SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon House has unanimously voted to pay ranchers who lose livestock to wolves.
The House vote on Wednesday sends the measure to the Senate.
The legislation had appeared dead, but was revived after ranchers, conservation groups, and the governor’s office spent three days in a closed room last week hammering out details of the $100,000 package.
The bill is considered crucial to getting ranchers on board with restoring wolf packs that had been hunted to extinction in Oregon in the early 20th century.
A state fund would replace payments to ranchers from the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife, which runs out in September.
