SALEM — An Eastern Oregon legislator wants to significantly increase state funding to reimburse ranchers for dead and missing livestock caused by wolves.

State Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo, plans to introduce a bill in the 2022 Legislature that would provide $1 million during the next biennium for the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Wolf Depredation Compensation and Financial Assistance grant program.

The bill comes on behalf of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon Sheep Growers Association and Oregon Hunters Association.

“(Producers) didn’t ask for these wolves to be brought in,” Levy said. “It’s a very emotional thing, and it’s getting more costly by the day.”

The Wolf Depredation Compensation and Financial Assistance program was created by the Legislature in 2011, and provides grants to counties where wolves are present. Grants may be awarded to cover the losses of dead, injured or missing livestock, as well as non-lethal prevention.

Ranchers, however, argue the program is underfunded. For 2020, ODA awarded $130,164 split among 12 counties, covering just 37% of all grant requests. In 2019, counties were awarded $251,529, or 58% of all requests.

State Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, requested $800,000 for the program in the 2021 Legislature. Lawmakers instead approved a one-time allocation of $400,000, on top of what already is provided in ODA’s budget.

Jonathan Sandau, a special assistant to ODA Director Alexis Taylor, said the agency anticipates having a little more than $800,000 total to compensate producers for wolf-livestock conflicts during the biennium, including federal grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Despite the boost, ranchers say it is still not enough as they face greater instances of wolves attacking and killing their animals.

Oregon has at least 173 wolves scattered across the state, according to the most recent estimate from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. So far in 2021, ODFW has confirmed 87 animals killed or injured by wolves, including 51 cattle, 28 sheep, six goats and two guard dogs. That is up by more than double over 2020, when 32 animals were attacked or killed by wolves — 28 cattle, two llamas and two guard dogs.

Levy said the estimated cost for dead and missing livestock, as of Nov. 6, was $780,000 and that number is expected to increase as ranchers finish moving their livestock out of the mountains and down into winter pasture.

Rodger Huffman, a Union County rancher and member of the OCA wolf committee, said the compensation program likely will not cover counties’ grant requests.

“More tools are needed,” Huffman said. “If more tools are not provided in management, then more money is needed for compensation.”

What’s more, Huffman said the program does not compensate ranchers for other hidden costs they suffer due to wolves. Livestock might not be directly killed or injured, but have lower birth rates or gain less weight if they are stressed by predators.

“There’s cost in the cattle production side,” Huffman said. “Then the other big cost is the producer cost to be out there trying to prevent the depredations.”

Sandau, with ODA, said applications for ranchers to receive compensation for 2021 depredations will be made available in February 2022. With the $400,000 boost in funding, he said they should be able to fulfill more requests than they have in past years.

“We talk to stakeholder groups and county governments, and with the available funds make the best investment that we can,” Sandau said. “With potentially more depredation requests for 2021 in the granting cycle for 2022, we’ll see how it all balances out.”