by Bethany Cotton, Conservation Director for Cascadia Wildlands
Originally published in The Register-Guard, August 28, 2022.
As the Western U.S. again endures record-breaking summer heat and enters our third decade of drought, it’s time for us to adopt bold, regionwide solutions that will support climate-resilient communities, safeguard drinking water sources, reduce wildfire risk, protect remaining mature and old-growth forests and enhance wildlife habitat.
August 5, 2022 — Five conservation groups filed a lawsuit today asking a state court to enforce Gov. Jay Inslee’s order directing state wildlife officials to enact wolf management rules. The rules should have outlined what steps must be taken before wolves can be killed for conflict with livestock.
April 20, 2022 — Conservationists are concerned about the plateau of Oregon’s wolf population in 2021, largely resulting from poaching and agency killings. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) annual wolf population report, released late yesterday, shows Oregon’s wolf population grew by the lowest percentage (just over one percent) since wolves naturally returned to the state. The 2021 minimum population of 175 wolves increased by just two animals from the 2020 minimum count of 173.
February 23, 2022 — Conservation and animal-protection groups announced a combined $22,500 reward today for information leading to a conviction in the killing of a collared wolf outside the town of Cove in Northeast Oregon.
February 10, 2022 — Today, a federal court restored Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf after they were eliminated by the Trump administration in 2020. The ruling orders the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to resume recovery efforts for the imperiled species. Today’s decision redesignates the gray wolf as a species threatened with extinction in the lower 48 states with the exception of the Northern Rockies population (map), for which wolf protections were removed by Congress in 2011.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife released its official 2017 wolf count this past Friday. You can find the report in full here, but fourteen wolves were killed by … Continue reading Official 2017 Washington Wolf Count Released
For immediate release January 16, 2018 Contact: Josh Laughlin, Cascadia Wildlands, 541-844-8182 The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced today that two gray wolves have been documented on … Continue reading Press release: Gray wolves documented on Oregon’s Mt. Hood
For Immediate Release, December 11, 2017 Contact: Nick Cady, (314) 482-3746, nick@cascwild.org Noah Greenwald, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org Reward Boosted to $20,000 in Search for Killer of Two … Continue reading Reward Boosted to $20,000 in Search for Killer of Two Washington Wolves
For Immediate Release November 8, 2017 Contact: Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746, nick@cascwild.org Amaroq Weiss, Center for Biological Diversity, (707) 779-9613, aweiss@biologicaldiversity.org Wally Sykes, Northeast Oregon Ecosystems, (541) 263-2125, … Continue reading Press Release: Conservation Groups Boost Reward to $16,750 for Oregon Wolf-killer Amid Poaching Surge
Late last month, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that it would shoot up to four wolves in the Harl Butte pack. Again. In August, following conflicts between wolves and livestock in the same area, the Department killed another four wolves from the same pack.
