Wolf encountering has spread to the burbs. Well, not quite, but its no longer the case that seeing and hearing wolves is an experience limited to the people who tend cattle miles removed from the nearest residential subdivision.

Ramona Phillips, a member of the ranching community, recently alerted the Chieftain to the phenomenon of Wallowa Countys wolves traveling closer to non-ranch residences than they have in the past, and she sounded a note of public warning in a letter the newspaper published Jan. 22.

The wolves that got Phillips attention are located near the east moraine of Wallowa Lake. In the days immediately following the letters publication, we learned about another pair of wolves suddenly making rounds near residences at Alder Slopes southeastern corner. State wildlife investigators confirmed the pairs presence.

Wolves coming closer to more peoples homes inevitably sparks concern, which is most intense among residents who have outdoor animals any valued four-legged inhabitants from cats and dogs to sheep and cattle. People may receive a limited amount of government help with wolf attack deterrence measures most notable, free turbo fladry and if an attack occurs, local officials sympathy for the loss will be sincere.

Hardly any support for wolves is evident among government office holders within Wallowa County, and candidates for the encompassing state legislative districts likewise tout their tough-on-wolf bona fides whenever they talk politics with the voters here.

Last year was quite remarkable on Oregons wolf issue front inasmuch as it brought exceedingly rare cooperation between pro-wolf conservationists and wolf-afflicted stockgrowers. The private groups and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife hammered out an agreement allowing wolves to be managed more robustly, including the shooting of wolves in certain instances.

While its natural to assume that the agreement came about because hard political lines had softened, if only momentarily, anyone tracking the wider public debate on wolves cant avoid noticing that stakes are rising, mostly on the conservationists side. Increasingly penetrating public consciousness is the notion that wolves might serve a role battling climate change. The argument goes, more or less, that wolves presence keeps big browsing animals too nervous to overeat the vegetation along any streamside stretch, thereby enabling beavers to build more dams, and this in turn improves soil quality enough to trap more of the freely floating carbon thats ruining our climate.

As if growing popular sentiment to promote wolf recovery for the cause of climate defense isnt pressure enough, government wildlife agencies now confront a relatively fresh line of criticism: merely meeting numeric goals for wolf populations isnt sufficient. Writing last month in the Washington Post, famous conservationist Jane Goodall, who is best known for her work with chimpanzees, bemoaned wolves federal delisting and the increased resort to lethal control in their management. Wolves are highly intelligent and an intensely social species. They require years of learning how to be good pack members, Goodall explained in her article. As such, she argues, it really does matter a great deal which particular pack members come into wildlife managers and now hunters rifle sights. In short, management isnt just a quantity matter but also a quality one.

Meantime, our Northwest political culture continues to breed chest-thumping over the numbers alone. In Idaho this month, lawmakers complained to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game about that agencys latest wolf population estimate showing a slight numeric decline. The downward trend apparently flies in the face of politicos personal career-boosting conviction that management must always involve applying more lethal control, never just the current amount or less.

For wolf-edgy rural dwellers, the issues shifting cross-currents offer little of immediate value. When wolves come calling, you can put up some fladry, bring the dogs indoors, and then cross your fingers and hope that your neighborhoods uninvited, wild canine visitors will soon grow tired of these latest digs.  

RCR