A wolverine was photographed by a trail camera on April 2, 2011 after being attracted to a camera site baited with a road-killed deer. Audrey Magoun photo.
They look like a couple of teenaged delinquents caught on security cameras.
But these new photos from ODFW are adding to a small pile of evidence that wolverines are back in Oregon and might be here to stay.
A wolverine in Yellowstone National Park. Photo from National Park Service.
A researcher working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says she’s found the first ever confirmed wolverine tracks in Wallowa County.
Dr. Audrey Magoun found the tracks almost a week ago while hiking through the snow in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. She was able to follow them for about a mile. Judging by their size, she thinks they were left by a male.
This is not just the first set of tracks for Wallowa County, but one of the few signs of wolverines in Oregon in more than 75 years.
6:40 p.m. update:
Environmental groups are throwing a victory party Thursday evening at Bark’s offices on SE Grand. Click here for details.
Earlier:
The coalition working to stop the Palomar natural gas pipeline is thrilled over today’s news, first reported right here on Natural Oregon.
The hotly contested Palomar Natural Gas Pipeline is dead.
Today, the Palomar Gas Transmission company filed papers with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to withdraw the project. But at the same time, Palomar says it’s exploring options for a new pipeline in the future.
How serious are they about developing a new pipeline? How long will it take? Big questions with no easy answers. At least not today.
One of the wolves of the Imnaha pack in Wallowa County has died.
ODFW says it found the year old female yesterday – thanks to the signal from her radio collar. The collar sends out a special alert when it doesn’t move for four hours or more, and that’s when the agency suspected something might be wrong.
Waking up from my winter hibernation to pass along this amazing video from ODFW. I have no idea why other media haven’t picked up on it.
Shot on December 30, it gives us a close up look at three members of the Imnaha wolf pack in Northeast Oregon. That includes the alpha female and a pair of one year old pups. By now, the pups are full grown.
ODFW says it counted 16 pack members, bigger than previously believed. The agency thinks the pack produced six pups last year instead of four.
Can you believe someone would stoop this low for a few bucks?
A group of thieves hacked their way through a forest on the Olympic Peninsula, stripping the branches off hundreds of young white pines. Washington DNR says they stole about 20,000 pounds of pine boughs, probably to sell them to holiday garland and wreath makers. At 25 cents per pound, the boughs are worth about $5,000. Most of the trees will probably die.
You can read the rest of the story on DNR’s Ear To The Ground Blog:
Thieves take 20,000 pounds of pine boughs; destroy hundreds of trees on state trust land.
