Collared: Politics and Personalities in Oregon's Wolf Country

5. Early Arrivals

41 Early Arrivals It is the middle of July in a long, hot summer. The calendar says 2008. It has been three years since the wolf plan was signed, and the state has confirmed the presence of only one live wolf. B-300, a radio-collared female from an Idaho pack, was captured on video in January 2008 as she traveled in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest near the Eagle Cap Wilderness outside Joseph, Oregon. Other wolves had been reported at various locations in the state, but without substantive evidence, the sightings were labeled as either “possible”or“hearsay”depending on who was giving the account. In addition, a wolf carcass was found in Union County in May 2007. The animal was badly decomposed, but forensic analysis established the wolf was a female related to the Idaho population and had been killed by a gunshot wound. The lack of confirmed wolves in the state is gnawing at Russ Morgan, who has been on the job as Oregon’s wolf coordinator for almost two years. He knows there are wolves out here, but like so many other people who believe there are wolves in their neighborhood, he doesn’t have any proof. It’s not for lack of trying. For the last eight months since observing possible wolf sign during elk hunting season, Morgan has regularly driven deep into a forested area in northern Union County, cupped his hands to his mouth, and let out long, loud AAWWOOOOoooos. 42 Early Arrivals His howls are part of a bona fide scientific survey technique wildlife managers use to identify the presence of wolves in areas too large to survey visually. Territorial wolf packs and individual wolves will often respond and move toward the human howlers across distances of several miles. However, it’s not a perfect tool. Wolves have been known to ignore or not respond to the howls of humans and other wolves. In addition, when a response is elicited it provides only general information about whether or not a wolf, or wolves, are present. Deducing more specific information about the exact size of the population and the sex and age of wolves within it can be a stretch. Still, any response is better than no response, and howling surveys offer a practical, low-cost option for trying to determine whether wolves are in an area. That potential for success, no matter how slim, is why Morgan’s voice is now hoarse enough to sand paint, and why he has spent the last two days eating peanut butter sandwiches and sleeping in the dirt next to the truck. Exhausted and staring blankly out the windshield, with sweat dripping from his forehead and mosquitoes buzzing around his ears, Morgan decides that one more night will have to be enough. Driving down the washboarded fire road at fifteen miles per hour, Morgan canfeeleverybumpandjoltinhiskidneys.Drysummerdustcomesinthrough the vents in the truck’s dash and coats the interior with the same fine brown film covering the undergrowth and Douglas-fir trees at the roadside. Every ten minutes or so, Morgan stops, rolls down his window, and howls. He keeps it up for one hour, two hours, four. At about 1:00 a.m he pulls the truck to the shoulder, switches off the engine and, being too tired to even pull out his sleeping bag, lets his head loll back against the seat. He sleeps for almost two hours propped in the driver’s seat. Waking at roughly 3:00 a.m., he decides it couldn’t hurt to howl into the darkness. When a responding howl comes immediately and from less than twenty-five yards away, Morgan almost falls out of the cab. Before the howl ends it is joined by another, deeper howl that in turn is punctuated by higher-pitched yips—the sound of pups. “They were right there probably the whole time I had been sleeping,“ said Morgan. “A whole family.” Though he couldn’t see the wolves, their voices Early Arrivals 43 provided proof that not only one wolf but a whole group, complete with multiple adults and pups, was in Oregon.The ensemble of howls was the first evidence of wolf reproduction occurring in the state in more than sixty years. Suddenly Morgan was no longer tired. He spent the next hour listening to the wolves as they retreated back into the forest. In the morning, making his way...