This wolverine, photographed along the Columbia River near Portland on March 20, 2023, is the first confirmed evidence of the rare animal in Oregon, outside the Wallowa Mountains, in more than 30 years.

PORTLAND — Two people fishing the Columbia River near Portland on Monday, March 20 took the first confirmed photos in more than three decades of a wolverine in Oregon outside the Wallowa Mountains.

The photos were shared with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and employees from Cascadia Wild, a nonprofit that has searched for wolverines on Mount Hood.

ODFW biologists and Cascadia Wild employees searched the site along the Columbia River on March 21 and found a set of wolverine tracks near where the photos had been taken.

“Given the proximity to Portland, we were very surprised when this report came in and elated when we were able to verify the sighting,” ODFW biologist Dave Keiter said in a press release. “We really appreciate the people who reported this rare occurrence and Cascadia Wild who helped us confirm the report and begin monitoring efforts.”

Prior to the photos taken this week, the most recent evidence of a wolverine in Oregon was from the Wallowa Mountains in 2022.

A 2010-12 monitoring project in the Eagle Cap Wilderness confirmed at least three wolverines in the Eagle Cap, Oregon’s largest federal wilderness area at 365,000 acres.

During the fall and winter of 2021-22, ODFW workers set up 20 wolverine bait stations, primarily in the Cascades and in Northeastern Oregon.

Only one station, in Northeastern Oregon, collected evidence of a wolverine, including photographs.

Based on those photos, which showed a wolverine with healed injuries to a front foot and unique coloration on its chest, biologists concluded the animal is a resident adult male wolverine that has been in the area since 2011.

Prior to the 2010-12 monitoring in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, the last confirmed report of a wolverine in Oregon was in 1990, when a car hit and killed one of the animals on Interstate 84 near Cascade Locks.

ODFW believed wolverines had been extirpated from Oregon by 1936, although the agency received occasional reports, unconfirmed, of the animals from the 1960s through the 1990s in several counties, including Grant, Deschutes, Harney, Wheeler and Linn.

Wolverines, which are the largest member of the weasel family, weight up to 40 pounds and resemble a small bear.

The animals generally live in mountain wilderness areas with deep winter snowpacks. Wolverines are widespread in Canada and Alaska, with smaller populations in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

The area along the Columbia River where the wolverine was photographed is poor habitat for the animals, according to ODFW.

Agency officials believe the animal was dispersing. As wolverines can travel more than 30 miles in a day, it’s likley the wolverine has moved away from where it was photographed.

“Chances that it remains in the Portland metro area and is detected again by the sampling devices are relatively low, but it could be observed again as it continues its travels,” according to ODFW.

Cascadia Wild and ODFW each set up two monitoring stations near the Columbia River. The stations include a motion-sensing camera and a bait station designed to entice wolverines to rub against a board that can collect a hair and possibly a DNA sample that biologists could use to potentially determine where the wolverine came from.

ODFW and Cascadia Wild officials encourage people to report possible wolverine sightings.

“Some of the best information on wildlife can come from regular people who are paying attention to what they see,” said Teri Lysak, wolverine tracking coordinator with Cascadia Wild. “Many thanks to the couple who saw this animal and took the time to share it with us.”