for Oregon’s small wolf population seemed at times to be predetermined. While there was overwhelming public support for continued protections for wolves, and more than enough scientific criticism to cast doubt on ODFW’s staff opinion and recommendation for delisting, neither appeared to factor into the ultimate decison. The Commission would have been well advised to begin overdue revisions of Oregon’s Wolf Management Plan and delay a final vote until ODFW had completed a meaningful scientific review by independent biologists. Conservation groups had urged ODFW officials to take up this course of action for the months leading up to this vote, hoping to clarify several points of ambiguity in the Wolf Plan and build a constructive dialogue leading into the more contentious delisting process.
Unfortunately, this preferable course was dismissed and the state opted to charge stubbornly along with a floundering, opaque process.
State law requires an independent scientific review before a species can be removed from the Oregon endangered species list. ODFW originally called for comments and feedback from biologists on its draft plan to be received by October 30th. On October 29th, the day before its own deadline and before all the feedback could be received, ODFW announced its formal recommendation to delist. The following week, ODFW allowed additional comment from a cherry-picked panel of biologists who submitted their feedback in small comments written out in the margins of ODFW’s draft plan.
More than a dozen scientists whose criticisms were not deemed to be “mostly positive” were discounted and not included in the final ODFW presentation. Few of the questions, concerns, and suggestions provided by independent scientists, including those that ODFW had solicited, were addressed by the agency. There appears to have never been any intention to provide a final, peer reviewed report to the Commission.
Ultimately, the Commission voted to side with political expediency over sound public and scientific process.
While this is certainly a blow for our tiny population of 81 gray wolves, and for the legitimacy of wildlife management in Oregon, it is not the end of the struggle. Conservationists will be looking both back at the flawed process than led up to this vote, and forward to the upcoming revision of Oregon’s Wolf Plan, for opportunities to continue the fight for gray wolves. At a minimum, it appears ODFW and the Fish and Wildlife Commission ignored state law and requirements for independent scientific review in making their decision.
Oregon’s wolves, and all Oregonians who treasure wildlife and wild places, owe a debt to the many everyday citizens who poured hundreds of hours of volunteer work into research, training, lobbying, testifying, writing and taking action on behalf of wolf recovery over the last year. While their efforts were not rewarded today, their hard work and dedication is an inspiration to us here at Oregon Wild to continue fighting to protect the wildlands, wildlife, and waters that make our state a special place.
