6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2021
WOLVES
Continued from Page 1A
BAKER TENNIS
Vale sweeps past Bulldogs
By Corey Kirk
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
Baker’s tennis team trav-
eled to Vale on Wednesday,
April 21 and the Vikings
swept all the matches.
Despite the defeat, Baker
coach Amy Younger said
several Bulldogs played well
in their matches.
Junior Sarah Plummer
showed a lot of promise in a
6-2, 6-3 loss to Vale’s Breena
Bushman, Younger said.
“It was a great game, there
were a lot of rallies,” Younger
said.
On the boys side, Baker
sophomore Anthony Christo-
pher managed to take Vale’s
Vincente Arteaga to three
sets, losing the match 7-5,
5-7, 4-6.
Younger was impressed by
Christopher’s performance.
“He fought hard for every
point,” Younger said.
Baker travels to Nyssa on
Monday, April 26.
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Sarah Plummer, shown here on Monday, April
19 against La Grande, played well despite losing to Vale’s
Breena Bushman on Wednesday, April 21.
BAKER TRACK AND FIELD
Girls 1st, boys 2nd at Nyssa
By Corey Kirk
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
The Baker girls fi nished fi rst and the boys
placed second in a multi-school track and
fi eld meet Thursday, April 22 at Nyssa.
“The kids continue to impress us, they did
a great job at competing,” Baker coach Suzy
Cole said.
The Baker girls competed against Hunting-
ton, Nyssa, Adrian, Riverside, Burns, Vale,
Irrigon and Harper. Baker fi nished with 230
points, doubling runner-up Nyssa with 115.
The same teams, minus Irrigon, competed
on the boys side. Adrian won the team title
with 144 points. Baker had 128 points.
Girls individual winners
• Emma Baeth in both the 400 and the 800
• Sydney Lamb in the 3,000
• Anna Belding in the 200
• Sydney Keller set a person record in win-
ning the 1,500 in 5:14.67
• Brooklyn Jaca, 300 hurdles
• 4x100 relay team — Alexis Conant, Brook-
lyn Jaca, Anna Belding, Sydnee Pierce
• 4x400 relay team — Anna Belding, Sydnee
Pierce, Sydney Keller, Emma Baeth
• Hayden Paulsen, javelin
Boys individual winners
• Jordan Mills, 800
• Ian Jesenko, long jump
RESULTS
(BAKER AND HUNTINGTON FINISHERS)
100 METERS, GIRLS
3. Sydnee Pierce; 6. Alexis Conant; 13. Colleen Carlsen
(Huntington); 14. Jocelyn Reiher (Huntington)
100 METERS, BOYS
3. Kaden Myer; 4. Malaki Myer; 12. Ian Jesenko; 15. Peter
Zugic (Huntington); 20. Bailey Hicks (Huntington);
27. Michael Carlsen (Huntington)
200 METERS, GIRLS
1. Anna Belding; 8. Colleen Carlsen (Huntington)
200 METERS, BOYS
3. Malaki Myer; 7. Diego Quintela; 8. Jonathan Abbe
(Huntington); 21. Vino Pawalitkosol (Huntington)
400 METERS, GIRLS
1. Emma Baeth
400 METERS, BOYS
6. Gabe Bott
800 METERS, GIRLS
1. Emma Baeth
1500 METERS, GIRLS
1. Sydney Keller; 4. Sydney Lamb; 5. Lacy Gyllenberg
1500 METERS, BOYS
2. Thaddeus Pepera; 7. Seth Mastrude; 10. Clayton Dennis
100 HURDLES, GIRLS
2. Brooklyn Jaca; 4. Alexis Conant
300 HURDLES, GIRLS
2. Brooklyn Jaca; 4. Alexis Conant
300 HURDLES, BOYS
3. Dash Bloomer; 5. Gaige Birmingham
SHOT PUT, GIRLS
2. Jozie Ramos; 4. Hayden Paulsen; 7. Ryann Paulsen;
10. Morgan Hall; 13. Evan Rexroad
SHOT PUT, BOYS
7. Mike Gentry; 10. David Hornung (Huntington); 13. Peter
Zugic (Huntington); 16. Jacob Mills; 21. Bryce Klosky
(Huntington); 23. Reeve Damschen
DISCUS, GIRLS
2. Hayden Paulsen; 6. Jozie Ramos;
8. Morgan Hall; 16. Nine Piechocki (Huntington);
17. Alina Samodelova (Huntington)
DISCUS, BOYS
4. Mike Gentry; 6. Jacob Mills; 7. Tate Powell;
11. Gabe Bott; 17. Clayton Dennis
JAVELIN, GIRLS
2. Ryann Paulsen; 5. Colleen Carlsen (Huntington);
6. Jozie Ramos; 8. Avril Zickgraf; 20. Nina Piechocki
(Huntington); 21. Alina Samodelova (Huntington)
JAVELIN, BOYS
3. Dash Bloomer; 4. Gauge Bloomer; 6. Gaige
Birmingham; 8. David Hornung (Huntington); 11. Eliot
Liberale (Huntington); 13. Micha Shepard (Huntington);
17. Damion Klosky (Huntington); 25. Bryce Klosky
(Huntington)
HIGH JUMP, GIRLS
2. Brooklyn Jaca; 3. Jozie Ramos; 7. Alexis Conant;
8. Daphne Thomas; 9. Evan Rexroad
POLE VAULT, GIRLS
2. Sydney Keller; 4. Avril Zickgraf; 5. Salena Bott
POLE VAULT, BOYS
4. Gauge Bloomer; 7. Reeve Damschen; 8. Gabe Bott
LONG JUMP, GIRLS
3. Sydnee Pierce; 4. Daphne Thomas; 7. Salena Bott;
9. Avril Zickgraf
LONG JUMP, BOYS
19. Vino Pawalitkosol (Huntington);
20. Michael Carlsen (Huntington)
That’s been true since wolves started
migrating into the state from Idaho about 20
years ago.
Of the minimum statewide population of
173 wolves, 151 – 87% — are in the northeast
corner, including Baker, Umatilla, Union, Wal-
lowa, Grant and Morrow counties.
That region also is home to 20 of the state’s
22 documented wolf packs, according to
ODFW. The agency defines a pack as four or
more wolves traveling together during winter.
Pack populations ranged from four to 15
wolves.
Wolf attacks on livestock
Both reported and confirmed wolf attacks
on livestock increased during 2020.
ODFW investigated 73 cases of suspected
wolf attacks reported by ranchers, a 46%
increase from 2019. A majority of those
investigations — 51 of 73, or 70% — were in
Eastern Oregon.
The number of confi rmed wolf attacks
rose by 94% in 2020, from 16 to 31. Slightly
more than half of the confi rmed depreda-
tions — 52% — were from the Rogue pack in
Southwest Oregon, which was responsible for
16 confi rmed attacks.
Statewide, 42% of reported wolf attacks
were confi rmed, which 21% were deemed
possible or unknown, and 34% were attrib-
uted to other predators or causes. Another
3% were listed as probable wolf attacks.
The percentage of confi rmed attacks was
lower in Eastern Oregon than statewide,
however, with 15 of 51 investigations — 29%
— deemed confi rmed.
In 2019 there were seven confi rmed wolf
attacks on livestock in Eastern Oregon.
The comparatively low percentage of
confi rmed attacks is one concern that
ranchers have about Oregon’s approach to
wolf management, said Rodger Huffman, a
Northeast Oregon rancher and co-chairman
of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association’s Wolf
Task Force Committee.
Huffman said he and other ranchers
believe ODFW’s criteria for determining
whether wolves attacked livestock are too
heavily weighted toward a fi nding other than
confi rmation that wolves are responsible.
He said he understands, however, that
ODFW offi cials are under pressure from
what Huffman calls the “pro-wolf side,” to not
blame wolves for livestock attacks without
overwhelming physical evidence.
Huffman said he’s not suggesting that
agency biologists assume wolves are the
culprits in all depredations, but he contends
a lower standard would be more reasonable,
and better refl ect the actual prevalence of
Wolves in Baker County
Wolves from these packs have been
tracked in parts of Baker County:
• Catherine pack, 5 wolves, mainly in
Union County but occasionally the
north-central part of Baker County.
• Cornucopia pack, 6 wolves, range
includes parts of the Eagle and Pine
valleys.
• Keating pack, 8 wolves, range
includes the Sparta area north of
Highway 86.
• Lookout pack, 4 wolves exclusively
in Baker County between Highway 86
and Interstate 84 east of Baker City
• Middle Fork pack, 6 wolves, primarily
in Wallowa County
• Pine Creek pack, 8 wolves, extreme
eastern part of the county.
wolf attacks on livestock.
He said he knows a rancher in Union
County who reported six possible depreda-
tions last year, but ODFW confirmed only one.
Huffman said the rancher has “lost confi-
dence in the system” as a result.
Although Huffman believes wolf popula-
tions are increasing faster than ODFW’s
figures show, an official from Defenders
of Wildlife, a group that advocates for the
state to protect wolves and encourage their
distribution in Oregon, said wolves are still in
a relatively tenuous situation.
“This past year has seen a multitude of
challenges for wolves in Oregon,” said Sristi
Kamal, senior Oregon representative for
Defenders of Wildlife. “While increasing wolf
numbers are encouraging, long-term recovery
is still dependent on addressing multiple
threats, including poaching and a push for
predator control measures.”
According to the ODFW annual report, four
wolves were killed illegally in Oregon in 2020.
Oregon State Police is investigating three of
those cases. The breeding male of the Ruckel
Ridge pack was shot in Umatilla County in
May 2020. The breeding male of the Cornu-
copia pack was shot in September in Baker
County, and a subadult wolf, believed to be
from the Pine Creek pack, was shot in Octo-
ber in Baker County.
Five other wolves died from different
causes during 2020, according to ODFW.
One pup from the Wenaha pack and a
yearling from the Indigo pack died of natural
causes.
A livestock owner shot a wolf that was
attacking livestock, one was hit by a car on
Interstate 84 in Baker County, and another
apparently was killed when it was hit by a
boat while swimming across the Snake River
in March 2020.
TRIPLE JUMP, GIRLS
2. Sydney Keller; 4. Salena Bott; 5. Avril Zickgraf
TRIPLE JUMP, BOYS
2. Sydney Keller; 4. Salena Bott; 5. Avril Zickgraf
Baker will have a home meet Thursday,
April 29 starting at 2:30 p.m. Results will be
posted at www.athletic.net.

Rich, poor,
old, young.
Compassion
doesn’t
discriminate.
Our calling is you.