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CapitalPress.com
March 13, 2015
Bill requires
Washington state’s wolf
population up by 30 percent natural resource
State stuck on four
breeding pairs;
recovery goals
still years away
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington’s wolf popu-
lation grew by 30 percent in
2014, but the animals contin-
ue to be concentrated in the
northeast part of the state, with
statewide recovery still several
years away, Washington De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife
wolf policy lead Dave Ware
said Friday.
The WDFW still projects
that recovery goals won’t be
achieved until 2021. Since
2012, the state has been stuck
on five breeding pairs, at least
10 short of recovery.
Plus, the wolves need to be
more widely dispersed.
WDFW says it may be
missing breeding pairs, which
may show up in future counts.
Also, wolves may be poised to
begin spreading out, Ware said.
“The northeast is very close
to approaching saturation, so
those wolves have to go some-
where else or die,” Ware said.
WDFW released a summa-
ry of its 2014 wolf census late
Friday afternoon. It plans to
provide a full report to the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service in
April.
In 2014, the WDFW con-
firmed the presence of 68
wolves in the state, up from 52
in 2013.
Some 55 wolves were in
the Eastern recovery zone, the
eastern one third of the state.
There were 12 wolves in
the Northern Cascades zone,
and one wolf in the Southern
Cascades zone.
Four breeding pairs were in
the Eastern zone and one was in
the Northern Cascades zone.
The state has 16 wolf
packs, four more than the year
Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
In this 2011 file photo taken by the Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife, a Teanaway pack wolf recovers after being
tranquilized and collared. Officials say the state’s wolf population
increased by about 30 percent last year.
before. Wolf packs have tri-
pled since 2011.
At least 15 breeding pairs,
with at least four in each zone,
must be established to meet
recovery goals. Until then, un-
der current state law, wolves
will remain on the state’s en-
dangered species list.
Northeast
Washington
lawmakers and county com-
missioners are pressing the
Legislature to reopen the wolf
plan in light of the fact the
wolves are established in that
region but statewide goals
are still far from being met.
They also want WDFW to
judge success in reintroducing
wolves by the number of wolf
packs, not breeding pairs.
Ware said it’s unknown
whether the increase in the
wolf population is the result
of wolves crossing into the
state or of in-state breeding.
He said the 30 percent in-
crease in one year was on par
with the experience of other
states after the wolf popula-
tion reached 50.
Ware said it’s difficult to
count wolves and that the
census reflects only wolves
that biologists have detected
multiple times by sightings,
tracks, howls or collar de-
tections. He estimated there
could actually be about 100
wolves in the state.
WDFW has received cred-
ible reports of wolves south
of Interstate 90, but did not
count any in its census. “We
haven’t been able to confirm,
but it’s a matter of time,” he
said.
Gray wolves are protect-
ed under Washington law
throughout the state and un-
der federal law in the western
two-thirds of the state.
The four new packs —
Goodman Meadows, Profani-
ty Peak, Tucannon and White-
stone — were discovered east
of the Cascades, where all of
the state’s wolf packs are lo-
cated. The state’s wolf plan
defines a pack as two or more
wolves traveling together in
winter.
Donny Martorello, WDFW
carnivore specialist, said the
number of packs would have
been even higher if not for the
loss of the Ruby Creek pack
last spring.
One wolf was struck and
killed by a vehicle. The other
was accepted for care by Wolf
Haven International in Ten-
ino after it was found living
among dogs in Pend Oreille
County.
At least nine other wolves
also died in 2014. Three were
killed by poachers, three died
of natural causes, two died
of unknown causes, and a
breeding female was killed
last summer during an effort
by WDFW to stop members
of the Huckleberry pack from
preying on a rancher’s sheep
in Stevens County.
Attacks on sheep by the
Huckleberry pack also pushed
the number of livestock killed
by wolves to a record.
The pack accounted for
33 of the 35 sheep killed or
injured by wolves and docu-
mented by WDFW in 2014,
according to Martorello.
Ranchers say they’ve lost
hundreds of animals to wolves.
WDFW, which says it rec-
ognizes actual losses are high-
er than the number verified to
date, also documented four
cows and a dog that were at-
tacked by wolves from other
packs last year.
In a WDFW press release,
the department’s new director,
Jim Unsworth, said wolf re-
covery in Washington is pro-
gressing much as it did in Ida-
ho, where he spent much of his
career in wildlife management
before taking his new position
in February.
“Conflicts with livestock
are bound to rise as the state’s
wolf population increases, and
we have to do everything we
can to manage that situation.
So far, wolf predation on live-
stock has been well below lev-
els experienced in most other
states with wolves,” he said in
a written statement.
Martorello said the scarcity
of snow made it more difficult
to track wolves late last year,
complicating the 2014 survey.
“Given the continued
growth of the state’s wolf
population, there’s a good
chance that we have breed-
ing pairs east of the Cascade
Range we haven’t found yet,”
he said in a written statement.
rule notification
Agencies would
have to alert
lawmakers of
regulation changes
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Natural resource agencies
in Oregon would be required
to notify lawmakers before
changing regulations under a
bill in the state legislature.
House Bill 2497 is intend-
ed to prevent agencies from
usurping power from legis-
lators by adopting, revising
or repealing rules that impact
their districts, said Rep. Gail
Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls,
who sponsored the bill.
“Policy is what we are
here for, not the administra-
tive branch,” Whitsett said
during a March 10 hearing
of the House Committee on
Agriculture and Natural Re-
sources.
Legislators often aren’t
notified of changes related
to groundwater policy and
other issues affecting their
constituents, said Sen. Doug
Whitsett, her husband and a
co-sponsor.
“They’re amending their
rules every 15 minutes,” he said.
Committee Chair Brad
Witt, D-Clatskanie, said he
favors the bill because law-
makers can be more effective
when they’re not caught by
surprise by controversies.
Witt said the Oregon De-
partment of Environmental
Quality sets an example of
good government by notify-
ing legislators when issuing
penalties within their dis-
tricts.
“I think it allows all of us
to do our job that much bet-
ter,” he said.
While it’s important to
be engaged in government,
HB 2497 would impose new
costs on state agencies, said
Peggy Lynch, natural re-
sources coordinator for the
League of Women Voters of
Oregon, which opposes the
legislation.
The DEQ can notify law-
makers of a specific address
when it issues a penalty, but
natural resource agencies
often take actions affecting
broader areas that aren’t con-
fined to political boundaries,
she said.
“We are concerned about
the burden on agencies with
this particular bill,” Lynch
said.
Under the bill’s current
language, agencies would
have to notify legislators 49
days before a rule change
becomes effective, even if it
is a temporary or emergency
action, said Paul Garrahan, a
natural resources attorney for
the Oregon Department of
Justice.
The Oregon Department
of Justice isn’t taking a posi-
tion on a bill, but there could
be a situation where an agen-
cy must provide notice on a
shorter timeframe, like when
agriculture regulators issue a
quarantine, he said.
HB 2497 could be draft-
ed so the notification would
not apply to temporary rules,
Garrahan said.
During the March 10
meeting, the committee also
unanimously approved a pro-
hibition against using aerial
or aquatic drones for hunting
and sport fishing.
The legislation, House
Bill 2534, will now move to a
vote on the House floor with
a “do pass” recommendation
from the committee.
Amendments to the bill
clarify that it doesn’t apply to
commercial fishing or state
agencies that use drones to
assist with wildlife manage-
ment.
Oregon wolves a conservation success story, biologist says
SALEM — With nine
known packs and six “start-
up pairs” identified, Oregon’s
gray wolves are continuing
to increase and are spreading
from the northeast corner of
the state, the state’s wolf pro-
gram coordinator reported to
the state Department of Fish
and Wildlife Commission
Friday.
Wildlife biologist Russ
Morgan said Oregon’s wolves
are increasing at a pace iden-
tical to their recovery in the
northern Rocky Mountains.
“From a conservation per-
spective this is very much a mea-
sure of success,” Morgan said.
The 2014 count shows Or-
egon has a minimum of 77
wolves, including 26 known
pups, in nine packs. More im-
portantly, eight of those packs
contained breeding pairs,
meaning they had at least two
pups that survived to the end
of the year.
The
numbers
mean
ODFW now moves into
what’s known as Phase 2 of
the Oregon Wolf Plan, the
hard-fought compromise that
governs wolf conservation
and management in the state.
It also means the agency can
propose removing wolves
from the state’s endangered
species list. That’s likely to
be a lengthy public process.
More immediately, Phase 2
gives ranchers the right to
shoot wolves caught in the
act of biting, killing or chas-
ing livestock.
State delisting would
eliminate endangered spe-
cies status for wolves in the
eastern third of the state.
Wolves in the rest of Or-
egon — all areas west of
state Highways 395, 78 and
95 — remain covered under
the federal Endangered Spe-
cies Act, administered by the
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Russ Morgan, the ODFW biologist in charge of Oregon’s wolf
recovery, says it is a success from a conservation perspective.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice. The federal jurisdiction
includes the Southwest Ore-
gon Cascades now inhabited
by the well-traveled OR-7
and his mate and pups.
Oregon’s true wolf pop-
ulation is unknown but is
certainly higher than 77,
Morgan said. The state tracks
wolves from signals emitted
by radio collars, but only 33
wolves have been collared
in a decade of work. Many
of those collars have failed,
or the wolves have died or
been killed, leaving research-
ers with only 13 collared
wolves at year’s end. Three
radio-collared wolves dis-
persed out of state in 2014,
Morgan said. One was killed
in Idaho, one was killed in
Montana, and the third is liv-
ing in Washington, Morgan
said.
In his remarks to the wild-
life commission and in an
interview, Morgan said five
of the six pairs living outside
designated packs are known
to be male-female pairs,
which could produce pups
and expand to pack status.
“These pairs are very im-
portant, they really represent
an increasing population,”
Morgan said.
In comments to the com-
mission, representatives of
three hunting organizations
said the state should contin-
ue following the wolf plan
LEGAL
11-2/#7
Capital Press
rop-6-26-5/#17
By ERIC MORTENSON
OREGON TECHNICAL
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEETING (OTAC)
WHAT: OTAC Meeting
WHEN: March 24, 2015 @
12:00pm - 4:00pm
WHERE: NEW LOCATION!
Clackamas Community College
29353 Town Center Loop E,
Rooms 111 & 112
Wilsonville, OR 97070
503-594-0940
For more information or to
arrange special accommoda-
tions for attendees, please
contact Laurie Sassmann,
Oregon NRCS State Office
503-414-3206.
11-7/#4
guidelines.
“Certainly the population
growth has caused some is-
sues, but we strongly support
staying the course with your
plan,” said Dave Wiley, rep-
resenting the Rocky Moun-
tain Elk Foundation.
Stephanie Taylor of Port-
land, who said she has an en-
vironmental science degree
and hopes to become a wolf
biologist, said it is “prema-
ture” to allow ranchers to
take lethal measures against
wolves.
Jerome Rosa, executive
director of the Oregon Cattle-
men’s Association, said the
population increase means
it is time to “think about the
maximum number of wolves
that will be acceptable.”
Rosa said the OCA is
working on a idea to help
fund endangered species pro-
grams with a self-imposed
fee assessed to ranchers. “It
would be unprecedented for
our organization,” he said.
The OCA has previous-
ly said it expects more at-
tacks on livestock this year if
wolves remain on the endan-
gered species list.
Conservation groups op-
pose delisting Oregon wolves
too soon. Oregon Wild, a
key player in formulating
the wolf plan, said the wolf
count represents “great prog-
ress” but does not represent
biological recovery. Conser-
vation director Doug Heiken
has said the state needs to
see better geographical dis-
tribution of wolves as well.
He said that will happen over
time if wolves are not prema-
turely delisted and “persecut-
ed.”
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder,
on 3/24/2015. The sale will be
held at 10:00 am by
VISUAL DIESEL
12142 SKY LANE, AURORA, OR
2002 Ford Excursion SUV
VIN=1FMSU41F3YEC33274
Amount due on lien
$17,245.25
Reputed owner(s)
Robert Tomlinson
Legal-11-2-4/#4