This trail camera photo shows an adult wolf with five pups photographed on July 4, 2022 at the Upper Deschutes Wildlife Management Unit in Klamath County. [ODFW photo]
An adult male wolf captured southeast of Bend in February 2021 and fitted with a GPS radio collar was found in the Keno area east of Ashland.
As a result, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has designated a new Known Wolf Activity Area, or AKWA, in the Klamath County Keno Management Unit. The wolf is known as OR103.
ODFW officials said OR103 originally dispersed to Northern California and resided there until returning to Oregon in July. According to the agency, “Recent localized movement indicates the wolf now resides in Klamath County.”
If the wolf leaves the area, the AKWA will change.
Other wolves are known to frequent Klamath and Jackson counties, particularly members of the Rogue Pack that moves between Fort Klamath in Klamath County and the Prospect region of Jackson County. The Rogue Pack has been blamed for the deaths of 10 cattle in the Fort Klamath area in July and one so far this month.
Also in July, ODFW designated another new AKWA in Upper Deschutes Wildlife Management that includes parts of Klamath and Deschutes counties. In issuing the July 20 designation, agency spokespeople said they have been monitoring reports of a single wolf in the area since August 2021, and one wolf was spotted during the winter count . Tracks of four wolves were found in the area earlier this year.
Biologists said a trail camera captured photos on July 4 of an adult wolf with five cubs, confirming that a new pack of wolves resides in the area.
According to the ODFW, AKWAs are created “where and when wolves have become established, that is, an area is used repeatedly over time by the same wolves and not simply by dispersal of wolves moving through the area. The designation also helps alert livestock producers to the presence of the wolf. Livestock producers in an AKWA are encouraged to consider non-lethal measures to reduce any potential conflict with wolves.”
A pack is defined as at least four wolves traveling together in winter and usually includes at least two adult wolves and offspring.
Contact freelance writer Lee Juillerat at 337lee337@charter.net or 541-880-4139.
