How is it that Humans think they can manage mother nature better than she has for centuries before humans showed up in America????
Action shows fragile nature of state level wolf recovery?
Friday in Bend, OR the state’s wildlife and fish commissioners launched a process to delist wolves from Oregon’s State Endangered Species Act. Oregon only has about 80-90 wolves (77 at the end of 2014), but the state rule for delisting wolves mandates the consideration of delisting when the goal of four breeding pairs for three consecutive years in eastern Oregon is reached. The goal was reached this year.
This goal is only about a fourth of the number for delisting that needed to be met under the federal plan in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The current wolf population in Oregon is not at all evenly distributed. The large majority of wolves are in northeastern Oregon. They are concentrated hard up against the Washington and Idaho borders. Until recently there were no wolves in the famed backcountry and wilds of the Cascade Mountains in western Oregon. Now there is OR-7s pack, the Rogue Pack (with pups), and perhaps one or two more that might jell into packs. Nonetheless the map of the pack locations shows the state’s wolf recovery is anything but statewide.