CWD, cougars, bobcats, wildlife crossing bills highlight OHA’s efforts
By Amy Patrick, OHA Policy Director
The 2023 legislative session has officially begun with more than 4,000 bills filed the first week and potentially hundreds more waiting to be filed in the next few weeks. The session will last until the end of June, providing six months of political engagement on a myriad of topics. In this protracting landscape of bills, OHA is actively tracking close to 100 bills that affect our interests of wildlife, habitat and hunting heritage.
OHA has authored several bills this session, providing us the opportunity to play offense on issues such as establishing funding for enhanced, in-state testing for Chronic Wasting Disease, restructuring the Fish & Wildlife Commission, and attempting to secure a ballot referral for a constitutional protection to fish, hunt, harvest and gather.
OHA will support the plethora of concepts that have been put forth to approve cougar hunting with hounds on a county-by-county basis by utilizing a county-wide election. There are no less than six bills addressing this topic, each with slight differences in the process but all unified with the intent to allow hound hunting for cougars. However, a bill has been filed attempting to further restrict hound hunting by making it illegal to utilize hounds in the pursuit of lynx and bobcat; OHA will oppose this bill.
Protecting wildlife migration and reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions has long been an area of focus for OHA. In 2022, OHA supported the $7 million wildlife crossing bill, and in 2023 we will be supporting the follow-up legislation that requests an additional $5 million while tasking Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife with prioritizing projects that support wildlife mobility and habitat connectivity.
OHA will engage on numerous other bills throughout the session, all with a focus on our mission of protecting Oregon’s wildlife, habitat, and hunting heritage.
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