Living with Wildlife in West Linn

Coyote

West Linn has an extensive network of parks, open spaces and natural areas with habitats that support a wide array of wildlife including coyotes, raccoons, possums, squirrels, owls, ducks, geese, skunks, and others. 

General Tips to Keep Wildlife Healthy

  • Secure your garbage
  • Feed pets indoors
  • Never feed wildlife
  • If you feed birds, be aware that feeders may attract other wildlife. Place feeders so only birds can get to them
  • Don't feed ducks and geese (as fun as it might be, it is unhealthy for them)

For more information about living  with coyotes or other urban wildlife check out this informative website from ODFW or please contact the following experts:

West Linn Code Section 5.407 (see ORD 1756) regulates attracting or feeding of wild animals to prevent public nuisance issues. If you would like to speak with a City representative, please call the Police Department Code Enforcement Officer at 503-655-6214 (business hours) or non-emergency dispatch 503-635-0238 for urgent after hours issues.

Aggressive animals should be immediately reported to the West Linn Police Department at 911. If you are experiencing wildlife causing a nuisance contact ODFW at 971-673-6000 or a permitted wildlife control operator.

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Learn more about living with coyotes and beavers, some of our most commonly encountered wildlife neighbors:

COYOTES

BEAVERS

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Coyotes - Key Information

Seeing a coyote in urban areas like West Linn can be exciting, but may also raise concerns. Coyotes are a very adaptable animal that survives well in urban environments, including West Linn where sightings are relatively common and typically no cause for concern. Coyotes are generally timid and avoid humans. 

Reporting Issues

For aggressive behavior, contact West Linn Police at 911. For wildlife nuisances, reach out to a wildlife control operator or ODFW at 971-673-6000.

Why Are There Coyotes in West Linn?

Coyotes thrive in urban settings due to:

  • Reduced natural habitat: Urban development has created new habitats that coyotes are well adapted to.
  • Abundant food sources: Large rodent populations, accessible garbage, and green spaces provide ample food.

Identifying Coyotes

  • Physical Traits:
    • Large erect ears
    • Narrow muzzles
    • Bushy tails typically with a black tip (held down while moving - if you see a raised or wagging tail it is a domestic dog)
    • Coloration: Reddish-yellow, tan, or gray with a white patch around the jaw
    • Weight: Typically 25-35 pounds, appearing heavier due to their thick fur.

Diet

In rural wild environments, coyotes primarily eat small mammals (mice, rats, rabbits, moles, squirrels), but also consume fruits, vegetables, insects, fish, birds, eggs and other available food items. In urban environments coyotes will also eat garbage, fruit/vegetables from your yard, and small animals including domestic pets. 

Activity Patterns

Coyotes are active day and night, with increased sightings in spring and summer due to their young needing more food. Coyote young are born in the spring and nursing females and growing young need more food during the spring and summer. 

Conflicts with Coyotes

  • Conflicts in West Linn and across the state are extremely rare. Coyotes are generally timid and avoid humans. 
  • Do Not Feed Coyotes: Feeding leads to bold behavior, making coyotes more dangerous.

Tips for Reducing Coyote Conflicts

  • Keep pets like small dogs and cats inside and allow only safe access to the outdoors (fenced yards, leashes, or catios). Always keep pets in from dusk to dawn when coyotes are most active. 
  • Never deliberately feed a coyote or other wild mammal. Remove access to outdoor pet food and water. 
  • Securely cover garbage cans and compost bins.
  • Remove fallen fruit from yards.
  • Eliminate opportunities for rats/mice to breed in/around your yard such as neglected yards or sheds.
  • Never deliberately approach a coyote and teach children to respect all wildlife from a distance.
  • To prevent coyotes from entering your yard, consider removing unnecessary brush, installing a motion-sensitive lighting system, or installing a coyote proof fence. To be effective, fences must be at least six feet tall, have no openings greater than four inches, and should extend flush with the ground.
  • Fact sheet on living with coyotes

If you do not want coyotes around your home, let them know that they are not welcome. If you see a coyote, shout and make noise, wave your arms.

The Importance of Coyotes

Coyotes help maintain ecological balance by controlling rodent populations, contributing positively to the environment. Eradication is often ineffective and costly. Coyotes will repopulate if their habitat and favorable conditions (food sources) remain.

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Beavers - Key Information

Beavers enhance habitat for many other fish and wildlife species through their dam-building activities. Beaver ponds provide areas for people to fish, hunt and view wildlife. Beavers have reddish brown to black fur, webbing on their hind feet and a tail that is broad, flat, hairless and scaled.

Beavers in West Linn

Nearly all of Oregon's waterways are home to beavers and West Linn has numerous ponds, streams and rivers, creating excellent habitat for these peaceful woodland creatures. We are the city of trees, hills, and rivers after all. They live in ponds, marshes and streams. Beaver are most likely to use sites that have a stream gradient of less than 6 percent, canopy cover of 25-50 percent and a bank width of 13-20 feet.

Beaver Facts

Adults average 40 pounds in weight and measure more than three feet in length, including the tail. They have a nose and ears that seal out water. These semi-aquatic mammals have webbed hind feet, large incisor teeth and a broad flat tail. They have poor eyesight, but excellent hearing and sense of smell. Beavers build dams to create deep water for protection from predators, for access to their food supply and to provide underwater entrances to their den. 

Beaver Benefits

  • Beaver dams create ponds that provide fish, bird, and other wildlife habitat and protection from strong winter flows. They increase the storage of water resulting in a more stable water supply and maintenance of higher flows downstream for a longer period of time.
  • Beaver ponds help store leaf litter in the water and in turn support aquatic insect production, an important food for fish, amphibians, waterfowl, bats and songbirds. 
  • Beaver dams create wetlands which improve water quality and help control downstream flooding by storing and slowly releasing water, reducing the severity of high stream flows particularly after winter storms and spring snow melt.
  • Beaver dams facilitate ground water recharge and help raise the ground water table. This promotes vegetative growth, which in turn helps stabilize stream banks and minimize erosion.

Helping Beavers

  • Plant preferred native food plants (alder, willow, maple and aspen) along streams. 
  • Restore riparian areas through fencing, restoring hydrology, tree planting and other methods.
  • On private lands where beavers are causing damage, work towards solutions that address the problems while allowing beavers to remain at the site. If you experience beaver damage on your property, contact your local ODFW office to learn how to minimize and manage it. Beavers contribute to watershed health, but they can cause damage by blocking culverts, flooding roads and cutting down valuable trees.
  • Learn more about living peacefully with beavers

Need Assistance with a Beaver Issue?

Beavers can cause damage from flooding, blocking storm drainage culverts, or damaging significant trees. There are ways to mitigate this damage by doing things such as fencing off tree trunks to a height that beavers can't cause damage. Check out ODFWs website on living with beavers or call ODFW at 971-673-6000 for specific assistance. 

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