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2 CapitalPress.com September 29, 2017 People & Places At the center of Oregon’s wolf debate Russ Morgan played a key role as endangered wolves returned to Oregon By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press He still gets chills recalling the first time Oregon wolves answered him. It was mid-July, 2008, near the Wallowa-Union County line in the northeast corner of the state. The Oregon De- partment of Fish and Wildlife knew wolves would eventu- ally disperse from Idaho and had prepared a management plan. Wildlife biologist Russ Morgan, appointed to imple- ment the plan, was checking to see if they had arrived. Over weeks, on intermit- tent nights, he and Chase Brown, then an intern and now an ODFW wildlife unit man- ager, drove dirt logging roads in the Wenaha Unit. They’d stop, get out, howl, and listen for replies. Wait five minutes, howl again, listen, move on. For weeks, nothing. But that night, as they turned to get back in their ve- hicle, came the long and low response of a male wolf some- where in the darkness, within a couple hundred yards. The men returned to the spot an hour later and tried again. Chorus of howls This time a wondrous cho- rus of howls rose in the night, adults and pups answering from all about them in the for- est. They were in the middle of what came to be known as the Wenaha Pack. Wolf howls have always had that effect on Morgan. “I’d almost rather hear a wolf howl than see one,” he said. The chorus of argument, claim and accusation erupt- ing from some rural livestock producers and from some ur- ban environmentalists, how- ever, is something he could have done without. “Wolf management is the ultimate balancing act, there are extremes on both sides,” Morgan said. “I always viewed my job as trying to walk down that middle line.” He calls himself an “ad- vocate of thoughtful manage- ment,” which comes with the recognition that every wolf decision is going to be contro- versial to someone. “I got a lot of arrows lobbed my way,” he said. People often told him to not take criticism and scruti- ny personally, but he couldn’t help it. Being a wildlife biol- ogist wasn’t a job to him and others, it was a lifestyle. Calendar Western Innovator Russ Morgan Occupation: Retiring coordinator of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s wolf program. Roblyn Brown has been appointed interim coordinator; a formal hiring process will occur. Personal: Age 54; lives in La Grande, Ore., with wife Dana Reid, a fire management specialist with the U.S. Forest Service. Two grown sons, Seth and Cole. Enjoys bow hunting, hiking, birding and photography. Career path: Grew up in Bend, Ore., earned a wildlife science de- gree at Oregon State University. Started with a seasonal position at ODFW and worked for the department 31 years at a series of regional offices. Spent the last 10 as wolf program coordinator. Demands of the job: Every wolf decision potentially angers one side or the other, ranchers or environmentalists. “I’ve said a million times, wolves are the only species I’ve ever worked with where there’s more misinformation available than factual information. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s almost like an intentional misinfor- mation campaign.” On wolves and livestock predation: “There are some people who like to think maybe we can just get wolves to change their minds, but that goes against what a wolf is. It’s a predator first; as long as something is made of meat, there’s going to be take. “We always think there must be something that can just stop this, but predatory behavior is exactly why wolves exist.” Now it can be told: He admires wolves and likes bears, but birds are his favorite animal. The long view: “I really believe wolves will become kind of a nor- mal and expected part of Oregon’s fauna again. They were once, and will be again. But there will always be conflict.” “Everything I do I take as a success or a failure, and it made it very stressful,” he said. “You wake up in the middle of the night with the wheels going. When we have to do things like kill wolves, that’s a per- sonal thing for a lot of people. One thing I will gladly shed is having that responsibility and having that load.” Carter Niemeyer, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice biologist who Morgan considers a mentor and friend, said the work is emotionally draining. “This wolf stuff can eat you alive if you let it,” said Niemeyer, who lives in Boise Sponsored by: To submit an event go to the Community Events calendar on the home page of our website at www. capitalpress.com and click on “Sub- mit an Event.” Calendar items can also be mailed to Capital Press, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 or emailed to newsroom@ capitalpress.com. Tuesday-Wednesday Oct. 3-4 Drone World Expo 2017. San Jose Convention Center, 150 W. San Carlos St., San Jose, Calif. The Expo will feature a robust exhibit floor, visionary keynote speakers, timely and industry-leading edu- cational programs and networking events. The business-to-business event attracts over 3,000 profes- sional attendees from a variety of industries from agriculture to law enforcement. Website: www.drone- worldexpo.com Wednesday, Oct. 4 Sustainable Community Stew- ards Volunteer Training. 6-9:15 p.m. McCollum Park, 600 128th St. SE, Everett, Wash. Cost: $30 Website: http://bit.ly/2hjyXC4 Friday, Oct. 6 Eric Mortenson/Capital Press Russ Morgan, praised for his calm professionalism in implementing Oregon’s wolf management plan, retires from ODFW effective Oct. 1. Goat workshop. 5:30-8:30 p.m. Creswell Community Center, 99 S. First St., Creswell, Ore. Basic health topics such as diseases to be aware of, vaccinations and hoof health. Nutritive values of feeds including browse, hay, grains, and protein and mineral supplements. Poisonous plants for goats and methods for weed management. The present- ers will be Dr. Charles Estill, Shel- by Filley, OSU Extension Service Livestock and Forage Specialist and Melissa Fery, OSU Extension Service small farms agent. Website: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/ south-valley/events Saturday, Oct. 7 Hoop House Production Work- shop. 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Western Nevada College Fallon Campus, 160 Campus Way, Fallon, Nev. Taught by a seasoned professional with a back- ground in research and commercial production, the workshop is ideal for intermediate or advanced growers. Attendees will learn about best prac- tices that apply to all hoop house production, the eight most profitable crops, best practices for vining, fruit- ing and leafy crops and advanced practices and techniques for hoop house production. Website: www. wnc.edu/specialty-crop-institute Saturday-Sunday Oct. 7-8 Alpaca Harvest Fest. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Alpacas of Oregon, 21345 SW Aebischer Road, Sherwood, Ore. Help EasyGo Farm and Alpacas of Oregon celebrate our bountiful harvest of colorful alpacas and beautiful fleece. Get up close to the alpacas — hand feed them and meet the babies, females, herdsires and “fiber boys” — less expensive alpacas for fiber artists, compan- ions and pasture mowers. Shop for sweaters, gloves, scarves and more. Website: www.easygofarm. net/AOOHarvestFest Tuesday, Oct. 10 Living Peacefully with Beavers. 6-8 p.m. Cabela’s in Marysville, Wash. Beavers, and how to live and oversaw or consulted on wolf recovery work through- out the West, including Idaho. Morgan, he said, was a “natural self-starter” who was cool, calm, collected and self-confident. Morgan asked for advice and training, and prepped himself every step of the way, Niemeyer said. Simple clarity “I’m very proud of Russ,” he said. “I think he’s the ulti- mate professional, without a doubt.” Jerome Rosa, executive director of the Oregon Cat- tlemen’s Association, one of the chief protagonists in the wolf debate, said Morgan was “thoughtful, gracious and sin- cere.” “He worked hard to find common ground on the wolf plan, which is a very conten- tious issue in Oregon,” Rosa said by email. “The collabora- tive process is often very diffi- cult and yet Russ navigated it quite successfully.” Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon Wild, a Portland-based group usually on the opposite side of wolf issues, had a similar response. “We have not always agreed with him, but Russ has always been a person of tre- mendous integrity and com- mitment to conservation,” he said by email. He said Morgan’s retire- ment is a major reason why Oregon’s wolf plan needs a clearer set of rules. “Without Russ, it is hard to trust ODFW to do the right thing when they come under pressure from livestock interests or anti-wild- life politicians.” Morgan said it helped im- mensely that Oregon had a management plan in place when wolves arrived. “I can’t imagine coming into this job without a wolf plan,” he said. “It gave me the ability to have the backbone of a program already. The wolves came and we put meat on it.” Morgan said he purpose- fully announced the depart- ment intended to implement the plan. The simple clarity of the statement was crucial. “The people who wrote the plan did it before we had wolves,” he said. “That’s why this wolf plan is important. Wolves are not that complex, but it becomes our agreement with the public.” Morgan said that stance was backed or at least ac- cepted by the majority of the public, the stakeholder groups, the department and up through the governor’s office. “I’m very proud of that, we kept things on track,” he said. “Maybe I’m most proud of following through to do what we said we were going to do.” At Morgan’s last appear- ance before the ODFW Com- mission on Sept. 15, members praised his work. Commis- sioner Gregory Wolley, from Portland, said constituents and stakeholders agreed. “They recognize what a tough spot you’ve been in,” he told Morgan. “What I’ve found is respect for your pro- fessionalism and objectivity. That reflects on the whole de- partment and on all of us.” Morgan certainly will miss work. He loved catching and collaring wolves, either by dart- ing them from a helicopter or drugging them with an 8-foot injector pole after they’d been caught in a foot-hold trap. Favorite wolves He counts three favorites. OR-2 was the first female wolf he captured, and she had previously been captured and tagged in Idaho, where she was known as B300, by his mentor, Niemeyer. Morgan called him and said, “Carter, I think we’ve got one of your wolves here.” OR-3, a large black male, was “The prettiest wolf I ever saw,” Morgan said. But his favorite, and the most impressive, was OR- 4, the longtime “alpha” or breeding male of the infa- mous livestock-killing Imna- ha Pack of Wallowa County. Among OR-4’s progeny is OR-7, which dispersed into Northern California after a criss-cross journey across Or- egon from Wallowa County, then returned to the Southern Oregon Cascades to establish a pack of his own. OR-4, his longtime, limp- ing mate and two sub-adult wolves were shot and killed by ODFW staff — not Mor- gan — in 2016 after a series of livestock attacks. OR-4 was 9 or 10 years old by then, old for a wolf in the wild. “We caught that wolf four times, five times, in his life- time,” Morgan said. “All the predations — that guy was an incredible wolf, and his skill is what ultimately ended him.” Much of what the depart- ment knows about non-le- thal ways to deter wolves, it learned because of OR-4, Morgan said. “OR-4 and the Imnaha Pack,” he said. “That single wolf and the pack he was in charge of occupied 90 per- cent of our time and resources for many years. I admired that wolf.” GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE www.oxarc.com with them, will be the topic of three seminars in October sponsored by Snohomish Conservation District and Beavers Northwest. While bea- vers can cause headaches for land- owners, they can also be invaluable for protecting and preserving water resources and wildlife habitat. If beavers are causing issues on your property, there may be solutions available to help you to live peace- fully alongside them. The October seminars are taught by local bea- ver experts Alex Pittman and Ben Dittbrenner and will cover the ben- efits that resident beavers provide, cost-effective devices that can help you manage the impact of beaver flooding on your property, and tech- nical and financial assistance avail- able from Snohomish Conservation District and Beavers Northwest. Cost: Free. Website: http://scdbea- vers.eventbrite.com Tuesday-Thursday Oct. 10-12 Oregon Vegetation Manage- ment Association, Seaside Civic and Convention Center, 415 First Ave., Seaside, Ore. Hours for the event are 10-6 p.m. Tuesday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m.- noon Thursday. Website: ovma.net Wednesday, Oct. 11 Sustainable Community Stew- ards Volunteer Training. 6-9:15 p.m. McCollum Park, 600 128th St. SE, Everett, Wash. Cost: $30 Website: http://bit.ly/2hjyXC4 Thursday, Oct. 12 Living Peacefully with Beavers. 6-8 p.m. Stanwood PUD, 9124 20 Northwest Locations 271st St. NW, Stanwood, Wash. Beavers, and how to live with them, will be the topic of three seminars in October sponsored by Snohomish Conservation District and Beavers Northwest. While beavers can cause headaches for landowners, they can also be invaluable for protecting and preserving water resources and wild- life habitat. If beavers are causing issues on your property, there may be solutions available to help you to live peacefully alongside them. The October seminars are taught by lo- cal beaver experts Alex Pittman and Ben Dittbrenner and will cover the benefits that resident beavers pro- vide, cost-effective devices that can help you manage the impact of bea- ver flooding on your property, and technical and financial assistance available from Snohomish Conser- vation District and Beavers North- west. Cost: Free. Website: http:// scdbeavers.eventbrite.com Saturday, Oct. 14 Northwest Farmers Union 2017 Convention 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Walla Walla Community College, 500 Tau- sick Way, Walla Walla, Wash. The Northwest Farmers Union annual convention, which hosts producers and supporters of agriculture from around Washington, Idaho and Ore- gon, is an event that has a multitude of educational speakers, farmer/ rancher speakers/attendees, hon- orary awards and general network- ing and camaraderie. The event is our gathering for our membership to come together and enact our grass- roots policy for the upcoming year as well as help guide the many pro- grams that we work to implement 1-800-765-9055 for our membership. Members can vote on changes to the policy and structure of the organization as well as take part in leadership opportuni- ties and network with other leaders from around the region. Cost: $50 Website: www.nwfu.org Wednesday, Oct. 18 Sustainable Community Stew- ards Volunteer Training. 6-9:15 p.m. McCollum Park, 600 128th St. SE, Everett, Wash. Cost: $30 Website: http://bit.ly/2hjyXC4 Thursday, Oct. 19 Living Peacefully with Beavers. 6-8 p.m. Monroe Library, 1070 Vil- lage Way, Monroe, Wash. Beavers, and how to live with them, will be the topic of three seminars in October sponsored by Snohomish Conser- vation District and Beavers North- west. While beavers can cause headaches for landowners, they can also be invaluable for protect- ing and preserving water resources and wildlife habitat. If beavers are causing issues on your property, there may be solutions available to help you to live peacefully along- side them. The October seminars are taught by local beaver experts Alex Pittman and Ben Dittbrenner and will cover the benefits that resi- dent beavers provide, cost-effective devices that can help you manage the impact of beaver flooding on your property, and technical and financial assistance available from Snohomish Conservation District and Beavers Northwest. Cost: Free. 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