The Eagle/Scott Mallory

Ashley Mund has plenty of attention during her speech Sunday, Jan. 9, at the annual meeting of the Grant County Farm Bureau at the Elks Lodge in John Day. The topic of a speech contest between local FFA students was “The Myths and Realities of Wolves in Oregon.” Mund and three other high school students, Mary Jo Larssen and Austin Rawlings from Grant Union, and Jammie Adams, who with Mund attends Monument High. Mund won first prize and $100. Larssen was second and she walked away with $50. Mund gave a copy of her speech to Craig Ely, of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, who talked with the assembled ranchers and farmers, about 60 people, about the state’s plan to manage wolves that will come here from Idaho. “The state is not reintroducing the wolf back into Oregon,” Ely said. “But we fully anticipate wolves from Idaho.” Excerpts from the students’ wolf speeches are below. A copy of the ODFW’s wolf plan is available on the Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us/.

‘The best approach would be to admit wolves are not endangered and should be removed from the Endangered Species List thereby terminating the need for wolf recovery.’

– Austin Rawlins, FFA student, Grant Union High

‘A person has to face a basic truth about the wolf. That he is a killer, not only of livestock and wild game, but of people as well.’

– Mary Jo Larssen, FFA student, Grant Union High

‘I found it interesting that the two of the 14 committee members that did not support the plan were the two members directly affected by it.’

– Ashley Mund, FFA Student, Monument High

‘If the wildlife prey numbers go down, then wolves will go for livestock. It all goes back to the food chain. Life is a neverending food chain.’

– Jammie Adams, FFA Student, Monument High