By Kelly House | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Oregon’s fledgling wolf population reached a new milestone last year, producing enough new pups to push the state’s total wolf count into the triple digits.
The number of known wolves in Oregon grew by 36 percent, to 110 individuals, according to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife report released Monday. The numbers reflect wolves’ continued breeding success in the eight years since they re-established territory in Oregon after being wiped out in the mid-1900s.
And since Oregon still offers plenty of prime territory yet to be discovered by wolves, state wildlife biologists expect the trend to continue for years to come.
“There’s plenty of room for wolves to continue to pioneer into new areas,” said Russ Morgan, the state’s wolf coordinator.
Morgan noted that Northeastern Oregon, the region where most of Oregon’s wolves reside, could become an exception to the rule.
“In those areas that have relatively full and occupied habitat, the wolf population may start leveling off before it does in other areas,” Morgan said.
Already, the top predators have begun expanding their territory beyond the northeastern counties where they first established a presence.
There is now a pack and a breeding pair in Southern Oregon, including celebrity wolf OR-7 and his two broods of offspring. Last month, state wildlife officials announced an adult female has been hanging out near the border between northern Klamath and Lake counties.
So far, the big dogs have steered clear of the forests closer to Bend and Portland.
The report comes months after the state fish and wildlife commission voted to remove gray wolves from the state’s endangered species list – a controversial decision that environmentalists are fighting in court. A bill under consideration in the Oregon legislature aims to block that legal review.
The legal and legislative jockeying has widened the gulf between environmentalists who argue the commission’s decision wasn’t based on sound science and ranchers who say wolves’ resurgence puts their cattle at risk.
The population report drew mixed reviews from environmentalists, who expressed optimism about the animals’ continued growth but criticized the state wildlife department for a key detail buried in the report.
The agency revealed Monday that at least three wolves last year died at the hands of poachers. Only one of those deaths had been previously disclosed.
“We hear about every single attack on livestock in a timely manner, but we don’t hear about these wolf poachings until the next calendar year?” said Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon Wild. “You’re sending the signal to people in the hunting and ranching community that it’s not a big deal.”
The growing animosity between wolf advocates and enemies could set up a showdown as the state conducts a mandatory review this year of its 10-year-old wolf management plan, opening the document up for potential revisions.
It remains illegal to kill a wolf in Oregon except in limited circumstances, but environmentalists argue the loss of state Endangered Species Act protections puts wolves at an increased risk. They’re likely to seek language in the wolf plan that puts more emphasis on non-lethal methods to deter conflict between wolves and livestock.
Ranching industry leaders have repeatedly vowed to fight for language that puts a cap on the number of wolves Oregon can sustain.
“Other populations – deer, elk – they all have management objective levels and if they get above or below that, it’s incumbent upon ODFW to manage toward those numbers,” said Todd Nash, wolf committee chairman for the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. “That should be the case with wolves, as well.”
Key details from the annual wolf count:
■ Wolves have established presence in nine Oregon counties. They are: Baker, Grant, Jackson, Klamath, Lake, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa counties.
■ Despite their growing numbers, Oregon’s wolves attacked fewer livestock last year than in in 2014. State biologists confirmed nine attacks involving 17 deaths or injuries, compared to 11 attacks the previous year on 32 animals.
■ There are 11 breeding pairs of adult wolves, up from nine in 2014.
■ The new population figures represent a 36 percent population increase from last year’s wolf count, which logged 77 known wolves in Oregon.
■ The actual number of wolves in Oregon is likely higher, as scientists aren’t always able to track adult wolves that break away from their pack to find a mate.
■ State officials documented seven wolf deaths in 2015. Of those, three were shot, one died after consuming poison, two died of unknown causes and one, a pup, died of natural causes. It’s illegal to kill a wolf in Oregon, and several of the deaths are still under investigation. A Baker City man was fined $2,000 and his rifle was confiscated after he admitted to one of the shootings.
–Kelly House