PORTLAND, Ore. - Biologists believed wolverines had disappeared from Oregon, with the last confirmed sightings dating back to the early 1970s.
Last spring, Dr. Audrey Magoun started surveying for wolverines in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Oregon's largest national forest.
She and her husband, Pat Valkenburg, deployed motion-detection cameras and flew aerial surveys to detect wolverines at high elevations.
In April of this year their work paid off: three different male wolverines were detected at camera stations in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in northeastern Oregon's Wallowa Mountains.
With funding from the USDA Forest Service, Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation and the Wolverine Foundation, Dr. Magoun's work this winter and spring turns to detection of female wolverines in the study area.
The public is invited to a free presentation by Dr. Magoun Nov. 9 in Portland to learn about the wolverine, the detection project and the next steps in her research.
Admission is free, but registration is required. Register online at the Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation website.