more on 2006 OR management plan

[Emily]

from High Country News

http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article ... e_id=17509

The fur is flying
hcn online - February 8, 2008 by Evelyn Schlatter
Michael Moss’ 64-acre goat ranch sits on the edge of BLM land in southwestern Oregon. It’s “healthy cougar country,” he says, and he’d like it to stay that way. That’s not something you’d expect to hear from most livestock owners, but Moss is a member of Goat Ranchers of Oregon, a group that advocates smart land stewardship. And that stewardship, Moss notes, should include not only deer and elk, but their predators as well.
That’s why Goat Ranchers of Oregon has teamed up with six conservation groups to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services. The plaintiffs are concerned that under Oregon’s 2006 cougar management plan, Wildlife Services, under contract with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, is killing cougars in certain parts of the state without having adequately studied the environmental impacts of removing the big cats.

According to the cougar management plan, an estimated 5,100 cats roamed the state as of 2003. Oregon Fish and Wildlife wants to maintain a population of at least 3,000. But that plan is drawing fire from individuals and groups who interpret that to mean 2,000 cats will be indiscriminately killed. The agency, however, says that it intends to eliminate only as many cougars as necessary to reduce conflicts with humans and livestock.

The agency’s reasoning is flawed, says Noah Greenwald, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. He notes that increased complaints about cougar conflicts don’t necessarily mean there are more cougars; rather, they might reflect human encroachment on cat habitat or inaccurate sighting complaints. Fish and Wildlife lacks the data needed for an accurate picture of cougar numbers, he says. Furthermore, he adds, recent studies suggest that over-hunting may compound cougar problems, by taking older, more established cougars and leaving younger, inexperienced cougars, which tend to go for “easy meals” like livestock.