These wild elk were recently photographed at an Oregon cervid ranch where they managed to gain entry to a pasture where captive cervids have been held previously. Diseases like Chronic Wasting Disease are known to linger in holding facilities after infected animals are removed. OHA is pushing for a double-fencing requirement to prevent contact between wild and captive cervids.

OHA urges double-fencing of cervid holding facilities

            Because the spread of devastating diseases to the state’s big game herds poses such a huge and unacceptable risk, the Oregon Hunters Association is recommending to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission that Type 1 captive cervid holding facilities in Oregon be required to double-fence their enclosures, even if hunters have to foot some of the bill.

            OHA initially insisted that the operators of the cervid facilities assume the entire expense of the extra precautions, but when it became apparent that no such requirement would be forthcoming from the state, OHA’s leadership deemed the potential expense well worth the insurance it would provide to protect the state’s wildlife from diseases that have run rampant in big game herds elsewhere in the West.

            The most well known diseases deadly to big game animals are chronic wasting disease (CWD) and bovine tuberculosis (TB). While there has been a ban on importation of live cervids into Oregon for a number of years, a case of TB was detected in a captive cervid in Oregon that had been tested many times prior to falling ill to the disease and dying.

            Studies show that CWD and TB can be transmitted from one animal to another, and investigations in states where CWD is believed to have spread from captive cervids to wild big game animals implicate nose-to-nose contact at fence lines between captive and wild animals.

            Further research suggests that double-fencing is the only way to prevent nose-to-nose contact and the horizontal transmission of disease between captive cervids and wild animals. The perimeter fencing also would provide added insurance against captive animals escaping the enclosures or wild animals entering the holding facilities, as happened this winter at a facility on Oregon’s coast.

            States and provinces where CWD has spread to wild herds have seen devastating losses in their big game herds, and have been unsuccessful in curbing the continued spread of the disease. While OHA supports a phase-out of cervid ranching in Oregon, its State Board of Directors believes that as long as the operations exist here, the potential risk of diseases in the state’s wild herds warrants an investment of insurance by hunters, who have the most to lose.

            Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) that govern the private holding or propagation of cervid species have been under review by the Cervid Rule Advisory Group (CRAG) for several months. OHA had a representative on this group.

            The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife presented the recommended changes to the Fish and Wildlife Commission on April 18. Within this document is a recommendation to double-fence all Type 1 cervid holding facilities in Oregon.

            Given the apparent unwillingness of the state to force cervid ranches to absorb the cost of double-fencing themselves, OHA believes hunters and holders of captive cervids must work together to protect the holder’s investment and the wildlife of Oregon.

            Compromises of this nature are not without precedent in Oregon. The fishermen of Oregon have helped to fund the fish screening effort to keep fish out of irrigation systems for many years.

            OHA believes it’s critical that hunters make every effort to protect Oregon’s wildlife from disease.

            Presented with the political reality and weighing the options of having double-fencing or not having double-fencing, as distasteful as it is, the OHA board had to support a cost-sharing plan for double-fencing.

ODFW stumps for budget, fee hikes

 These wild elk were recently photographed at an Oregon cervid ranch where they managed to gain entry to a pasture where captive cervids have been held previously. Diseases like Chronic Wasting Disease are known to linger in holding facilities after infected animals are removed. OHA is pushing for a double-fencing requirement to prevent contact between wild and captive cervids.

            The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife held two meetings of the External Budget Committee (EBAC) in February and March of this year. The committee is made up of representatives from OHA and many other interested organizations.

            The purpose of this advisory group is to assist the department in establishing budget priorities for the 2009-11 biennium. At the first two meetings, the group was presented with an extensive review of the department’s program structure, revenues and expenditures. The committee also examined the projected current ending fund balance and the potential dedicated and obligated funds packages.

            As the group reviewed the budget materials, it became apparent that the agency is faced with a need for a fee increase request for the 2009-11 biennium. What the fee increase will be and how it will be structured is still undecided at this time. OHA is working closely with the agency to determine what its needs are and what a fee increase will buy the hunters of Oregon. 

            ODFW will hold another EBAC meeting in May, at which time we will examine the input from the April ODFW budget meetings held statewide and determine what budget proposal to submit to the Commission in June. We will update you on this budget process as it moves along.

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Would you support a 20% increase in license and tag fees?

Answer this month’s hunter survey question at

www.oregonhunters.org/oregonhuntingstand.asp

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Sportsmen’s Coalition hits hot issues

             When the Oregon Sportsmen’s Coalition met in March, hot topics included ODFW’s requested fee increases, new legislation affecting fines, Oregon’s fledgling youth mentor program, a proposal for funding DNA/forensics for wildlife, prospective changes in cervid ranch rules, an update on the Idaho sheep planning process, the acquisition of lands located in the Imnaha River drainage of Hells Canyon National Recreation Area in Oregon and the challenges facing Oregon’s wildlife laws.

            The Coalition is made up of various hunting and shooting organizations from around the state. Representatives attended from these organizations: Oregon Hunters Association, Oregon Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Oregon Association of Shooting Ranges, Oregon State Shooters Association, Traditional Archers of Oregon, National Rifle Association and the Mule Deer Foundation.

            OHA and the Oregon State Shooters Association coordinated the meeting, and the agenda was the result of suggestions from many of the organizations that attended. The Coalition mission is to provide a forum for communication among sportsmen’s groups to share concerns and solutions. Speakers included representatives from the ODFW, the Oregon State Police Game Enforcement Division, Idaho Fish and Game and The Nature Conservancy.

            The Coalition is expected to meet again during the summer. 

Wolves are in Oregon; now what?

            In January of this year, a radio-collared gray wolf was confirmed in Oregon, just weeks before the de-listing of wolves from the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in a portion of eastern Oregon was scheduled to take effect on March 28. 

            As wolf activity in Oregon increases, the state is poised to take over management of the species. Oregon adopted a wolf management plan in 2005 and has been implementing it since. After federal de-listing occurs in the eastern portion of the state, wolves still will be protected by the state’s ESA until ODFW documents the existence of four breeding pairs for three consecutive years east of the Cascades. 

            As ranchers and farmers lose livestock to wolves, increasing pressure will be put on Oregon’s Legislature to act. Will the famous wolf bill from previous legislative sessions find its way to the governor’s office to be signed in 2009? Stay tuned.      

Cervid rules go before Commission

            For nearly a year the Cervid Rule Advisory Group met and wrote proposed changes in Oregon’s cervid ranching rules administered by ODFW. The extensive rule rewrite covers all aspects of cervid ranching.

            A new provision in the rules proposed by staff requires that all cervid ranches in Oregon be doubled-fenced. This has emerged as the most controversial of the recommended changes and one that the ranchers oppose because of cost. 

            Other issues that OHA – a participant in the rules revisions – proposed to ask the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to support at its April meeting included: keeping the number of licenses at 16 with some sort of phase-out of cervid licenses, making the cervid ranchers financially responsible with a bonding requirement, prohibiting the importation of gametes and embryos, and requiring disease testing upon the death of any cervid.