Oregon
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Curt Melcher retiring in April
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Curt Melcher is retiring in April, creating an opening for a position that plays a major role in managing the state’s flora and fauna at a critical time.
Melcher, who has been director since 2014 and recently served as president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, announced his retirement on Wednesday.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to serve as the director for the last nine years,” Melcher said in a statement. “I appreciate and respect the mission driven staff that serve the resource and our customers.
ODFW’s next director will be selected following a recruitment process expected to start in January, the agency said. The Fish and Wildlife Commission will make the appointment in partnership with Gov. Tina Kotek’s office and hopes to conclude the recruitment prior to April 1.
Melcher guided the department through difficult issues such as budget shortfalls, the rise of wolves and the complex politics of Oregon’s salmon and steelhead runs. Melcher took over a department facing a $32 million budget shortfall and has faced continual decisions over what programs to keep, and which to cut.
“Under Melcher’s leadership, the agency’s finances have been stabilized while avoiding a fee increase for hunters and anglers for a decade,” the ODFW news release announcing his retirement said.
Melcher grew up in northwest Oregon and graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.S. degree in Biology. He has been with ODFW since 1985, starting his career doing fish surveys on the Columbia and Willamette rivers before rising to deputy director from 2007-2014.
Melcher touted his record on conservation that included conserving new properties of 16,000 acres on the Minam River, 10,000 acres on the Lower Deschutes River and numerous properties in the Willamette Valley, the news release said. He also highlighted “development of historic cooperative agreements with six Tribes that enhance their sovereignty and give each Tribe a stronger voice in protecting fish, wildlife and their habitats—a mission both the Tribes and the agency share.”
“Director Melcher will leave a well-run agency,” said Mary Wahl, chair of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. “The Commission has deep respect and appreciation for the highly competent and dedicated ODFW staff, and for Director Melcher’s leadership of the Agency.”
In seeking out a new director, Wahl said the commission would look for someone with a “strong record protecting and managing our fish, wildlife and habitat assets, and one who will be an exceptional leader creating a vision for ODFW’s work that meets the challenges Oregon faces from accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss impacts, and threats to our cold water sources.”
Melcher highlighted the department’s employees.
“We have a dedicated and talented workforce and I leave the agency in good hands,” he said.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.
Three Oregon lawmakers say they plan to introduce a bill that would bar utilities from raising rates if they have unresolved wildfire lawsuits for three or more years, describing it as an effort to hold PacifiCorp accountable as the utility faces a series of lawsuits stemming from the deadly 2020 wildfires that ravaged the state.
Republican state Reps. Jami Cate, Virgle Osborne and Ed Diehl announced their proposal in a statement Monday, on the heels of an approved rate increase for PacifiCorp customers and a federal lawsuit against the electric power company.
The federal government sued PacifiCorp last week over the Archie Creek Fire, which ignited in Oregon’s Douglas County in September 2020 and burned more than 200 square miles, about half of which was federal land. The complaint accuses the company of negligence for failing to maintain its power lines to prevent wildfires. In its filing, the government says it brought the suit to recover “substantial costs and damages.”
A PacifiCorp spokesperson said in an emailed statement Monday that the company was working with the U.S. government to resolve the claims.
“It is unfortunate the U.S. government decided to file a lawsuit in federal district court, however PacifiCorp will continue to work with the U.S. government to find reasonable resolution of this matter,” the statement said.
The federal lawsuit was filed on the same day the Oregon Public Utility Commission approved a 9.8% rate increase for PacifiCorp’s residential customers next year. In its rate case filings, the company said its request to increase rates was partly due to higher costs stemming from wildfire risk and activity.
When the new rate takes effect in January, PacifiCorp rates will have increased nearly 50% since 2021, according to the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, which advocates on behalf of utility customers.
The three lawmakers said they will introduce their bill in the upcoming legislative session, which starts in January.
“The federal government is doing the right thing by filing this lawsuit, and we stand firmly behind it,” Osborne, who is set to be the future bill’s co-chief sponsor, said in a statement. “PacifiCorp needs to pay up and take responsibility for the destruction they’ve caused, and putting a stop to rate hikes is the best way to achieve it.”
PacifiCorp is poised to be on the hook for billions in damages in the series of lawsuits over Oregon’s 2020 fires.
The company has already reached two settlement agreements over the Archie Creek Fire, including one for $299 million with 463 plaintiffs impacted by the blaze and another for $250 million with 10 companies with commercial timber interests, according to its website.
In other litigation, an Oregon jury in June 2023 found it liable for negligently failing to cut power to its 600,000 customers despite warnings from top fire officials and determined it should have to pay punitive and other damages — a decision that applied to a class including the owners of up to 2,500 properties. Since then, other Oregon juries have ordered the company to pay tens of millions to other wildfire victims.
The wildfires that erupted across Oregon over Labor Day weekend in 2020 were among the worst natural disasters in state history, killing nine people and destroying thousands of homes.
— The Associated Press
On Wednesday at 2:18 a.m. the National Weather Service issued a wind advisory valid from 10 p.m. until Thursday 10 a.m. for North Central Oregon and Central Oregon.
The weather service states, “South winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 45 mph expected.”
“Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result,” adds the weather service. “Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.”
Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.
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