In the Tracks of Wolf OR-7

In the Tracks of Wolf OR-7 An expedition into the life of Oregon’s famous wandering wolf by

The Wild Peace Alliance Expedition Team

Text & Photographs Š to their original creators, 2013, 2014.

Cover photography by Jay Simpson.

All statements and opinions herein are those of the individual authors alone.

! http://or7expedition.org

! http://wild-peace.org A collaborative platform of independent conservationists and organizations working to transform conflict where it occurs with wild species and in wild places.

Contact info@readingnature.com to schedule public, private or corporate speaking events, request educational materials, or for any other inquiries. 

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Table of Contents Preface .....................................................................................v Welcome to Wallowa County ..............................................................................................v A New Chapter for Wolves in Oregon ................................................................................x Wolf OR-7 .........................................................................................................................xi The Inspiration ................................................................................................................xiv A Pre-Departure News Update .........................................................................................xv Parting Words From Northwest Outward Bound ...........................................................xvii

Field Journal .......................................................................xviii Adventure Begins in the Eagle Cap Wilderness .............................................................xviii Wolf Tracks! Team crisscrosses paths with a wolf. ..............................................................5 I Walked Into a Land ..........................................................................................................8 Panorama: Snow-capped Wallowa Mountains ...................................................................9 Whose, but the Wolf ? .......................................................................................................10 Misadventure: The Wrong Way to Durkee ......................................................................11 Afternoon Cycle of 70+ Miles through the Burnt River Canyon and Beyond ................18 It All Began With a Collar ................................................................................................22 Night Sky Westward from Murray Creek Lookout Tower ...............................................24 Adventure Cycling Day from Brothers Stage Post to Paulina Crater ...............................25 ‘Brother’, said the Wolf .....................................................................................................27 Human’s aren’t the only ones using this sign to communicate .........................................28 David de Rothschild Hikes and Bikes With Expedition Team .........................................29 Mountain Bluebirds ..........................................................................................................31 People Encounters: ...........................................................................................................32 Wolf Pups! ........................................................................................................................47 Like Starts Scattered .........................................................................................................48 Mosquito Madness on the Pacific Crest Trail ...................................................................49

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Of Mosquitos and Men ....................................................................................................50 Wolf Country ....................................................................................................................52 Gravel ................................................................................................................................54 Standing on Lone Wolf Mountain ...................................................................................55 Rollercoaster of Smells .....................................................................................................58 Lassen County and the Sojourns of Wolf OR-7 ..............................................................59 Meeting the Pacific Wolf Coalition ..................................................................................61 Bordering Home ...............................................................................................................63 Cascade-Siskiyou Biodiversity Hotspot .............................................................................65 Mission Accomplished! .....................................................................................................66

Reflections .............................................................................67 To Walk in the Wake of a Wolf .........................................................................................67 Video Time Lapse of 1,200 Miles in the Tracks of a Wolf ..............................................69 Wolf OR-7’s Journey in Photos From the Forest Floor ....................................................70 Common Ground .............................................................................................................72 Stereotyped .......................................................................................................................74 Tracking as a Tool for Wild Peace ....................................................................................75 Reflections from the Wild Peace alliance’s Wolf OR-7 Expedition ..................................78 Reflection: Wolves in the 21st Century .............................................................................82 Expedition Report ............................................................................................................88

Wolf Stories ...........................................................................91 The Death of Stories ........................................................................................................91 The Creation of North America and the Wolf .................................................................93 The Wolf ’s Eyelashes ........................................................................................................96 Tsarevich Ivan and Grey Wolf ..........................................................................................99 St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio ...............................................................................106

Thank You Kickstarter Backers & Supporters ....................108

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The towns of Joseph and Enterprise, Oregon, seen from the Wallowa Lake moraine. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Preface Welcome to Wallowa County — Jay Simpson For many stories on the return of the gray wolf (Canis lupis) to Oregon, Wallowa County is “ground zero” for the physical, social, and legal conflicts surrounding wolves. Even before 2008, when the first resident wolf was recorded in Wallowa County, talks of the protections for wolves and the strategies to coexist with them were contentious. Those who spoke up for living with wolves were seen as standing against their neighbors who depend on their livestocks’ survival for their own. The middle-ground was obscured, many community members preferred silence.

But years have passed, lessons have been learned, and strategies subsequently readjusted. The citizens of Wallowa County have continuously adapted to wolves as well as the other economic, political, and social changes their community has encountered. Living with wolves may not be the most comfortable topic of discussion, but for many it is now a tired argument, much more complicated than being “for” or “against” wolves.

Now that wolves in Oregon appear to be expanding their geographic range (and often continuing to move westward) and the population of wolves across the state is growing, heated conversations

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about wolves may be rekindled. Western Oregon is now home to its first wolf pack since 1947 and no one can predict what challenges are yet to be faced in Oregon’s effort to coexist with wolves. With Wolf OR-7 and his mate's lengthy dispersal, it's not impossible to imagine wolves living in the Coast Range in the not so distant future. What questions and predator deterrent strategies could communities be asking and learning about now, to make the arrival of the wolf less challenging?

Wallowa County was home to the first wolf known to reside in Oregon since 1947. It was also where Wolf OR-7 was born, grew into a juvenile, and left in 2011 in search of new territory and a mate. Here is where his natal pack, the Imnaha Pack, still roams the Imnaha watershed. Here is where many important points of debate were tested and here is where many lessons about living near wolves continue to be learned.

If there is to be any story about the potential for coexistence with wolves in Oregon, here is the soil where you will find its roots.

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Map created by Jay Simpson. Data from: ODFW, Wikipedia, and Google.

View Interactive Map at http://or7expedition.org/wallowa-county

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The Lay of the land After reading about the wolves, people, and events of Wallowa County for over a year, I yearned to see it for myself. I wanted to look out over the towns, fields, and mountains, to see it all at once for my very own eyes. A local guide and naturalist, Joe Whittle, knew just the spot—a hillside trail rising above Lake Wallowa. From our vantage point, I asked him to share stories of life in “The County” and the history tied to the land. I imagined his stories coming alive to play out over the towns of Joseph and Enterprise, Wallowa Lake, and the Zumwalt Prairie. I listened as Joe explained the workings of the landscape — how the mountains, elk, prairie, wolves, ranches, and town were all connected. Connections made through geology, through stories from the Nez Perce tribe, through the food chain and natural patterns of life. Over the two hours we spent talking, the research, maps, articles, and news stories I’d read over the last year slowly seeded into the land, brought to new life.

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The Zumwalt Prairie in spring bloom. Photo: David Moskowitz.

The Zumwalt Prairie Looking north and east from town, the gentle and unassuming appearance of the Zumwalt Prairie understates its importance to the region. In many ways, it is the origin of all life within the region. Starting small, the mixed grasses team with small mammals like ground squirrels and gophers. Hunting these small mammals from above are various species of hawks and eagles, some of which depend on the Zumwalt during their migration to the southern tip of South

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America. Deer and elk move over the prairie during the cold months and their predators, cougars, coyotes, black bear, and wolves, follow them.

Fortunately, this vital habitat for wildlife and collection of over 100 native plant species has remained largely intact. Many other American prairies were converted to farm fields as Europeans settled America, but the Zumwalt was spared largely because of the difficulty of farming crops like wheat with the Zumwalt’s high elevation and short growing season.

Alternatively, the Zumwalt has been used for cattle ranching for more than a century. Cattle runs across the land have mirrored the movements of historic grazing populations of animals and are now thought to have played a vital role in maintaining the prairie’s natural health.

Before being settled by ranchers, the prairie was the home to the Nez Perce tribe, who cared for the land and used it for hunting and gathering. It was vital to their survival in the region, and with its responsible care, provided enough food and resources to sustain a notably large local population when they were first contacted by Lewis and Clark in 1805.

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A young mother elk grazes in summer grasses. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Elk of the Wallowas Elk are very influential in the behavior of wolves as the wolf ’s primary prey species.

Historically abundant in the entire region, elk were nearly completely hunted out of Oregon by the late 1800s. Their presence in the region today is due to a complete ban on hunting elk by 1910 and a re-introduction of many elk to Oregon in the decades that followed. Later, elk hunts

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were legalized as populations grew to larger numbers and in response to public complaints that elk were placing a burden on the prairie grasses grazed by cattle.

Every year elk herds move between mountainous forests and lower grasslands in a pattern following seasonal changes. As winter approaches, elk descend to open grasslands to avoid heavy snows and to gain weight by eating the last growth of summer grasses. In the spring, elk move to higher elevations, typically near the edge of snow thaw and the first regrowth of spring grasses.

The movements of the local elk between mountains and grasslands provides an essential insight into the shape of the Imnaha wolf pack’s territory and their movements in Wallowa County.

Where the elk roam, the Imnaha pack follows. Looking at the Imnaha pack’s area of known activity, it spans parts of the Zumwalt Prairie and the Wallowa Mountains. This does not suggest they are always roaming this entire area, but represents the diversity of the land required over the span of a year.

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Sharing As the earlier map illustrates, there are many overlapping areas of use; most significantly seen where the grazing areas of the Zumwalt Prairie overlap with the territory of the Imnaha Pack and the ranches and homes of the Joseph & Enterprise communities.

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While the reaction towards the return of wolves to Oregon can be a very emotional, one source of contention with wolves in Wallowa County is very physical: it is about shared resources. More than just sharing soil underfoot, it is sharing similar places in the local food chain.

And it is about sharing a future.

A New Chapter for Wolves in Oregon By retracing the route of Wolf OR-7’s dispersal, our expedition comes on the heels of wolves moving west. They are entering areas that have grown unaccustomed to wolves over the last 50 years, with many changes since the days when wolves last roamed. Moving west across modern Oregon also means traveling to areas with varying politics, industries, communities, and habitats than in Northeastern Oregon.

What challenges do wolves face in the 21st century? What tools and information can be shared among local communities to adapt to living in modern wolf county? What strategies for coexisting with wolves ensure a sustainable future for both humans and wolves?

We will conduct interviews with residents, experts, and other people we meet along our expedition following the dispersal route of Wolf OR-7 and reflect on our journey along the way.

As we film the expedition documentary, we will use the website (and this ebook) as a place to share some of our notes and thoughts. Follow alongside our curiosity to become familiar with the land, the wildlife and people sharing it, and the stories that emerge from our journey in the footsteps of a wolf.

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Trail camera capture of the first image of Wolf OR-7. Photo: Allen Daniels.

Wolf OR-7 Our Expedition Route follows the route of a wolf known as OR-7, a title given to him on a cold February day in 2011.

Flying low in a helicopter, an Oregon state biologist used coordinates from a GPS collar already active within the Imnaha pack to locate two young wolves. They found them in the Northeast areas of Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains and then expertly tranquilized them from the air. The first wolf collared was male and weighed 90 pounds. He was fitted with a GPS radio collar with the designation OR-7, as the seventh collared wolf in Oregon.

He was born in the spring of 2009 within a litter of six of the Imnaha pack, named after a river within their territory. His mother and father both had radio collars, B-300 and OR-4 respectively, under close-watch by wildlife managers as some of the first wolves entering Oregon from Idaho.

In fall of 2011, OR-7 left his pack to search for his own territory and a mate, behavior typical of young wolves and known as a “dispersal.” OR-7′s route meandered and circled through many open areas before he headed westward towards California and international fame.

As OR-7 made his way across Oregon, a conservation group Oregon Wild worked to attract attention to his story for increased awareness around wolves in Oregon. They launched a naming contest for children to name the wolf, revealing the winning entry ‘Journey’ the following January.

In total, there were over 250 submissions from all over the world.

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Wolf OR-7 Timeline * Spring 2009 Wolf OR-7 was born.

February 2011 Wolf OR-7 was collared and given designation of Wolf OR-7.

September – Early November 2011 OR-7 leaves the Imnaha pack (their territory is in the Wallawa Mountains near Joseph, OR) and moves southwest, eventually to the Klamath County area.

November – Mid December 2011 OR-7 wanders within the Klamath and Douglas Counties area.

December 28, 2011 OR-7 crosses the state border into California, entering northeast of the town of Dorris, and becomes the first documented, wild wolf in California since 1924.

2012 OR-7 wanders around Northeast California, re-entering Oregon on occasion in March.

April 20, 2013 OR-7 re-enters and resides in Oregon.

May – Dec 2013 OR-7 resides in the area west of Klamath Falls, Oregon, only visiting California during two brief visits.

May 14, 2014 ODFW announces Wolf OR-7 has been joined by a mate in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

June 4, 2014 ODFW releases photos and confirms at least two wolf pups born to OR-7 and mate.

2014 OR-7 remains in Southern Oregon. His location is undisclosed, protected by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Endangered Species Act.

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OR-7′s GPS radio collar’s batteries are expected to expire during the cold winter months. Fish and Wildlife plan to recollar OR-7 or collar his mate during late fall or winter. * Information from Oregon and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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Wolf OR-7 Expedition Approximate Route Overview

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The Inspiration — Rachael Pecore-Valdez To this day I wonder how I happened to stumble upon the harebrained idea of retracing the dispersal route of a wolf. Before the Wolf OR-7 Expedition, I knew little about wolves.

With a background in conservation research, restoration and education, I have long been interested in the interface between civilization and wilderness, an interface that could also be described in many places as a war zone. The news that scientists believe we have entered a 6th mass extinction of species worldwide, not new to planet earth but new to humans, haunts me with a single question, “What can I do?”

When an old college friend from South Africa, named Galeo, sent me a facebook post about his long walk to raise awareness for the endangered rhino, I thought that’s what I want to do.

I was in-between jobs (still am), and was planning a long wilderness trek to test my outdoor skills anyway. Why not combine my passions, go for a trek and learn about an endangered species in my own state? There are about 50 endangered or threatened species in Oregon, many of which I’d never heard of including the Short-tailed albatross, Oregon spotted frog and the Rough popcornflower.

One day in mid-September, I was out for a walk in Berlin, Germany where I was living at the time, and remembered a former co-worker telling me about Wolf OR-7. I had looked up Wolf OR-7 just once, but remembered enough to wonder what it would be like to cross the entire state through the lens of a wolf. I mentioned the idea to my husband Jaimes, a more practical person than I, and to my surprise he was supportive.

I contacted my friend Galeo in South Africa for advice, and coincidentally he was forming an idea he called the Wild Peace Alliance, a collaborative platform of individuals and organizations working to transform human-wildlife conflict. He told me that if I retraced Wolf OR-7’s route he would come, and I replied that if he came, I would do it. Through the power of a “yes” from both Jaimes and Galeo, the expedition took root.

The recent release of the Living Planet Report 2014, signals that in the last 40 years alone we have lost 52% of the wildlife on this planet. The question, “what can I do?” seems no less relevant, but through learning about the history of wolves in the Northwest I’m also confident that humans can change. Are we willing to do for other species what we have done for the grey wolf, grey whale and bald eagle?

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A Pre-Departure News Update National Geographic's Explorer’s Journal: Wolf OR-7 Expedition Launches With News That Famous Lone Wolf Is Joined by Mate — Jay Simpson We couldn’t have more exciting news at the launch of our expedition—the famous wandering lone wolf is alone no more—as we begin our journey across Oregon and Northern California. It provides a whole new list of questions to carry with us as we begin our journey by trekking into the Eagle Cap Wilderness of the Wallowa Mountains.

“It’s an exciting turn of events in the story of Wolf OR-7, and underlines the question of what ecological and social changes can we expect, if any, with the westward return of wolves,” comments David Moskowitz, wildlife specialist and expedition team member.

The presence of the female wolf that joined Wolf OR-7 was confirmed using wildlife tracking cameras placed in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest by USFWS and ODFW. In combination with analysis of GPS movements recorded by Wolf OR-7′s GPS radio collar, it appears the two wolves have denned, and may have pups.

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Remote camera photo of a wolf using the same area as OR7. This is the first evidence that OR7 has found another wolf in the Oregon Cascades. Photo: USFWS. This breaking news update came as our expedition team arrived at base camp outside Bend, Oregon and readied to launch. We could hardly finish reading the news aloud before quickly

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asking our own questions. Below are some of our questions; send us your questions to our website.

Where did the female wolf come from?

At the moment, there is no public information to answer this question. It is likely that she comes from a wolf pack from Oregon, Idaho or Washington. We’ll learn her original pack and birth location once government biologists are able to sample her DNA from scat samples or during the routine documentation of newly collared wolves.

How did they find each other?

This is truly hard to imagine, and something our expedition team will try to fathom as we follow in Wolf OR-7′s footsteps for the next month. As our team member and wildlife specialist David Moskowitz put it, “it’s like two needles finding each other inside a haystack.” Oregon is a big landscape, and it is remarkable that they were able to locate each other.

One way the wolves could have found each other was scent marking, which is typically used to mark their territory in a landscape. They’ll use urine, feces, and scratching the ground to advertise their scent, and the markers can last for many weeks. Another behavior for wolves to find each other is by howling, which can be heard across an area up to 50 square miles.

If there are pups, what would they be doing right now?

If there are pups, which there very well could be, they would have been born in late April, making them just under a month old. Similarly to month-old house puppies, the wolves would be nursing with their mother and staying close to the den, playing together.

Is this evidence of Cascade mountains acting as a functional wildlife corridor?

Well, for two wolves to make it to southwestern Oregon within three years of each other, it at least shows that Wolf OR-7′s original dispersal may not have been an anomaly. As an expedition team, we will be observing and documenting indicators of landscape permeability, it’s ability to provide passage for animals. The easier animals experience traveling across a landscape, the more likely the land is able to sustain present levels of biodiversity. There are many organizations working towards improving the connections and permeability of habitats across the United States, including the Wildlands Network and Oregon Wild.

Where may there be other wolves that we don’t know about?

This is an impossible question to answer, hence it is a great question and a sign that that we are following a steep learning curve to understanding wolves’ returning to habitat they haven’t seen in decades.

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Parting Words From Northwest Outward Bound “The truth is that in one important sense, adventure, however much it may be concerned with physical conflict and danger, is really of the mind.

What is an adventure to some, may be, to others of more prosaic nature, an ordeal, or an imposition, or a nuisance, or a calamity, or even simply a bore. For just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, adventure is in the mind and spirit of the adventurer. It is not risks and desperate situations that make adventure, so much as adventurousness.

It makes more sense, therefore, to consider the spirit of adventure, rather than adventure. What is so valuable and formative in an adventure is the commitment it invariably calls for in one way or another. There is always, somewhere, a point of girding up one’s loins, taking a deep breath, and making a step into the unknown involving a giving of oneself, a spending of oneself.”

— Tom Price, Warden, Eskdale Outward Bound School.

Today we left our base camp at Northwest Outward Bound School and headed for the mountains of Wallowa County. In true Outward Bound fashion, we were given a send off ceremony for a moment of shared reflection in the face of the adventure ahead of us. Above was the quote recited for our departure.

We send our deepest thanks to those at Northwest Outward Bound for their great packing kitchen, beautiful camp, inspiring staff, and awesome support!

— Facebook Update 5/16/2014

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The first steps out into the snow. Photo: Peter Frick-Wright.

Field Journal Adventure Begins in the Eagle Cap Wilderness — Dave Moskowitz “The Expedition Team started the 1,200 mile journey this morning, hiking 3 days into the Wallowa Mountains and Eagle Cap Wilderness. Cold rain, bear tracks, and snow – a true Oregon welcome for the adventure ahead.”

— Facebook Update 5/18/2014 The entire week we prepped final details for the expedition, blue skies greeted us each morning.

Of course, as the day of our departure approached, the weather forecast took a turn for the worst. In a wet spring snow squall, our team set out into the Eagle Cap wilderness to begin the hundreds of miles of hiking and biking ahead of us. We followed the tracks of a herd of elk as PAGE !xviii

we dropped into the upper reaches of the Imnaha River, after which OR-7’s natal pack takes its name. With access still limited due to snow-covered trails and roads, we had the entire valley to ourselves as far as humans go. Besides the weather, deep snow and high water were a couple of the challenges we faced.

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Rachael, a few hours into the expedition as the sleet and mixed participation changed to snow. Photo: David Moskowitz.

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Jay and a Grand Larch tree in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Photo: David Moskowtiz.

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A heard of elk in evening light in the Upper Imnaha River canyon. Photo: David Moskowitz.

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Jay crossing the upper Imnaha river on a log jam. Photo: David Moskowitz.

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Dave and Galeo walking across the ice-covered Crater Lake of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Photo: Jay Simpson.

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David and Galeo’s first glimpse at the wolf tracks, incredibly recorded on camera by Daniel Byers.

Wolf Tracks! Team crisscrosses paths with a wolf.

We were excited to find our first wolf sign of the trip and for many of us it was our first time seeing wolf tracks in the wild. It was incredible to lay a hand next to the track and see the size of their large paws and to imagine how it moved through the forest and over the mountains.

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Tracks in the snow do a good job reflecting the size of a large, lone wolf. Photo: David Moskowitz.

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Found in fresh snow, these wolf tracks crisscrossed our path for four hours. Photo: David Moskowitz. 

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Marks from bears clawing a tree. Photo: Galeo Saintz.

I Walked Into a Land —Galeo Saintz I walk into a land where the white rivers run, where the spruce trees cut jagged lines to the sky waiting above white peaks.

I walk into a land where the mark of bear scar trees to tears, where elk and wolf listen out for the call of fate and know it as life lived free.

I walk into a land in the tracks of a wolf in the call of an old silence in a moment of peace in the wild.

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Photo: Daniel Byers.

Panorama: Snow-capped Wallowa Mountains — Daniel Byers Our path takes us into the stark beauty of the Wallowa Mountains, tree tops emerge through the snow into which we sink to our knees or waists with every step. As we cross the pass, the snowfall tapers off and reveals a glimpse of the cold blue sky and the mountains that embrace us all around. All day we had been following the tracks of a lone wolf and an elk to the final pass and a frozen alpine lake.

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Wolf print in the snow. Photo: Galeo Saintz.

Whose, but the Wolf ? —Galeo Saintz Whose fire do you carry in your eyes from the beginning of time?

Whose wild song in the night when the moon is pregnant with blood do you sing?

Whose old tales do you repeat again and again to still or feed your fears?

Whose loping dance in the cathedral of stars do you become enraptured with, only to loose yourself ?

Whose allegiance to kin and blood do you hold fast when all the world is burning?

Whose spirit do you depend on when you are called to remember a wild long forgotten?

Whose, but the wolf ?

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Daniel pushes his bike up an unexpected, impossible to cycle, hill. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Misadventure: The Wrong Way to Durkee — Jay Simpson It was supposed to take 3 hours, at most. It was supposed to be 20 miles of public roads along gentle rolling hills and farm lands. It was supposed to be so easy we’d be in the small town of Durkee, Oregon for lunch. But that’s not how it happened.

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Cows crossing, our only traffic jam. Photo: Jay Simpson.

With snow-capped mountains behind us and rolling green hills ahead of us, our morning ride started out better than I could have ever imagined. But the first sign of the troubles ahead came when I got a flat tire. As a dedicated biker, it was disappointing to have the first flat tire of the trip, but I tried to keep humor and fix it quick. It was even more depressing to have the second and third flat as well (and both within 5 minutes of my first flat). The culprit turned out to be goat head thorns, tiny tiny thorns at war with me from the side of the road. I found a dozen of them in my tires within the first three tire changes.

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Flat tire #1. Photo: Rachael Pecore-Valdez.

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Found: Original school house for Oregon Pioneers. Photo: Jay Simpson.

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As I fixed my third flat, we were approached by a local rancher on a four-wheeler ATV. He was friendly and amused with our adventure, but politely informed us that our route would cut across private property and that we needed to completely change directions. As we turned our bikes around and headed back up a hill, everything changed. Every pedal from that point invited further challenge, encouraged adversity, and delivered mischief.

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Flats #4 & #6. Photos: Jay Simpson.

In quick order, our team was hit with a bike flat epidemic. No more simply changing out for new tubes, we brought out patch kits and got to work with our sandpaper, glue, and rubber dots. Our tiny, travel-size air pumps became drastically inadequate. The day grew long and tiring as we rotated flat bike tubes near our ears, attempting to hear the hiss of escaping air amongst escalating afternoon winds. Goat head thorns were waging war with us, and winning. We stopped counting flats around 20 or so. It didn’t seem to matter any more.

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The haul begins. Photo: Jay Simpson.

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Rachael finishes the first hill. Photo: David Moskowitz.

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In addition to endless tire repair, we were forced off the bikes to walk them up and down impossibly steep jeep tracks. Wolves would be much better suited for this terrain. For us, without much water or even lunch, it became crystal clear how inhospitable it can be for humans.

By 3pm, we’re finally making progress, but still miles away from food, additional water, or camp.

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Almost to Durkee, we can spy the highway. Photo: Jay Simpson.

No one made it to camp riding on their bike. Dave nearly did, but he had to walk the last 20 yards. The rest of us were scattered on the highway, left behind where we had met our final flat.

We rested well that night. We also ordered 20 spare inner tubes, Mr. Tuffy tire liners, and some sort of magical slime to self-heal tire punctures. And then the following morning David and Galeo changed every tire. But even with thorough checks, most of the tubes went flat within a day. The goat head thorns definitely won that battle.

But I have to say, even after all the hills and flats, this is by far was one of my most favorite days on expedition so far…

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Double checking every tire (and replacing most of them) the following morning. Photo: Jay Simpson.

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Galeo leads as the sun sets and we still have miles to go before camp. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Afternoon Cycle of 70+ Miles through the Burnt River Canyon and Beyond — Galeo Saintz While part of the team headed out to the town of La Grande, to meet up with and interview Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wolf Coordinator and biologist Russ Morgan, myself and David Moskowitz headed out after lunch to tackle a full day of cycling in an afternoon.

The Burnt River Canyon was a hard cycle with a continuous climb towards Bridgeport, a one-horse settlement surrounded by low hills and distant mountains.

On route we encountered modern day gold prospectors panning the river for both leisure and fortune.

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Burnt River Canyon Miners. Photo: David Moskowitz.

A wrong turn added an extra 14 miles to our journey, which was followed by a long steady climb in the heat of the afternoon. One good thing about cycling over mountain passes is that on the other side it’s all downhill. And what a downhill it was. Our cross-bikes from Mathow Cycles in Winthorp, with support from Kona, were ideal for the varied terrain and tracks we found ourselves on.

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On the downhill. Photo: David Moskowitz.

We pushed on past the late afternoon and into the early evening to arrive at camp with the sun going down beyond Bullrun Mountain. As we were ahead of the rest of the team, we lit a quick campfire. It was the end of a tough afternoon cycle and 8 hours in the saddle, where we slip-streamed against headwinds and peddled hard to ensure we made our destination.

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Farmlands on route with horses beyond Ironside. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Soon enough we were joined by the rest of the team and guest David de Rothschild of Sculpt the Future Foundation and Xplore, who is joining us for a few days.

David brought with him much needed spare tubes for the bikes, a hammock gift for the team after I told him I had forgotten mine, and delicious chocolate.

Sitting by the fire before bed, I looked up at the stars above the pines, their northern hemisphere patterns unfamiliar to me, tracks in the clear sky promising good weather for the day to come. This is one wild journey into a land of far horizons.

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It All Began With a Collar — Rachael Pecore-Valdez

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Rachael speaks with Russ Morgan, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Wolf Coordinator and the biologist who collared Wolf OR-7, as he holds a collar similar to the collar worn by Wolf OR-7. Photo: Daniel Byers.

Our expedition, and all that we know about Wolf OR-7, stems from the GPS collar that Wolf OR-7 was fitted with one cold day in February of 2011.

The day was 13 below zero, recounts Russ Morgan, the Wolf Program Coordinator for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) in an interview with the Wolf OR-7 Expedition team.

The Imnaha wolf pack was located in the Wallowa Mountains, and from a helicopter Russ Morgan took aim with a specialized dart at the first wolf he could single out from the pack. That wolf happened to be Wolf OR-7. The level of responsibility Russ Morgan now had with a sedated wolf on his hands, prompted a quick helicopter landing and Russ took off to find the wolf as quickly as possible through deep snow and a steep canyon.

Thirty to forty-five minutes after locating the wolf, Russ had taken a tissue and blood sample for genetic analysis, weighed and fitted Wolf OR-7 with a collar. This wolf was the 7th wolf to be collared in Oregon, and became known as Wolf OR-7. By the time Russ finished, his hands were so numb from the cold that he couldn’t operate a camera, which is why there are no photos of Wolf OR-7’s capture.

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Wolf OR-7’s collar is the most expensive type of collar ODFW uses, and weighs 1 pound, 13 ounces. For comparison, adult male wolves typically average between 100-110 pounds. The collar Wolf OR-7 wears is fitted with a battery pack that hangs below the chin, the top of which holds a GPS unit that communicates to a satellite. Once a day, data is sent to a computer in Germany, where the collar was manufactured, and then less than a second later it reaches ODFW’s computer system. Wolves are tough on collars, and it’s a struggle for ODFW to keep them functional. Twenty-five wolves have been collared in Oregon to date, and ODFW currently receives data from nine functioning wolf collars.

The decision to collar an animal is not taken lightly; there is a lot to consider including weighing the risks of contact to both wolves and biologists. The time of year is important as wolves den and raise pups in spring and summer, and human contact during this sensitive period could add undue stress. To minimize stress, all captures are generally planned for fall or winter.

Russ Morgan emphasized that ODFW does not collar animals for fun or simply out of curiosity.

ODFW’s actions are directed by the Oregon Wolf Management Plan, a plan that includes input from stakeholders on all sides of the wolf equation including comments from the public. The plan is reviewed every five years, and its success in part depends on data gathered from GPS collars on how many wolves are in Oregon, and where they are in general.

GPS technology is relatively new, and was only built into animal tracking collars within the last 15 years. These collars have become a tool critical to not only better understand wolves, but to help communities better coexist with wolves. ODFW protects point specific locations of wolves, and in fact by the time data is uploaded information is always historical. However, a computer program has divided the region into a map of polygons, and if a collared wolf enters a particular area or polygon, an automated phone system is activated to notify landowners of their potential presence (not exact location). This is particularly helpful for livestock producers who can then deploy additional efforts to monitor their livestock, or take nonlethal measures to minimize potential livestock depredation.

The batteries on Wolf OR-7’s collar have lasted longer than any other wolf collar in Oregon to date, but is unlikely to last through the winter. If Wolf OR-7 had remained a lone wolf, he would have likely been left alone to wear the dead collar for the remainder of his days. The news that Wolf OR-7 is not alone in Southern Oregon, but is now accompanied by a black female wolf, puts the potential of a new wolf pack on the table. A wolf pack, according to the Oregon Wolf Management Plan, qualifies Wolf OR-7 or his mate to be collared this fall or winter. In addition, less invasive tools such as collecting scat samples for genetic analysis will be used.

Wolves typically live to the age of ten and rarely live long enough to die of old age. Mortality by poaching, government managed wolf-control, other wolves, cougars, grizzly bears, hunting injuries from hoofed mammals, or disease often happens before old age occurs at around 16

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years. Through Wolf OR-7’s collar we have had a unique window into part of his life, and if he is successfully re-collared we will have the remarkable opportunity to continue to learn from an ordinary wolf.

In just a few short years since that cold day when Wolf OR-7 was collared, data from his GPS collar has inspired not only our expedition route but also the formation of the Pacific Wolf Coalition, a coloring book, an art show, a play, and two documentaries including one of the Wolf OR-7 Expedition. Has information from Wolf OR-7’s collar impacted you?

Night Sky Westward from Murray Creek Lookout Tower

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Looking westward towards Wolf OR-7′s route. Photo by Daniel Byers.

What each cycle day brings may seem completely unpredictable (snow? hail? strong headwinds? sand? highways?), but one thing is for sure — during one part of the day, we will be pushing our bikes.

— Facebook Update June 2, 2014

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Brothers Stage Stop, US Postal Office, and Cafe. Photo: Galeo Saintz.

Adventure Cycling Day from Brothers Stage Post to Paulina Crater — Galeo Saintz Wolf OR-7 crossed some wild open country across central Oregon during his dispersal into California, and retracing his route on the section between Brothers and Paulina Crater was a tough cycle for the team. For any mountain biking or cycling enthusiast this day was nirvana on wheels, but also filled with moments of despair. We rolled over everything from tarmac to pumice rocks, from dusty sand tracks to ash covered gravel forestry access roads. Luckily, the bikes we have are ideal for this type of highly variable riding, with changing road surfaces, off-road cycling and epic downhills. We crossed Highway 20 pretty much on the spot that Wolf OR-7′s GPS line indicated and headed straight into the scrub desert lands towards Pine Mountain. Sandy roads revealed wildlife tracks – pronghorn, elk and coyote.

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We arrived at a small hill adjacent to Pine Mountain, when David suggested we stop and go look for evidence of mountain lion activity. It was hot and near midday. We sent him off alone up the hill, sparsely covered with pines and a looming Ponderosa which he had earmarked for some scouting. Sure enough after a few minutes he called out, “Come have a look guys!” When we reached him in the shade of the big pine tree, he bent down to show us the typical scrape markings of a mountain lion together with scat. It is moments like this that make this adventure with all its physical challenges so worthwhile. Moments that remind us that it is only through direct experience that we can build an understanding of other species and learn to appreciate their needs in a greater connected landscape. Lunch in the shade of that pine will long be remembered. David explained how the markings are a ‘Facebook’ of the wild, where the animals leave their postings and communications by way of scratch, scat, and scent. When we returned to the road we saw coyote scat, exactly where we are now beginning to expect it, at road crossings, another sign of communication and marking of territory. When we looked up to the ridge line of Pine Mountain in the distance, cellphone towers were the example of how our species communicates today.

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A large Ponderosa pine tree and David, our tracking guru. Photos: Galeo Saintz.

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The afternoon ride was a journey back to when I was 12 years old, growing up on a farm in Africa, where we spent our afternoons after school biking over dusty sand-roads. Our team today found itself on a track that reminded me of those roads of my youth, with just the right downhill gradient and with roller-coaster bumps all the way. We increased the speed, went crazy and cycled like mad. The thrill of being airborne and not having a care in the world was a welcome break from the gravel ash-covered road that lead us to this epic track. By mid-afternoon, we still had another 30+ miles to cover on thick gravel. It was grueling and unpleasant, but a great physical challenge that we embraced. Our logistics team was unable to reach our designated camp due to unexpected snow blocking their access route, so they had to drive an additional two hours to reach us finally in the dark. We huddled around a warm fire, hungrily anticipating dinner and a warm drink. The two-way radios we have been carrying, proved yet again that they are an indispensable piece of gear on a trip like this. A day out cycling on the Wolf OR-7 route was filled with unexpected adventure, which OR-7 himself must have found on his journey through these beautiful landscapes. The journey continues…

‘Brother’, said the Wolf —Galeo Saintz The Wolf OR-7 Expedition team stopped at Brothers in central Oregon yesterday for a much deserved big breakfast in a traditional roadside cafe with images of wolves hunted on the door, some of them the size of grown men - it made me think of the poem I wrote the day before while cycling across the high desert. Here it is:

"Brother," said the wolf, "You are not alone.

My skin was your skin in the ice years, my eyes were your eyes on the open plains hunting to still your hunger and my own, my cunning was your cunning when you rallied in war, my call was your cry when the wild vanished from your life, only to be replaced by stories, fables and lies.

You are not alone, my spirit may be your spirit in the time that is to come as we learn to face each other and then run side by side again.”

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David and Rachael discuss the numerous bite marks on the sign post. Photo: Daniel Byers.

Human’s aren’t the only ones using this sign to communicate Along the side of the road in Malheur National Forest, David explains that humans aren’t the only ones using this stop sign… and now I’ll always be giving signs and posts in forests an extra close look.

Watch the video online http://or7expedition.org/humans-arent-the-only-ones-using-this-sign-to-communicate-video/

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Photo: Michelle van Naerssen.

David de Rothschild Hikes and Bikes With Expedition Team — Galeo Saintz It is always great when the primary sponsor of an expedition is someone who really appreciates adventure, the outdoors and a good physical challenge. David de Rothschild of Sculpt the Future Foundation and Xplore, joined us not only with his good humor and explorer’s spirit, but with inspiring stories and great conversation.

David was game to make his own way to join our team deep in the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness. He picked up a car and a mountain bike and a whole host of spare tire tubes and other goodies the team needed. One of those items was a hammock, which was a most welcome gift. It must take some courage to join up with a team of complete strangers for a couple of days, throw yourself into the deep end so to say, and head off into the mountains chasing down the GPS line created by a wolf ’s dispersal from his pack. David was up for it and lucky for us.

David shared many stories of his own personal exploits across the globe and reminded us of the power a good expedition and story can have in changing people's perceptions and views. We had

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a lot of fun together and in essence that was David’s greatest contribution to our team: enjoy the moment and make the most of it.

On a more serious note though, his organization Sculpt the Future Foundation, which promotes positive environmental change towards global sustainability by supporting creative, innovative and sustainable action, saw the Wolf OR-7 Expedition as a natural fit to existing projects the foundation has been championing. Together with our Kickstarter supporters, David played a crucial role in making the entire project and Wolf OR-7 Expedition a possibility. The impact of the small funding grant we received has spread a message of co-existence and opened further conversations about wolves returning to their historic territories far and wide. Working towards a new paradigm that invokes and supports actions of peaceful coexistence between species is not something that we can hope to achieve overnight, it is a slow and gradual process of shifting our inmate biases and views towards ones that are more inclusive, innovative and appreciative of the needs of species other than our own. Indeed such work attempts to sculpt a future hopefully more harmonious in its actions than our current world experiences.

Our team is proud to be part of the legacy that Sculpt the Future Foundation is building through the innovative projects it has supported to date and those it is supporting going forward.

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A bluebird seen in the sky. Photo: Galeo Saintz.

Mountain Bluebirds — Galeo Saintz Three beautiful bluebirds slipped through the grasses in the fresh morning light today, from a field beside the road, feathers lighter than the blue blue sky, in play, they announced: this is a day for joy, as they reached towards the only light that makes us come alive, I reached towards that part of me that loves to fly.

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People Encounters: Ramon

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Ramon tells Rachael about his encounter with a wolf on a previous hunting trip. Photo: Daniel Byers.

Ramon grew up near Bend and has been hunting and fishing with his brother since he was a teenager. He trains year round, running for miles to stay fit enough to spend the hunting season tracking elk, bear and deer in Oregon’s wild areas. His family and friends, including myself, benefit from his efforts with local, organic, free-range meat throughout the year.

Ramon met us at the Northwest Outward Bound School in Redmond, while we were packing up and shared a story of running into a wolf while bow-hunting deer in the Wallowa Mountains, well before the first wild wolf was announced in Oregon. Ramon is familiar with carnivores in the wild and there was no doubt in his mind that it was a wolf, not a coyote. Neither the wolf nor Ramon felt threatened by the other’s presence; Ramon recounts it as a once in a lifetime experience.

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Joe

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Photo: David Moskowitz.

Joe Whittle, resident of Enterprise, Oregon, joined the team for a hike into the Imnaha River basin before we began our expedition into the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Joe is a local adventure guide, photographer, and seasonal forest service ranger and knowledgeable about many things related to wolves and Wallowa County. We loved our afternoon spent with him—you’ll be able to learn more about it in our documentary.

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Rob

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Photo: Jay Simpson.

Rob, a Wildlife Advocate for Oregon Wild, was interviewed by Rachael before we headed into the Wallowa Mountains. He has been a valuable resource for the Wolf OR-7 Expedition since the initial planning in early 2013 and a dedicated advocate with Oregon Wild for numerous issues including wolf and wildlife recovery and public lands policy.

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Todd

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Photo: Jeff Greenwood.

We met Todd for a hearty breakfast at the Cheyenne Cafe in Joseph, OR. He moved to Wallowa County at a young age from California, where his father worked at UC Davis. Ever since raising his first calf as a kid, Todd knew he wanted to be a cowboy. He worked on other’s ranches, and then began to lease private and public lands to run his own cattle. He now leads one of the largest operations in the area at 700 head of cattle, many of which are sold to Painted Hills Natural Grass-fed Beef.

One of my burning questions was, “I like wolves and I like beef; do you think it’s realistic to hope that I can have both?” Todd did think it was possible, although he was clear that he and the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association would prefer not to have to deal with wolves at all, wolf packs added a considerable burden of time to an already busy job. He thought it would be possible if livestock producers and wildlife managers had more flexibility to take wolves out of the equation that chronically preyed upon livestock.

Under the current Oregon Wolf Management Plan, a wolf in Oregon may be killed by Fish and Wildlife only after 4 confirmed livestock kills within 6 months, and only after the livestock producer has tried nonlethal deterrent measures. A wolf may also be killed by a livestock producer if caught in the act of predating on livestock, which is usually at the wee hours of the morning when people aren’t around. He believed that under the current law, problem wolves would never be addressed.

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Todd took us up to the range where his cattle roam, and on the drive up mentioned that his cattle were not where they should be down in the valley, but must have busted through a fence. As we jumped out of his truck, not 50 feet away were fresh wolf tracks trotting straight through. An Oregon Fish and Wildlife livestock producer alert later confirmed that a GPS collared wolf, OR-25, had been through the area early that morning. It took Todd a couple hours to repair the fence the cattle had burst through.

Reflecting on our conversations it felt to me like Oregon is in an awkward teenage period, at times resentful yet resigned to learning how to work with wolves. Waiting out a difficult period until wolves recover enough to be de-listed from both state and federal endangered species lists, and regulations are normalized to the same tools that we use to manage other carnivores like cougar and bear, including lethal management.

I left Wallowa County with the feeling that if I wanted my grass-fed, natural beef and wolves in Oregon I needed to exercise my dollar vote. Support local livestock producers and the added time and dollars they are spending to deter wolves including an increase in human presence and the time to fix fences that cattle plow through when wolves test the herd’s fitness.

Looking out the car window like a child in school, I found myself naively daydreaming of an Adopt-a-Cow program where wolf-supporters would agree to pre-pay farmers for a certain number of calves that might inevitably be lost to wolves, cougars or bears. I imagined receiving an adoption packet of an adorable calf or lamb, and then the investigation data by Fish and Wildlife of its gruesome, gory death, and a picture of a carnivore that roamed wild and free; the sort of twisted humor that could only work in Portlandia.

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Lee & Peggy

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Peggy and Lee, with their dogs and camper in tow. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Lee is a lifelong cowboy with a long family history in Oregon. He raises Kobe Beef and also farms hay outside of Sisters, Oregon. Our team met up with Lee at a presentation about “Wolves in the Land of Salmon“ by David Moskowitz.

Our brief conversation after the event made us eager to hear more about his thoughts about wolves as they move west. He believes wolves have a place in Oregon, but their return may come with changes and associated costs to agricultural practices and that it would be helpful for Oregonians to chip in, whether through donation or the Oregon Wolf Compensation Bill.

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Elissa & Lula

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Elissa and Lula. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Elissa, a freelance writer and artist, joined us around the campfire to talk about her time volunteering at a Winter Wolf Study conducted by Doug Smith, a Senior Wildlife Biologist at Yellowstone National Park.

Winter was the best time to study the Yellowstone wolves because wolves are easier to spot and follow in snow. But some days, it would be so cold the park wouldn’t allow the researchers work.

Elissa’s task was to locate wolf packs by radio collar signals and then watch them from a distance.

She’d document wolf movements and the animals the wolves had preyed upon by taking tissue samples from the kill site. Many times the wolves followed a pattern: they were most active at dawn and/or dusk, eat very early in the morning if they had a successful hunt, and relax for most of the day.

Elissa also recommended giving “Legendary” radio segment by Snap Judgement a listen.

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Inga

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Photo: Jeff Greenwood.

We met Inga Thompson on a snowy day on her ranch in Halfway, OR where she invited us out on a horse-drawn sled to add hay to her cow’s grass-fed diets.

When I first contacted Inga, she mentioned that she enjoyed rural living in part because of the wildlife but she hadn’t seen wolves in the area yet. Half a year later, remote game cameras on her property documented the presence of two wolves. She appreciates wolves and other wildlife, and even protected a black bear on her property from hunters even though she doesn’t appreciate its appetite for the apples in her orchard.

The complexity of wolf recovery hit her hard, however, one day when a prize mare disappeared.

From the mare’s tracks and animal behavior she pieced together a scene that wolves may have cornered the mare against a barbed wire fence, the horse panicked, tore through the fence into a dense thicket and did not survive her injuries.

Inga is now in the middle of jumping through Fish and Wildlife’s hoops, a lawsuit, and questions about what tools are available to balance the needs of the animals under her care and local wildlife.

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Mac & Karin

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Karin and Mac stand with their home, our resupply vehicle. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Mac and Karin donated their time and resources to support the expedition. Two life-long students of the natural world, this retired couple splits their time between the deserts of southern California and the rain soaked British Columbia coast and met David Moskowitz through their interest in wildlife tracking. Along with logistical support they blessed our team with enthralling tales from their colorful lives and inspired us with their continued ambitions, including Karin’s ongoing long-distance running training as she attempts to break time records in her age class (76-80). 

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Carl

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Photo: Jeff Greenwood.

Carl works as a wildlife biologist for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla near Pendleton, OR. For the general public, it can be difficult to sort through what is hearsay and probable fact when it comes to wolves. We brought questions of wolf biology and behavior to Carl who patiently helped us sort through what facts reflect the best available science and what is indefensible scientifically when it comes to wolves.

We heard from several people that the grey wolves that dispersed into Oregon from Idaho are a subspecies that is much larger and more aggressive than the wolves that used to roam these lands.

What little data that exists to accurately compare the weights of present and historical wolves does not suggest a significant difference, and while there is no data to measure “aggressiveness,� it is unlikely that a group of wolves would have become genetically isolated for long enough to develop unique traits. Unlike Kodiak bears who are genetically isolated by an island in Alaska, wolves like OR-7 may disperse for thousands of miles making genetic isolation unlikely.

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Genetic mixing by wolves over large distances was recently underlined by the sighting of a wolf wearing a GPS collar in the Grand Canyon. The wolf had traveled all the way from the Canadian Rockies.

Peter

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Peter, ready to record and join us cycling for three days. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Peter, a bike enthusiast and freelance journalist, approached our expedition team excited to pen an article and record some materials for his podcast. Conversations with him and our team have been fascinating and diverse–from de-extinction to trophic cascades. He has certainly been doing his homework researching this story and we’ve enjoyed having him join for a section of our journey, microphone discretely pointed in our direction.

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Loch & Sarah

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Loch and Sarah with Mount Shasta seen in the background. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Loch and Sarah generously hosted a gathering for our team and the Pacific Wolf Coalition on their beautiful Devil’s Gate Ranch in Siskiyou County, California.

We were very fortunate to have connected with them. Wolf OR-7 likely crossed right through Loch and Sarah’s ranch along Butte Creek, which prompted Loch to begin researching what wolf recovery could mean to the area his family has lived in for generations. He came across our website and sent us an email inviting us over to his ranch for a chat and showers.

Originally, the town of Macdoel was not directly on our route, but as we adapted to various conditions, we unexpectedly found ourselves cycling right past a sign that announced our entrance to Macdoel, CA. We pulled our bikes from the road and decided to give Loch a call.

Not twenty minutes later, he joined us on the side of the road and invited us to his ranch for a spontaneous visit. Loch’s stories of the land’s history and his ongoing work to balance the needs of his family, wildlife and cattle ranch continue to inspire us.

The highlight, however, was the spaghetti dinner Sarah managed to pull out of her hat on short notice topped by the most exquisite chocolate mousse ever that Loch made from a recipe given to him by Julia Child!

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Hans

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Hans explains adjusting tension to the back detailers of our bikes. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Hans is our Bike Maestro volunteer with a lifetime of bike touring and adventures under his belt and many years of involvement with bicycle advocacy across the USA, including serving as the former Board Chair for the League of American Bicyclists. His invaluable support comes in a myriad of ways and we are excited to have him join the team for the last days of the expedition!

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Scot Spear and Karl Patton

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Karl and Scott talk with Rachael. Photo: Jeff Greenwood.

Scott and Karl met us at the Outlaw Restaurant to share their experience raising calves on privately leased land in an area that has become known as the “wolf highway,” an area that connects the Imnaha wolf pack’s range in the mountains with the Zumwalt Prairie.

Karl has had more confirmed wolf kills on his land than anyone, and while the numbers of livestock lost to wolves in NE Oregon as a whole may seem low compared to other causes of death, the impact of wolves to Karl and Scott’s livestock feels significant.

One of the questions I asked, was why are wolves seen as a problem, when other carnivores like cougars, coyote, domestic dogs, and black bear aren’t? Turns out it’s the way in which wolves hunt as a pack that appears to be problematic, not the lone wolf.

Livestock are no longer accustomed to wolves, and wolves hunt by endurance running, not something cattle are adept at on the steep, rugged terrain of the Wallowa’s, unlike deer and elk.

Scott and Karl believed the stress on livestock of being chased by wolf packs, the injuries, broken fences and stress on pregnant cattle were as much of a problem if not greater than wolf kills.

They explained the pros and cons of available tools to deter wolves such as guard dogs, radio activated guard boxes, and range riders but to me, the bottom line seemed to be that the presence of wolf packs requires local livestock producers to change the way they operate, and change takes time and money, something that the majority of people don’t have an excess of.

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In fact, Karl and Scott were indignant that some people believe ranchers are out to poach wolves; not only do they not have time to go hunt wolves but they didn’t believe they would be successful even if they did. Wolves they had seen with their own eyes in open grassland appeared to vanish moments later.

Karl expressed that lethal management was a job for Fish and Wildlife experts, and underlined the importance allowing wildlife managers to do their jobs, meaning allow greater flexibility to use lethal management on problem wolf packs. He recognized that wolf packs that did not predate on livestock should be left alone, as studies indicate that not unlike domestic dogs, behavior is learned and passed on.

Jeff Greenwood, We Media Project and Jaimes Valdez, All-things-mechanical

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Jeff is co-founder of the We Media Project and films live webcasts of events around the world from Sumo wrestling to pro-skate tours. Jeff volunteered his time as a professional and friend to capture a few interviews for the documentary as well as our kickstarter video.

Jaimes Valdez has been a consummate supporter of the expedition from its inception. Without his support as Rachael Pecore-Valdez’s husband, or his technical experience with all things mechanical from bikes and battery storage the trip would not have been successful. 

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Wolf Pups!

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Two pups confirmed as we entered the Rogue River-Siskiyoun National Forest. Photo: ODFW. The news that Wolf OR-7 is the father of the first wolf pack in southern Oregon in over 60 years, to me speaks to the very real possibility that within my lifetime we may see wolves as far west as the Pacific Coast.

My hope is that Wolf OR-7’s new pack may spark conversations about what tools and resources are now available to coexist in the 21st century, especially in communities most likely to be impacted by an additional carnivore, such as agricultural and recreational wilderness areas.

Resources: • Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has 2 full-time, very knowledgeable wolf biologists with years of experience now working with wolves in Oregon. They are happy to answer your questions, but check out their FAQ first: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/faq.asp • Defenders of Wildlife works with livestock producers to develop innovative, nonlethal tools to reduce conflicts between livestock and wolves: http://www.defenders.org/gray-wolf/helpingranchers-coexist-wolves

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An animal track on the side of a dusty road. Photo: Galeo Saintz.

Like Starts Scattered —Galeo Saintz Like stars scattered across the still waters of a wetland, reflected in the sky, so is the art of tracking, reflected in the mind.

It is more than the eye recognizing patterns and the comings and goings in the sand, it is the way a branch lies broken in the shadows, the way a rock is turned to the sun, the way the scent on the wind ignites memories and knowing, it is the way wisdom is released in a thousand small signs, living into the world, like a wild flower showing the way waiting for you to follow.

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Mosquito Madness on the Pacific Crest Trail

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Rachael and Galeo swat mosquitos with switches of pine. Photo: Daniel Byers.

Moments like this make you question why mosquitos exist. Or why in these modern days, we allow them to exist. It was an interesting reflection considering that we are on an expedition centered around the story of another animal sometimes equally despised. And while the arguments in defense of mosquitos may be few, they may be responsible for protecting some of the most amazing remaining wilderness areas in the entire world. Personally, I’m now trying to see if it is possible to accept them for their role in the big picture of our world—it’s a lot easier after leaving mosquito areas.

Watch the video online http://or7expedition.org/mosquito-madness-on-the-pacific-crest-trail-video/

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Rachael, armed with a switch and covered in mud and additional clothing. Photo: Daniel Byers.

Of Mosquitos and Men —Rachael Pecore-Valdez “The most spectacular trait of wolves, however, is the most controversial: like man himself, wolves must sacrifice other creatures in order that they themselves might survive.” – L. David Mech, “The Wolf ” In the face of a full-scale mosquito assault, my strongest defense wasn’t the additional shirt hastily tied around my head or the mud smeared across my swelling face, it was philosophy.

What these mosquitoes lacked in stealth they made up for in indomitable numbers and the maddening din of their mind-scrambling whines. Blood was shed. A lot of mosquitoes were lost that day, but many more survived to tell the tale to their young. It was a fair game; survival on either side was measured by awareness, innovation and extreme endurance.

To the mosquitoes that fell that day, the frail bodies I watched float to the ground as my hand automatically brushed their kamikaze trajectory aside, I salute you. One-hundred and eighteen pounds of my flesh against your tiny 2.5 milligrams, and still you persist, with the remarkable courtesy, unlike tics, to warn me of your incoming bite.

I tried to keep my hands still and think of the birds, bats and frogs that are fed by mosquitoes. I questioned the value of a mosquito’s life to mine. I dug deep, but could not overcome my instinct PAGE !50

to swat and kill on this day. Suddenly the crux of what this entire crazy expedition meant for me was illuminated. It’s a question of how we, as humans, decide what is okay to kill. It’s not just about wolves but about mosquitoes, spiders, rats, sharks and snakes too. It’s about how we treat that which we fear, don’t like or understand.

Who lives and dies is at the source of endless eye-rolling, angst and debate among carnivores, vegans, vegetarians, breathetarians… I am alive because countless plants, fungi, fish, birds and other animals have died. I’m not proud of it, but this is planet earth, it’s just how it works out here. Our society tends to hide, prevent, and minimize death as much as possible, which makes sense to me because death sucks. Cities are controlled and managed for optimum human convenience and human life, but those at the heart of food production in rural areas encounter the life-death cycle frequently. Growing up around a farm, I watched Rosy, a cow, be shot and I gratefully ate her without a second thought. One day, I hope to repay the favor by letting my body feed worms and soil critters, in this grand, crazy cycle of death. But not today, and not to mosquitoes.

As I felt the cheeks under my eyes begin to puff up in reaction to the success of mosquito strategy, it seemed quite clear that were I to stand here, naked in the Sky Lakes Wilderness in front of a million strong horde of mosquitoes, that they would eat me alive or cause an allergic response that would eventually shut my body down. They would not hesitate to kill me. But it wouldn’t be personal. At the other extreme, I had no vendetta by which to spray the entire region with DDT. Extending the battle beyond my direct experience, with a chemical that has the power to collapse the local food chain and cause collateral damage such as cancer, has proven undesirable and ineffective in the long-term. Surely though, I have as much a right to live as anything else? I have the right to defend my self and to try my hand at survival as long as I am able on this wild, complex planet?

Wolves played spectacular villains in European folklore, and when European immigrants reached the shore of North America they wasted no time in placing a bounty for wolf skins in 1630. After near extinction in the U.S., wolves are now protected by the Endangered Species Act, and in Oregon may only be killed under particular circumstances governed by the Oregon Wolf Management Plan for chronic depredation of livestock. Landowners, however, must first demonstrate that they’ve tried their best to build brick houses and protect the little pigs so to speak, with nonlethal techniques such as sheep dogs, range riders, burying carcasses, fladry, or radio-activated guard boxes to name a few.

I made my peace with mosquitoes, and those that died by my hand that day with this philosophy: self-defense is natural, I will defend only my personal borders, with mosquito barriers, bug spray, mud, and pine branches… but for the few that outwit my admittedly innovative defenses, let it be known that they proceed at their own risk. Mosquitoes, wolves, mountain lions, coyotes and other carnivores are simply doing what they need to do to survive, and so are humans.

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The skyline of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Wolf Country — Jay Simpson It has been two weeks (forever) since we saw wolf tracks in the snow of the Wallowa Mountains.

From that point onward, part of me has lamented every mile walked and bicycled as they took us further and further from any known area of wolf activity. Here we are, a wolf expedition quickly moving away from most of Oregon’s wolves!

The snowy Wallowa’s changed into rolling farmlands, grasslands, desert, and expansive pine forests. Our footpath changed into logging roads, farm roads, old jeep tracks, and highways.

Wolves felt far, far away.

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Coyote scat on the side of the road, Klamath County, OR. Photo: Jay Simpson.

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But the further out of wolf country I was, the more I looked for wolf scat and tracks because it would be all the more surprising, and out of place. But there was nothing.

Then while walking a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, a sign welcomed our team to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and the obvious hit me: we’re back in wolf country. This is the National Forest where Wolf OR-7 lives. This is where he and his mate reportedly denned and started their pack. This is a new territory reclaimed by wolves as modern wolf country.

But a few steps later I was struck with another thought: there’s even more to modern wolf country than the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest for the simple fact that Wolf OR-7 traveled in the same areas as our entire route. Every step and mile of our expedition has been within areas of his dispersal, and therefore within modern wolf country.

And he’s not the only one. Wolves are on the move and we often don’t know where they roam.

Wolf OR-7’s mate was born somewhere else and then traveled to Southwest Oregon. And the wolf whose footprints were confirmed on the foothills of Mount Hood came from one place and could be anywhere now. We don’t know, and we don’t know where other unknown wolves are too.

Oregon is modern wolf country. Northern California is modern wolf country. If all it takes is one wolf to show that it is possible, it will only be a matter of time before we see modern wolf country continue to grow.

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Rachael pushes through the debris and snow. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Gravel -Rachael Pecore-Valdez Not all gravel is the same. Cycling 50 miles a day on backcountry gravel roads gives one a taste of the diversity of gravel. Road geology changes as frequently as spring weather in the northwest, and gravel comes in all shades of gray, rusted orange, cinnamon and even purple.

There’s the fishtailing in sand type of gravel, lovely packed gravel, thick red pumice, ash grey newly laid and total pain in the ass gravel and lastly pavement!

The apocalyptic remnants of old volcanoes near Paulina Crater, and Crater Lake were some of the toughest gravel to pull through these past weeks. It felt like hours of riding with flat tires, as the sandy, thick pumice attempted to pull our bike tires into quick sand oblivion.

There were a few places where burly mountain bike tires would have made my day, and other sections where our light cycle-cross bikes felt like they had wings. We rode gravel the majority of PAGE !54

the way from NE Oregon into California, and criss-crossed a fine border between mountain bike terrain and cycle-cross by the hour.

Any laments I had for the mountain bike tires I’d left at home were overridden by two full days of clean, one-lane pavement heading into the Strawberry Wilderness area and again into the Ochoco Forest. One-lane pavement with not a single vehicle all day in the middle of spring green wilderness was as dreamy a day as could be. We were all transported to childhood days of timeless meandering on wheels.

I called my set of wheels my “Old Girl, and I owe that Old Girl for the adventure of a lifetime and a safe journey home.

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The view from Lone Wolf Mountain, south of Crater Lake, Oregon. Photo: Galeo Saintz.

Standing on Lone Wolf Mountain —Galeo Saintz Every expedition has a defining moment, be it for the team, the expedition mission or the individual team member.

Today I stood on a mountain peak called Lone Wolf – it was my personal defining moment of this expedition into the journey of Wolf OR-7.

The walk from our previous night’s camp, beside a small pond filled with the sound of frogs, involved an easy stroll in the early morning light. (See image below of frog pond – and note the similarity between the photograph of the pond by team member Daniel Beyers and the image of the sound wave recording of the frogs singing).

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Soundwaves and mirrored images of pines. Photo: Daniel Byers.

Listen : Link http://or7expedition.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/frogs.mp3 During our daily route planning before breaking camp, I noticed on the map we would pass close to a small peak called Lone Wolf, and I knew then I would divert from our path to climb its summit. Luckily the contour path we followed was a mere 15 minutes from the summit, but the way up I chose was steep and packed with snow and ice. My team members were eager to keep moving, so I knew I needed to move fast to reach the top.

There is nothing like setting yourself a small and unexpected challenge, that pushes you beyond your own limits just for the hell of it. I always find it invigorating to take myself by surprise, and the climb up Lone Wolf Mountain was just that. I kicked my boots into the steep hardened ice and kept going. I found myself amongst a maze of dead burnt pines, their blackened charcoal bark reached high above my head into a blue sky. I kept my eye on the obvious rocky summit silhouetted behind them.

Small peaks have a wonderful ability to suddenly place you on their summit, and that is what happened. Topping out on the smallest of peaks above the tree-line, my view stretched to the edge of every horizon.

I stood on Lone Wolf Mountain, a random and small peak in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, on an expedition to follow the route of a lone wolf for 1,200 miles. Looking to the west into the Skylakes Wilderness of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, I realized I was looking directly into Wolf OR-7’s new territory, and where he had recently been photographed by a camera trap with a mate.

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What I saw was peak after peak of rolling hills and mountains to the west. The land before me was a paradise for a wolf. A protected expanse of forested land, rich with game and water. I realized our team had come all this way and would still continue south into California retracing OR-7’s original route, but where I stood, would likely be the closest we would ever come to the place he now calls home.

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Photo: Galeo Saintz.

I took a moment to howl out loud from the top of that summit – because that is what you do when you are overwhelmed by the beauty of reality. The call echoed into the distance and the world remained still, but it had heard my voice on a lone peak.

As my fellow team members waited below, I turned a final 360 degrees and took in the expanse of this vast land. Then slid, slipped and ran back down to the contour path. When I caught up with them, they were all smiles and broke the news to me that Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife had just confirmed via a press release that Wolf OR-7 and his mate had been photographed with pups. It is a reality now that a new pack resides just beyond where I stood, in the very same forest where the last wolf bounty of Oregon was collected in 1947. History comes full circle and sometimes in surprising ways.

I have no idea why we really decided to retrace Wolf OR-7s dispersal route, we all have our reasons. For me, Wild Peace is one of them, but beyond all reasoning there is always the mystery that remains and in many ways it is the mystery that defines everything.

Standing on Lone Wolf Mountain made me think about myself and the metaphor of the lone wolf. It can be lonely, and yet knowing our place in the world is all that matters, even when it is a mystery – that is the gift of hope in Wolf OR-7’s story. Hope that when we know our place as a society and species in a greater interconnected world, we are able to once again make space for wolves, exactly where they belong, in the wilderness of a snow-capped mountain land.

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Jay and Rachael cycling in Northern California. Photo: David Moskowtiz.

Rollercoaster of Smells —Rachael Pecore-Valdez A brief profile of smells as told by a human along the route of Wolf OR-7. Cycling and walking from high elevation fir forests, down through dense pines packed with spring flowers and further down into sagebrush deserts affords a rich palette of smells, even for the dinky human nose as compared to a wolf ’s great big nose.

Listen link: http://or7expedition.org/rollercoaster-of-smells/

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Lassen County. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Lassen County and the Sojourns of Wolf OR-7 —Galeo Saintz For a number of months in 2012 Wolf OR-7 called the open fields and lava beds of Lassen County home. During his stay he moved extensively amongst cow fields and forest cover, drawing huge circles on the map that tracked his GPS position.

We entered Lassen County on a hot Sunday afternoon, cycling through small farming towns many of which, we were told, had seen better days in decades past. We encountered locals who believed they had seen a wolf in their area. The conversations that followed were always interesting.

The cycle day was a long one and we spread out as a team, meeting up at McArthur for lunch outside the general store. Along the route some of us met up with a local honey farmer, who gave us a sweet sampling of her wares. One of the team talked to a shop owner about our trip, and asked her about what she thought. After saying, “You don’t want to hear what I think, she politely shared, ‘That wolf should have been shot on first sight’. A view we were told was shared by many in Lassen County.

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After lunch we crossed a long pass into Big Valley and the heat got the better of our water supply.

We ended up knocking on a stranger’s door and asked for water from her garden hose. ’Sure thing”, she said and we filled up. Not five minutes down the road, we heard a small pick-up coming up behind us; it was the same person who just gave us water. She was concerned the water we had filled up with contained excessive iron and so she brought us each a bottle of ice cold bottled water instead – life saver.

Wolf OR-7’s time in Lassen County judging by the patterns he left on maps published by various conservation groups, indicate he may have been looking to settle in the region. His forays back towards Oregon were therefore interesting, what was he looking for?

Big Valley residents may have been relieved when Wolf OR-7 returned to his Oregonian roots, but with the new ruling protecting wolves as endangered species in California it may be important to support farms in the area to adjust not to just one lone wolf but a nearby pack.

Our team had now made it as far south as possible given our time constraints, and looked forward to heading out of the drought back North where finding running water was less challenging.

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Members of the Pacific Wolf Coalition and hosts Loch and Sara with the team.

Meeting the Pacific Wolf Coalition —Galeo Saintz Devil’s Gate Ranch is a different kind of ranch in California encompassing Orr Mountain where it is believed Wolf OR-7 crossed on his way back to the border with Oregon, owned by Loch Jones and Sara Rose-Jones, whose history with the land stretches back many generations.. Today they are exploring how to support both cattle and wildlife on their ranch.

Loch found us via our website and generously offered us a much-needed place to shower when we passed by. It turned out that this coincided with an opportunity to meet with members of the Pacific Wolf Coalition – a coalition of some thirty plus organizations working on wolf recovery in the Pacific Northwest.

I was inspired by the work being done by these groups who have spent decades addressing concerns about wolf recovery and working closely with biologists, ranchers and farmers who are living with first-hand experience of wolves. Working towards effective non-lethal solutions in managing carnivores such as wolves is an on-going task that requires patience, creative innovation and research.

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Loch and Sara were willing to learn from this experienced collective as to what they can do as ranchers and wildlife enthusiasts to work towards coexistence with wolves through effective management. Through collaborative learning and the courage to try new things, coexistence is not only possible but in some instances even desirable.

One of the quotes shared by the Pacific Wolf Coalition around the question of wolf habitat in the region highlighted the point that wolves can only find their place in the greater ecosystem if we let them: “The best habitat for wolves resides in the human heart.” – Ed Bangs.

The Pacific Wolf Coalition is a group that came together in the wake of OR-7’s journey in 2011, another one of the many initiatives that have spawned from his adventure south. The Pacific Wolf Coalition itself has ignited other wolf coalitions to form in other parts of the USA, which I found inspiring.

Devil’s Gate Ranch and the Pacific Wolf Coalition are examples of ranchers and conservationists working towards a new story for wildlife and wolves in the Pacific Northwest, one that is grounded in the willingness to explore coexistence with carnivores in a landscape that can still accommodate them.

- A huge thanks to our hosts Loch and Sara, who not only put us up for the night and hosted the venue for us to meet the Pacific Wolf Coalition, but also entertained us with stories and the most delicious homemade chocolate mouse, ever!

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California border. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Bordering Home —Rachael Pecore-Valdez Riding west towards Iron Gate Reservoir on the Klamath River along the CA / OR border, Dave Moskowitz stopped us mid-track and asked which side of the border we thought we were on. I really couldn’t say, there was no difference between the dry oak savannah to the South and the dry oak savannah to the North. He pulled out his maps, and we happened to be literally standing on the border, an unmarked border miles away from any paved road or town.

The state border exists only in our minds, and yet just a step to the north I felt at home in Oregon, and a step to the south like a visitor in California. Weird but true. Maybe it’s that I can’t vote in California, or maybe it’s just the word Oregon. Oregon defines the place I grew up in and a place my great, great grandfather moved to as a logger back when it was called the Oregon Territory. Or maybe it’s that as a card-carrying Oregonian it’s my duty to poke fun at Californians thus making a discrete border essential.

Wolf OR-7 crossed the CA/OR border multiple times, likely following the smell of prey, water and a certain female black wolf. He is now raising pups in the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest

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and runs regular rounds scent-marking a 50 to 200 square mile border he has defined as his home.

Wolf OR-7 will defend that border from other wolves and coyotes, as wolves do, and his pups will grow up familiar with every stream and animal in the area. Around two years of age, these pups may also disperse and set out to mark their own territories. Will they stay in Oregon, or head South to California?

With the recent vote to protect wolves under the Endangered Species Act in California as they are in Oregon, these wolf pups aren’t likely to care an owl’s hoot about our political borders.

They will notice only changes in cover, movements of prey, and the boundaries water carves.

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Walking in the Siskiyou National Monument. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Cascade-Siskiyou Biodiversity Hotspot —Galeo Saintz The final two days of the expedition saw our team walking once more from California into the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon.

It was immediately apparent that we were in a rich bio-diverse region. The pine forests gave way to mixed pine, oak and a vast array of flowering plants. The rolling hills covered with a mix of grasses and junipers, cedars and oaks made for some of the expedition’s most memorable hiking.

The Cascade Siskiyou National Monument forms a biodiversity bridge between the Cascade Mountain Range and the Siskiyou Wilderness running to the coast. This is one of the most biodiverse rich areas of the USA and an important corridor for many species. However, the I5 highway acts as an effective barrier for many species. Wolf OR-7 himself has crossed this stretch of highway more than once, and it seems lucky he made it across alive.

We came across the tracks of bear, bear rubbing posts and a ritual bear trail. Deer and rabbit tracks abounded, mountain lion scrapes and coyote scat were also evident all along our route.

The land Wolf OR-7 trekked through on his journey back into Oregon is a place of immense beauty and intact ecology, and certainly ready for a wolf pack it seemed.

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Pilot Rock became the dominant landscape feature on the last evening, and it framed the rising full moon with Mount Shasta in the distance as we walked in moonlight. What a fitting end to an expedition in the tracks of a wolf to have a full moon on our last night.

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The full expedition team by the side of I-5. Photo: Hans van Naerssen.

Mission Accomplished!

Our journey to explore the challenges faced by wolves in the 21st century comes to an end by the side of I5 outside of Ashland. After a month of hiking and biking in the tracks of Oregon's famous wolf, we are astonished by the athleticism of wolves, the beauty of Oregon and Northern California's wild places, and the kindness of all the people we met along the way. — Facebook Update June 14, 2014 

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The team climbs towards the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Reflections To Walk in the Wake of a Wolf — Galeo Staintz I wrote this poem just before crossing the California border back into Oregon again. It is dedicated to my team members: Rachael, David, Daniel, Jay, Michelle, and Wolf OR-7.

To walk in the wake of a wolf is to walk into the silence of stealth and the feast of fearlessness, it is to fight for yourself and never forget the pack.

To walk in the wake of a wolf is to know the difference between greed and hunger, between the villain and the hunter,

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it is to taste unforgiving wildness and the loyalty of kin, to breathe the spirit of a howling chorus and to remember what it means to stand alone in the forest and cry out.

The tracks of a wolf are the tracks of a brother waiting for you to find the old bond of blood in a land where ground is the only common ground.

To walk in the wake of a wolf is to see yourself in the shadows of the moon as a rogue always on the run, it is to know where you belong, and to know before the wind speaks where opportunity lies, where the secrets of survival are hidden in the night ready to reveal themselves only in your dreams.

It is to listen to the fierce desire to be who you are in the world and to be it fiercely, loyal to your name and ready.

To walk in the wake of a wolf is to know the world is still wild and that you belong in it as much as the wolf. 

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Frame from Time-Lapse taken during the first week of the expedition. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Video Time Lapse of 1,200 Miles in the Tracks of a Wolf — Jay Simpson Before watching this video (link), take a moment to think about Wolf OR-7′s 2011 route across Oregon and Northern California. In your mind, what do you see? Do you think of a map, maybe with lines or data on it?

For most people following the story of Wolf OR-7 around the world, maps like the one pictured left are the only visualizations of what the land Wolf OR-7 encountered is like. The maps likely include depictions of state and county borders, major city names, highways, or rivers. In their attempt to display the land crossed by this wandering wolf, I’ve found that they’ve completely lost the landscape and true nature of OR-7’s journey.

Wolf OR-7 crossed mountains, forests, rivers, highways, cattle guards, lava fields, grasslands, farms, small towns, dusty forestry roads, hiking trails, and open shrub deserts. And during the months he spent looking for a mate and new habitat, he was able to remain largely undetected (other than the GPS transmitter around his neck) and fed. His survival was possible because of

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remaining areas of wilderness and suitable wolf habitat, and it was even more dependent on existing, healthy connections between these habitats.

By documenting the approximate route of Wolf OR-7’s dispersal, we hope to reach a better understanding of the challenges faced by wildlife moving across Oregon and Northern California and to visualize the connections between various suitable habitats and wilderness areas.

Time Lapse of 1,200 miles in the Tracks of a Wolf was created by National Geographic Young Explorer Grantee Jay Simpson, who photographed the Expedition Team’s forward direction throughout each day. Of over 4,000 images he collected, just over 700 images were used to create this time lapse.

LINK : http://or7expedition.org/time-lapse-1200-miles-in-the-footsteps-of-oregons-famouswolf-or-7/

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Wolf OR-7’s Journey in Photos From the Forest Floor — Jay Simpson During the days we spent walking Wolf OR-7’s dispersal route, I found myself endlessly fascinated watching the landscape transform. Some transitions were stark, like exiting a tree line as we rode out of Malheur National Forest into the open expanses of the Harney Basin, a flat

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and sparse landscape. Other transitions were gradual, only noticeable over the course of a week.

I tried paying attention to the changes in our scenery by focusing on all the small things surrounding us.

Below is a chronological selection of photos from those items I picked up along the way. To view all the images (and at higher resolution) visit our website.

LINK: http://or7expedition.org/wolf-or-7s-journey-in-photos-from-the-forest-floor/

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View from Lookout Tower. Photo by Daniel Byers.

Common Ground —Rachael Pecore-Valdez Our expedition set out to explore wolf country from Wallowa County to Lassen County on Wolf OR-7’s heels with our own two feet.

We were duly warned that the subject of wolves in the Northwest is so polarized that both antiwolf and pro-wolf camps have received offensive threats from the other. We questioned our own biases and backgrounds, and decided to retrace Wolf OR-7’s steps not as an organization, but as unique individuals in search of a slice of common ground.

Funding: In conversations with livestock producers, wildlife advocates and biologists, the need for funding became a consistent theme. A wolf returning to areas unaccustomed to their presence for decades is a change, and change takes time to adjust to, and time can cost money. Funding is needed for more research of ecological impacts of wolves, livestock depredation deterrent strategies, and a compensation fund for livestock lost to carnivores. The Oregon Wolf Compensation Bill currently compensates ranchers for confirmed losses of livestock due to wolves, but as wolves populate new areas, this fund will need to increase to avoid county to county competition for limited funds.

Meat: Our beef with wolves so to speak, may stem from a sense of competition for the same resource, i.e., elk, deer, cow, and lamb. Wolves, mountain lion and many humans including myself, appreciate tasty meat. Can we all eat meat and coexist too?

Conservation of Energy: If a road was the easiest way through to wherever we were headed, we found we weren’t the only ones using it. Some roads had the tracks of rabbit, squirrel, snake, lizard, mountain lion, bear, PAGE !72

deer and coyote all in the same 100 ft stretch of dusty road. All animals, including the human animal, will conserve valuable energy when possible and take the easiest route. Conservation of energy is a matter of survival for wildlife, and among humans it can also mean a matter of economic survival. For centuries, exterminating wolves may have been easier than using nonlethal deterrents like hazing, fladry, sheep dogs or range riders. As consumers, are there ways to support livestock producers to use nonlethal carnivore deterrent methods before considering lethal means?

Ground: We all literally share the same ground. There is nothing like moving continuously by foot across a landscape to appreciate that the Wallowa Mountains are connected to the Cascade Mountain Range. A line on a map can’t show the beauty or diversity that defines the Northwest. Standing at the top of a fire lookout south of the Strawberry Mountains, with 360 degree views of nothing but forest and grasslands out to every horizon, I was overwhelmed by what it means to consider the generations to come in land-use planning; and what it means to share the same ground with generations to come. Many of our public lands, state and national parks are a legacy from people long gone who worked hard to protect these places. I didn’t realize we still had such vast wild places left in Oregon, but the wolves, bears, and mountain lions clearly do.

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Stereotyped —Rachael Pecore-Valdez We did it too. We set out to meet with “ranchers,” “hunters,” “environmentalists,” “biologists” and “tribal members” and found that everyone we encountered identified with two or more of these titles. We met biologists who hunt deer and elk, ranchers who protect wildlife, environmentalists who grew up on cattle ranches, and tribal wildlife managers who raise livestock.

It’s tempting to isolate and choose a scapegoat for any problem, whether it’s those “Portlanders” over there on the west-side of the state, or those “Southern Californians” down beachside, or those “foreign Canadian wolves.” Coming from “Portlandia,” I fully expected (and feared) that I’d be met with bared teeth and raised hackles.

Maybe we were just in the right place at the right time, but to the credit of all those we contacted over the phone and people we met along the way, we were treated with respect if not downright friendliness. We were even invited in for watermelon and showers by a family who stated outright that they “liked cyclists more than wolves.”

I was impressed and even proud of the Northwest hospitality we encountered, even by suspicious “gun-toting landowners”, and I can only hope that the people we encountered felt the same respect in return.

“Just as the humans involved in the wolf debate deserve to be seen as individuals, not stereotypes, so do the wolves. They are not the boogeyman, or storybook monsters aiming to prey upon the young and the old. They aren’t cuddly pets or religious icons. They are Canis lupus.

Wolves.” – Collared by Aimee Lyn Eaton

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Rachael walks beside the tracks of a “size 7” black bear, in southern Oregon. Photo: Jay Simpson.

Tracking as a Tool for Wild Peace —Rachael Pecore-Valdez From our bicycles, we could see the disturbance left by the large paws of a bear on the dirt road beneath our tires. I stepped off my bike to get a closer look. The bear was walking in the same direction we were riding. Bear tracks at a glance look remarkably human, this bear’s feet were the same size as mine! A woman’s size 7 bear!

Following the bear’s tracks up the road, I wondered was the bear nearby? Where was it going?

What did it eat today? Catching a bear by surprise, or any large carnivore for that matter, is illadvised, but by catching this bear’s tracks instead we could read a little of this bear’s story without disturbing the bear or being surprised by it in turn.

The art of wildlife tracking is perhaps the oldest science known to humans. The movements of animals across the landscape leave trails of footprints, scat, scrapes and hair that with a little PAGE !75

training can tell us who our wild neighbors are and what they’re doing. Wildlife tracking continues to be an integral tool for subsistence hunters and is increasingly being used by biologists, search and rescue teams, and outdoor educators.

Through the lens of the Wolf OR-7 Expedition, I believe wildlife tracking could also be integral to understand and better coexist with the ‘wild things.’ Understanding how wolves, mountain lions, bears or coyotes use an area through their tracks and sign might be helpful for recreationalists to avoid surprise encounters, and to livestock producers to determine when and where to graze sheep or to step up protective measures. In the middle of Portland, the tracks of a raccoon around a chicken house helped me identify where the hen house needed to be fortified.

It also took a slew of loud obscenities at 2am and the force of a garden hose to deter that fat raccoon, but the hens survived that night.

Learning to recognize a few animal tracks has transformed the way I see and move in nature.

While we only saw two black bear along our entire route, through tree rubs, scat, and tracks it was clear that Oregon’s wild lands were alive with quite a few more bear, mountain lion, wolves, bob cat, coyote, deer, fawns, elk, pronghorn antelope, ground squirrels, jack rabbits, snakes and lizards… not to mention the variety of birds that warned all these animals in advance that we were coming. Through listening closely to bird language – whether birds were singing, quiet or alarming – we could gauge the impact of our presence to wildlife, and the movement of other potential predators like hawks and cats.

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Rachael walks along the same bear tracks as above, mimicking the bear’s movements, to help find prints and seek additional clues about the bear. Photo: Jay Simpson.

The more I learn about wildlife tracking and bird language, the more aware I become that whether I’m walking solo through an urban park or the wilderness I’m never really alone, but am surrounded by an amazing diversity of wild neighbors. There are a number of wildlife tracking schools across the country and even internationally; here are a few that I can recommend from personal experience: Wilderness Awareness School – Duvall, Washington, USA Tom Brown Jr. Tracking School – Manahawkin, New Jersey, USA Tribal Edge, – Sequim, Washington, USA Earth Voices – USA Tracker’s Earth – Portland, Oregon USA EarthWalk Northwest – Issaquah, Washington USA CyberTracker – International

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Galeo stops to survey landscapes around us during our first day riding in California. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Reflections from the Wild Peace alliance’s Wolf OR-7 Expedition —Galeo Saintz The tracks were big. Even in the snow, the unexpected size of a fresh wolf track took me by surprise. The excitement shared by the team was wild. Jackets and beanies came off despite the cold, and some of us got up close, by lying flat on the snow to see the tracks more clearly in the light slanting through the trees. The tracks led directly downstream toward Oregon’s Imnaha River, which we had just crossed, and in the direction of our camp from the night before. We were clearly not alone in the woods, and we had not expected to be. The day before, bear tracks met us at the start of the planned 1,200-mile (1,931-kilometer) expedition that lay ahead. A herd of elk grazed outside our camp in the evening, and now on the second day, our first sighting of the presence of a wolf. No ordinary journey awaited.

Challenging the elements day in and day out on foot or on bicycle in an attempt to understand the challenges faced by wolves in the 21st century is all well and good. It becomes a different story, however, when the route you are following is the approximate GPS line taken by one wolf in particular, Oregon’s much documented OR-7, which had worn a global positioning system PAGE !78

(GPS) collar that sent his precise locations to a satellite that then relayed these locations to biologists. Over the past three years OR-7 had dispersed from its natal pack in northeastern Oregon to southwest Oregon, down into California and back to Oregon. He had received more media attention than any male wolf in the United States as his long travels had been broadcast around the world and on the Internet. His story is a beacon of hope for wolf recovery, but it is also a tale of how collaboration can lead to coexistence with carnivores across a landscape diverse, not only in plants and animals and uses but also in opinions, livelihoods and points of view.

Talking to locals For the next month our small Wild Peace Alliance team consisting of a storyteller, a wildlife tracker, a documentary filmmaker, an educator, a multimedia producer and a conservationist, aimed to stimulate conversations about wolf recovery and learn from the people of the land firsthand of their experiences living close to wolves.

“Oh, I saw that lone wolf alright,” said the first ranch manager we encountered north of Durkee.

“He came right through here. Good thing he kept moving.” Dressed in classic cowboy attire, with leather chaps, bolo tie and heavy belt, the rancher might have been from another century if it weren’t for the four-wheeler he sat on. As a man of the land, he gave us good advice to stay away from the road edges because goathead thorns were trouble for his cattle dog and would be for our bike tires, too. The land south of the Wallowa Mountains is dry and sparely populated, but longabandoned schoolhouses testify to a time when it was otherwise. Great herds of cattle, wildflowers and endless views of white peaks stretched across the northern horizon, but short grassland, in my view, gives little cover for a wolf—maybe that is why he kept moving.

The expedition mission was clear. To achieve it we set out to meet and interview as many people as we realistically could while following the GPS track of OR-7. An opportunity to interview wolf biologist Russ Morgan, from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the man who collared OR-7 on a cold February day in 2011, gave us insights into the science behind monitoring wolves and managing their impact on surrounding communities, both tacit and psychological.

The psychological role wolves tend to play in our relationship with them is influenced by centuries of stories and myths. Over millennia humans have made some unfortunate choices with severe impacts for our own survival and that of others—choices and actions taken either out of ignorance or fear. Thankfully, we sometimes also have the capacity to learn from our mistakes before it is too late. The wolves of the Pacific Northwest may be a case in point. Their recovery over the past few decades, I would argue, could have much to do with a better understanding of the facts, relying more on science and case studies rather than on fear or exaggerated stories.

Wolves, we have discovered, have a tendency to be on the receiving end of many of our own

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internal projections and prejudices while also being a convenient scapegoat. Wolves are a species that directly competes with us, as do most carnivores, particularly when one’s livelihood is dependent on ranching.

A rancher and his wife, both cut from a different cloth, befriended us during the expedition.

Responsible for the wellbeing of over 50 head of Wagyu cattle, they were interested in the numbers. “What percentage of my herd can I expect to lose to wolves should they return or settle nearby?” they asked. “Is it 2 percent, maybe 3 percent? That much we can probably handle, but if it’s closer to 10 percent, then we have a problem.” The ranchers were hungry for more information; they were excited about the many tested nonlethal methods of managing predators in a productive landscape and also in the benefits that wolves could bring, like controlling the elk population and keeping elk on the move and away from their hay fields.

This is just one example of the many different kinds of conversations and discussions we had along the way and around the campfire at night. It was these types of encounters that were at the heart of the expedition. By creating a documentary film, we hope to share many of these insights and interviews with a broader audience and keep the conversation alive as to how we can foster deeper coexistence, not only with wolves but also with coyotes, mountain lions and bears.

Lone Wolf Peak Crossing wilderness, national forest land, and other public lands, OR-7 followed, from what we could tell in retracing his route, a line that was determined by both opportunity and what wolves prefer as habitat. Who knows what drove him across the vast scrub deserts of central Oregon or along the edges of the Cascade Range. Was it the search for a mate? Maybe, but that would only be in the mating season. Was it to find a wolf haven filled with wildlife or sheep and cattle to eat?

It turns out it was neither. OR-7, from what we could stitch together, was simply being an ordinary wolf, eking out a survival in a landscape recently unfamiliar with wolves. He had no ill intent to kill cows or willfully destroy sheep. There is no documented evidence that he preyed on any livestock during his nearly two-year sojourn in southern Oregon and northern California.

But that could change. It was a fresh morning high in the Cascade Range when we noted on our map a small peak named Lone Wolf. The name struck me. Why was it called that? In times past was there a lone wolf that resided here? Who knows what the true stories are behind many of the names on maps. I was intent though to summit Lone Wolf Peak and see for myself. I left my team on the contour path we were following, dropped my pack and headed straight up a snow-covered slope, winding my way through giant burnt pines. After a short but vigorous push, I topped out on a small peak above the tree line to encounter an endless view into the Rogue River basin and the Siskiyou National Forest. It was a pivotal moment for me to see how far we had come over the past weeks and to appreciate the vastness of the land we were roaming through. If there was

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anywhere in the region that could harbor a wolf I thought, this was it. As it turned out I found myself on the edge of what is currently confirmed as OR-7’s new home range.

From the start, our expedition was filled with unexpected coincidences and synchronicity. On the very first day as we headed out to the start our quest, news broke that our lone wolf was no longer a lone wolf; he had found a mate. The natural question of pups arose immediately, and for weeks our team wondered if pups would be around. After taking in the view atop Lone Wolf Peak, I turned and headed back to the rest of the group. My teammates were all smiles. While I was away, they had found cellphone coverage and among the messages was the breaking news that OR-7 and his mate were confirmed to have at least two pups.

This news changed everything. It is one thing for landowners and farmers to be tolerant of a lone wolf. It is another thing to have a pack of wolves in their backwoods. I wondered how the story of OR-7 would continue. We followed an ordinary wolf, a wolf whose story could have remained unknown were it not for the GPS collar around his neck. His journey was testament to the progressive and collaborative efforts of many different role-players in Oregon, who came together to forge an effective statewide wolf management plan. Here is a state that is working hard, sometimes willingly, sometimes with resistance, but as a collective is making headway in doing things in a manner that benefits the many different species living on the land. That OR-7 managed to complete such a far-ranging dispersal without being killed or injured is as much a testament to his own skills as it is to the willingness of landowners to coexist with carnivores.

Science and monitoring can teach us much, but getting out there, bracing the elements, retracing the route of a wolf, not on Google Earth but on the ground through the forests, across the scrub lands, over peaks and along valley catchments, gives us a different insight into a species that is both intelligent and savvy, a species that deserves to be back in the woods of southwestern Oregon and northern California and a species whose wellbeing is a reflection of our own.

Living with wolves changes everything about how we live with the land and with ourselves. That much we learned by walking in the wake of OR-7.

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Rachael looks to the Wallowa Mountains. Photo: David Moskowitz.

Reflection: Wolves in the 21st Century —Rachael Pecore-Valdez The Wolf OR-7 Expedition team retraced Wolf OR-7’s dispersal route from NE Oregon into California to explore the challenges facing a wolf in the 21st century.

As part of the team, I walked and cycled across mountain wilderness, public rangelands and busy highways and wondered how the region has changed since my great, great grandfather moved to the Pacific Northwest as a logger in the late 1800’s. As the first known wolf west of the Cascade Mountains in well over half a century, Wolf OR-7 encountered a very different landscape than the one his predecessors knew. Viewed through the lens of the places and people we encountered along Wolf OR-7’s route, we reflected on a number of changes both in the physical and political landscape, including: human population, fire ecology, roads and traffic, political borders, natural resource use, research technology, and wilderness and species protections.

While many of the challenges Wolf OR-7 navigated on his 2011 journey from the Wallowa Mountains into the Cascade Mountain Range were quite different than those we encountered as humans, there were a number of instances that we found we could relate to wolves first-hand. In retracing a wolf ’s route, I couldn’t help but measure the landscape in terms of what I imagined were the top priorities of any wolf: a) stay hidden from their greatest predator (humans), b) find food and water, c) establish home range, and d) raise pups.

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Stay hidden: Wolves are secretive animals and generally avoid humans when possible. Nonetheless, I was still surprised at how few people, if any, we saw on a daily basis traveling along backcountry roads and trails. While hiking, we didn’t see a single other person on the trail in the Wallowa Mountains, Strawberry Mountains, or Sky Lakes Wilderness. On cycling days, we passed zero to three cars a day, except when we had to cross busy highways. Granted, we chose to travel in spring before the recreation season was in full swing, but even Memorial Day Weekend at a campground in the Ochoco National Forest was empty of other humans. Wolf OR-7 traveled in the fall, and would have had to navigate deer and elk hunters and the additional danger of being mistaken for a coyote. Even so, I was impressed by the expanse of wild lands in the state of Oregon, and the substantial fir, pine, and sagebrush forests that provided cover for a wolf to travel across the entire state largely undetected.

Oregon’s population has grown 8-fold since 1900, and California’s 25-fold, but population growth is largely concentrated in urban and suburban areas.1 Sprawling urban and suburban neighborhoods have transformed the landscape and reduced available habitat for wildlife, but the towns Wolf OR-7 brushed past such as Durkee, Brothers, Macdoel and Nubieber had all seen more populated days. A rancher we met near Durkee, in NE Oregon, pointed out an empty schoolhouse and said there used to be one about every 15 miles back in the day. The number of people making a living from ranching and farming in rural areas has greatly declined over the last century, and so too has the number of people concerned about livestock depredation.

Outside of rural areas, wolves are generally low on the list of hot button issues.

The formation of Oregon’s first government was inspired by “wolf meetings” held in the Willamette Valley in 1843, to discuss the issue of how to solve the problem of attacks on local livestock by wolves, bears and cougars. A system was created in which all residents contributed to a fund that would pay bounties for dead predators, and a committee was established to collect and distribute Oregon’s first local tax.2 Settlers systematically shot, poisoned and trapped wolves until the last recorded wild wolf in Oregon was killed in the Umpqua forest in 1946, for a bounty paid by the Oregon state government.3 In California the last wolf bounty was paid in 1924 in Lassen County.4 While Oregon and California state governments are now mandated to support wolf conservation efforts under the Endangered Species Act, humans continue to challenge the role of wolves as a keystone predator on the landscape and it behooves wolves to stay hidden.

We met some locals along Wolf OR-7’s route who were not excited that Wolf OR-7 had passed through, and were concerned about what wolf recovery meant for livestock, pets and even children in the area, and we met others who were hopeful the impacts of wolves could benefit rural areas. A cattle rancher and hay farmer outside of Sisters, Oregon wondered if the studies of wolves in Yellowstone National Park would translate to central Oregon, and change the behavior of local deer and elk populations. He hoped that wolves in the area would help keep elk

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on the move, and prevent them from setting up shop in his hay fields. He also protected coyote on his land, as he knew the population of rodents would be out of control without them.

Another rancher outside of Macdoel, California, who believed Wolf OR-7 had crossed right through his property, was interested in how to manage his land to benefit both cattle and wildlife.

He invited us over for a tour (and showers), and showed us how willow and aspen had returned after he fenced cattle off from the creek which in turn brought beaver (a preferred meal of wolves)5. He also was nearly finished replacing miles of the lowest strand of a barbed wire fence with a barbless wire, to avoid snagging birds such as the pygmy owl. Working out how to balance the needs of his family, cattle, water and wildlife was an ongoing experiment, but judging by the sheer beauty of the ranch and the number of birds we saw, it seemed to us he was making an impressive headway.

The fact that Wolf OR-7 is currently protected by both state and federal law under the Endangered Species Act, in Oregon and California, and that he is not only still alive but raising wolf pups marks a significant shift from the policies and fears of centuries past.

Find food and water: Wolves are opportunistic carnivores. Deer and elk rank high on their list of favorite foods, but large prey is more difficult to hunt as a lone wolf. Beaver, squirrels, rabbit, mice and even road kill were likely on the menu of Wolf OR-7. If there was something we could count on everyday on the trail, it was sharing the road with the tracks of deer, ground squirrel, and often elk. It appeared to me, that were I even half the hunter that a wolf is, there were ample opportunities to be well-fed as a carnivore.

Hunting is not easy, and wolves may go days without catching anything at all. However, adult wolves have the capacity to eat 30 pounds in one sitting. They will gorge, nap and attempt to return to a kill again, but often end up sharing it with ravens, crows, and other wildlife who may not be as gifted in hunting as the wolf.

On day four of the expedition, we left for a three hour cycle ride to Durkee, where we planned to meet up with our support van for lunch. Turned around by un-mapped private property, and slowed down by over 20 flat tires from a recent plant invader called the goathead thorn, we learned the hard way what it means to travel for long distances without food. I never left camp without packing lunch again.

There were days where we had to plan our water stops, and filter water from a stream in order to have enough water to drink and cook with at the end of the day. One day on bicycles, we even knocked on the door of a house and gratefully filled our water bottles up with a garden hose.

Wolf OR-7 likely met his water needs directly from the water-weight of his prey, and from streams, lakes and rivers where available. The warmest day we encountered was in California,

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while traveling into Lassen County which even in spring appeared very dry. When we turned back North towards Oregon, I for one was looking forward to greener, water blessed pastures ahead.

Establish Home Range: Wolf OR-7’s dispersal, and the appearance of his mate, may demonstrate that there is more or less functional connectivity of suitable wolf habitat from NE to SW Oregon.

Wolf OR-7 left his natal range in the Wallowa Mountains at 2 and ½ years old, an age where wolves typically strike out to find their own territory and a mate. Wolf OR-7 had been collared by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife just 6 months before, which is the only reason we are aware of his route and movements. GPS-collars are a relatively new technology within the last 15 years, and a new realm of contact for wolves with humans. The decision to collar an animal is not taken lightly as there are risks to both the biologist and wolf. A sister of Wolf OR-7 was collared at the same time, and was found dead just a few days later of unknown causes. One theory is that the shock or trauma of being collared may have played a role.

When Wolf OR-7 dispersed, he crossed a number of dangerous highways including Hwy 20 and 97, a relatively new challenge for the 21st century wolf. Data indicates that high volume roads strongly deter animals from attempting to cross at all, and low trafficked roads present a lower risk for animals that do try to cross. It turns out that the roads with the greatest amount of roadkill, are the roads with medium levels of traffic. There isn’t enough traffic to completely deter animals from trying to cross, but there’s enough traffic that the risk of getting hit is greater.6 We hit Hwy 20 one windy afternoon. Reaching the road after days in the relative quiet of the Ochoco, Strawberry and Monument Rock wilderness, the highway felt like a terrifying, sensory attack of semi-trucks and cars. The rumble strip just inches from my bike tires was sobering, while it may serve to alert a driver to stay on the road, with just a two foot shoulder a meandering vehicle would’ve been the end of the road for me. We cycled in a pack to draft off one another and make it safer for cars to pass us, and I pedaled like mad just to get out of there sooner. Wolf OR-7 covered the same distance from just north of Burns to Paulina Crater in more or less a direct line in about two days. Who knows what made him cover that distance in such a short time, but when the sight of the Three Sisters Peaks emerged from the horizon of high-desert sagebrush, I was eager to push on towards the quiet and shade of the Cascade Mountains.

The Cascades were still days ahead, but we took refuge from the elements at Brothers Café, in Brothers OR and sat down for the most delicious breakfast of fried eggs, hash browns, bacon and coffee ever. Owned by two sisters, one of them told us that farmers nearby had heard the howl of a wolf back in 2011 when Wolf OR-7 crossed the highway.

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The athleticism of wolves astounds me. Wolf OR-7 did far more than 1,200 miles on his route.

He backtracked, circled round, and likely covered more than 3,000 miles of terrain before staking his current territory in the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest.

In the Pacific Northwest, wolves live primarily in mid-elevation, forested wildlands, where food sources can also be found. The various jurisdictions of land ownership, from private land to protected wilderness, are difficult to navigate on the ground, even for humans (we worked from three different maps which often showed three different things). Wolves are generally welcome in wilderness areas, but wilderness areas have primarily been assigned to high elevation habitat, which is much less valuable biologically for wolves. Wide-ranging animals like wolves, require room to move, and without corridors or connectivity to adjacent landscapes the risk of humanwildlife conflict with human settlements increases.

Raise pups: Wolves mate only once a year, usually around late February in the Northwest.

Following their food sources, they move into lower elevations for the most sensitive time of year for wolves, pup-rearing. It’s no mistake that wolf pups are born around the same time as fawns and elk calves. Unfortunately, this also coincides with the time that beef cattle drop their calves too, which tempts the greatest potential for strife between humans and wolves.

Wolves in the Northwest: In Oregon, as of the last census there are 4.9 million people, around 25,000 black bears, 5,000 cougars and according to the 2013 count by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at least 64 wolves.1,7 In California, there are 38 million people, over 25,000 black bears, an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 cougars, and Wolf OR-7.8 In the U.S., there are about 1,500 species on the U.S. Endangered and Threatened species list including gray wolves.9 What changed between the years where the U.S. Department of Rodent Control was charged to exterminate wolves across the U.S., to the present day where the U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife is now required to restore and protect wolves and other endangered and threatened species on the landscape?

There are many fascinating books and articles on the subject, but to me, it’s a testament to a trait humans share with wolves, adaptability. Perhaps more than any other animal, we as humans, have the capacity to change.

Spending over one month of my life out of doors on the move, eating dried food, drinking from streams and sleeping under the stars changed me, and not just the strength of my thighs and calves. Learning first-hand from the places and people we met along Wolf OR-7’s route has transformed the way I see the Northwest. I saw a region divided along contentious rural/urban

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lines, and now I see individuals whose shared humanity is greater than our differences over wildlife management.

The whole expedition was so far outside of my comfort zone that every day I’d wake up wondering which of my fears I’d have to face that day. To get to camp every evening I pushed my limits beyond what I thought I was capable of, but with the support of many, many people… I did it. Through the people who supported the expedition from afar, and the people we met along the way, I have more hope than ever that we as humans have the capacity to ask questions, listen to new information, get to know one another and come up with solutions that will leave our fears behind in the dust.

References: 1. U.S. Census Bureau. “Population in the U.S.” Google. U.S. Census Bureau, 2013. U.S. Census Data. Web. July 9, 2014.

2.Bevan, Dane. “Public Meeting at Champoeg, 1843.” The Oregon History Project. Oregon Historical Society, 2004. Web. 9 July, 2014.

3. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan – History of Wolves in Oregon. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2010. Web. July 9, 2014.

4. California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Gray Wolf (Canis Lupus).” California Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2014. Web. July 9, 2014.

5. Mokowitz, David. Wolves in the Land of Salmon. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2011. Print.

6. Seiler, Andreas. “Ecological Effects of Roads: A review.” Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2001. Web. July 9, 2014.

7. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Frequently Asked Questions about Wolves in Oregon.” Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2014. Web. July 9, 2014.

8. California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Black Bear Population Information, 2012.”

“Commonly Asked Questions about Mountain Lions, 2007.” California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Web July 9, 2014.

9. U.S. Fish and Wildlife. “Endangered Species.” U.S. Fish and Wildlife. 2013. Web. July 9, 2014

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Expedition Report —Galeo Saintz A Journey of Surprises Who could have guessed that the day we set out on the Wolf OR-7 Expedition news would arrive announcing Oregon’s lone Wolf OR-7 had found a mate? And then, although we had thought about it and speculated, we did not expect to hear the day we entered into OR-7′s new home range in southwest Oregon, that he was now the father of the first wolf pack in the region in over half a century, and with at least two pups in the den.

Our expedition mission was to explore coexistence with wolves and to understand the challenges faced by a wolf in the 21st century in the Pacific Northwest. We also planned to share those insights via social media and a documentary account, and as an adventure to cycle and hike hundreds of miles across Oregon and into northern California, which we did. It is now – Mission Accomplished!

Inspiring Support It is thanks to highly supportive sponsors, in-kind donors and the many conservation organizations across the Pacific Northwest and beyond, who gave us their endorsement, that we were able to get out there in the first place. Our Kickstarter funders are true champions though, for funding the documentary and educational products we are now producing. In the next few months we will begin the process of turning all the hours of video recorded and the many thousands of photographs into a form that we can share with you all.

No one comes away from an expedition like this without learning something new or being changed in some way. This is a brief summary of insights, what we encountered and what is to follow.

Challenges Faced by Wolves in the 21st Century While many of the challenges Wolf OR-7 navigated on his 2011 journey from the Wallowa Mountains into the Cascade Mountains and onwards into California, were quite different from those we encountered as humans, he had to contend with: a) Staying hidden from their greatest predator (humans), including fall hunters and being mistaken for a coyote b) Hunting for food and water, c) Establishing a home range, d) Raising pups, and e) Avoiding dangerous roads. In a sense the greatest challenge is the common ground we share with wolves over shared resources, and how we make space for both wolves and humans going into the future.

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Encounters and Tracks Our encounters and sightings along the route included not only finding the tracks of many wild animals, from bear to mountain lion and wolf, but also included encounters with the people of the land. Ranchers and park rangers, shop owners and generous strangers, were amongst those who inspired us through their stories. Meeting with a coalition of conservation organizations working towards wolf recovery in the region was an opportunity for further sharing of insights.

Not to mention our up-close encounters with swarms of mosquitoes in the Cascade Mountains.

On every occasion we were able to have conversations that were inspiring, enlightening or simply insightful regarding wolves returning to their historic rangelands. We came to appreciate that Wolf OR-7’s story is an important one not just in that it is the story of an actual wolf, but because it is just one story, and there are many more that make the lands he passed through what they are. Respecting and listening to the stories and views of others is a starting point for beginning to see wolves without the mask of history. It is a beginning point for practicing coexistence.

Education for Wild Peace Education can take many forms. While we blogged and sent out press releases during the adventure and answered questions emailed to us, we also learnt a thing or two ourselves; that wildlife tracking could be an integral tool to understand and better coexist with the ‘wild things.’

Understanding how wolves, mountain lions, bears or coyotes use an area through their tracks and sign might be helpful for recreationalists to avoid surprise encounters, and to livestock producers to determine when and where to graze sheep or to step up protective measures to avoid conflict.

An Extended Team of Support On any expedition there are the ones out there bracing the elements, but there are many others behind the scenes that make that possible. Our team support grew the further we went.

Volunteers brought food and offered educational and social media support, even sponsoring our fuel and the use of the logistics vehicle – the ‘Millennium Falcon’, tubes for bikes that had seen one too many punctures or hot showers at the end of a long day. We were humbled by the support. You all know who you are, and together you helped make this awareness campaign and expedition a success. Thank you.

Presentations, Talks, Media, Interviews and the Documentary Our media exposure during the expedition was supported through the on-going media Wolf OR-7 himself was attracting at the same time with the news of a mate and pups. Social media reached further than anticipated in many cases. We now have numerous talks and presentations scheduled in California, Oregon and Washington – if you or your organization would like to host

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an evening slideshow and talk, drop us an email. A feature article is confirmed for the International Wolf Journal, and article propositions are being considered by Outside magazine (USA), Resurgence (UK), Terra Mater (Europe) amongst others. The documentary footage we have collated to date includes hours of interviews with wolf ecologists, ranchers, conservationists and others. Telling the story and reaching a growing audience continues.

Kickstarter Rewards Currently in production are our bandanas, an E-book, a timelapse of the route, and finally a documentary of the journey. Our on-going requests for talks and presentations for the public are encouraging and hopefully we can play our small part in helping to share the science and reality of wolves.

Adventure and Awareness Who knows where Wolf OR-7 and his new family pack will travel next? Who knows where any of his offspring will choose to roam as more wolves continue their recovery in the Pacific Northwest? We don’t know, but by keeping curiosity alive for wolves we hope to see an understanding and tolerance for their presence in the landscape continue.

As a society, we have the technology, the knowledge and will continually need to work on the willingness to find both common ground and effective solutions to managing the challenges carnivores present to a modern agricultural landscape. The people we met along the route of this expedition are testament to the above.

The Next Adventure . . .

As Wild Peace Alliance moves on to new projects, we are exploring how we can consolidate what we have learned from this expedition, including the possibility of supporting a Wolf OR-7 field term for students, teachers and other adventurers to retrace the expedition route we took, to learn about tracking and wolf ecology and to encounter wild moments of beauty and the people of the the Northwest.

We will keep you posted.

With thanks, Galeo, Rachael, Jay, David, Michelle, Daniel 

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Wolf Stories The Death of Stories —Rachael Pecore-Valdez How have the stories of Little Red Riding Hood, Ivan and the Gray Wolf, and the Wolf ’s Eyelashes survived? Why do people keep telling these old stories?

In 2013, I took a storytelling course at the International School of Storytelling and as plans were already underway for the Wolf OR-7 Expedition, fellow storytellers naturally began to send me wolf stories. I collected wolf fables, folktales, myths, and true-life tales of wolves from around the world.

Stories inspire, teach and connect us. Many stories reside in the realm of psychology, and the wolves in the stories I collected seemed to reflect more about human nature than the nature of wolves. As I flirted with layers of meaning in these wolf stories, two different wolves emerged: the symbolic wolf of human psychology, and the physical wolf we know through science and chance encounters.

As a storyteller, I loathe telling other people about the lessons and symbolism in stories. That’s a journey for each listener to take on themselves. A good story has endless tunnels of meaning, and wolves quite clearly inspire different things for different people.

This was succinctly illustrated by a couple folks who kindly took the time to comment on a photographic time-lapse of our journey posted on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s website: Wolf Killer: “I hope the wolf eats you and then dies. The most useless animal ever created. They will be hunted again and this time it will be to extinction. They are cruel and wipe out herds of animals beyond repair. Stupid $%*&*&#, *&%*$%!”

Awo1fie57: “I am shocked and appalled by your hatred and ignorance. You are totally uneducated about them. They are one of the most beautiful and important of God's creatures. You need to fall on your gun and pull the trigger. That would be ridding the world of the most useless creature. I grew up with wolves. They are amazing. You are a waste of air.”

What is it about wolves that trigger such strong reactions in people? I’m not a psychologist, but it’s tempting to diagnose reactions such as these as crazy. Before setting foot on the expedition, I was warned by conservationists, biologists and livestock producers alike that I would need thick skin to endure all sides of this polarized issue. My skin is so thin I can see my blue veins pulsing.

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Pre-expedition these kind of comments would have frazzled me, but after a year of planning the Wolf OR-7 Expedition and pressing on through personal fears of cold calls, media, being hated and disliked, avalanches and death, of bicycling near fast cars, of physical pain, of team conflict, of scary men in the woods… these comments just gave me a good, belly-shaking laugh, and I understood what wolves in these old stories symbolize to me.

The wolf that ate Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, Anubis the Egyptian wolf-jackal who guides souls to the underworld, the she-wolf that nurtured Romulus and Remus of Italy, the gray wolf who gave Tsarevich Ivan the water of death and life, the wolf St. Francis tamed, and the wolf ’s eyelashes that saved Akiko… are stories in which a wolf takes life, and/or gives renewed life.

Wolves make their living by killing to eat, just like cougars, bears, orcas, sharks, hawks, owls and humans. It takes thick skin to face death gracefully, to face transformation and change. It isn’t pretty. Wolves kill and eat hoofed animals and in turn give the willows, aspen and other trees a break from being killed by vegetarian grazers. It’s the cycle of death, and life.

Perhaps these old stories provide a home for the ongoing conundrums and questions of life and death between generations. The death of livestock by wild carnivores reflects a question humans have grappled with since the advent of residential agriculture, a question of whether wilderness and civilization can truly coexist. Can the untamed, unpredictable nature of the wild coexist with the comfort, security and control of civilization?

The return of wolves is controversial for many reasons; wildlife managers receive more public participation and comments on wolf management decisions than any other animal. I can’t say why wolves elicit such strong emotions in people, but my sense is that these old stories are alive only because they’re still relevant; waiting just below the surface to grab the unsuspecting person in the mental space between a wild mountain top and a comfortable café.

The end.

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The Creation of North America and the Wolf Tradition: Skidi Pawnee, Native American, included in Wolf Stories by Susan Strauss.

Image: Moonlight, Wolf, ca. 1909. Frederic Remington

Before there was earth… before the dawn… before there was light… there was Tirawa, the great creating one… and Tirawa was calling across the heavens… calling the spirits along the sky path… calling the Powers of the Four Directions, calling them all together in one great creation council. Together they began to sing… singing and shaking their rattles. And as they sang, winds began to whip across the heavens… winds whipped up clouds… clouds gathered in deep, dark pools. And then Tirawa took a rose quartz pebble and dropped it. Easily, it fell in among the clouds… and then the Lightning and Thunder struck right through the rose quartz. The storm began to subside. The clouds split and floated away… and below the creators of heaven was a vast ocean.

Now, the Powers of the Four Directions lifted their war clubs and hit these waters… spilling up great tidal waves… revealing the lands of the earth. But it was not until the Lightning and the Thunder Beings struck the earth that there was life in it.

Tirawa knew that the waters of the earth were not good to drink, and so again he began to call across the heavens… calling together the spirits… and the spirits began to sing… singing and shaking their rattles… and as they sang, winds whipped across the ground, carving deep ravines in the solid earth… and storm clouds began to gather… and poured their rains into these

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ravines. But it was not until the Lightning and Thunder Beings struck into the water… and the water carried the sound of Thunder within its rolling that Tirawa knew these waters were sweet to drink.

And so on and on the spirits of the sky path sang our world into existence… all of them were there except for one… the forgotten one… the wolf.

Far off in the southeastern sky, the wolf star watched and wondered. Curious about the creation below, the wolf star sent itself down to the earth in the form of a gray wolf… and began tracking upon the land.

Now, the creation council decided to send someone down to examine their creation. They sent down Thunderer.

Thunderer was a magnificent being. He was made from the storm clouds out of the West. His mother, the evening star, wove for him a whirlwind sack. His father, the morning star, gathered stars from across the sky path and poured them into the sack.

These stars would be the first human beings. Thunderer slung the whirlwind sack across his back and set out across the earth. Each time Thunderer stepped down to the earth, lightning bolts struck the ground. Out of his blackened footsteps, buffalo leapt up and ran out across the plains.

At times, Thunderer would stand on the earth as a great giant of a man and set his whirlwind sack down. At once, human people would spill out. Some set up their lodges, and others ran off to hunt buffalo. Then they would prepare a great feast for Thunderer. Thunderer was delighted with these little human people. When the feast was finished, he set his whirlwind sack on the ground and sucked them back up inside.

In this way, Thunderer traveled on. All the while, the wolf was tracking his footsteps. When the wolf finally came upon Thunderer, he was sleeping up against the front range of the Rocky Mountains… using the whirlwind sack as a pillow.

The wolf crept up slowly… thinking that there was something to eat in the sack, he crept closer and nipped at the sack… he nipped it… pulled it… pulled it… pulled it loose from under Thunderer’s sleeping head… grasped it in his jaws, leapt back, and ran off across the grasslands.

The wolf ran far into the south grasslands before he dropped the sack. When he was far enough away, he set the sack on the earth, and out piled the human people. They set up their lodges, and some went off to hunt buffalo.

One old woman noticed the wolf. Thinking he was Thunderer in another form, she fed the wolf some dried buffalo meat. The wolf lapped it up. But the others, who had gone off to hunt buffalo, couldn’t find any buffalo, and they began to wonder… “Who is that strange animal? An evil spirit?”

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Table of Contents Then, from across the plains, they saw Thunderer coming… with his long lightning strides. At once they thought, “That animal… he must be an evil spirit!” They ran back to the old woman’s lodge. They lifted their arrows and shot. The wolf whined… loped for a step or two… and dropped.

Then, outside the lodge, they heard a powerful storm gathering… SSSSHHHOOO! They piled out of the lodge, and there before them stood Thunderer.

Thunder said, “Ooooh. Look what you have done. You have killed an animal you did not understand. Because you have killed something before you understood it, death, another mystery, will now live in its place. Ooooh, I would have carried you forever in my whirlwind sack, but now death will live with you in the world.”

Thunderer told the people to take the skin of this animal and make a sacred bundle from it and hang it in their lodge, facing the North Star. He told them that soon there would be many animals like this one. They will be called Skidihk, the wolf. “And you,” he said, “you will be called the Skidi Pawnee, the Wolf People. In your name, and in death… you will always remember to respect the mysterious one.”

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The Wolf ’s Eyelashes Text translated from Japanese, included in Wolf Stories by Susan Strauss Image: Timber Wolf by HOTNStock

There once lived a wealthy tradesman who had a daughter named Akiko. Akiko was generous and well-loved. Early in her life, her mother died and her father remarried a woman who was sharp-tongued and mean. Envy surged through every inch of the new wife’s soul. She tried to weaken Akiko’s grace and charm by ordering her to take on extra household tasks. Although the work loomed before her like an immense mountain, Akiko worked until it was done… and she still managed to greet visitors at the door with a smile and beggars with a bowl of rice.

“Oh! She consoles every lost soul!” complained the wife to her husband at night. “If I didn’t watch her, she would give everything away and make beggars of us all.” The jealous, scheming wife pushed a wedge between Akiko and her father whenever she got a chance. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so easy for her to give money away if it were hers. Every beggar knows where to get a handout and they flock to this house. Are those the kind of people you want here when customers come to visit? You will see. Your customers will go elsewhere!”

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No matter how hard Akiko worked, the wicked wife’s complaints increased. When accused, Akiko stood silently before her father… head bowed… hiding the tears that welled up in her eyes.

Being a proper Japanese girl, she never defended herself.

Still, the next day Akiko was back at work with a smile and good will in her voice. This only served to anger the wicked wife more. “I don’t know why,” she thought to herself, “but I hate her… her smile… her voice… everything.” Then, on New Year’s Eve day, her hatred finally found its way… “Oh, now look!” The wife flew into a fury. “Akiko cooked old rice for the festive meal! The God of Happiness will be offended. We will have bad luck for a whole year.” The tradesman sent Akiko out of the house that day to make her own way.

Alone and forlorn, Akiko wandered from shop to shop. No one needed her. “Strange for a girl from such a family to wander the streets,” they whispered behind her back.

Soon, she became weak from lack of food or a place to rest and begged at an innkeeper’s door, “Please, honorable sir, I need some food. Will you take my quilted coat in exchange for some hot rice with fish and a cup of tea?”

“Give me your coat,” said the innkeeper. “How can I know its worth if I don’t sell it first?” He snatched her coat and shut the door before she could give him an answer. Trustingly, Akiko waited on the step. Dressed only in her thin kimono, she waited. “That good coat should bring a few coins from the pawnshop,” she thought, “and then, I will have a bowl of warm food.” Once again, Akiko’s spirits became bright. As she imaged the hot rice with fish, she went on to imagine working in a fine house with light-filled rooms and flowers for arranging. But her imagination grew thin as the waiting time passed on into the evening and the cold nipped at her through her kimono. She knocked at the innkeeper’s door again. “Please sir, may I wait inside until your servant returns with the coins from the coat?”

“You again?” shouted the innkeeper. “What a nuisance you are. You will discourage customers.

Get out or else I’ll turn the dog loose on you.”

But Akiko was already running… running from her shame, running from the glares of the strangers in the street. It began to snow. Akiko grabbed an old sack from a garbage pile and kept running… running for the forest at the edge of town. “I would rather die in the forest than on any street in town,” she thought. “Let the wolves eat me like people say they do. It is winter. The wolves must be hungry. In no time, they will find me and end my miserable life.”

When Akiko entered the forest, she was somehow quieted… somehow comforted. She walked through the trees now hanging with snow. On and on she walked. With each step, she welcomed the imaginary wolf from the darkness that surrounded her.

Now, deep in the forest, she suddenly heard a slow growl. Crouched low and cautious… a wolf crept from the shadows. Akiko dropped to her knees, “Wolf, swallow me.” The wolf circled back

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upon its tracks but never dropped its gaze. “I don’t eat human beings,” it said. “Real human beings are rare… but you surely are one.”

At once, Akiko became curious. “How can you tell that I’m really human?” she asked.

“Through my eyelashes I can see who you are,” said the wolf. “Here, take these two. When you are walking in a town, look through them and you will see the truth. Do not trust whatever someone tells you. Trust only what you see through my lashes.”

Akiko thanked the wolf and set off at once to the nearest town to see for herself how the wolf ’s gift worked. When she arrived in the town, Akiko seated herself at a busy intersection and watched people rush about their business with bundles and baskets. Some people were elegantly dressed. “These people look so respectable. Should I trust them? I’ll try the wolf ’s eyelashes.”

At once everything changed. Now the woman dressed in silk had a hen’s head sticking out of her kimono, jerking greedily as if pecking for seeds. She was followed by several servants with the heads of mice and fish. A merchant strutted by with a pig’s head emerging from his fine kimono.

Across the street, another merchant poked his fox’s head from a doorway… his eyes darted quickly back and forth about the street. Not one human being walked among the crowd.

Akiko was ready to leave in despair when she saw a poor woodworker who did not change when she looked at him through the wolf ’s eyelashes. She followed him down the street and out into the country. When she caught up to him near his home, the woodworker said, “Who are you? You have been following me like a ghost!”

Akiko told him her story, and the woodworker took her into his home and fed her… although he had little to share. In time, Akiko grew strong. In time, they built a beautiful inn out of his small home. And in time, they fell in love.

Then one day, Akiko found a spring nearby, magically flowing with a fine rice wine. People came from miles around to visit the inn with this famous fine wine, and soon their business prospered.

Always, Akiko had a bowl of hot rice with fish for passing beggars and monks. One such beggar wept at her generosity. “Oh,” he said, “years ago I turned out my own daughter, who was as generous as you. And now, who knows if she still lives. Oh, I deserve this hard luck, which is an equal match for my once hard heart.” This beggar was, of course, Akiko’s own father. Akiko forgave her father and told him the story of how the wolf ’s special way of seeing saved her.

Akiko’s father came to live with her and her new husband and to care for his new grandchild… often retelling the family story of the wolf ’s eyelashes.

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Tsarevich Ivan and Grey Wolf Text translated from Russian by Bernard Isaacs, in Vasilisa the Beautiful: Russian Fairy Tales Image: Ivan Tsarevich riding the Gray Wolf by Viktor Vasnetsov

Once upon a time there was a Tsar named Berendei, and he had three sons, the youngest of whom was called Ivan.

Now the Tsar had a beautiful garden with an apple-tree in it that bore golden apples.

One day the Tsar found that somebody was visiting his garden and stealing his golden apples.

The Tsar was very unhappy about this. He sent watchmen into the garden, but they were unable to catch the thief.

The Tsar was so grieved that he would not touch food or drink. His sons tried to cheer him.

“Do not grieve, Father dear,” they said, “we shall keep watch over the garden ourselves.”

Said the eldest son: “Today it is my turn to keep watch.”

And he went into the garden. He walked about for a long time but saw no one, so he flung himself down on the soft grass and went to sleep.

In the morning the Tsar said to him: “Come, now, have you brought me good news? Have you discovered who the thief is?”

“No, Father dear. That the thief was not there I am ready to swear. I did not close my eyes all night, but I saw no one.”

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On the following night the middle son went out to keep watch, and he, too, went to sleep and in the morning said he had seen no one.

It was now the youngest son’s turn to go and keep watch. Tsarevich Ivan went to watch his father’s garden and he did not dare so much as to sit down, let alone lie down. If he felt that he was getting sleepy, he would wash his face in dew and become wide awake again.

Half the night passed by, and all of a sudden what should he see but a light shining in the garden.

Brighter and brighter it grew, and it lit up everything around. Tsarevich Ivan looked, and there in the apple-tree he saw the Fire-Bird pecking at the golden apples.

Tsarevich Ivan crept up to the tree and caught the bird by the tail. But the Fire-Bird broke free of his grasp and flew away, leaving a feather from its tail in his hand.

In the morning Tsarevich Ivan went to his father.

“Well, my son, have you caught the thief ?” asked the Tsar.

“No, Father,” said Tsarevich Ivan, “I have not caught him, but I have discovered who he is. See, he sends you this feather as a keepsake. The Fire-Bird is the thief, Father.”

The Tsar took the feather, and from that time he became cheerful again and began to eat and drink. But one fine day he fell to thinking about the Fire-Bird and, calling his sons to his side, said: “My dear sons, I would have you saddle your trusty steeds and set out. The eldest son took one road, the middle son another, and Tsarevich Ivan a third.

Whether Tsarevich Ivan was long on the way or not, no one can say, but one day, it being summer and very warm, he felt so tired that he got off his horse, and binding its feet so that it could not go very far, lay down to rest.

Whether he slept for a long time or a little time nobody knows, but when he woke up he found that his horse was gone. He went to look for it, he walked and he walked, and at last he found its remains: nothing but bones, picked clean. Tsarevich Ivan was greatly grieved. How could he continue his journey without a horse?

“Ah, well,” he thought, “it cannot be helped, and I must make the best of it.”

And he went on on foot. He walked and walked till he was so tired that he was ready to drop. He sat down on the soft grass, and he was very sad and woebegone. Suddenly, lo and behold! Who should come running up to him but Grey Wolf.

“Why are you sitting here so sad and sorrowful, Tsarevich Ivan?” asked Grey Wolf.

“How can I help being sad Grey Wolf ! I have lost my trusty steed.”

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“It was I who ate up your horse, Tsarevich Ivan. But I am sorry for you. Come, tell me, what are you doing so far from home and where are you going?

“My father has sent me out into the wide world to seek the Fire-Bird.”

“Has he now? Well, you could not have reached the Fire-Bird on that horse in three years. I alone know where it lives. So be it – since I have eaten up your horse, I will be your true and faithful servant. Get on my back and hold fast.”

Tsarevich Ivan got on his back and Grey Wolf was off in a flash. Blue lakes skimmed past ever so fast, green forests swept by in the wink of an eye, and at last they came to a castle with a high wall round it.

“Listen carefully, Tsarevich Ivan,” said Grey Wolf, “and remember what I say. Climb over that wall. You have nothing to fear – we have come at a lucky hour, all the guards are sleeping. In a chamber within the tower you will see a window, in that window hangs a golden cage, and in that cage is the Fire-Bird. Take the bird and hide it in your bosom, but mind you do not touch the cage!”

Tsarevich Ivan climbed over the wall and saw the tower with the golden cage in the window and the Fire-Bird in the cage. He took the bird out and hid it in his bosom, but he could not tear his eyes away from the cage.

“Ah, what a handsome golden cage it is!” he thought longingly. “How can I leave it here!”

And he forgot all about the Wolf ’s warning. But the moment he touched the cage, a hue and cry arose within the castle – trumpets began to blow, drums began to beat, and the guards woke up, seized Tsarevich Ivan and marched him off to Tsar Afron.

“Who are you and whence do you hail?” Tsar Afron demanded angrily.

“I am Tsarevich Ivan, son of Tsar Berendei.”

“Fie, shame on you! To think of the son of a tsar being a thief !”

“Well, you should not have let your bird steal apples from our garden.”

“If you had come and told me about it in an honest way, I would have made you a present of the Bird out of respect for your father, Tsar Berendei. But no I shall spread the ill fame of your family far and wide. Or no – perhaps I will not, after all. If you do what I tell you, I shall forgive you. In a certain stardom there is a Tsar named Kusman and he has a Horse with a Golden Mane. Bring me that Horse and I will make you a gift of the Fire-Bird and the cage besides.”

Tsarevich Ivan felt very sad and crestfallen, and he went back to Grey Wolf.

“I told you not to touch the cage,” said the Wolf. “Why did you not heed my warning?”

“I am sorry, Grey Wolf, please forgive me.”

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“You are sorry, are you? Oh, well, get on my back again. I gave my word, and I must not go back on it. A truth that all good folk accept is that a promise must be kept.”

And off went Grey Wolf with Tsarevich Ivan on his back. Whether they travelled for a long or a little time nobody knows, but at last they came to the castle where the Horse with the Golden Mane was kept.

“Climb over the wall, Tsarevich Ivan, the guards are asleep,” said the Grey Wolf. “Go to the stable and take the Horse but mind you do not touch the bridle.”

Tsarevich Ivan climbed over the castle wall and, all the guards being asleep, he went to the stable and caught Golden Mane. But he could not help picking up the bridle – it was made of gold and set with precious stones – a fitting bridle for such a horse.

No sooner had Tsarevich Ivan touched the bridle than a hue and cry was raised within the castle.

Trumpets began to blow, drums began to beat, and the guards woke up, seized Tsarevich Ivan and marched him off to Tsar Kusman.

“Who are you and whence do you hail?” the Tsar demanded.

“I am Tsarevich Ivan.”

“A tsar’s son stealing horses! What a foolish thing to do! A common peasant would not stoop to it.

But I shall forgive you, Tsarevich Ivan, if you do what I tell you. Tsar Dalmat has a daughter named Yelena the Fair. Steal her and bring her to me, and I shall make you a present of my Horse with the golden Mane and of the bridle besides.”

Tsarevich Ivan felt more sad and crestfallen than ever, and he went back to Grey Wolf.

“I told you not to touch the bridle, Tsarevich Ivan!” said the Wolf. “Why did you not heed my warning!”

“I am sorry, Grey Wolf, please forgive me.”

“Being sorry won’t do much good. Oh, well, get on my back again.”

And off went Grey Wolf with Tsarevich Ivan. By and by they came to the stardom of Tsar Dalmat, and in the garden of his castle Yelena the Fair was strolling with her women and maids.

“This time I shall do everything myself,” said Grey Wolf.

“You go back the way we came and I will soon catch up with you.”

So Tsarevich Ivan went back the way he had come, and Grey Wolf jumped over the wall into the garden. He crouched behind a bush and peeped out, and there was Yelena the Fair strolling about with all her women and maids. After a time she fell behind them, and Grey Wolf at once seized her, tossed her across his back, jumped over the wall and took to his heels.

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Tsarevich Ivan was walking back the way he had come, when all of a sudden his heart leapt with joy, for there was grey Wolf with Yelena the fair on his back! “You get on my back too, and be quick about it, or they may catch us,” said Grey Wolf.

Grey Wolf sped down the path with Tsarevich Ivan and Yelena the fair on his back. Blue lakes skimmed past ever so fast, green forests swept by in the wink of an eye. Whether they were long on the way or not nobody knows, but by and by they came to Tsar Kusman’s tsardom.

“Why are you so silent and sad, Tsarevich Ivan?” asked Grey Wolf.

“How can I help being sad, Grey Wolf !” It breaks my heart to part with such loveliness. To think that I must exchange Yelena the Fair for a horse!”

“You need not part with such loveliness, we shall hide her somewhere. I will turn myself into Yelena the Fair and you shall take me to the Tsar instead.”

So they hid Yelena the Fair in a hut in the forest, and Grey Wolf turned a somersault, and was at once changed into Yelena the Fair. Tsarevich Ivan took him to Tsar Kusman, and the Tsar was delighted and thanked him over and over again.

“Thank you for bringing me a bride, Tsarevich Ivan,” said he.

“Now the Horse with the golden Mane is yours, and the bridle too.”

Tsarevich Ivan mounted the horse and went back for Yelena the Fair. He put her on the horse’s back and away they rode!

Tsar Kusman held a wedding and feast to celebrate it and he feasted the whole day long, and when bedtime came he led his bride into the bedroom. But when he got into bed with her what should he see but the muzzle of a wolf instead of the face of his young wife! So frightened was the Tsar that he tumbled out of bed, and Grey Wolf sprang up and ran away.

He caught up with Tsarevich Ivan and said: “Why are you sad, Tsarevich Ivan?”

“How can I help being sad! I cannot bear to think of exchanging the Horse with the Golden Mane for the fire-Bird.”

“Cheer up, I will help you, said the Wolf.

Soon they came to the tsardom of Tsar Afron.

“Hide the horse and Yelena the fair,” said the Wolf. I will turn myself into Golden Mane and you shall take me to Tsar Afron.”

So they hid Yelena the Fair and Golden Mane in the woods, and Grey Wolf turned a somersault and was changed into Golden Mane. Tsarevich Ivan led him off to Tsar Afron, and the Tsar was delighted and gave him the Fire-Bird and the golden cage too.

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Tsarevich Ivan went back to the woods, put Yelena the Fair on Golden Mane’s back and, taking the golden cage with the Fire-Bird in it, set off homewards.

Meanwhile Tsar Afron had the gift horse brought to him, and he was just about to get on its back when it turned into a grey wolf. So frightened was the Tsar that he fell down where he stood, and Grey Wolf ran away and soon caught up with Tsarevich Ivan.

“And now I must say good-bye,” said he, “for I can go no farther.”

Tsarevich Ivan got off the horse, bowed low tree times, and thanked Grey Wolf humbly.

“Do not say good-bye for good, for you may still have need of me,” said Grey Wolf.

“Why should I need him again?” thought Tsarevich Ivan. “All my wishes have been fulfilled.”

He got on Golden Mane’s back and rode on with Yelena the Fair and the Fire-Bird. By and by they reached his own native land, and Tsarevich Ivan decided to stop for a bite to eat. He had a little bread with him, so they ate the bread and drank fresh water from the spring, and then lay down to rest.

No sooner had Tsarevich Ivan fallen asleep than his brothers came riding up. They had been to other lands in search of the Fire-Bird, and were now coming home empty-handed.

When they saw that Tsarevich Ivan had got everything, they said: “Let us kill our brother Ivan, for then all his spoils will be ours.”

And with that they killed Tsarevich Ivan. They they got on Golden Mane’s back, took the FireBird, seated Yelena the Fair on a horse and said: “See that you say not a word about this at home!”

So there lay Tsarevich Ivan on the ground, with the ravens circling over his head. All of a sudden who should come running but Grey Wolf. He ran up and he seized a raven and her fledgling.

“Fly and fetch me dead and living water, Raven,” said the Wolf. “If you do, I shall let your nestling go.”

The Raven flew off- what else could she do? – while the Wolf held her fledgling. Whether a long time passed by or a little time nobody knows, but at last she came back with the dead and living water. Grey Wolf sprinkled the dead water on Tsarevich Ivan’s wounds, and the wounds healed.

Then he sprinkled him with the living water, and Tsarevich Ivan came back to life.

“Oh, how soundly I slept!” said he.

“Aye,” said Grey Wolf, “and but for me you would never have wakened. Your own brothers killed you and took away all your treasures. Get on my back, quick.”

They went off in hot pursuit, and they soon caught up the two brothers, and Grey Wolf tore them to bits and scattered the bits over the field.

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Tsarevich Ivan bowed to the Grey Wolf and took leave of him for good.

He rode home on the Horse with the Golden Mane, and he brought his father the Fire-Bird and himself a bride – Yelena the Fair.

Tsar Berendei was overjoyed and asked his son all about everything. Tsarevich Ivan told him how Grey Wolf had helped him, and how his brothers had killed him while he slept and Grey Wolf had torn them to bits.

At first Tsar Berenedei was sorely grieved, but he soon got over it. And Tsarevich Ivan married Yelena the Fair and they lived together in health and cheer for many a long and prosperous year. 

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St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio Retold by: Rachael Pecore-Valdez, Image: Francis leading the wolf to Gubbio (Henry Justice Ford, 1912)

If you were to travel today, along the narrow streets of the village of Gubbio, in Italy, you might venture across a monument commemorating an event in 12th century Gubbio, where St. Francis of Assisi once met a gray wolf.

Francis, as he was known then, was a friar and well known throughout the region as a friend of both beast and man. He loved to take long walks in the hills, and one could often hear Francis humming a tune along with the birds who would circle around his head and even rest on his shoulders.

One day as he walked, he came to the top of a hill and saw down in the valley, the village of Gubbio. The city gates were closed, and there was no one out working in the fields. The crops were unkempt, and flies circled around the unburied carcasses of sheep lying about. Something was very wrong, and he hurried to the city gates and knocked loudly. No one answered. He knocked again, and the gates slowly swung open enough to reveal the wide eye of the gatekeeper.

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“Francis! Oh we’re so glad you’ve come. Quickly, come inside!” Shutting the door tightly behind Francis, the gatekeeper led Francis straight to the Mayor’s house.

Francis was welcomed by the Mayor who without delay told Francis that the whole village was being held hostage by a monstrous, rabid gray wolf. “Our children can no longer play outside, the wolf has taken our sheep and those who bravely went after him did not return.” Francis quietly listened to the Mayor of Gubbio’s woes, and when he was done replied that he would leave the next morning at dawn to meet with the wolf. The Mayor cried out, “No! Francis, please save yourself ! There must be another way!” Francis could not be dissuaded and the next morning at the break of dawn he walked toward the city gates. The villagers followed Francis through the streets in silent fear for his life, but stopped at the city gate. They peered over the city walls nervously, as Francis walked beyond the fields to the edge of the great forest.

It seemed even the birds were holding their breath. An eerie silence was broken only by the low growl of a wolf, which echoed throughout the valley. The villagers trembled in fear as they watched the great wolf run from the woods, his teeth barred, straight toward Francis. Francis stood still, his arms outstretched as if surrounded by a great shield. Just when the villagers surely thought Francis was a goner, they watched in awe as the wolf suddenly stopped. He sat just in front of Francis. The villagers strained to hear what Francis said, and had to rub their eyes to believe what they saw next. Francis held his hand outstretched to the wolf, and the wolf gingerly set his paw onto Francis’s hand.

Francis then walked slowly back to the village, with the wolf on his heels. The villagers parted before them, and followed Francis and the wolf in disbelief to the village square. Then Francis spoke to the crowd, “Dear people of Gubbio, Brother Wolf has made a pact of peace. He will harm you no more, and in return you must no longer harm him. All past wrongs are forgiven.”

Then once again, the wolf placed its paw in Francis’s hand to reassure the people of his pledge.

The people stood there in awe, nervously eyeing the wolf. Then one young girl stepped out from her mother’s skirt and bravely walked toward the wolf. She held her hand outstretched and soon the villagers were giggling with relief as they watched the wolf roll over while the girl rubbed his belly. The townspeople agreed to share morsels of their meals with the wolf, and the wolf lived among the villagers for two years before dying of old age.

The people of Gubbio mourned the death of the wolf, and even today, proudly share the story of St. Francis and the wolf to all who wander their streets and ask to hear the story.

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Expedition Sponsors: Xplore and Sculpt the Future Foundation.

Gear Sponsors: Montbell and Osprey.

In-Kind Sponsors: KIND, Northwest Outward Bound, Methow Cycle & Sport, Kona Bikes, Western Environmental Law Center, Barking Mad Bed & Breakfast, Bikes for Humanity PDX, and The Traffic Sign Co.

Endorsing and Organizational Supporters: Pacific Wolf Coalition, Oregon Wild, Wildlands Network, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, 50 Years of Wilderness Act, CyberTracker, The Wilderness Society, California Wolf Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity, and Great Old Broads for Wilderness.

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