A pack of recent wolf-related news items has put that predator back in the spotlight in Oregon and Washington.

Of most interest to Oregonians is that biologists have confirmed the presence of a wolf pack that includes adults and pups in Union County north of La Grande.

It is the first evidence of wolf reproduction in Oregon since the mid-1940s, when wolves were extirpated from the state by bounty hunters.

Eleven days ago, biologists conducting a "howling survey" heard the howls of both adults and pups simultaneously, according to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife news release.

"After howling for two years into the dark, to get a response was pretty surprising," said Russ Morgan, the ODFW's wolf coordinator.

The exact number of wolves in the pack was not determined, but at least two adults and two pups were heard, Morgan said.

The arrival of breeding populations of wolves in Oregon has been expected for some time, given the success of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service efforts to reintroduce the gray wolf in the northern Rockies.

And the Oregon report came on the heels of what Scott Sandsberry, the Yakima Herald-Republic's outdoor writer, described as "a momentous couple of days" for wolves in Washington.

In the span of a week, three events made wolf-related headlines in that state.

The biggest of those was the photographing of six gray wolf pups by a remote camera in the Methow Valley of Okanogan County, just across the state line from Oregon's Union County.

The pups were with one of two adults that had earlier been captured and radio-collared. Genetic testing of tissue and hair samples confirmed that the two adults are wild gray wolves, not hybrids, biologists said. Preliminary results from additional genetic testing indicate the two wolves likely originated from British Columbia-Alberta populations.

A few days earlier, a road-killed canine found about 25 miles north of Spokane was confirmed by DNA testing to have also been a pure wolf.

The day after that discovery, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Billings, Mont., issued a preliminary injunction restoring endangered-species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, including eastern portions of Oregon and Washington.

As long as Molloy's ruling is in force, large-scale wolf hunts cannot go forward in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, the states from which the wolves expected to help re-populate Oregon and Washington are likely to emigrate.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed wolves from the endangered species list in March, and the three states planned hunts to reduce wolf predation on livestock.

But a dozen environmental groups sued to reverse the decision. Molloy's injunction is a preliminary victory in their legal challenge.

It all adds up to "sort of a harmonic convergence of wolf events," Anthony Novack, a Washington state wildlife biologist who spent two years studying wolves in Idaho, said in an interview with Sandsberry.

"I've been hearing from people around the country, saying what a great week it was for wolves," said John Blankenship, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife manager who now serves as executive director of a wolf sanctuary.

Meanwhile, in northeast Oregon, state and federal biologists say they will continue to monitor the area to determine the level of wolf activity. They may also try to capture and radio-collar members of the Union County pack for monitoring.

Biologists have predicted for several years that wolves from the expanding Idaho population would eventually cross the Snake River and set up housekeeping in Oregon.

ODFW and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials remind the public it is illegal to shoot a wolf, even one mistaken for another animal such as a coyote.

Any gray wolf in Oregon is currently protected as an endangered species under both state and federal law.

As Judge Molloy's injunction restoring federal wolf protections remains in effect, killing a wolf is a violation of the federal Endangered Species Act, punishable by a fine of up to $100,000, one year in jail, or both. Killing a wolf is also a violation of Oregon state game law, with fines and penalties that are assessed by the court. Oregon has a Wolf Conservation and Management Plan that was adopted by the Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2005.

That 102-page plan provides that wolves will remain on the state endangered species list until the population reaches four breeding pairs for three consecutive years in eastern Oregon. The species would remain protected west of Highway 97 until the population in the western two-thirds of the state also reached four breeding pair. More information on wolves and wolf management in Oregon is available at: www.dfw.state.or.us/wolves/.

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Mike Stahlberg can be reached at mike.stahlberg@registerguard.com.