OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Wolves:
Continued from Page A1
compensation program for
the two ewes and one lamb
confi rmed as wolf kills.
She said the agency also
recommends
producers
employ nonlethal means to
ward off wolves.
“This location is out-
side the large area of known
wolf activity for North-
east Oregon, so if the pro-
ducer hasn’t been doing
so already, they will want
to start to implement or
improve upon nonlethal
tools to reduce future con-
fl ict,” she said.
Investigations
Dennehy said in an email
that ODFW routinely inves-
tigates reports from produc-
ers of depredations and an
“experienced wildlife biol-
ogist and agency expert on
depredation”
investigate
the reports. They look for
evidences such as the type
and depth of wounds from
teeth, tracks and how the
attacks compare with those
of various predators, such
as wolves, coyotes, bear and
cougars.
In the April 29 attack on
sheep, it was noted that the
attacks on the ewes were
inconsistent with coyote
attacks and thus, attributed
to wolves.
“The review focuses on
whether the evidence col-
lected supports the origi-
nal determination that was
made,” Dennehy said.
Since the review inves-
tigators made a diff erent
determination, the online
report was updated.
Lethal take permits
Since the ODFW issued
a kill permit for two wolves
April 29 that’s good until
May 24, one wolf was taken
by an agent of Tom Birk-
maier, the Crow Creek
rancher who had lost sev-
eral cattle to wolves. Birk-
maier declined to identify
the agent over concern pro-
wolf advocates may harass
him.
Dennehy said one more
wolf can be taken from the
two pastures designated as
zones permissible for wolf
harvest.
“Lethal take permits are
meant to give livestock pro-
ducers an additional tool
to deal with a confl ict on
their own,” she said. “An
added benefi t of this tool is
the increased pressure and
human presence it brings,
which may also help prevent
chronic depredation.”
However, it doesn’t
always work and sometimes
the removal of an entire pack
is necessary to stop chronic
depredation.
“Incremental take (tak-
ing a few wolves rather
than an entire pack) is a tool
the agency uses to balance
the conservation of wolves
with the need to address
chronic depredation,” she
said. “Sometimes it suc-
ceeds in signifi cantly slow-
ing or stopping chronic dep-
redation, and sometimes it
doesn’t.”
She emphasized that
ODFW will remove an
entire pack when incremen-
tal take is insuffi cient.
“It’s called the ‘caught-
in-the-act rule.’ It gives (a
producer) more fl exibility,”
she said, adding that even
without a kill permit, “he
still would have the caught-
in-the-act (permission) any-
where he has his cattle.”
However, as Nash pointed
out, ranchers are legally
permitted to kill wolves
caught harassing their live-
stock. Ever since 2015 when
wolves were removed from
the state’s endangered spe-
cies list, ranchers on the
east side of the state have
been allowed to kill wolves
harassing livestock.
The type of wolves now in
Oregon are not native to the
state, according to a report in
the Bend Bulletin. The Great
Plains wolf is the only wolf
subspecies native to Oregon
and that the Canadian tim-
ber wolf is the type of wolf
now living in the state. It
was reintroduced to the area
of Yellowstone National
Park in the mid-1990s and
has since migrated to Ore-
gon through Idaho. Accord-
ing to the ODFW website,
the wolves captured in Can-
ada and release in Central
Idaho and Yellowstone were
not released in Oregon.
Nash said ODFW should
be conducting the lethal
take, rather than leaving
it up to the ranchers. All it
when they see things,” she
said. “I suspect that if we did
not have all the help that we
would be experiencing more
of a loss.”
Kelly Birkmaier said the
actual fi nancial cost to a
rancher of the wolf preda-
tions is diffi cult to ascertain
and the state’s wolf compen-
sation fund does not ade-
quately remunerate ranchers
for their losses.
“How do you calculate
all this cost?” she said. “At
this point, with all the time
people have been out here,
(the cost) is way above and
beyond what the state com-
pensates you for.”
There’s also the cost in
both the man hours spent
guarding the cattle and the
physical body stress on the
animals caused by wolf
predation.
“If you’re talking about
all the people who’ve been
helping Tom out, you’re
probably talking 15 hours a
day,” she said.
Depredations
change behavior
The attacks by wolves
eff ectively
change
the
behavior of both predators
and prey. As the OCA’s wolf
committee co-chairman Wil-
liams said, when people are
alarmed enough to go after
“THEY’RE ALL BUNCHING UP
BECAUSE THEY’RE SCARED
INSTEAD OF SPREADING
OUT AND GRAZING.”
— Kelly Birkmaier, Crow Creek rancher
takes is two confi rmed pre-
dations for the ODFW to
agree to incremental take.
“Then you have, with
the Birkmaiers, enough
for ODFW to take eff ec-
tive management practices
to stop the depredation and
the onus has been put back
on the rancher rather than
ODFW taking action,” he
said.
Producers have
enough to do
As Birkmaier said, he’s
spending all his time protect-
ing his cattle when he should
be doing other ranch chores
— and spending time with
his wife and children.
Late April and early May
are generally the busiest
time of year for a Wallowa
County rancher, he said.
There’s fences to repair and
maintain, preparation for
irrigation season and fi eld-
work. But he’s had to spend
most of his time guarding his
cattle against wolves.
“I bet in the past eight or
nine days I’ve been with the
cows 20 hours a day,” Birk-
maier said May 3 — and lit-
tle has changed since.
Kelly Birkmaier, Tom’s
wife and partner in the
ranch, said May 16 that she
is not aware of any wolf
attacks in the previous week.
She said she believes that’s
largely because of the assis-
tance they have received
from neighbors and fellow
ranchers.
“A lot of that has had to
do with people who’ve vol-
unteered their time and
energy and are reporting
the wolves, the predators
simply move on to another
area.
“With wolves, they’ll
travel 60-70 miles a day. The
scale of these animals is so
incredible,” he said. “You
don’t solve the problem; you
just change who’s getting
eaten.”
It also causes the cattle
to be nervous and lose body
weight.
“Over the past 10 days
to two weeks, they’ve lost
body condition score,” Tom
Birkmaier said.
Body condition score is
a method ranchers use to
determine the health of their
cattle. One point in body
condition equals about 90
pounds, Williams said.
“When they’re nervous,
they’re not going to breed,”
he said.
Kelly Birkmaier said
the cattle’s grazing patterns
change, too, and they dam-
age the ground they’re sup-
posed to be grazing upon.
“They’re all bunching
up because they’re scared
instead of spreading out and
grazing,” she said.
Tom Birkmaier also said
the presence of wolves that
makes his cattle nervous
aff ects how they behave
around other, less-threat-
ening predators such as
coyotes.
“I’ve never seen my cows
this way,” he said. “Gen-
erally they ignore a coy-
ote, now they panic and
run. They go into full panic.
… Cattle this time of year
ignore coyotes and coyotes
ignore them.”
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
A7
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Clem Falbo of Joseph shows a poster he is creating to help revive a local chess club Tuesday,
May 3, 2022. The club, Eastern Oregon’s oldest club, had been going since 2011 until the
COVID-19 pandemic forced it to stop.
Chess:
Continued from Page A1
“We like to play the
adults against the kids to
teach them a little bit, and
the kids can teach us a little
bit,” he said.
Falbo also said the game
teaches young players to
follow rules and gives
them a jumpstart into math
and geometry through the
visual anticipation of plan-
ning moves many steps
ahead.
The club is designed
more to teach the game
than high-level play, but
that doesn’t mean oppor-
tunities don’t occasionally
present themselves.
“We had a grandmaster
stop by one night and he
played us all and beat us,”
Falbo said.
Falbo played in enough
tournaments over the years
to earn a 1,600 or “B” rating,
making him an above-aver-
age player. Grandmasters
are rated 2,500 or above.
The Netfl ix series “The
Queen’s Gambit” became a
nationwide sensation when
it was released in 2020 and
sparked renewed inter-
est in the game. For those
wondering, Falbo favors
the London System as his
opening when playing the
white chess pieces.
“Chess just needs pub-
licity,” said Falbo, who
called the series the best
representation of chess he
has seen on screen.
Locally, he hopes to
continue adding members
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Clem Falbo of Joseph shows one of the math textbooks he
wrote Tuesday, May 3, 2022.
to the club, and is trying to
put together tournaments
and learning events to bring
the game to more youth.
Math and chess
Falbo learned chess from
his grandfather at 12, but
developed the fi ner points
of the game during his
time in the Navy during the
Korean War. He earned his
Ph.D. in mathematics from
the University of Texas,
Austin, and has written
numerous books on mathe-
matics. He also continues to
write published papers on
mathematics with the latest
coming in 2021 in a British
journal.
It is continued work in
the fi eld that keeps driving
him daily even after being
diagnosed with prostate
cancer two years ago.
He taught mathematics
— specializing in diff eren-
tial equations — in Cali-
fornia at Fresno State Uni-
versity and Sonoma State
University, the latter stop
for 35 years. He retired in
1999 and began working
with his wife, Jean — also
a chess player — in the
U.S. Peace Corps teaching
math in the African nation
of Zimbabwe before com-
ing to Joseph.
His love of mathematics
translates to the chessboard
and feeds his mind that has
always hungered to fi nd
answers to tough questions.
“It is a thinking game
and with every move you
have to try to think of every
possible outcome of that
move,” he said. “I play
positional chess and that
appealed to me because
what it amounted to was
pattern identifi cation. It is
kind of like weather predic-
tion because when you get
a certain pattern you can
predict things.”
Conatact Elaine at 541-263-1189
MEET Dandie &
Handie!
Two female
mini panthers born
March 14, 2022. They’ve had their
first round of vaccines, deworming
and these little cuties are litter box
They will make their debut app-
trained.
earance in the Catty Shack this week! These
are very bonded so they will be adopted
sisters
as a purrfect pair.
Available for Adoption
Brought to you by,
Call Mary at 541-398-2428
$150 adoption fee
http://www.wallowacountyhumanesociety.org/
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:
www.Wallowa.com
Now accepting applications for a new position:
Development & Operations Coordinator
For position details and how to apply visit: www.wallowahistory.org/nowhiring
