Gray Wolves Expand into Western Oregon

New photographic evidence shows that Oregon’s wolf population is moving further westward.   

On January 3, game cameras set up by Eric Anderson of Jacksonville captured the likeness of a gray wolf on federal land near Lower Table Rock.  

“He wandered right in front of it, and the light was right,” Anderson told the Mail Tribune. 

Thanks to the unusual clarity of the images, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Biologist Sam Dodenhoff was able to identify the species easily, saying that the tail position, ears and canine teeth “screams wolf.”  

This marks the first confirmed gray wolf west of Highway 62. While there have been potential sightings as far west as Curry County, none have been backed up by photographic evidence.  

ODFW’s carnivore coordinator Derek Broman told Willamette Week that “more wolves and new locations is now a common occurrence for Oregon as the population has been growing for over a decade.”  

As such, the significance of this latest sighting won’t become clear until ODFW has completed their annual wolf count. 

“Bottom line, we continue to see more wolf sign in the Cascades and this is especially positive considering wolves are a federally-listed species in western Oregon,” Broman said. “The one new observation likely isn’t sufficient to evaluate the success of the Wolf Plan, but a growing population is an expectation of the Plan.”