Coos County v. Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

This case involves a squabble between an agency of the State of Oregon (defendant) and Coos County (plaintiff). The dispute ultimately found its way to the courts when plaintiff brought this declaratory judgment action under the Public Records Law, ORS 192.410 to 192.500, for an order requiring defendant to disclose individual responses that it had received on a questionnaire it had sent to its fish and wildlife biologists. The questionnaire asked the biologists to rate the effectiveness of the Forest Practices Act, ORS 527.610 to 527.730, in protecting fish habitat and wildlife on private…