Submitted photo
A 100 lb adult male wolf was GPS radio-collared in the Mt. Emily unit on
May 25, 2014. After an 11-hour meeting with the Oregon Fish and
Wildlife Commission, wolves were removed from the Oregon endangered
species list.
On a frosty morning when the road over the Cascades
was blanketed in ice, I made my way to Salem to listen to the Oregon
Fish and Wildlife Commission and testimony for and against the delisting
of wolves.
There are 81 wolves confirmed in 15 packs in
Oregon. And we know pups were born in at least nine packs. With litters
of four to seven for each female with young, it’s safe to say there are
at least 100 Canadian grays in Oregon.
Russ Morgan, the wolf program coordinator, presented
the science in favor of removing the wolf from Endangered Species Act
listing, of moving from phase 1 of Oregon’s Wolf Plan into phase 2.
At the end of the 11-hour session, the commission
voted to delist the wolf. The wolf is considered established in Oregon.
Though Morgan showed a map that identified locations of known packs and
individuals, a lot of people in the testimony that followed showed a
marked ignorance of geography.
Many who testified in opposition to delisting gave
their home addresses in Portland and said the wolves were all in
Northeast Oregon when Morgan showed there are wolves in Klamath County
and Jackson County. There is known wolf activity in the Winema National
Forest near Chiloquin and in the Cascades between Keno (west of Klamath
Falls) and Medford. We call that Southern Oregon.
To get there, wolves had to travel from the Imnaha
and the Snake River watersheds through Central Oregon, into the
Cascades. Wolves crossed the very highway I drove from Bend to Salem.
We know this because some of the relocating wolves
are collared. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife calls them
“collared dispersers,” and their movements help us understand what types
of habitat wolves are attracted to.
ODFW has documented dispersal of 19 collared wolves,
some of which (42 percent) left for Washington or Idaho, and the rest
changed addresses in Oregon, moving an average of 100 miles. But wolves
don’t move in a straight line. In fact, the map showing each of the
collared wolves’ movements resembled unraveled balls of colored yarn
with wolves moving this and that way. Like anyone looking for a new
place to live, they check out a lot of neighborhoods.
Well-traveled roads seem to create boundaries and
deterrents, but wolves frequent lightly traveled roads. The way they
travel in the mountains is about efficiency, tending to move through
valley bottoms, and, when on ridge tops, they use existing game trails.
It makes sense, because that’s what deer and elk do.
Wolves can be said to be a “passage species” much
like salmon, which pass through available habitat as they move from
place to place. The picture given was of a salmon that transitions
through the mouth of the Columbia River. It needs that habitat to move
from the ocean to its home spawning ground 300 miles upriver.
A good example is the wolf known as OR-25, which was
a yearling when he left the Imnaha. He passed through the Columbia
Basin and the Blue Mountains and into the Cascades. In the mountains
again, he stayed on the east slope, passing near Mount Bachelor. He is
said to have moved through the Cascades in about five nights to take up
residence in northern Klamath County.
It’s important to remember we can track
GPS-collared wolves, but in some cases there are other wolves with them.
What are they looking for?
Prey selection varies (deer, elk, cattle, sheep),
but wolves demonstrate a preference for elk. Morgan showed several
overlays including human population density, forest cover, a wolf
potential range map and an elk distribution map. Morgan made the point
that wolves seek out timbered country with elk herds. The average wolf,
it is said, needs about 35 deer and elk per year.
Besides fewer elk and deer, what can we expect as
wolves continue to grow in numbers? According to Morgan’s report, wolves
occupy 31.6 percent of potential habitat in the east management zone
(west of Highway 395) and are found in 2.7 percent of the available
range in the west management zone.
And what of OR-25? He killed a calf and injured two
other beeves in the last week of October at a ranch near Chiloquin.
These are thought to be the first attacks on livestock outside of
Northeast Oregon since the 1940s.
With delisting, very little is expected to change
immediately, but management will eventually be handed over to ODFW
biologists.
At this time, the ESA delisting process for any
species applies to the whole state — it’s all or nothing. The commission
will ask the Legislature to allow for ESA delisting of other species in
portions of the state in the future. And the commission supports
increasing the maximum penalty for killing a wolf. Currently the penalty
is $6,250 and a year in jail.
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