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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Oregon wolf census prompts talk of de-listing from ESA protections

ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Oregon's prolific gray wolves have moved into a new recovery management phase that gives ranchers more flexibility in dealing with threats to their animals, including shooting wolves caught chasing livestock.

In the most recent census, wolves have hit the threshold for consideration as early as June of taking them off the state endangered species list.

 Wildlife biologists documented seven breeding pairs of wolves in Oregon in 2014, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said Tuesday.  Confirmation of at least four breeding pairs for the third consecutive year in eastern Oregon moves the eastern part of the state to Phase 2 of the state’s Wolf Conservation and Management Plan.

“This is an important step for Oregon," said Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator. "Wolves have now met one of the initial milestones envisioned by the public and the Commission.

"In the past seven years, Oregon has gone from no known wolves, to resident and reproducing wolves, and now to meeting our conservation objective for the eastern part of the state.”

In addition to breeding pairs, the department documented four new pairs of wolves in 2014, including confirmation of a second wolf in the Keno Unit last week.

Of the state's nine known wolf packs, only the Imnaha Pack is not a breeding pair. The Umatilla River pack still needs to be surveyed. 

A breeding pair is a pair of adult wolves which produce at least two pups that survive to the end of each year. Six of Oregon’s 2014 breeding pairs are in eastern Oregon.

Most known wolf activity, including eight of the nine known wolf packs, is east of Highways 395-78-95. This is the area of the state where wolves are also delisted from the federal Endangered Species Act.

Wolf-livestock conflict in this area is now managed under Phase 2 rules of the Oregon Wolf Plan. Non-lethal measures to prevent wolf-livestock conflict are still emphasized in Phase 2, but livestock producers now have more flexibility to protect their livestock.

Specifically, producers in the easternmost portion of the state are allowed to shoot a wolf caught chasing livestock under certain circumstances.

West of Highways 395-78-95, wolves remain listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulates all take and harassment of wolves where wolves are federally listed. The only known wolves in this area are the Rogue Pack (OR7) and two new wolves recently confirmed in the Keno Unit.

ODFW  biologists are working to complete 2014 wolf population counts for the annual state wolf report required from all Northern Rockies wolf recovery states by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The transition to Phase 2 also marks the initiation of the state delisting process in Oregon as outlined in the Wolf Plan. ODFW will begin conducting a full status review and will present the results of that review to the Fish and Wildlife Commission in April. 

Delisting from the Oregon List of Endangered Species is a public process and the Commission could make their decision as early as June 2015.

“The Wolf Plan is working and the wolf population in Oregon expanding as the original crafters of the Plan thought it would,” said Brett Brownscombe, ODFW interim deputy director.  “We should embrace this wildlife success as wolves’ return to the Oregon landscape and ensure management approaches are also in place to address the challenges that come with wolves.”



Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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