When I was a little girl looking for a clean piece of paper to scribble on I accidentally found my mother’s Xmas shopping list in the kitchen. It had the names of all my siblings and appropriate gifts for each. Of course I can’t remember a single item on that list for anyone else but I remember MINE – and I knew exactly what I was getting that year. I was old enough to read her handwriting and feel guilty for seeing it, but not old enough to cross out what she wrote and write in what I really wanted instead. Now I remember that moment of illicit discovery. That unused and overlooked corner of the kitchen. And I think, THIS.

THISis my new shopping list. How do we make THIS happen after the first ever beaver summit? It’s the natural outcome that I want to see for water drinkers everywhere.

New nonlethal wildlife deterrence fund proposed

A bill in the Oregon Legislature would direct the Oregon Department of Agriculture to establish a grant program to explore nonlethal deterrence between ranchers and wildlife.

House bill 2689 introduced by Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, would establish a new grant program under the Department of Agriculture to explore nonlethal deterrence between specific wildlife species and ranchers and farmers. Big game species and wolves would not be impacted by the nonlethal deterrence grants.

Under the proposed bill grants may be awarded to nonprofit groups, counties who have established a nonlethal deterrence program and individual farmers and ranchers; this includes people who are raising crops or animals for noncommercial purposes.

This is what I’m talking about. This is it. This is all of it. It just needs a snappy new name. Like the “Natural resource preservation act” Or the “Water saving Treatise” “Fire Prevention Fund” but this is my fantasy about what comes out of the beaver summit. Even if it dies on the floor I want it to be talked about. Written about. Considered.

Money can be used to purchase a guard dog or other animal. Building or enhancing fencing around property to prevent wildlife species from entering. Money can be used to acquire visual or acoustic scare devices, or flow devices such as beaver pond levelers. Ranchers and farmers would be allowed to trap an animal in a nonlethal trap and release the animal in another area with prior approval from the Department of Agriculture. Money for the new grant program will be distributed from the General Fund.

As of press time the bill has been referred to the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. No public meeting date has been scheduled and no public testimony has been submitted either in support or opposition.

For more information contact Rayfield’s office at 503-986-1416.

It’s early days. We start with an idea and go from there. How do we make this happen in California? That’s what I want to know. How. How, How,