Paying For Wildfires & Wolf Kill

The cost for this years wildfires in the Pacific Northwest continues to mount. A lot of very large numbers are being bandied about but the reality is that with as many forms still raging out of control, no one can know the exact dollar figure. Oregon's Congressman, Greg Walden has called on the U.S. Senate to pass meaningful forest reform legislation to help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. 

WALDEN: While we need to change how we pay for these fires – to be more reasonable and rational – that's nothing compared to the real issue.  The real issue is we don't do enough to manage these forests before the fires to thin them out, and after the fires to salvage the burned, dead timber while it still has value so we can pay for reforestation and rehabilitation of the watersheds, the habitat, and the forests. People are pretty hot in Eastern Oregon about what happened this summer, and they want changes in federal forest policy, which legislation we passed in the House would give them. It's long overdue for the Senate to take action.

On Sunday, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife responded to a report of the shooting of a gray wolf in Whitman County. The wolf was shot southwest of Pullman by a farmer who had pursued the animal for several miles in his vehicle after seeing it near his farm. According to authorities the shooting though does not appear to have been associated with a defense-of-life action. Wolves are protected by state endangered species regulations making this a crime. At this point, no citations have been issued.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.