Wolves are making their way into Oregon, as planned; the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has received both confirmed and unconfirmed sightings and there is no doubt the natural dispersal of wolves will continue.

“Considering there are over 1,000 wolves in Idaho in less than 10 years, eight breeding pairs in Oregon won’t be hard to attain,” said Wallowa County Commissioner Ben Boswell.

The federal government is also feeling like the experimental wolf reintroduction is a success, and on Feb. 28 announced the removal of the wolf from the federal endangered species list in the northern Rocky Mountain area. That area includes all of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, as well as the eastern one-third of Washington and Oregon and a small part of north-central Utah.

What this ought to mean for Oregon is that the Oregon Wolf Management Plan, considered by many to be one of the best-written plans in the west, will go into effect.

Russ Morgan, Wolf Coordinator for the State of Oregon, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is proceeding as if that were the case.

“We will be in Wallowa County investigating wolf sightings and conducting research,” said Morgan. “We followed up on a number of wolf reports in Wallowa County. We have not been on the ground to follow up on the most recent Imnaha sighting, but we will be conducting formal surveys in the remainder of this winter and into spring throughout Wallowa County.”

Those formal surveys are the first step necessary in implementing the 2005 Oregon Wolf Management Plan, he said.

Problem is, Morgan can’t fully implement the plan. He can only partially implement it because of the difference between the Oregon Endangered Species Act and the Federal Act that allowed for the reintroduction of the wolf.

Oregon’s ESA more strict than Federal listing

Gray wolves came under the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1974 and were grandfathered into Oregon’s ESA when the state adopted its own law in 1987. ODFW can add or subtract other species by petition, but because of the grandfathering process, removing the wolf requires a legislative act.

“Federal delisting means very little in the near term,” Morgan said. “Essentially, delisting doesn’t affect Oregon (yet) because wolves are still listed (as endangered) by the State of Oregon. Federal delisting does not change the protected status of the gray wolf in Oregon.”

The crafters of the Oregon Wolf Management Plan asked the legislature to change that protective status, but the legislature declined to consider the changes during this term.

Legislature vs ranchers”There are three or four elements (changes to the Oregon ESA) that have to be adopted by the legislature before the wolf plan can go into effect, and that hasn’t happened,” Boswell explained. “These elements can’t be brought up again until the 2009 session. One of the three things is reclassifying the wolf as a game mammal. Another is allowing ranchers to apply for a ‘take permit’ to kill a wolf. The third thing is a compensation fund. Even wolf proponents think it’s only fair that livestock owners be compensated for their losses – and that has not been approved by the legislature.”

Rancher Clint Krebs summers his cattle on the Zumwalt and acted as representative for rural communities during the drafting of the Oregon Plan. If delisting were to go forward now, he said, “A wolf could kill anything and as much as he wanted and we couldn’t touch him.”

This has not been the case during the time the wolf was “listed,” as the animals were re-introduced under a federal experimental program that was well-defined and (in subsection 10-J) allowed for actions to be taken against problem wolves.

“10-J allows for the experimental reintroduction of a species and gave wolves placed in Idaho and Montana a ‘three strikes your out law,'” explained Krebs. “If a wolf screws up and kills livestock three times, we’ll blow him away, and that’s what’s been happening in the last 20 years. The state of Oregon does not have a 10-J in their State Endangered Species Act.”

This means that if the wolf is delisted by the federal government, it comes under the stricter protection of the Oregon State Endangered Species Act.

“Wolves coming out of Idaho into Oregon are no longer experimental – they are full-fledged protected species,” said Krebs. “They can basically kill as much as they want. To justify killing a wolf you must prove you are ‘preserving the species in the state.’ How are you going to prove killing a wolf preserves the species?”

In fact, according to Morgan, under Oregon’s ESA, a permist can be issued to a rancher alllowing him to ‘take’ a wolf if he catches the wolf in the act of killing. Ranchers argue that this scenario is so highly unlikely as to make the allowance useless.

If the legislature makes the changes to the Oregon ESA necessary to implement the Oregon Wolf Management Plan in 2009, Morgan can begin to manage problem wolves; livestock owners can request a permit to kill problem wolves themselves; and funding for reimbursing livestock owners will actively be sought.

Strange bedfellowsFor now, for Oregon ranchers, delisting the wolf would mean no management of problem wolves. Ironically, the ranchers’ rescue may come from a coterie of wildlife organizations who seek to protect the wolf.

These organizations, which include The Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife, The Humane Society and the Western Watersheds Project, have filed notice to sue the federal government to prevent it removing the wolf from the list, according to John Stephenson, fish and wildlife biologist and wolf-issue expert for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, La Grande office.

The primary goal of the wildlife advocacy groups is to insure the long-term survival of the wolf, said Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife.

“The wolf population needs to be guaranteed higher than 30 breeding pairs. The base of our concern is that the wolf population has to be managed at a higher level,” she said.

Until the issue goes through the courts, federal law continues to protect wolves – which means problem wolves can be managed.

“Thank God the wildlife organizations are suing,” said Krebs with a heavy sense of irony.

Friends are where you find themThe irony deepens. Unless the legislature approves changes to the Oregon ESA, and the Oregon Wolf Management Plan finds the money to reimburse livestock owners for any losses to wolves, the only source of reimbursement is one of the wildlife protection organizations suing the federal government: Defenders of Wildlife.

The organization has been compensating ranchers for livestock lost to wolves for 20 years, to the tune of more than $1 million.

As long as wolves in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington are listed as endangered under the federal act, the wildlife protection organization Defenders of Wildlife will reimburse ranchers for the fall market value of any domestic animal lost to wolf predation through The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Fund.

“Our compensation program is active during the time that wolves are listed as an endangered species,” explained Defender’s Suzanne Stone. “We extended our program to cover Oregon when the first wolf crossed into Oregon in 1999. However, there have been no confirmed livestock losses to wolves in Oregon.”

The foundation writes recompense checks for everything from wolf-killed calves and lambs to farm dogs to miniature horses. The fund has also paid vet bills for animals that survived attack, and “market loss” for “bummer lambs” that lost their mothers to wolves and are not expected to thrive as well as their naturally mothered kin.

The foundation releases funds when ranchers present an official report made out by a wildlife service field agent confirming wolf predation. Upon receipt of that report, the organization will pay compensation at market value – up to $3,000 per animal lost.

“Market value” is a significant detail in the plan, meaning that if a wolf kills a young calf, the owner gets full fall-market value price, not at baby calf price.

Better than fed money”We went one step further,” said Stone. “There is also what field investigators consider ‘probable loss.’ In a case where they cannot be 100 percent sure it is a wolf kill, but feel it probably was, we will pay 50 percent of market value, up to $1,500 per animal.”

In 2007, ranchers in Montana received $59,730 in compensation from the fund. Idaho ranchers received $64,964. Wyoming ranchers got $79,941. All of the money comes to the fund from private donations and grants.

“We receive no state of federal funding,” said Stone.

Furthermore, the organization has been proactive in preventing wolf predation.

“We also have other assistance that we offer – proactive, non-lethal wolf deterrents,” Stone explained. “We provide livestock dogs and assist with range riders.”

Sheep farmers in Payette National Forest area received most of the livestock dogs, according to Stone.

Range riders patrol wolf habitat, haze (or chase off) wolves, and move sick or dead cattle that would attract any carnivore and noting signs of wolf population.

Is it the right deal for Oregon?While Boswell may be looking a gift horse in the mouth, he believes that relying on private gifts is just not a good solution.

The problem, he said, is that “It’s private money and therefore it can be offered and it can also be withheld. We don’t want to rely solely upon it. When I’m talking about ‘we’ I mostly mean other county commissioners who have a sense for who pays.”

Meantime, going into business with Defenders of Wildlife might be the best economic policy available to ranchers.

Until the legislature gives the state money for restitution and allows the reclassification of the wolf as a game mammal, Boswell’s advice is simple: “Leave wolves alone.”

Currently, killing a wolf could get you a year in jail and a fine of as much as $6,250.