La Rioja approves the Wolf Regional Plan in the Eastern Region

The General Directorate of Natural Environment and Landscape of the Government of La Rioja has approved the Regional Wolf Plan in the Eastern Region, which sets a maximum quota of one specimen per hunting season. The decision is formalized in Resolution number 1920/2026, of October 7, published in the Official Gazette of La Rioja no. 195, of October 9, 2026, with official reference BOR-A-20261009-III–3799 and file 202610070124850.

The plan is framed within the change of status of the wolf (Canis lupus signatus), which moved from being included in the LESPRE as a protected species to being a species subject to management measures, which in La Rioja translates to its consideration as a game species that can be hunted. Until the 2020-2021 season, the species was already considered game, and the Technical Plan of the Regional Hunting Reserve included it among the species subject to hunting, with the allocation of quotas by predefined zones; outside of that hunting ground, it was not hunted.

Given the advance of populations toward the estates adjacent to the Cameros-Demanda Regional Hunting Reserve, the technical staff of the Nature, Hunting, and Fishing Defense Service drafted regional plans for the three homogeneous zones into which the regional territory is divided (east, center, and west), in order to avoid abusive extraction. The Annual Hunting Plan for the eastern zone estimates the presence of one pack, corresponding to the Laguna de Cameros area.

A single and adaptive quota

The approved conditions establish a total maximum quota of 1 specimen per season. This global quota includes:

• Specimens shot in shared packs that occur in the neighboring Community of Castilla y León.
• Specimens captured illegally (poaching).
• Specimens run over or killed by any cause of human origin.

The hunting will be adaptive in nature and will be executed taking into account the captures from previous days, as well as the maintenance of the species in a favorable conservation status.

Zoning of the Eastern Region

The plan details the affected hunting grounds, along with their owner:

• Fenced: Muro en Cameros (LR-10.057), Santa Engracia del Jubera (LO-10.073), Enciso (LO-10.074), Arnedillo (LO-10.075), Robres del Castillo (LO-10.148), Terroba (LR-10.162), San Román de Cameros y Jalón de Cameros (LR-10.168), Munilla (LR-10.169), Torre en Cameros (LR-10.178), San Román de Cameros (LR-10.179), Soto en Cameros (LR-10.184) and Hornillos de Cameros (LR-10.219).
• Regional Reserves: Enciso (R_01), Laguna de Cameros (R_19), Ajamil de Cameros (R_20, R_21 and R_22), Rabanera (R_23), San Román de Cameros (R_24), Jalón de Cameros (R_25), Cabezón de Cameros (R_26), Munilla (R_27 and R_30) and Zarzosa (R_28 and R_29).
• Social Hunting Grounds: Herce (S_04) and San Román de Cameros (S_06).
• Non-hunting zones: ZNC_11, ZNC_33 and ZNC_41, all in Munilla and without an owner.

Authorizations, deadlines and genetic control

The owners of the hunting grounds must request authorization for wolf hunting seven days in advance of the hunt. The General Directorate of Natural Environment and Landscape will issue the permits, the execution of which will be conditional on the quota for the area not having been previously reached; no more permits will be issued simultaneously than the possible capture quota in each area, subtracting previous captures.

Any captures made must be deposited at the facilities of the General Directorate of Natural Environment and Landscape for the corresponding genetic analyses. The resolution will be forwarded to the Nature Defense, Hunting and Fishing Service, the Forestry Management Service, the Nature Conservation Service and the affected town halls. The text was signed in Logroño on October 7, 2026, by the Director General of Natural Environment and Landscape, Ignacio Sáenz de Urturi Sánchez.

The plan directly affects hunters, livestock farmers and municipalities of the Cameros sierra, who will have a regulated framework for the management of a species with a growing presence in the area. The quota of a single specimen per season limits the hunting pressure on the only pack estimated in the region, pending the plans for the central and western zones.

Source: Official Gazette of La Rioja, no. 195, of October 9, 2026, section III. Other Provisions and Acts, pages 17160-17162 (official reference: BOR-A-20261009-III–3799).