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4 CapitalPress.com August 31, 2018 ODFW re-issues wolf kill permit in Wallowa County Meeting set for Thursday to discuss state Wolf Plan By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press A northeast Oregon cattle rancher was reissued a permit to shoot one wolf on a forested grazing allotment near Joseph Creek in Wallowa County where four calves have been killed or injured since June. The latest attack was con- firmed by the Oregon De- partment of Fish & Wildlife on Aug. 20. A range rider found the dead 300-pound calf earlier that morning, and investigators later determined wolves were to blame. The pasture is within an area of known wolf activity in the Chesnimnus Unit, where ODFW counted three wolves at the end of 2017. Chesnim- nus wolves also injured three calves between June 12 and June 14, all belonging to RL Cattle Company of Enter- prise. ODFW granted the orig- inal permit for RL Cattle to shoot one Chesnimnus wolf on June 21, but no wolves were killed before the permit expired July 10. The permit has been re-issued for 30 days and will expire Sept. 24. Wildlife officials have documented wolves in the area over the past two months, but do not know whether the animals are remnants of the Chesnimnus pack or newcom- ers that moved into the terri- tory. None are wearing GPS tracking collars. The incident underscores the debate between ranchers and conservationists about how best to manage wolves in Oregon. Groups were to gather this week for a meet- ing intended to find common ground on lingering issues in the state Wolf Plan, which is three years past due for its update. Deb Nudelman, a me- diator with Kearns & West in Portland was to moderate. The plan was last revised in 2010. Since then, the min- imum known wolf population has risen to 124 statewide, and Eastern Oregon wolves were removed from the state endangered species list in 2015. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission was supposed to vote on the plan in January, but indefinitely postponed its decision to try and reach a broader consensus among stakeholders. Jerome Rosa, executive director of the Oregon Cattle- men’s Association, said ranch- ers have three main concerns: fitting more wolves with GPS collars, creating management zones with population targets, and allowing local authorities to investigate suspected live- stock depredations in a more timely manner. GPS collars will help alert ranchers when wolves are approaching, Rosa said, and make sure they are doing non-lethal activities to haze wolves such as hiring range riders. Known Oregon wolf packs (As of Dec. 2017) Confirmed pack/individual range Estimated pack/individual range NOTE: Polygons represent estimated ranges for known wolf packs with radio-collared animals. Portland 97 101 197 5 1 Salem 9 10 11 14 15 84 Pendleton 16 7 395 6 12 3 17 5 18 13 OREGON 2 19 82 4 8 26 22 84 26 20 126 20 97 58 5 21 101 N 22 25 miles 199 Medford 5 *At least one breeding pair 20 26 395 Wolf pack population Bend Eugene John Day Pack/area Total 1. White River 2 2. Desolation 2 3. OR30 3 4. Meacham* 3 5. OR52 3 6. Mt. Emily* 5 7. Ruckel Ridge 7 8. N. Emily 2 9. Walla Walla* 7 10. Wenaha* 10 11. Noregaard* 9 12. Minam* 11 Source: Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (cont.) Total 13. Catherine* 4 14. Shamrock 3 15. Chesnimnus* 3 16. Snake River* 10 17. Harl Butte* 4 18. Middle Fork* 6 19. Pine Creek* 8 20. OR37 1 21. Silver Lake 1 22. Rogue* 7 Lone/misc. 13 Minimum total 124 Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Forest Service worker describes wolf ordeal Fish and Wildlife interview details July 12 incident By DON JENKINS Capital Press A Forest Service employ- ee shot pepper spray and screamed to hold a growl- ing wolf at bay last month in north-central Washington, ac- cording to a taped interview between the woman and a state Fish and Wildlife officer. The 25-year-old woman distanced herself from the wolf by climbing a tree. Be- fore that, the wolf weaved toward her and came within about 15 meters, she said. “He or she is kind of growling and barking and howling at me, and I’m kind of giving it back in return,” she said. “It starts coming closer to me, and I’m backing up, and it comes closer to me, and I finally give it all I got with a big scream, and it starts to back off, and we just kind of back off of each other, and I put myself back up that tree.” The tape, obtained by the Capital Press in response to a records request, provides a first-hand description of the July 12 incident in the Okano- gan-Wenatchee National For- est. Encounters with wolves WDFW A Ferry County, Wash., rancher says he took a shot at a wolf after it threatened him as he checked on cattle. Washington rancher takes shot at wolf By DON JENKINS Capital Press A rancher in northeast Washington reported Thurs- day that he shot in self-de- fense at a wolf matching the description of the wolf that state wildlife managers in- tended to kill this week be- fore a judge intervened. The rancher told the De- partment of Fish and Wild- life that the wolf was black and wearing a collar. The department received infor- mation this morning indicat- ing that the collared wolf in the Togo pack was alive. The incident occurred in the pack’s territory, and Fish and Wildlife employees spent more than two hours investigating, but did not find evidence that the wolf had been shot, according to the department. It does ap- pear to have an injured leg. The rancher said he was responding to collar data that indicated the wolf was near his livestock, according to the department. The rancher are rare in Washington, and ranchers and county commis- sioners in northeast Wash- ington have said the growing number of wolves in their corner of the state raises pub- lic-safety concerns. The Capital Press is not naming the woman, in step with a state law that shields the iden- tities of ranchers who report wolf attacks or enter into agree- ments with the state to share the cost of hiring range-riders. An effort to obtain further com- ment from the woman was un- successful. The woman was inter- viewed by Fish and Wildlife officer Justin Troutman short- ly after she was picked up in a meadow by a Department of Natural Resources helicop- ter crew and flown to Omak. She said she had hiked into the forest alone to mark where a crew should take samples from a stream for a Forest Ser- vice survey of salmon habitat. “I hear the wolf kind of start barking and howl out. At that point, I kind of back away from the stream and get onto higher ground, so I can have a little better view of my sur- roundings,” she said. She called her supervisor on a satellite phone, and he told her to leave the area. A wolf, however, appeared and came toward her. “He’s, like, you should get up a tree.” The woman said she stayed in the tree for 10 to 15 min- Rancher says wolves are driving him off range Cougars a problem, too, cattleman says By DON JENKINS Capital Press A northeast Washington cattleman says he will pare down his herd and keep it off a Forest Service grazing al- lotment next year because of wolves. Ferry County rancher Ron Eslick lost a calf to the Togo wolfpack in May. The pack has attacked at least three cat- tle belonging to another pro- ducer on a neighboring allot- ment this month. Eslick said Thursday he doesn’t know Services & Supplies Special Section October 5 th , 2018 Doing Business with the Ag Community? 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I’m not going to pay to send cows out to be eaten. I’m not going to feed the wolves.” Wolves, which have sur- passed state recovery goals in northeast Washington, are affecting livestock operations, according to ranchers. Wolves have attacked cattle on public lands and private pastures and in different seasons. Wolves will remain a state protected species until at least four packs have produced pups in the South Cascades. No wolf has been confirmed in the South Cascades. Eslick, 71, has a permit to graze 40 cow-calf pairs in the Colville National Forest. His father had the permit in the 1950s, Eslick said. He said he planned to re- duce the herd to about 30 head LEGAL PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 98 Notice is hereby given that the following vehicle will be sold, for cash to the highest bidder, on 9/4/2018. The sale will be held at 10:00am by B.C TOWING INC 2140 TURNER RD SE SALEM, OR 2017 NISSAN VERSA 4DR VIN = 3N1CN7AP1HL807292 Amount due on lien $5,540.00 Reputed owner(s) JERRY WAYNE MONTGOMERY JR SANTANDER CONSUMER USA 34-2-3/999 Collar data shows wolf still alive said he saw pups and heard barking and growling, and shot at the adult wolf as it barked and approached him. The rancher reported the incident to the Ferry County Sheriff’s Office, which noti- fied Fish and Wildlife. The department has at- tributed six attacks on cattle to the Togo pack since Nov. 2. Three of the attacks oc- curred between Aug. 8 and Aug. 18. The rancher has tried to stop the attacks with non-le- thal measures, according to the department. Fish and Wildlife determined that the attacks were likely to con- tinue and planned to seek out and kill the pack’s male adult beginning last Monday evening. A Thurston County judge ordered the department to stand down Monday after- noon at the request of the Center for Biological Diver- sity and Cascadia Wildlands. The temporary restraining order will be in effect until at least Aug. 31. On that date, the court was scheduled to hold a hearing on whether to ex- tend the restraining order. John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS A gray wolf forced a U.S. Forest Service researcher to retreat up a tree — twice — in north-central Washington state, according to a taped interview. She was rescued by a state Department of Natural Resources helicopter crew. utes and climbed down. “Pretty much immediate- ly, I maybe walk 100 meters and get cut off by the same wolf, and it starts coming to- ward me, and at this point I have my bear spray out, and it’s more or less a screaming match between me and the wolf,” she told Troutman. Another wolf was at the far end of the meadow, she said. “I could hear a few others in different areas.” “The other thing that was stressing me out was that I knew there was at least one more around me,” she said. “They like to strategize, so I wasn’t sure where that one was relative to where the in- teraction was going down.” She fired the pepper spray at the wolf in front of her. According to the can’s label, the spray has a range of 10 meters. The wolf continued to weave. “It was doing a lot of zig- zagging. It would come right at me, and then pop off a little bit, and come at me from the other angle and pop off on the other side,” she said. “I was just basically screaming at it the best that I could, and I’d say the interac- tion was probably fairly short. Maybe like 30 seconds to a minute. It wasn’t a long inter- action, but it was long enough to put me back up in that tree.” WDFW Wolves killed this calf May 20 in Ferry County, Wash. The rancher who lost the calf says he won’t use a Forest Service grazing allot- ment next year because of wolves. and keep them closer to home. “I haven’t got out of the business yet, but I’m going to cut back,” he said. In addition to wolves, cou- gars have become a problem, too, he said. Eslick said he re- cently sold his five sheep after a cougar killed two others. Eslick said he believes predators are turning to live- stock because other prey, such as deer, are becoming scarce. “It’s going to get worse. It’s not going to get better. The writing’s on the wall,” he said. Wolves got additional pro- tection this week when a Thur- ston County judge blocked the Department of Fish and Wildlife from killing a Togo pack wolf. The temporary re- straining order, in effect until at least Aug. 31 and maybe in- definitely, shelves using lethal removal as a last resort to stop depredations. The order applies to only the Togo pack. The argu- ments, however, against kill- ing the pack’s male would apply to any pack. The Center for Biologi- cal Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands, which sought the restraining order, are suing Fish and Wildlife, contend- ing its policy on culling wolf- packs didn’t undergo prop- er review and violates the state’s Environmental Policy Act and Administrative Pro- cedure Act. Fish and Wildlife consult- ed with its Wolf Advisory Group in writing the lethal-re- moval protocol. Conservation Northwest, an environmental organization represented on the advisory group, criticized the lawsuit in a statement Thursday.
