When the wolves return to Western Oregon

When Dalton Straus thinks about how his grandfather would react to wolves returning to the Cascade Range, he can't help but laugh.

"He absolutely hated wolves," the 84-year-old Central Point rancher said. "They would come in and attack our cows, sheep, chickens and turkeys, and he would shoot them when he got the chance.

"If he found out they were back, there would be a string of expletives you couldn't publish anywhere. I don't think he would understand why you'd want them back in the environment. Honestly, I don't either."

Yet wolves are back.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said that among the state's 77 known wolves, seven, including three pups, now reside on the state's west side.

In all likelihood, it's just the beginning.

"I expect them to increase in both numbers and distribution in the coming years," said Russ Morgan, wolf program coordinator for ODFW. "There is lots of good wolf habitat in the Cascades. I think they will continue to expand."

Attitudes have changed dramatically since the time of Straus' grandfather, an era when a state bounty system on wolves helped bring about their extermination by the late 1940s.

A 1999 poll of Oregonians showed 70 percent support for the return of canis lupus.

Today, advocates tout the return of wolves as something that can bring balance to the ecosystem and right an old injustice. To hear the mournful call of a wolf on Mount Hood would, for many, be the thrill of a lifetime.

Yet the same qualms that led Oregon's forefathers to eradicate wolves have been voiced loudly in the northeastern part of the state, where wolves have been establishing since the late 1990s and early 2000s. More and more, those concerns are being aired on the state's west side, as well.

"It feels like we're on the cusp of a population explosion, and there's an uneasiness about it," said Jackson County Commissioner Doug Breidenthal, whose county sits west of the seven wolves in the Cascades.

"This area was the last stronghold of wolves in Oregon, and it stands to reason that when they return, it could become a place where they thrive in very large numbers."

Wolves started to arrive in northeast Oregon during the late 1990s, migrating from the population reintroduced to central Idaho by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service beginning in 1995.

The first pups were born in the Beaver State in 2008, and the numbers slowly grew, hitting 14 in 2009 and 29 by 2011.

For years, there were rumors of wolves in the west — a paw print on Mount Hood here, a sighting on Santiam Pass there.

But OR7 became the symbolic trailblazer. In 2011, the radio-collared wolf split from the Imnaha Pack and headed west, traveling more than 1,200 miles to become the first known wolf to reach the Cascade Range since extermination and the first to reach California in 90 years.

The trek made a folk hero of OR7, who was nicknamed "Journey" by the environmental group Oregon Wild. A movie based on his life recently came out — using a stand-in wolf, of course — and a hearty band of travelers retraced his path to bring awareness to the challenges wolves face.

In 2013, the celebrity wolf made headlines again by returning to the Southern Cascades with a mate and having three pups. He is now head of the Rogue Pack, whose territory is south of Crater Lake National Park in the vicinity of the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

Two other wolves, known as the Keno Pair, joined OR7 in the Southern Cascades to bring the total to seven.

"It's such a significant moment, such a big step forward to have wolves back in the Cascades where they belong," said Rob Klavins, a wolf advocate for Oregon Wild. "It's a richer, healthier, wilder landscape with them in it. They're a symbol of the unsanitized West. The real thing."

Oregon State University professor Bill Ripple has been studying wolves for the past 15 years, tracing their impact on the landscape in places such as Yellowstone National Park since reintroduction.

In 2006, Ripple and graduate student Tad Larson did a comprehensive study on wolf habitat in Oregon.

The most important aspect to wolf habitat was prey — mostly deer and elk. Another important factor was the density of roads.

"The lower the density of roads, the lower the chances for wolf-human conflict," Ripple said. "Wolves typically try to avoid humans whenever possible."

The study determined that Oregon could support an estimated 1,400 wolves statewide. The Cascade region could support about 600 wolves, while the north coastal, central coastal and Klamath-Siskyous regions could each support over 100 wolves. The northeast could support over 400. (Ripple rounded down the numbers in interviews with the Statesman Journal to emphasize that they are estimates.)

For context, Idaho is home to an estimated 659 wolves, Montana has 627, and Wyoming has 306, although those numbers may be updated during the next month. Minnesota, which never wiped out its wolf population, has an estimated 2,400.

There is ample wolf habitat even farther west of the Cascades, Ripple said.

"The Coast Range and Siskiyous get overlooked, but they do have quite good wolf habitat in my view," Ripple said. "There are a lot of logging roads, but they're often not used enough by humans to be a deterrent to wolves."

ODFW's Morgan pointed out that wolves are highly unlikely to come into towns, cities or places where people are present.

"Wolves probably aren't going to wander into the Willamette Valley," he said.

Wolves can impact a landscape in two major ways, Ripple said.

The first is through what's known as a "trophic cascade" in the food web of an ecosystem. Wolves can restore balance between ungulates and native vegetation.

In Yellowstone, before wolves were reintroduced, the elk population had swollen to over 20,000 animals, which devastated the park's vegetation.

"When wolves arrived, the elk started to decline," Ripple said. "Once that happened, woody plants started flourishing in some areas. Trees like willow, cottonwood and aspen started to thrive in places they hadn't before."

Ripple said the return of willows allowed for an increase in beavers and songbirds.

He also noted wolves' impact on coyotes. Wolves can cause coyotes either to decrease in numbers or to change their behavior.

He stressed that it was impossible to know what impact wolves would have in Western Oregon because the research hasn't been done.

But, in general, "wolves can have profound effects on ecosystems," he said.

The worst moments are during the night, Enterprise cattle rancher Todd Nash said.

"We had a sheep producer who got up in the middle of the night three times, knowing wolves were out there, and they still had a kill 50 feet from his bedroom window," said Nash, who works with the Oregon Cattlemen's Association. "For the guys who have to deal with it, it has changed their lives. They sleep with the windows open. It's an alarming thing, knowing they're out there."

On May 30, wolves killed 12 sheep and injured six more during one attack in Wallowa County. Two weeks later, a different pack killed eight sheep and injured five in Umatilla County.

The reality of wolves hasn't changed. They are aggressive carnivores that kill to eat, and that includes livestock.

Since they returned to Oregon, wolves have killed a confirmed 104 livestock or domestic animals, mostly cattle and sheep but also goats. That number could be higher, since many ODFW investigations are labeled "probable" or "possible" for wolf depredation.

Western Oregon doesn't have as many large, dispersed livestock operations as the northeast part of the state, but it does have plenty of smaller farms around rural mountain towns.

"Western Oregon has higher human density and a lot more properties, including smaller operations like a backyard band of sheep," Morgan said. "Because of that, there's an increased potential for conflict.

"Typically, the smaller operations are a lot easier to protect from wolves than a large grazing operation."

Klavins, of Oregon Wild, pointed out that the losses caused by wolves — two cows and 30 sheep in 2014 — are a fraction of livestock losses statewide. The number of cattle in Oregon was 1.28 million in 2013, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

"Cattle are killed every year by weather, disease and predators like cougars and bears," Klavins said. "Wolves are native predators. Why are they in this whole different category?"

The state provides a compensation fund to help livestock owners with the cost of losses and non-lethal prevention. The fund paid out $150,830 in 2014.

Yet the strain of wolf attacks takes a toll that can't be translated into numbers, even on animals.

Cattle involved in attacks have shown signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to an OSU study, resulting in decreased pregnancy rates, lighter calves and a greater likelihood of getting sick.

For ranchers, it keeps them on edge, all day and night, Nash said.

"These are dangerous animals, and when it's your operation getting hit, it changes you," Nash said.

"If you want to talk about Western Oregon, then, yeah, it's not going to affect everybody, especially if you live in the city. But in the rural areas, next to wolf territory, it will impact some people. And for those people, it's devastating."

Two years ago, Jim Groth of Colville, Washington, was doing a fall mushroom survey for the U.S. Forest Service in the Kettle River Range, with his 90-pound retriever-mix, Ollie, when he heard a scuffling sound and saw something black.

The retired microbiology professor figured that his dog had startled a bear.

But then a frightened Ollie came sprinting out of the forest with blood on his neck.

Hot on his heels was a big black wolf. Then a second one.

"They were really after him and making a lot of growling, snarling noises," Groth said. "I made myself very large, and they were pretty respectful. They didn't come within 30 feet of me, but the dog was terrified."

Gradually the wolves backed off, but the experience left an impression on Groth (and Ollie).

"It's not a joke," he said. "When people are out with their dog in wolf country, they have to know that the rules of the game have changed."

While the instances of wolves attacking humans are extremely low, wolves will come after dogs in the right circumstances.

"Wolves are not dog-snatchers," Morgan said, "but they are territorial. My rule of thumb is to keep dogs in control and generally within sight. If there is a human in the mix, wolves will usually leave."

Groth said that he brings bear spray on the trail nowadays but that the experience hasn't changed his opinion on wolves.

"I still believe that wolves belong here, that they have a place," he said. "You have to take the good with the bad."

Duane Dungannon, state coordinator of the Oregon Hunters Association, said he believes that Oregon has enough predators without wolves.

Hunters have already seen a drop in game harvest, he said, since Measure 18 outlawed hunting cougars with dogs in 1994. He worries that increased wolf numbers will cut deeper into game numbers.

"The number of cougars, bears and coyotes are already growing," Dungannon said. "When wolves are not in the news for killing livestock, they're out there killing big game. They don't eat pine cones and mushrooms."

In areas with more established wolf populations, elk have declined in some cases and are stable in others, according to ODFW and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The biggest fight over wolves in Oregon, by far, is the question of whether you can shoot them.

The answer in Western Oregon is no. At least for now.

All wolves west of Oregon highways 395, 78 and 95 are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act and the Oregon Endangered Species Act.

Killing a wolf in Western Oregon — even if it's attacking your dog or livestock — is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000, one year in jail or both.

John Stephenson, wolf coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Oregon, said that penalty is only for the most egregious cases of poaching. He said the highest penalty issued has been a fine of $35,000, and one person spent six days in jail.

"There are exemptions for human safety. We're not going to put someone in jail for protecting themselves from a wolf attack," he said. "We always look at the circumstances of the incident."

Being forced to try non-lethal methods to deter wolves is a frustrating concept for Straus, the Southern Oregon rancher who runs cattle west of the Rogue Pack and Keno Pair.

"If I happen to go out and see a wolf attack my livestock, I couldn't even shoot it," he said. "I guess I could sick my dog on it, but that might get him killed, or I could wave my arms around and make noise. There's no way really to protect against an animal on the endangered species list."

Wolf advocates argue that non-lethal controls have worked well. They credit methods such as electrified fences, guard dogs, removing bone piles and hiring a range rider with keeping predation levels low even as the number of wolves increase.

That's true, but only to a point.

Attacks on livestock in Oregon decreased in 2014, to 11 incidents from 13 the previous year, despite the increase in wolf numbers. However, the total number of animals killed increased from 12 to 32 — the highest number since wolves returned to Oregon — mainly because they killed multiple sheep during single attacks.

Underlying all of these arguments is perhaps the biggest question of all: whether wolves will stay on the endangered species list.

In June 2013, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed removing all gray wolves from federal protection, except those in the southwest United States. The federal decision would apply to wolves in Western Oregon. At the same time, ODFW is studying the possibility of removing wolves from the state ESA and is taking up the issue this spring.

Neither decision will happen overnight. The federal decision has been slowed, and delisting in Oregon would require clearing a number of hurdles that demonstrate wolves have reached a stable population.

Wolf advocates say 77 wolves in Oregon, including seven in the Cascade Range, is hardly a recovery. Ranchers say they only want better options to protect themselves and their livestock.

The goal for Morgan and ODFW, and the hope for advocates like Klavins, is that wolves eventually become just another animal in the Oregon forest.

They believe it's possible.

"They are always going to be difficult to manage," Morgan said. "But over time, it will become normalized."

Klavins added: "The return of wolves is a great success story. We can be proud of this."

Straus is skeptical. Once people in Western Oregon get to know wolves better, he said, they'll start to understand why people of his grandfather's generation felt the way they did.

"Folks seem to think they're wonderful to have back," he said. "But once they get to know them, the pendulum is going to swing back the other way in a hurry."

Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photographer and videographer in Oregon for seven years. He is the author of the book "Hiking Southern Oregon" and can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Facebook at Zach's Oregon Outdoors or @ZachsORoutdoors on Twitter.

NUMBERS

Wolf population estimates

Washington: 68

Oregon: 77

Wyoming: 306

Montana: 627

Idaho: 659

Michigan: 666

Wisconsin: 800

Minnesota: 2,400

Alaska: 7,000 to 11,000

Wolf estimates in Oregon over the years

2009: 14

2010: 21

2011: 29

2012: 48

2013: 64

2014: 77

Confirmed Oregon livestock losses from wolf attacks

2009: 30 (28 sheep, 1 cattle, 1 other)

2010: 8 (all cattle)

2011: 10 (all cattle)

2012: 12 (4 cows, 8 sheep)

2013: 12 (5 cattle, 6 sheep, 1 goat)

2014: 32 (2 cattle, 30 sheep)

Total: 104 livestock losses

Wolf attacks on humans

Fatal non-rabid wolf attacks on humans in Canada (60,000 wolves) in last 10 years: 2

Fatal non-rabid wolf attacks on humans in United States since 1888: 1

Wolf attacks on humans in Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington since 1995 reintroduction: 0

Wolf attacks in Minnesota (2,500 wolves, never eradicated) since 1900: 1

More numbers

Number of wolves killed by Oregon officials due to predation of livestock: 4

Hunting and trapping

Wolves are no longer protected by the federal Endangered Species Act in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming and in some areas have been open for hunting. Here are the number of wolves bagged by hunters and trappers in those states.

Idaho: 1,210

Montana: 825

Wyoming: 151

Total: 2,186