Zach Urness

Statesman Journal

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed a controversial bill into law Tuesday morning that affirms her agency’s decision to remove wolves from the state endangered species list.

House Bill 4040 supports a decision made by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission in November and all but dooms a lawsuit filed by environmental groups to challenge that decision on its scientific merits.

The bill does little to change to way wolves are managed in Oregon. The animals remain listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in the western two-thirds of the state, and it remains illegal to kill a wolf — except in certain circumstances — in the entire state.

The Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan is the guiding document for how wolves are managed in the state.

Oregon's wolf population jumped 36 percent in 2015

The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, which helped write the bill and championed it, praised the decision.

“(This bill) allows us to go forward with wolf management on the ground and hopefully not get bogged down in litigation,” OCA president John O’Keeffe said in a press release. O’Keeffe noted that the bill passed with bipartisan support in both the state House and Senate.

“We’re grateful the Governor chose to continue the bipartisan spirit that got us here,” O'Keeffe said.

Environmental groups, who hoped to pressure Brown into a veto of the bill, blasted the decision.

Environmentalists pressure Gov. Brown to veto wolf bill

"HB 4040, legislation written to shield the ODFW from judicial review and public accountability, directly undermines the Governor’s pledge of good governance," the environmental group Oregon Wild wrote in a statement.

"ODFW broke the law when it removed state endangered species protections from gray wolves. Special interests, apparently recognizing the fact that the agency had overstepped its authority, successfully lobbied the Oregon Legislature to retroactively change the rules and undermine the ability of citizens to challenge the decisions of their government."

A deep look at wolves in Oregon