Landowner tackles game law If wildlife destroys your property, who is responsible? Richard Murray thinks the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife should pay, and he’s enlisted the Oregonians in Action legal center to file a tort claim notice with the state. “You have to give [the state] notice within 180 days of when the game damage happens,” Murray said. “So I’ve done that. I have another year and a half to file the claim.” Beyond that, Murray hopes to gather funds to support an initiative petition to change Oregon law. Murray notes ODFW claims regulatory jurisdiction over the wild animal population, and that the states of Washington, Idaho and Montana provide partial payment for game damage to private property, while Oregon and California do not. Ross Day and Dave Hunnicut of Oregonians In Action were in The Dalles recently consulting with Murray about the case. “There’s a Clean Water Act case in, I think, in Grant County where an environmental group has sued a rancher, claiming that the rancher’s cattle are destroying the beds and banks of the river there,” Dave Hunnicut said. “Well, the rancher has photos showing it’s the wild horses and elk that are in there, tromping around through the water. What’s the real source of the problem, and who’s going to ultimately end up dealing with it? This is just an extension of a much larger problem that affects states throughout the west.”....