Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?: Livestock attacks set the stage for a new round of Wolf politicking in Oregon

By: Eric Flowers

July 28, 2010

A 30-YEAR-EFFORT

Indeed, the decision to cull the Imnaha pack appears rather sudden, at least in contrast to the rest of the management approach around wolves, which has developed at a glacial pace. The last wolf bounty paid out in Oregon was around the time of the Second World War. And it wasn’t until 1999 that the next confirmed wolf sighting occurred in the state, when a wolf swam across the Snake River and was later captured and returned to Oregon. The event and subsequent wolf encounters in Oregon, prompted the state to develop a Wolf Management Plan. The document was an acknowledgement that wolves would eventually migrate over from Idaho and establish themselves in Oregon. It laid out how the state would manage wolves, including how to deal with problem wolves and livestock encounters while setting some modest recovery goals in Oregon.

Oregon Wild’s Rob Klavins has been working on wolf issues for organization for the past two years and calls Oregon’s plan, “pretty weak”

Oregon’s plan was eventually adopted in 2005, but wasn’t exactly met with enthusiasm. Conservation groups, including Oregon Wild, signed onto the plan reluctantly because it gave a toehold for wolf recovery and offered some relatively attractive protections from indiscriminate killing for wolves.

“The plan was created specifically to address the potential for conflict and make decisions in the light of day before those conflicts came to pass,” Klavins said.