Vice President of Government Affairs, California Cattlemen’s Association responds to Egan

Kirk Wilbur, vice president of government affairs of the California Cattlemen’s Association sent Lassen News this email in other to clarify issues expressed by Lassen County rancher Richard Egan. Egan’s opinions have been published n LassenNews.com, including a letter to the editor on this topic this morning.

After some correspondence with Richard (Egan) last night, I wanted to clarify that the information referenced was a story I shared with CCA’s Wolf Policy Subcommittee, originally written for yesterday’s edition of our California Cattleman Weekly e-bulletin, which linked to various documents publicly available on CDFW’s public website. That story is copied below for reference.

CDFW provides updates regarding Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program evaluation
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a press release last week announcing that it has “started a process to evaluate California’s Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program.”

An initial meeting was held Feb. 23, with CCA and various other stakeholder representatives in attendance (a PowerPoint presentation given at that meeting can be viewed here).

According to CDFW, “This meeting marked the first step in a broader public process that will gather input and perspectives from key stakeholder groups involved in livestock production, wolf conservation, research and government agencies, as well as from the public in the coming year.”

The department provided additional details of that public process on the agency’s Wolf Livestock Compensation Grants website.

According to CDFW, it is working with UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Berkeley California Wolf Project to “evaluate the use of a questionnaire to solicit input regarding the existing WLCP,” and beginning in May the agency intends to “hold four public meetings in counties with wolf presence” to solicit community feedback on the Compensation Program.

The department also encourages stakeholders to reach out to their “respective interest groups” to engage.

Ranchers wishing to share feedback on the Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program can reach out to Kirk Wilbur in the CCA office or communicate directly to CDFW.

As reported in last week’s California Cattleman Weekly, the Department recently stated on social media that it has provided $3.52 million in compensation grants since the program was established in 2021. That sum nearly exhausts the $3.6 million appropriated in 2021 and 2024, though an additional $2 million in compensation funding authorized in the 2025-26 Budget Act remains available.

Kirk Wilbur, vice president of government affairs, California Cattlemen’s Association