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CapitalPress.com
October 20, 2017
Oregon
Federal wildlife agency says wolf was shot, offers reward
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
State and federal wild-
life officials are investi-
gating the death of a sec-
ond wolf discovered in the
Fremont-Wenema National
Forest of Southern Oregon
in the past year.
The U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service offered a $5,000
reward for information lead-
ing to the arrest of the per-
son responsible for shooting
a gray wolf designated OR-
33 by Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife.
The wolf’s carcass was
Courtesy Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
An ODFW biologist in the process in 2015 of collaring OR-33, at
the time a 2-year-old adult male from the Imnaha wolfpack.
discovered in April 2017
and taken to a USFWS lab
in Ashland, Ore., for a nec-
ropsy. The results were not
announced until Oct. 11.
The animal had one or more
gunshot wounds, according
to USFWS. It’s not clear
when the wolf was shot.
A year earlier, on Oct. 6,
2016, an Oregon wolf des-
ignated OR-28 was found
dead in the national forest.
That carcass also was ex-
amined at the Ashland lab,
but the cause of death hasn’t
been announced. Brent
Lawrence, USFWS spokes-
man, said the case is still
open. The federal agency
and Oregon State Police are
jointly investigating.
The wolf deaths are not
necessarily related. ODFW
spokeswoman
Michelle
Dennehy said the sites
where the wolves were
found are “geographically
far apart.”
Still,
conservation
groups and wolf activists
have long warned that wolf
“poaching” is going on, and
question whether the state
is doing enough to protect
them. The news about OR-
33 also comes on the heels
of ODFW’s authorizing
“lethal control” on the Harl
Butte and Meacham wolf
packs in Northeast Ore-
gon for repeated livestock
attacks this summer. Four
Harl Butte Pack wolves
have been shot since August
and ODFW recently autho-
rized killing four more. One
Meacham Pack wolf was
shot before lethal authoriza-
tion expired.
The two wolves found
dead both dispersed from
Northeast Oregon.
OR-33, a male estimated
to be 4 years old, left the
Imnaha Pack in November
2015 and was not known to
be part of a pack. It wore
a tracking collar, but it
quit transmitting in August
2016, according to ODFW.
Carl Sampson/Capital Press
Cattle graze in Eastern Oregon. REAL Oregon program partici-
pants from around the state will explore the diversity of the state’s
geography, economy and agriculture.
First REAL Oregon class
selected for leadership training
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
42-1/102
Thirty agriculture and nat-
ural resource professionals
have been selected to take
part in the first Resource
Education and Agricultural
Leadership (REAL) Oregon
Program.
REAL Oregon is a collabo-
ration of ag, forestry and fish-
ing commodity and advocacy
organizations, formed with the
goal of developing leaders to
represent their interests in leg-
islation and policy discussions.
Greg Addington, REAL
Oregon director, used a sports
analogy to describe the pro-
gram’s goals. “Are we devel-
oping a bench to go to?” he
asked. “Who’s going to be the
next county Farm Bureau pres-
ident? Who is going to be on
the irrigation board? Who’s the
next commodity commission
member?”
People selected for the pro-
gram will go through five state-
wide training sessions, the first
one beginning Nov. 14 in On-
tario and concluding in March
2018.
The program will explore
the diversity of Oregon’s ge-
ography, economy and culture
through training in board gov-
ernance, communication skills,
conflict resolution, government
interaction, public policy work,
critical thinking, media rela-
tions, professional presenta-
tions, public speaking and rela-
tionship building, according to
a REAL Oregon news release.
Such leadership training
programs aren’t unique; 34
states have something similar.
Oregon’s program is modeled
after Idaho’s, which will host
its 38th class.
The program costs $5,000
per person, of which the train-
ees are expected to pick up half,
either personally or through
sponsorship by their organiza-
tion or employer. The rest of
the cost is paid for with “seed
money” from the Oregon Farm
Bureau, Wilco, Oregon State
University, Land O’Lakes, Ha-
zelnut Growers of Oregon, Or-
egon Aglink, Northwest Farm
Credit Services and Valley Ag-
ronomics.
Of the first training group, 20
are from Northwest Oregon or
the Willamette Valley, five are
from Eastern Oregon or the high
desert region, three are from
Northeast Oregon and two are
from Southwest Oregon.
Members of the first Ore-
gon REAL class are:
Dylan Branch, Riddell Farm, Monmouth;
Kent Burkholder, Burkholder Farms,
Albany; Doug Grott, Wilbur Ellis, Corvallis;
Stuart Butsch, USDA Farm Service
Agency, Salem; Rick Jones, Cascade
Timber Consulting, Sweet Home; Lauren
Lucht, Northwest Transplants, Molalla;
Andrea Krahmer, Northwest Farm Credit
Services, Salem; Erick Garman, Oregon
Department of Agriculture, Portland;
Nolan Sundberg, Northwest Farm Credit
Services, Eugene; Macey Wessels,
Barenbrug USA. Scio; Jeff Fox of Wilco
Hazelnut, LLC, Aurora; Christina Higby,
Oregon Department of Agriculture,
Stayton;
Matt Mattioda, Miller Timber Services,
Albany; Lauren Smith, Oregon Water
Resource Congress, Salem; Karl Dett-
wyler, Blue Line Farms, Silverton; Jenny
Freeborn, Pacific Risk Management,
Rickreall; Helle Ruddenklau, Ruddenklau
Farms, Amity; Molly McCargar, Pearmine
Farms, Gervais; Jacon Taylor, Oregon
Farm Bureau, Eugene; Anne Marie Moss,
Oregon Farm Bureau, Salem; Scott
White, Klamath Water Users Associ-
ation, Klamath Falls; Victoria Flowers,
Flowers Farms, Midland/Klamath Falls;
Susan Doverspike, Doverspike Ranch,
Burns; Pete Schreder, OSU Extension,
Lakeview; Megan Thompson, Sage Fruit
Company, The Dalles; Sam Taylor, Pacific
Ag, Hermiston;
ROP-42-7-1/HOU
Robert Waldher, Umatilla County, Athena;
Tom Demianew, Oregon Department of
Agriculture, Pendleton; Mark Kincaid,
Lone Rock Resources, Roseburg;
Kyle Kenagy, Kenagy Cattle Company,
Oakland.