Rural Oregonians defend trapper program against cuts

In many Oregon communities, county governments are hard up for cash, a decades-old fact of life arising from falling timber revenue, stagnant property values and a deep-seated aversion to local tax levies.  So locals are used to prioritizing services. Lincoln County Chair Terry Thompson recalls a time a few years back when a group of rural residents wanted to make their wishes known to the county board.“We want good roads that we can travel on,” he recalled them saying, “and the trapper. The rest of the things are just for people in the cities.”Twenty-six of Oregon’s 36 counties have a wildlife specialist — or trapper — who falls under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The Wildlife Services program is paid for through a cooperative cost-sharing agreement involving county, state and federal governments. It’s been that way for decades but, may that be about to change.Gov. Kate Brown’s budget would cut $934,340 from the program in the next biennium, a move championed by environmental and conservation groups as a long-awaited rebuke of a program they contend needlessly kills thousands of animals each year. But rural Oregonians and ranchers see it as the tone-deaf response of political leaders far removed from the daily realities of a rural existence.The 27 wildlife specialists in the state respond to hundreds of service requests each year. Some calls stem from public safety concerns, others from property damage. They chase away, trap or kill animals in every corner of the state: from packrats in sheds, to skunks under porches, to cougars, coyotes or bears that threaten livestock or people.