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Group: Bring back wolves Conservationists want species protected in Klamath-Siskiyous By PAUL FATTIG The lonely howl of the wild wolf someday may be heard again in the remote reaches of the Klamath-Siskiyou mountains. Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group dedicated to wildlife and its habitat, wants to see gray wolves restored to the wilds of southwestern Oregon and Northern California. With its wilderness and roadless tracts, the region is one of the premier locations in the West Coast states for wolf habitat, said Nancy Weiss, an attorney, scientist and wolf specialist who serves as the group's California species associate. "Wolves are a keystone species that are important to the ecological system," she said. "But public education is crucial to their survival. Once people understand the role of wolves in the wild, then they generally accept them." No wild wolves have howled in the Klamath-Siskiyou range for more than half a century. The national group on Monday petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep the wolves listed as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act in Oregon and California. Following the successful reintroduction of wolves in central Idaho and the Yellowstone National Park area, the agency is considering a reduced level of protection for them. Wild wolf populations re-established in the Great Lakes area in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan and in the Southwest in Arizona and New Mexico as well as the Northern Rockies now number about 3,500, according to official estimates. The group wants full protected status for the wolves should they wander from Idaho into the Northern California-southwestern Oregon area. Weiss estimated that process could take two decades, but added that wolves could be reintroduced to the region much sooner. Fish and Wildlife has not had a chance to study the petition and declined comment, according to spokeswoman Patricia Foulk. The last purebred wolf in the Oregon wild probably was killed in 1946, according to Simon Wray, assistant district biologist for the local office of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Although a wolf was killed in Oregon in 1974 and another in 1978, those were likely wolf hybrids, he said, referring to the domesticated cross between wolves and large dogs. "One of the problems with wolf hybrids is that it's difficult to tell whether it is a wolf hybrid or a purebred," he said. Wild wolves were last seen in California in 1924, according to Fish and Wildlife. Officials say wolves could eventually migrate from Idaho through rural Eastern Oregon to the southwest corner of the state and Northern California. Dominick DellaSala, director of the Klamath-Siskiyou Regional Program for the World Wildlife Fund, figures restoring wolves to the region would help bring ecological balance. "I think it needs to happen," he said. "The biology says it's feasible. We have enough suitable habitat now. The biggest mortality to wolves is being picked off by (vehicles on) roads or by people." But DellaSala wondered if local residents would accept wolves. "The question is whether we can complete the process and let them exist," he said. "But wolves co-existed with humans in the area for many thousands of years." Joseph Vaile, biodiversity campaign coordinator for the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, would welcome the addition of wolves to the region. "It's a very important species ecologically," he said. "Wolves are important for the top-down regulating influence necessary to maintain healthy populations of deer and elk. "We would really like to see the repatriation in this region," he added. But Central Point rancher Dalton Straus, whose family has grazed cattle in the high Cascades each summer for nearly a century, thinks it's a lousy idea. "We spent years trying to get rid of them, and now they want to reintroduce them," said Straus, who recalled seeing wolves in the wild near the Umpqua Divide in the 1940s. "It would be a real step backwards. "These folks that want them think they are romantic," he continued. "But when you are out in the woods and a wolf comes up close by to howl, the hair goes right up on the back of your neck." If it weren't for other wildlife and his livestock, Straus said he probably would want to see wolves reintroduced. "But there is no way we can logically go back to the way it was a hundred years ago," he said. The Defenders of Wildlife, which has a program to compensate ranchers who lose livestock to wolves, say they want to provide time to address concerns people may have about the possible return of wolves to the region. "We want to go about this sort of thing in a very measured way," said Defenders Vice President Bob Ferris. "This is serious business, and it has profound ramifications. We want to look at it in a well-reasoned manner and give people an opportunity to have a say." Noting that in recent years, three wolves from Idaho have been found in Eastern Oregon, Weiss said they can be expected to eventually arrive in the southwest corner of the state. "That's a phenomenon to be expected," she said. "As youngsters mature, they will go out on their own." She estimated the region could sustain a wolf population of about 470 wolves. "There is a lot of wilderness and roadless areas with abundant prey," she said. "It would be a good place for wolves." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] . The Associated Press contributed to this report. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.