NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, April 24, 2021
Wolf population continues to grow in Oregon
2020 population
is a 9.5% increase
over 2019
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon’s gray
wolf population continued to
climb in 2020, with at least
173 individuals documented
by year’s end, according to
state wildlife offi cials.
The Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife released
its annual Wolf Conserva-
tion and Management report
on Wednesday, April 21,
which includes a minimum
known count based on veri-
fi ed evidence, such as tracks,
sightings and remote camera
photographs.
The 2020 population is a
9.5% increase over the end of
2019, when ODFW recorded
at least 158 wolves.
Wolves started returning
to Oregon in 1999 following
campaigns decades earlier to
eradicate the species across
the West. The Wenaha Pack
was the fi rst to become rees-
tablished in the far northeast
corner of Oregon in 2008,
and the population has been
slowly but steadily rising
every year over the past
decade.
“While Northeast Oregon
continues to host the major-
ity of the state’s wolf popu-
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo, File
Oregon’s gray wolf population continued to climb in 2020, with at least 173 individuals doc-
umented by year’s end, according to state wildlife offi cials.
lation, dispersal to other
parts of Oregon and adjacent
states continues,” said Roblyn
Brown, ODFW wolf program
coordinator.
A total of 22 packs were
also documented in 2020, the
same number as in 2019. Of
those, 17 qualifi ed as breed-
ing pairs, having an adult
male and adult female with at
least two pups that survived
to Dec. 31, 2020.
Under the ODFW wolf
plan, management is divided
into eastern and western
zones. In Eastern Oregon,
wolves now fall under Phase
III of the plan, which means
the population has reached at
least seven breeding pairs for
three consecutive years.
West of highways 395, 78
and 95, wolves are still under
Phase I of the plan, and will
not move into Phase II until
there are four breeding pairs
for three consecutive years.
The diff erent phases deter-
mine how local wildlife biol-
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
A couple of
morning showers
Cloudy
Mainly cloudy and
breezy
Intervals of clouds
and sunshine
Mostly cloudy, a
shower possible
58° 41°
62° 40°
64° 43°
67° 41°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
64° 39°
75° 50°
68° 45°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
68° 44°
78° 49°
71° 49°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
52/42
49/39
59/37
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
55/43
Lewiston
55/43
65/43
Astoria
53/44
Pullman
Yakima 59/40
52/41
55/44
Portland
Hermiston
55/44
The Dalles 64/43
Salem
Corvallis
52/39
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
52/37
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
57/41
56/30
53/35
Ontario
64/44
Caldwell
Burns
67°
46°
67°
41°
86° (2012) 24° (2013)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
54/41
0.00"
Trace
0.64"
1.20"
0.51"
3.75"
WINDS (in mph)
62/44
55/30
0.00"
Trace
0.90"
3.34"
5.05"
4.86"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 50/35
54/41
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
58/41
59/40
64°
44°
64°
40°
89° (1910) 26° (2013)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
52/41
Aberdeen
49/39
56/42
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
52/45
Today
Sun.
Boardman WSW 10-20
Pendleton WSW 7-14
Medford
59/41
WSW 8-16
WSW 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
51/31
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
Last
New
Apr 26
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA LAKE —
Things are getting back a bit
more to normal this year, now
that state parks are begin-
ning to reopen — including
Wallowa Lake State Park,
which began taking reserva-
tions earlier this month for
group campsites that open
May 1.
According to a press
release from the Oregon
Parks and Recreation
Department, some state
parks started taking reser-
vations April 15. A complete
list of which ones are open-
ing is available at the OPRD
website at www.oregon.gov/
oprd/Pages/index.aspx.
Mac Freeborn, manager
at Wallowa Lake State Park,
said a few campers already
were at the park. But they
were the ones who could do
without park-provided water,
which won’t be turned on
until May 1.
May 3
May 11
May 19
“My park has been taking
reservations for a while now,”
he said. “The ones opening
May 1 are group campsites.”
The park’s website bills it
as being “ideally positioned
as a base camp for both
wilderness treks and water
sports fun.”
He said those there now
are ones who take advan-
tage of the park’s opening
throughout the off season.
“We had a recent request
for more reservations … and
we’re accepting walk-ins,” he
said.
Last year, the park was
forced to be closed until
June 5 by the closures asso-
ciated with the COVID-19
pandemic. The group facili-
ties are reopening after being
closed for more than a year
due to revenue shortfalls and
reduced staffi ng associated
with COVID-19.
“Summer is quickly
approaching, and we want to
give visitors plenty of time to
plan their group events,” said
Three bills honoring veterans
headed to House for fi nal vote
SALEM — An Oregon House commit-
tee approved a trio of bills on Thursday,
April 22, that honor military veterans.
Retired Army Lt. Col. Dick Tobiason,
of the Bend Heroes Foundation, testified
in the virtual hearing in support of the
bills.
“We appreciate your work,” Rep. Paul
Evans, D-Monmouth, chair of the House
Committee on Veterans and Emergency
Management, told Tobiason.
The bills have all passed the Senate and
after the House committee approval go to
the House floor for final passage, then to
Gov. Kate Brown to sign into law.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Jason Resch, communica-
tions manager for the OPRD.
“Although we can’t open all
group areas in all parks and
the lower group limits isn’t
what we are used to, we ask
for your patience as we move
forward.”
But now it’s returning to
closer to normal.
“As normal as it can be,”
he said. “We’re back on track
for bringing back season-
als in hiring. … Normal is
a subjective term, but we’re
going to be back for full oper-
ation this summer.”
He said the docks won’t
go back into the water until
around May 1.
“We start really ramping
up things in early May,” Free-
born said.
But campsite reserva-
tions are already nearly fully
booked.
“If people are not fi nding
anything online, it’s because
we’re already booked. It’s
been fast and furious with
reservations,” Freeborn said.
IN BRIEF
First
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
Ranchers may be compen-
sated for wolf-livestock losses
from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture’s Wolf
Depredation Compensa-
tion and Financial Assis-
tance Grant Program. ODA
awarded $251,529 to 12
counties in 2020, up from
$178,319 awarded in 2019.
The program also helps pay
for purchasing and imple-
menting nonlethal deterrents.
Gray wolves were offi-
cially removed from the
federal Endangered Species
Act across the Lower 48
states in January under a
rule fi nalized by the Trump
administration. Six environ-
mental groups have since
sued to overturn the delisting.
Sristi Kamal, senior
Oregon representative for
the group Defenders of Wild-
life, said increasing wolf
numbers are encouraging,
though long-term recovery
is still dependent on address-
ing multiple threats includ-
ing poaching and pushes for
predator control measures.
“We have an opportunity
in Oregon to ensure habitat
connectivity and establish a
landscape where wolves and
people are both able to fl our-
ish,” Kamal said in a state-
ment. “Defenders of Wildlife
is committed to working
with agency staff , landown-
ers and ranchers to make this
happen.”
‘Normal’ returns to Wallowa Lake
State Park in time for summer
5:54 a.m.
7:53 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
5:06 a.m.
NATIONAL EXTREMES
High 99° in Zapata, Texas Low 9° in Dillon, Colo.
ogists and ranchers may
respond to wolves that habit-
ually prey on livestock — a
standard known as chronic
depredation.
Chronic depredation in
Phase I is defined as four
confi rmed attacks on live-
stock in six months, after
which ODFW can consider
killing problem wolves. In
Phases II and III, chronic
depredation changes to
two confi rmed kills in nine
months.
All phases require ranch-
ers to use nonlethal deter-
rents to haze wolves away
from their herds, such as
range riders, fl ashing lights
or alarm boxes.
ODFW confi rmed 31 live-
stock depredations in 2020,
up 94% from 2019. However,
16 of those were attributed to
the Rogue Pack, whose range
straddles Jackson and Klam-
ath counties in Southwest
Oregon.
While ODFW removed
wolves from the state endan-
gered species list in 2015,
gray wolves remained feder-
ally protected in Western
Oregon during all of 2020.
Over the course of 99 days
between July 30 and Nov. 25,
2020, ODFW partnered with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and USDA Wildlife
Services to limit depredations
by the Rogue Pack, including
coordinated nighttime patrols
to haze wolves out of live-
stock pastures in the Wood
River Valley.
Despite those efforts,
wolves continued to prey on
cattle in the area.
“The personnel costs
of this collaboration (with
USFWS, USDA and ODFW)
were signifi cant during the
four months,” Brown said.
“We appreciate the work of
our partners and all livestock
producers for their eff orts to
coexist with wolves.”
Senate Bill 790 approves naming the
Oregon portion of U.S. Highway 30 as the
Oregon Veterans Memorial Highway. The
highway runs from Astoria to Portland,
then west through Hermiston, Pendleton,
La Grande and Baker City before leaving
the state near Ontario on the Idaho border.
Senate Bill 319 would dedicate an area
in the State Capitol State Park for a Viet-
nam War memorial to be paid for and built
using funds from a nonprofit corporation.
Senate Bill 441 modifies the criteria
for erecting roadside memorial signs for
deceased veterans to include former pris-
oners of war and missing in action previ-
ously unaccounted for, but whose remains
have been discovered in recent years.
— EO Media Group
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