Keep Oregon’s Wildlife Moving

In the short session of the 2024 Oregon State Legislature starting up on Feb. 5th, wildlife champion Rep. Ken Helm has introduced a comprehensive wildlife conservation package – House Bill (HB) 4148 – that aims to provide necessary funding and finetuned language to holistically better manage our state’s wildlife and habitat resources in the 21st Century.

HB 4148 builds upon successful wildlife and motorist safe passage legislation and funding from previous years and will further improve outcomes to Oregon's current wildlife corridor and crossings laws by bolstering technical guidance available to planners and engineers integrating wildlife crossing features in highway projects. The bill would also update relevant agency reports to ensure information needs are fully met on projects, timelines, and funding.

The bill has already attracted broad-based, bipartisan support not only from Oregon legislators co-sponsoring the legislation, but from a whole host of more than 50 organizations representing environmental and conservation groups, hunting and angling advocates, academia and many more.

HB 4148 had its first public hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water on Feb. 6, 2024. We invite all Oregonians to submit written testimony in support of the legislation on the Oregon Legislative Information System website before the deadline on Feb 8, 2024.

Please contact your representatives today to ask them to support the passage of HB 4148 to keep Oregon’s wildlife moving!

Below are the other key features included in the legislation:

Addressing Wildlife Disease: The Oregon and Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (OVDL) plays a vital role in public health, responding to issues of serious concern for people and wildlife, including highly contagious bacterial disease, avian flu, and mosquito born illnesses. Yet, the OVDL remains in need of resources. Consistent with recommendations from the legislative report directed by HB 4128 (2022), HB 4148 allocates $3.5 million for critical equipment and capacity necessary for the OVDL and the state Wildlife Health Lab to combat threats such as Chronic Wasting Disease and zoonotic diseases.

Responding to Invasive Species: Invasive species are associated with an estimated $200 billion in losses and control costs nationally each year (adjusted to 2024 dollars). In Oregon, invasive sudden oak death could detriment our forest and nursery sectors as much as $600 million per year, and issues continue to arise such as European green crabs impacting northwest fisheries and highly damaging quagga mussels recently identified in Oregon. Similar to wildfire response, addressing invasive species is a race against the clock. HB 4148 would allocate $1.5 million for the Oregon Invasive Species Council to evaluate and address vulnerabilities, increase public awareness, and respond to emergencies.

Promoting Wildlife Stewardship and Coexistence: With population growth and other pressures, greater public education is needed on living alongside wildlife, as well as a need to advance humane solutions when conflicts arise. Originally proposed in ODFW POP 113 (2023 (pp. 786-789), HB 4148 would establish a program at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, including biologists to support informed stewardship across the state, investments in public education, and grants to rehabilitation centers that care for injured animals.