WARM SPRINGS — More wolves are taking up residence in Central Oregon, with the establishment of a new group on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and two others nearby.

Biologists with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs first discovered two wolves in the area on Dec. 21, 2021. Months went by with no sign of them, until August when two pups were spotted using a trail camera.

That led the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to designate a new “Area of Known Wolf Activity,” or AKWA, within the reservation.

The designation means wolves are settled in the area, and ranchers are encouraged to implement non-lethal measures to protect their livestock. If the group still has at least four wolves at the end of 2022, it will be named the Warm Springs pack.

Because the area is west of highways 395, 78 and 95, the group is protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

While the majority of Oregon’s 175 known wolves reside in the northeast corner of the state, evidence shows more of them are making their way west to the Cascade Range.

Earlier this year, two new AKWAs were also designated south of the Warm Springs group. The first was declared on April 19 in the Metolius Wildlife Management Unit straddling Jefferson and Deschutes counties, where ODFW has documented two wolves.

The second is in the Upper Deschutes Wildlife Management Unit, covering parts of Deschutes and northern Klamath counties. One adult wolf and five pups were photographed traveling together on July 4.

Another group of wolves, formerly known as the White River Pack, has been living southeast of Mount Hood since 2019, though as of last year it no longer had enough members to be considered a pack by ODFW.

The agency generally defines a pack as “a group of four or more wolves traveling together in winter.”

Conservation groups cheered the announcement of the Warm Springs group, while underscoring the threat wolves still face statewide.

ODFW reported 2021 had the highest number of wolf mortalities ever recorded in a single year. Twenty-six wolves died, including 21 killed by humans. Of those, eight were illegally poisoned, four were hit by vehicles, one was legally shot by a rancher on private property and eight were killed for habitually preying on livestock.

A 2-year-old female wolf from the Keating pack was also poached in Baker County in August. Officials are offering an $11,500 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said having more wolves in western Oregon, where federal protections remain intact, is crucial for the species’ long-term survival.

“I hope this will be an exciting new chapter in the story of wolf recovery in the state, which is seeing wolves dispersing into territory where they haven’t lived for decades,” Weiss said.

The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association has long argued that ranchers should be able to kill wolves that repeatedly prey on livestock.

Most recently, ODFW issued a permit for a rancher in Umatilla County to kill up to two wolves from the Horseshoe pack on Sept. 8. Wolves from the pack killed two calves in a 4,000-acre private pasture near Meacham in less than three weeks, despite the producer camping 40 nights with the herd and hazing wolves several times.

The kill permit is valid through Oct. 7.