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GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Wolves about to make a comeback in Oregon are being portrayed as wildlife "terrorists" or potential saviors of a troubled ecosystem as the state Fish and Wildlife Commission considers how their migration from Idaho will affect other animals, ranchers and rural communities. The commission was scheduled to decide today whether to accept a petition from the Oregon Cattlemen's Association to drop the gray wolf from the state endangered species list, and another petition from environmental groups to develop a recovery plan welcoming newcomers to Oregon. Three confirmed migrations in recent years prompted the commission to consider the future of the wolf in Oregon. One wolf was shot, one was hit by a car and one was captured and sent back to Idaho. Wolves were eliminated in Oregon more than 50 years ago, wiped out to keep cattle safe, and Joseph rancher Mack Birkmaier opposes efforts by conservationists to help them return. "In the wildlife community here, these people are willing to dump this terrorist of the animal kingdom right in our laps," said Birkmaier, a former president of the cattlemen's group. Birkmaier sees the wolf as a Trojan horse for environmentalists to push ranchers off the public range by reintroducing a predator that will make it uneconomical to ranch. "You barely can make a living in this business anyway," Birkmaier said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has overseen reintroductions of gray wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, expects the predator to be taken off the federal endangered species list in the next couple of years, leaving individual states to handle the problem. Environmentalists who have petitioned for a recovery plan feel the return of wolves is inevitable, and it is best to be prepared. "The ranching community could be the guys in the white hats on this issue if they wanted to be," said Ric Bailey of the Hells Canyon Preservation Council. "With wolves, the habitat considerations under the Endangered Species Act are far, far less threatening to livestock interests than say sharptailed grouse or sage grouse," Bailey said. "For the ranching community to suggest that the ecological holocaust that occurred with the extinction of wolves should not be amended, that we shouldn' correct our mistakes, damages their own credibility. Haven't they progressed to the point they can live with native wildlife?" Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena, Mont., said wolves have had little effect on livestock overall, though they can cause serious damage to the herds of an individual rancher. Since 1987, the agency has confirmed wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho have killed 188 cattle, 494 sheep and 43 dogs. Before wolves came to Yellowstone National Park, area ranchers lost 8,340 cattle and 12,993 sheep to a variety of causes, including lightning, noxious weeds and difficult births, Bangs said. In response, the service has killed 103 wolves and moved wolves 117 times to keep them away from humans and livestock. The effect on big game, such as deer and elk, has been minimal as well, Bangs said. "Right now, if we have a wolf that disburses in Oregon and it isn't doing anything wrong, we will not spend a lot of time or effort trying to chase it down," Bangs said. "If it attacks livestock, we'll probably just kill it." Since wolves were put back in Yellowstone, they have cut down the coyote population, Bangs said.
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