EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon recognized an area between Highway 58 and Highway 138 in Lane and Douglas counties as an Area of Known Wolf Activity in March 2019.

Evidence that the Indigo wolves had reproduced emerged last fall, based on trail camera photos captured in August.

Now the wolves are formally a pack, according to updated maps published earlier this month.

The designation is expected to be part of Oregon’s next wolf report due out in April. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is currently conducting the annual winter count of wovles in the state.

The agency estimated the population at 137 wolves in 16 packs at the end of 2018.

Most of the wolves live in northeastern Oregon.

Only 3 packs – the Indigo, Rogue and White River packs – live west of Highways 97, 20 or 395.

The Rogue pack lives in parts of Jackson and Klamath counties in south central Oregon. The White River pack lives in Wasco and Clackamas counties and the Warms Springs reservation, east of Mount Hood.
via Wolves in eastern Lane, Douglas counties recognized as new Indigo pack | KMTR

An endangered gray wolf that wandered thousands of miles through Northern California has died, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Thursday.

OR-54, a 3- to 4-year-old female, was found dead Wednesday in Shasta County, the agency said in a statement.

It wasn’t clear yet whether the animal died from an accident, natural causes or was killed.

Another collared wolf, OR-59, was found shot to death in Northern California. That killing is unsolved.

Read more  Endangered gray wolf is found dead in Northern California – Los Angeles Times

LAURIER, Wash. —

When Washington ranchers find that gray wolves have attacked their cattle, they can call the state wildlife agency, which has killed 31 of the protected predators since 2012 under a program intended to save vulnerable livestock.

Many ranches have routinely used state-contracted range riders to ward off wolves, which are listed by Washington as endangered even as they have gradually returned during the last decade after being reintroduced in Idaho.

But not the Diamond M Ranch, which has grazed its cattle on federal land near the U.S.-Canada border in northeast Washington since World War II.

via One Washington ranch, 26 protected gray wolves killed – Los Angeles Times

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday at least four wolf pups were born this year into Oregon’s Indigo wolf pack.

The agency said it recently put a tracking collar on one of the pups, which is now about 6 months old.

The Indigo pack lives in Lane and Douglas counties.

In March, the Trump administration issued a proposal to strip wolves of federal protections in Oregon and other states in the nation.

Oregon adopted a new management plan in June for gray wolves. It applies to eastern Oregon, where the wolves are most abundant and not under federal protections.

Wolves in the western part of the state are still under federal protections.

Oregon’s wildlife agency estimated the wolf population at the end of 2018 to be 137 individuals in 16 packs.

via At Least 4 Wolf Pups Born Into Oregon’s Indigo Pack This Year . News | OPB

By Eli Francovich

Kill fewer wolves.

That was the message Gov. Jay Inslee sent to Washington’s wildlife management agency in a letter, Monday.

“We must find new methods to better support co-existence between Washington’s livestock industry and gray wolves in our state,” Inslee said in the letter. “The status quo of annual lethal removal is simply unacceptable.”

Inslee acknowledges that in most cases Washington’s wolves are existing peacefully with livestock and people. According to agency statistics 90% of Washington’s wolves aren’t causing problems. He also praised the state’s Wolf Advisory Group, which has members representing cattle, conservation and business interests.

However, in northeast Washington it’s been a summer of conflict with wolves killing and injuring cattle, prompting the state and, in some case, ranchers to kill wolves, in turn prompting environmental groups to sue the state.

In response to the state-ordered killings, Inslee urged a reexamination of policy and procedure in parts of northeast Washington where WDFW has repeatedly killed wolves charged with attacking cattle.

“For reasons that are not entirely clear, numerous conflicts with livestock producers have occurred in a handful of federal grazing allotments,” the letter states.

via Inslee asks Washington wildlife agency to kill fewer wolves, pursue new management methods | The Spokesman-Review

State officials have canceled a series of public meetings about possible changes to the state’s wolf-management policy, citing fear of violence.

The Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife had planned 14 public meetings from Spokane to Montesano to kick off a yearslong process of creating a new wolf-management policy, once wolves are no longer protected under the state and federal endangered species acts.

Instead, the department is hosting online webinars. The dates have not yet been announced.

via Fearing violence, officials cancel public meetings on managing Washington wolf packs | The Seattle Times