Wednesday, September 9, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Oregon
SAT scores
show little
change
The wolves of Oregon
In the 1950s, the idea of
protecting “more desirable”
wildlife species, such as deer
and elk, became a signifi-
cant motivation for predator
control.
During this time of pred-
ator-killing, however, some
wildlife biologists questioned
the wisdom of removing the
wolf from the ecosystem,
and with the help of con-
servation organizations —
and Congress — put a plan
together to reintroduce the
wolf to the West, choosing
Yellowstone National Park as
a good place to start.
In 1995-96, 31 gray
wolves from western
Canada were relocated to
Yellowstone.
Since then, wolves have
expanded their territory,
including forays into Oregon.
A local hunter, Mark
Gorman, recently reported
what he is certain was a
multiple-wolf sighting in the
Round Lake area.
“August 29, 2015 my
son and his friends are hunt-
ing near Round Lake off of
Road 430, off of the Santiam
Pass, and they were trying to
call in elk when they heard
what they thought was a coy-
ote,” Gorman wrote in an
email to The Nugget. “One
By Jim Anderson
Correspondent
In the 1800s, westward
expansion of settlers and their
livestock brought them into
direct contact with wolves —
because much of the wolves’
prey base was destroyed as
agriculture ate up what was
once wildlife habitat.
With their prey base
removed, wolves had no alter-
native but to prey on domes-
tic livestock, which resulted
in humans eliminating wolves
from most of their historical
range in the West. They were
trapped and shot for a bounty,
trapped for fur, and killed just
because they were wolves.
Predator control was car-
ried out throughout Central
Oregon with methods rang-
ing from trapping and snaring
to digging out dens, and the
use of cyanide and the lethal
chemical 1080.
Predators such as wea-
sels, bears, cougars, badgers,
eagles, owls and hawks were
also killed by 1080 poison to
“protect livestock” — espe-
cially sheep. During both
World Wars, wool was king,
and wool-growers considered
forests and sagebrush des-
erts of the West ideal for free
sheep grazing.
19
usfW photo
Adult gray wolf, Canis lupus. Will they eventually rid the town of Sisters of
all the tame deer?
of them pulled out a coyote
call, and called. What they
got in return was at least five
wolves on all sides of them...
Really, how many wolves are
in Oregon?”
We know for certain the
wanderings of one wolf.
In the fall of 2011, a radio-
collared Oregon wolf with
the designation OR-7, from
the Imnaha Pack in north-
east Oregon, made history.
After an epic journey across
the state, the 2-year-old male
became the first confirmed
wolf west of the Cascades
since the last wolf bounty had
been collected in 1947.
(In a moment of rare his-
toric symmetry, OR-7, in its
meanderings, passed by the
very spot in the Umpqua
National Forest where
Oregon’s “last” wolf was
killed.)
As of this moment,
according to ODFW wild-
life biologist Simon Wray of
the Bend Regional Office,
there are currently 81 wolves
in Oregon, but Wray says
that should be considered a
minimum. ODFW’s website
breaks that number down at
http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/
population.asp.
These figures can become
more accurate if anyone who
spots a wolf would report
their observation to their local
ODFW office, or go to the
ODFW website and follow
the reporting instructions.
PORTLAND (AP) —
Oregon’s class of 2015 did
about the same as the class
of 2014 on the SAT college
entrance exam.
Students are tested in read-
ing, writing and math, and
each is scored on a scale of
200 to 800.
The College Board said
Thursday that Oregon stu-
dents scored 518 in reading,
516 in math and 496 in writ-
ing. That totals 1,530 points
out of a possible 2,400. The
class of 2014 scored one point
higher — 1,531.
A combined score of 1,550
or higher is considered the
benchmark for whether a stu-
dent is likely ready for col-
lege. About half the Oregon
test-takers met the threshold.
The average SAT score
in the U.S. was a combined
1,490 points – 40 points lower
than Oregon. Test-takers
in The Beaver State easily
topped the national average in
reading and writing, and did
slightly better in math.
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