Conservation groups protest Wallowa County's wolf compensation committee

Just days after state officials said they're adopting a framework for wolf compensation claims, conservation groups lashed out, saying they’re worried about how the plan will play out on the ground. Specifically, they’re concerned about Wallowa County. In a letter to Governor Kitzhaber dated Friday, they accused the county of forming an anti-wolf compensation committee even before the state finalized rules on the program. The program will compensate ranchers who lose cows to wolves. The Imnaha pack of at least five gray wolves has killed six cows since October when a lawsuit stayed the state’s plans to eliminate wolves that feed on livestock. The pack has killed 20 cows since the spring of 2010, according to the Department of Fish & Wildlife...more