The bill seeks to base compensation for confirmed and “probable” injuries to livestock with a cap of up to $25,000 per animal — seven times the market value.

Oregon’s Wolf Depredation Compensation and Financial Assistance Grant Program was first established in 2011 following the passage of House Bill 3560.

According to the 2022 USDA Livestock Census, there are approximately 1.4 million cattle and sheep in the state. ODFW conducted 72 depredation investigations in 2024 and found 104 confirmed and probable kills. Assuming that all probable kills were indeed wolves, that comes out to .00007% of the cattle and sheep population in the state.

Sound insignificant? That’s because it is.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists under pressure by ranchers to make favorable determinations at current compensation rates. Increasing payouts by seven times will most certainly amplify that pressure.

Promoting fear of wolves undermines conservation efforts by fostering negative perceptions that lead to policies favoring lethal control over coexistence.

When wolves are unfairly portrayed as dangerous threats to livestock, game populations, or human safety, public resistance to their presence increases, making it harder to implement science-based conservation strategies.

This fear-driven mindset influences political decisions, weakens legal protections, and discourages ranchers and landowners from adopting non-lethal conflict prevention methods.

Additionally, fear-based rhetoric and legislation can fuel illegal killings, disrupt pack structures and sometimes increase livestock predation as destabilized wolf populations struggle to hunt effectively. It’s a lose-lose proposition.

On the public lands — where wild nature should reign supreme — when wolves naturally prey on livestock grazing in their territory, it often results in government-sanctioned lethal removal, even though the livestock are displacing wolves’ other prey through their presence.

Domestic livestock compete with native herbivores for forage, disrupting natural food chains and altering habitat conditions that species like elk, deer, and small mammals rely on.

If you are a public lands hunter, domestic livestock should be your number one concern when it comes to habitat and ungulate health.

Compensation programs do not encourage responsible management of native wildlife, ecosystems, and livestock. By prioritizing native ecosystems over commercial livestock operations, public lands should serve as vital refuges for wolves, reducing conflicts, preserving biodiversity, and allowing predator-prey dynamics to function naturally without human intervention.

Public lands ranchers should not be compensated with public dollars for their losses. Like any viable enterprise, it should just be the cost of doing business.