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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 2021)
EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 28, 2021 Oregon has at least 173 wolves, a 9.5% increase over last year State wildlife biolo- gists counted 173 wolves in Oregon this past winter, a 9.5 percent increase over last year’s count of 158, according to the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management 2020 Annual Report released recently at ”odfw.com/wolves“. This annual count is based on verified wolf ev- idence (like visual obser- vations, tracks, and remote camera photographs) and is considered the minimum known wolf count, not an estimate of how many wolves are in Oregon. The actual number of wolves in Oregon is likely higher, as not all individuals pres- ent in the state are located during the winter count. A total of 22 packs were documented during the count. (A pack is defined as four or more wolves travel- ing together in winter.) Of those packs, 17 reproduced and had at least two adults and two pups that survived through the end of 2020, making them “breeding pairs.” Seven other groups of 2-3 wolves were also identified. While no new packs formed in western Ore- gon, the total number of wolves in the region in- creased by 29 percent (from 17 to 22 wolves) over the 2019 count. Eight collared wolves dispersed from their packs with four dispersing to other locations in Ore- gon, two to Idaho, one to California, and one wolf left California and became resident in Oregon. “While northeast Or- egon continues to host majority of state’s wolf population, dispersal to other parts of Oregon and adjacent states continues,” said Roblyn Brown, ODFW Wolf Coordinator. A total of 21 wolves were captured and ra- dio-collared during 2020, up from 14 last year. Four of those were thanks to licensed trappers promptly reporting their incidental capture of a wolf; ODFW was able to radio collar and safely release those four wolves from foothold traps. Through collar data and surveys, the depart- ment collected 17,279 wolf location data points in Or- egon in 2020. Of those, 57 percent of locations for resident wolves were on public lands, 38 percent on private lands, and 5 percent on tribal lands. Wolf mortalities-Nine wolf mortalities were documented during 2020, including two young wolves that died from natural causes (a Wenaha pup and Indigo yearling). Seven wolf mortali- ties were human caused. One wolf was killed when hit by a vehicle on I-84, another was appar- ently killed when hit by a boat while swimming across the Snake River. One was taken lawfully under the “caught in the act” rule which allows live- stock producers to shoot a wolf found in the act of biting, wounding, killing or chasing livestock. (As of January 4, 2021 “caught in the act” is legal statewide but rules differ for East and West Zones which are in different phases of wolf management; livestock pro- ducers should visit ODFW’s webpage to find out more.) Four wolves were killed illegally in 2020. Three deaths are still under inves- tigation, and OSP is active- ly seeking more informa- tion. The breeding male of the Ruckel Ridge Pack was shot in Umatilla County in May. The breeding male of the Cornucopia Pack was shot in September in Baker County. A subadult wolf, believed to be from the Pine Creek Pack, was shot in October in Baker County. Rewards ranging from $2,500 to $15,000 have been offered for informa- tion leading to a convic- tion. Public reports help protect Oregon wildlife from poaching. Reports can be made anonymous- ly to the OSP Turn In Poachers (TIP) Line at 800-452-7888 or by email: T I P @ o s p . o r e g o n . g o v. Finally, a livestock owner shot a wolf mistaken for a coyote. The owner was warned by Oregon State Police after self-report- ing the incident to OSP. “Hunters and livestock producers in areas of wolf activity really need to be careful and be able to tell the difference between wolves and coyotes,” said Brown. Review ODFW’s Coyote vs Wolf ID quiz for tips. ODFW did not le- thally control any wolves in response to chron- ic depredation in 2020. Livestock depredation increases, mostly attribut- ed to Rogue Pack. Con- firmed depredation events increased 94 percent in 2020 from 2019. The ma- jority of the depredation (52 percent) was attributed to the Rogue Pack, which dep- redated 16 times in 2020. In all phases of wolf man- agement, Oregon’s Wolf Plan mandates that non-le- thal efforts are undertaken to address conflict before lethal removal is consid- ered. In 2020, those mea- sures included removing at- tractants, hazing, electrified fladry, radio-activated guard boxes, increased human presence, range riders and other husbandry practices. In the Rogue Pack area, ODFW and partners U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and USDA Wildlife Ser- vices worked extensively to try to limit depredation, including a coordinated nighttime patrol in Klamath County to haze wolves out of livestock pastures in the northern Wood River Val- ley where depredation was concentrated. Agency staff hazed all night on 99 nights between July 30-Nov. 25. This overnight agency pres- ence leveraged real time in- formation about wolf loca- tions derived from howling, radio-telemetry, cattle dis- turbance and visual obser- vation through night-vision thermal imaging devices in an attempt to deter wolves. The hazing pushed the wolves back into the forest on some nights, but other nights they depredated. “The personnel costs of this collaboration with USFWS, WS and the De- partment was significant during the four months,” s a i d B r o w n . “ We a p - preciate the work of our partners and all livestock producers for their efforts to co-exist with wolves.” Counties can seek grants from Oregon Department of Agriculture’s (ODA) Wolf Depredation Compensa- tion and Financial Assis- tance Grant Program to help fund non-lethal mea- sures and compensation for lost livestock. In 2020, ODA awarded $251,529 to 12 counties, up from $178,319 awarded in 2019. ODFW staff will present an overview of the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management 2020 Annu- al Report to the Fish and Wildlife Commission at their April 23 meeting. No public testimony is being taken during that portion of the meeting, but it can be watched online and public comments can be sent to odfw.commission@state. or.us. 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