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Friday, May 19, 2017
PORTLAND, Ore.—The Commission heard from a panel of stakeholders representing Wolf Program stakeholders and an additional 73 members of the public who signed up to testify at a meeting about the revised Draft Wolf Plan today.
The meeting was live-streamed and a recording can be viewed at ODFW’s Twitter account.
Commissioners have now heard public testimony about the Draft Plan at meetings in La Grande, Klamath Falls and Portland. No decisions were made at today’s meeting, and a date for final adoption of a revised Draft Plan was not set. Chair Finley did schedule a work session for Commissioners on Thursday, June 8 from 1 – 5 p.m. in Salem at ODFW Headquarters, where commissioners will have a chance to ask questions of ODFW staff, discuss the draft Plan and provide direction to staff on next steps. This work session will be open to the public to attend and listen, but no public testimony will be taken at this meeting.
Commissioners also heard an update from ODFW staff on a possible Lower Columbia River sturgeon retention fishery. The Commission had requested staff look into this issue a few months ago. Staff noted that the legal-size sturgeon population had been significantly rebuilt since a January 2014 closure and believed a “small but meaningful” fishery was possible. Several commissioners expressed support for the idea. Oregon and co-managers Washington intend to hold a hearing about the fishery next week.
The Commission is the policy-making body for fish and wildlife issues in Oregon.
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