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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

OR: Panel to weigh Oregon wolves’ fate on endangered list

Zach Urness, Statesman Journal

Do 77 wolves represent a stable, healthy population in Oregon?

That will be the central question during an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting in Bend on Friday, when the agency will decide whether to begin the process of removing gray wolves from the state endangered-species list.

State biologists said in a report last week that Oregon’s population of 77 known wolves — 26 pups and four breeding pairs in Eastern Oregon for three consecutive years — could justify removing them from the state list.

The decision ultimately falls on the commission, which is taking public testimony at a meeting that begins at 8 a.m. at the Deschutes National Forest Office.

“Wolves are a success story in Oregon,” said Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator. “Their population is growing, and their range is expanding.

“The state’s wolf plan has measures to protect wolves into the future should the commission decide to initiate a delisting process.”

Wolves in the western two-thirds of the state would still be protected by the federal Endangered Species Act. And even with removal from the state list, Oregon’s Wolf Plan still emphasizes non-lethal control for wolves in eastern and western Oregon.

Even so, environmental groups oppose delisting wolves. They say 77 wolves isn’t a stable population and would like to see the commission wait a year or two before proceeding.

Cady said removal from the list could open to the door to a controlled hunt of wolves in the future or give poachers the idea that killing wolves is acceptable. He said his group was open to downgrading wolves from “endangered” to “threatened.”

“Our main concern is the message it sends, that people will take it the wrong way and we’ll see more people going out and shooting wolves,” he said. “It has been our non-lethal policies that have made wolves such a success in Oregon.”

“We feel that (delisting wolves) is definitely a step in the right direction,” he said. “It gives the state more options, and individuals more options, to deal with the issues caused by a growing wolf population.”

Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photographer and videographer in Oregon for seven years. He is the author of the book “Hiking Southern Oregon” and can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Facebook at Zach’s Oregon Outdoors or @ZachsORoutdoors on Twitter.

Fish and Wildlife meeting

What: A meeting of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission, which will hear a full day of issues, including the possibility of removing wolves from the Oregon Endangered Species List.

Where: Deschutes National Forest Office, 63095 Deschutes Market Road, Bend, OR 97701.

When: 8 a.m. April 24. Wolves are the last item on the meeting agenda, which can be seen at http://stjr.nl/1zOp9gL

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