Baker County Seeks $43,300 From State to Compensate Ranchers for Wolf-Killed Cattle

Baker County commissioners and the county’s wolf depredation compensation committee agreed to request $43,300 from the state to reimburse ranchers who lost cattle to wolves in eastern Baker County’s Keating Valley and the Medical Springs area. The compensation request covers multiple incidents that committee members said occurred “several times since last fall” and involved wolves from the Black Pines Pack.

The wolf depredation committee reviewed one application Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 18, at the courthouse, approving a request from Christopher Porter for $8,974 to cover three steers he said were killed “over the past six weeks or so” in Keating Valley, about 15 miles east of Baker City. Porter also reported a fourth steer injured and being treated; Commissioner Christina Witham told Porter he could submit a separate application for veterinary bills and other costs related to that injured animal.

Committee members earlier this winter reviewed additional applications from four other ranchers in the Keating and Medical Springs areas who reported cattle losses last fall, but the meeting materials provided public totals only for Porter’s claim and the $43,300 aggregate request. The committee’s bylaws require using the top price paid for steers in the same weight class from the Intermountain Livestock auction yard in La Grande to set compensation figures, and the committee said it followed that formula in calculating the Porter payment.

The reimbursement request intersects with a broader legislative debate. Rep. Mark Owens, R–Crane, is a sponsor of House Bill 4134, a measure Baker County Commissioner Christina Witham opposes; Witham called HB 4134 a “dirty deal” because she said some of the bill’s money would go to conservation groups whose members she contends have supported wolf restoration in Oregon and thus harmed ranchers. The committee did not provide an itemized breakdown of the rest of the $43,300 beyond Porter’s $8,974.

Historical scrutiny over the county’s wolf compensation decisions adds context to the current request. Commissioner and rancher Mark Bennett acknowledged past problems, saying, “I will say that the committee here, we started off with some missteps.” State-level reporting has noted that Baker County previously received $16,125 under the program, including a payout tied to 12 missing cattle for rancher DelCurto, and raised questions about verification. State biologists have said there had been no confirmed wolf kill in Baker County since 2012 and that there are only three known resident wolves in the county; a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study cited in that reporting estimated that “for every livestock carcass you find killed by a wolf in rough country like this, there are seven more out there you don’t find.”

Key details remain unanswered: the county has not released an itemized list of the other claimants or per-applicant amounts that sum to $43,300, and the records provided do not state whether carcasses were recovered or necropsied or which state agency will process the reimbursement. Those verification steps will be central as Baker County moves to submit the reimbursement request and as state officials evaluate the $43,300 claim.