• Dams, Beavers, and Wolves, Oh My!

    Former Sightline staffer and long-time volunteer John Abbotts contributed this post. As we’ve noted before, scientists say that climate change could create quite a water supply problem east of the Cascades.  Warmer winters are already melting mountain snows earlier in the spring, leaving streams and rivers short on water in mid-summer—just when the salmon, farms, and homes really need it.  And many scientists expect this problem to get worse as...
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  • Oregon's Wolves on YouTube

    In early 2008, state wildlife officials confirmed the presence of a younger female wolf in northeastern Oregon near the Eagle Cap Wilderness. A radio-tracking collar she’d been wearing since 2006 confirmed that she had migrated from a pack near Boise, Idaho. (She’s pictured in the photo above—an aerial shot taken by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. You can see a video of her here.) Apparently, she’s been doing...
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  • Returning Wolves to the Rainforest

    The Sunday Seattle Times had an excellent article on how wolves might restore the ecosystems of Olympic National Park.  The basic idea is this: …elk today don’t behave like they did when wolf packs were on the prowl. Gone is the “ecology of fear” that kept browsers on the move, wary of narrow river bottoms and thick brush… the big herbivores feel complacent enough to hang out in the valleys...
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  • Bringing Wolves Back to Washington

    Now that the Olympic Peninsula is teeming with vampires, it hardly seems unreasonable to reintroduce wolves back to the region. I guess I’m not the only one who feels that way. The Peninsula Daily News reports that a public meeting last year was packed with wolf supporters: SEQUIM – A crowd of North Olympic Peninsula residents told state Department of Fish and Wildlife officials that gray wolves belong in Washington state – maybe...
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  • The Wolves of Olympic National Park

    Update 10/20: Crosscut has a version of this post. What happened to the Olympic Peninsula after its wolves were hunted to extinction in the 1920s? There’s a fascinating new study (pdf) out on this question—the first of its kind as far as I know. As it turns out, eliminating this one keystone species sent shockwaves through the whole ecosystem. Some of the effects were felt almost immediately after wolves were extirpated and...
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  • Oregon's Wolves Are Back

    Hot on the heels of the news that Washington is once again home to wolves, the Oregonian today reports that biologists have confirmed wolf packs in Oregon. …Oregon’s first reproducing pack of wild wolves since the predators were exterminated from the state decades ago. State biologist Russ Morgan and another biologist heard the howls of at least two adult wolves and two pups in the predawn hours Friday in northern Union...
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  • Washington's Wolves Are Back

    Last week, we got proof-positive that wild wolves are back in Washington. An animal that was struck and killed on a road in northeast Washington was genetically confirmed to be a wolf, not a wolf-dog hybrid. A good article in the Spokane Spokesman-Review provides some context: Numerous reports of wolves seen or photographed in remote parts of northeast Washington in recent years suggest the animals are dispersing from Idaho, Montana...
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  • Wolves Hit the Oregon Trail

    About a year ago, biologists officially ID’ed a wolf hanging around in Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains. It was a pioneer of sorts, striking out west in search of open territory away from the denser populations of the east. (In this case, the wolf probably traveled from central Idaho.) Today comes news that Oregon may now have its first family of wild wolves since they were killed off in the early 20th century: For the first time, state fish and wildlife...
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  • A Third Way for Wolves

    Fascinating article in the Boise Weekly. We’re so accustomed to conflict and outrage grabbing the headlines that it’s surprising to hear about the day to day cooperation between Idaho’s ranchers and conservationists—they’re working together to protect both wild wolves and livestock. If you need a breather from the over-heated election cycle, this one’s worth a read.
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  • Do Nothing For Wolves

    New wolf census numbers from US Fish and Wildlife show another year of astonishing growth—a 20 percent increase. The population now stands at 1,229 in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. And pioneer wolves are now re-claiming their territories in Washington, Oregon, and Utah. The Rocky Mountain wolf re-introduction program is surely one of the most encouraging success stories in the history of US conservation. The best thing we can do for...
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