Document text
L/RAIN Temp: 51 °F Wind: SSE at 8 mph Saturday, December 14, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend November 30, 2002 ODFW wants public’s take on wolves By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune It may be decades before a lone wolf crosses the Cascades or Rogue-Umpqua divide and descends into the Rogue Valley, but state wildlife managers want to know what you think about that now. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife representatives will head Tuesday to Medford to test the public pulse on issues and concerns about the future presence of wolves in Oregon. Oregon has no confirmed wolves, which are listed on state and federal endangered species lists, yet at least three have wandered into Oregon from Idaho in the past three years. Researchers estimate that more wolves will migrate from Idaho into Oregon, eventually establishing a small breeding population in the northeastern corner before fanning out statewide. Their presence has sparked heated debate in Eastern Oregon. Some wildlife advocates are thrilled to have the predator here again, while many ranchers and others fear that re-established wolf packs will wreak havoc on livestock and force tight management restrictions on federal lands. But ODFW biologists want to outline the issues and opinions of Oregonians before the first official wolf sets up residence in a state wolf-free for 50 years. "They’re coming here anyway, and we can either ignore the situation or plan for it," ODFW spokeswoman Anne Pressentin Young said. "We think planning for it is a better idea." The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at North Medford High School, 1900 N. Keeneway Drive. It is one of 14 public meetings set up statewide during November and December to gather input about wolves and the issues created by their pending arrival. The Medford meeting is the first to be held west of the Cascade Mountains. The previous six meetings were all in Eastern Oregon. The forums, in which facilitators gather comments and present information about wolves, have generated packed houses. Meetings in sparsely populated outposts such as Baker City and LaGrande have drawn more than 100 people, while a Nov. 20 meeting in Bend drew more than 200 people. "It’s a subject that’s quite controversial," Pressentin Young said. "The process seems to be working." Oregon is not planning to re-introduce wolves, Pressentin Young said. Yet biologists believe their migration into Oregon is a matter of when, not if. The last confirmed wild wolf in Oregon was killed almost 50 years ago in the Umpqua National Forest, just north of northeastern Jackson County. Packs of wolves once roamed the Northwest’s plains and mountains, but they were trapped and hunted with a vengeance between 1915 and 1929 to keep them from preying on livestock. Reports of wolf-dog hybrids, commonly called canids, in southwestern Oregon have trickled in since the ‘40s, but none have been biologically classified as a wolf. Wolves that enter the state from Idaho’s packs are protected under both the state and federal endangered species acts. The Oregon Legislature is the only entity with authority to change the Oregon Endangered Species Act. The seven-member commission, however, has the authority to add or remove species from the state list of threatened and endangered species. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S