This update provides an overview of gray wolf conservation and management activities in Washington during November 2022.
Program updates and coordination
- The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Police continue to investigate six wolf mortalities within the Wedge pack territory in Stevens County. WDFW Police began the investigation in February 2022, and it is ongoing. Toxicology results revealed all six wolves died from ingesting poison. The investigation remains active, and the Department encourages anyone who might have relevant information to report it confidentially by calling WDFW's poaching hotline, 877-933-9847, or by texting a tip to 847411. Rewards totaling $53,900 are available for information that leads to a conviction in the case of the poisoning of Stevens County wolves.
- The Wolf Advisory Group (WAG) held a meeting on Nov. 2-3 in Spokane Valley. Meeting notes and associated materials are available on the Wolf Advisory group page under the Meetings tab. During this meeting, the WAG reached a full consensus recommendation to issue advice regarding carcass management issues to WDFW through a letter to the Director. The Director issued a response on Nov. 30.
- WDFW continues to support the Conflict on Workinglands Conservation Innovation Grant (CoW-CIG) research team’s evaluation of the effectiveness of range riding at reducing conflicts between livestock and carnivores. In November, a PhD student was shaving tails to collect samples for hormones (to assess stress levels) in USFS grazing allotments in northeastern Washington. All trail cameras are out of the field at this point (>60 cameras). Camera photos will be processed over the winter in collaboration with the Human-Carnivore Coexistence Project at Colorado State University. The student also secured funding for two more years of field data collection. WDFW staff have worked with this student to improve data collection forms. The student is also piloting CyberTracker, an application that may facilitate data collection for contracted range riders. This technology will be workshopped in December.
Outreach and education
- WDFW staff, Defenders of Wildlife, and Strategic Ranching have planned a workshop titled, “Strategic Ranching on a Landscape with Wolves” to help Klickitat County livestock producers and land managers prepare for a future where wolves are established around livestock operations in the South Cascades. The workshop is scheduled in December in Goldendale.
- WDFW’s statewide wolf specialist gave a presentation to a Central Washington University forensics class this past month discussing clues and evidence staff look for to determine if a carnivore has been involved in depredation on domestic animals.
Current population status and proactive conflict mitigation
The year-end minimum population count for 2021 was at least 206 known wolves in 33 known packs including at least 19 breeding pairs. Annual wolf population surveys are conducted in the winter because wolf populations experience the least amount of natural fluctuation during this time. Counting the population at the end of each year allows for comparable year-to-year trends at a time of year when the wolf population is most stable. The year-end minimum population count for 2022 will be released in April 2023.
Reports of remote camera images or videos, wolf tracks, or sightings from the public are extremely helpful in locating previously undocumented wolf activity and potential new packs on the landscape. Please take photos of wolves or wolf sign (use some way to measure the size of a track) and upload them to the wolf reporting page via the following link: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/observations
Definitions: A “pack” is defined as two or more wolves traveling together in winter, and a “breeding pair” is defined as at least one adult male and one adult female wolf that raised at least two pups that survived until December 31. In any given year, the number of packs will always be greater than or equal to the number of breeding pairs. The known territories and more information for each pack can be viewed by clicking the pack name.
Beaver Creek pack
A wolf was legally harvested in the Beaver Creek territory by a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in November.
Butte Creek pack
No activity to report.
Carpenter Ridge pack
A wolf from the Carpenter Ridge pack was found dead in November. The incident is under investigation.
Columbia pack
A wolf from the Columbia pack was found dead in November. The wolf was determined to have been killed by other wolves.
A newly hired WDFW-contracted range rider (CRR) began work in November. The CRR is currently assigned to work with livestock producers who run cattle on private property in the Columbia pack territory. While conducting pasture checks on deployed non-lethal deterrents, the CRR noticed a dead cow behind a calving corral. WDFW staff contacted the producer who said the cow had died from non-depredation related causes earlier in the week and due to a lack of heavy equipment for burial, the cow was pulled out of the calving corral for the time being. WDFW staff assisted the producer with landscape sanitation and transportation of the carcass to a landfill facility. The producer was appreciative of the assistance.
Dirty Shirt pack
No activity to report.
Dominion pack
No activity to report.
Goodman Meadows pack
No activity to report.
Grouse Flats pack
A wolf from the Grouse Flats pack was found dead in Oregon in November. An investigation by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) staff indicated the wolf had been killed by a cougar. Because this event occurred in Oregon, ODFW will record this mortality as part of Oregon’s wolf population numbers and it will not be counted in Washington’s numbers.
Huckleberry pack
No activity to report.
Leadpoint pack
A wolf from the Leadpoint pack was found dead in November. The incident is under investigation.
Lookout pack
A collared wolf in the Lookout pack began dispersing this past month and staff will continue to monitor its movements. No collars remain in the Lookout pack territory.
Loup Loup pack
No activity to report.
Navarre pack
No activity to report.
Onion Creek pack
No activity to report.
Salmo pack
No activity to report.
Shady Pass pack
No activity to report.
Sherman pack
No activity to report.
Skookum pack
No activity to report.
Smackout pack
No activity to report.
Stranger pack
No activity to report.
Sullivan Creek pack
No activity to report.
Teanaway pack
No activity to report.
Togo pack
No activity to report.
Touchet pack
No activity to report.
Tucannon pack
No activity to report.
Vulcan pack
No activity to report.
Wedge pack
No activity to report.
Miscellaneous/lone wolves
WDFW staff continued to monitor a collared dispersing male wolf (originally from the Naneum pack) and an uncollared wolf (unknown age and sex) traveling in Yakima and Klickitat counties.
A wolf from that was originally collared in the Teanaway moved to the Naneum area over the summer and recently dispersed over toward the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River. It then turned around and headed back to the Naneum for a couple of days and then dispersed across the Columbia Basin and up toward Northeast Washington. WDFW staff will monitor its dispersal as the wolf makes exploratory movements.
Note: The Frosty, Nason, Nc’icn, Keller Ridge, Strawberry, and Whitestone pack territories are within Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CTCR) lands and are managed under tribal authority. Information regarding these packs is proprietary and reported at the discretion of the CTCR.
Mortalities
As noted above:
- A wolf was legally harvested in the Beaver Creek territory by a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in November.
- A wolf from the Carpenter Ridge pack was found dead in November. The incident is under investigation.
- A wolf from the Columbia pack was found dead in November. The wolf was determined to have been killed by other wolves.
- A wolf from the Leadpoint pack was found dead in November. The incident is under investigation.
- A wolf from the Grouse Flats pack was found dead in Oregon in November. An investigation by ODFW staff indicated the wolf had been killed by a cougar. Because this event occurred in Oregon, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will record this mortality as part of Oregon’s wolf population numbers and it will not be counted in Washington’s numbers.
- As of this update, WDFW has documented 26 wolf mortalities in 2022.
Depredation activity
In 2021, 76% of known wolf packs were not involved in any documented livestock depredation.
WDFW documented zero wolf depredation events in November, lower than the average (1.4) from 2017-2021.
Please report any suspected livestock depredations or the death or harassment of wolves to the WDFW Enforcement Hotline at 1-877-933-9847.
Below is a summary of packs with documented depredation activity within the past ten months (some packs have depredation history prior to the current ten-month window; this timeframe is considered based on guidance from the wolf-livestock interaction protocol).
|
Pack |
Depredation date |
Depredation type |
Proactive non-lethals |
Ten-month window |
Agency lethal removal actions |
|
Grouse Flats |
8/12/22 |
Confirmed mortality of steer |
Yes |
6/12/23 |
|
|
|
8/30/22 |
Confirmed mortality of steer |
Yes |
6/30/23 |
|
|
Leadpoint |
8/22/22 |
Confirmed mortality of calf |
Yes |
6/22/23 |
|
|
|
9/1/22 |
Confirmed mortality of calf |
Yes |
7/1/23 |
|
|
|
9/16/22 |
Confirmed mortality of cow |
Yes |
7/16/23 |
|
|
|
9/19/22 |
Confirmed injury of calf |
Yes |
7/19/23 |
|
|
|
9/19/22 |
Confirmed injury of calf |
Yes |
7/19/23 |
Adult male removed 9/27/22; adult female removed 9/28/22 |
|
|
9/30/22 |
Confirmed injury of cow and calf (calf died from injuries) |
Yes |
7/30/23 |
|
|
|
10/7/22 |
Confirmed mortality of cow |
No |
8/7/23 |
|
|
Lookout |
5/20/22 |
Confirmed mortality of two lambs |
Yes |
3/20/23 |
|
|
Smackout |
8/17/22 |
Confirmed mortality of calf |
Yes |
6/17/23 |
|
|
|
8/20/22 |
Confirmed injury of calf |
Yes |
6/20/23 |
|
|
|
8/27/22 |
Probable injury of calf |
Yes |
6/27/23 |
|
|
|
8/28/22 |
Confirmed mortality of calf |
Yes |
6/28/23 |
|
|
|
8/31/22 |
Confirmed mortality of two calves |
Yes |
6/30/23 |
Juvenile male lethally removed 9/8/22 |
|
|
9/26/22 |
Probable mortality of calf |
Yes |
7/26/23 |
|
|
|
10/3/22 |
Confirmed injury of calf |
Yes |
8/3/23 |
|
|
|
10/6/22 |
Confirmed injury of calf |
Yes |
8/6/23 |
|
|
|
10/8/22 |
Confirmed injury of calf |
Yes |
8/8/23 |
Yearling female removed 10/10/22 |
|
|
10/12/22 |
Confirmed mortality of calf |
Yes |
8/12/23 |
|
|
Stranger |
7/28/22 |
Probable injury of calf |
No |
5/28/23 |
|
|
Teanaway |
11/8/21 |
Confirmed injury of calf |
Yes |
9/8/22 |
|
|
Togo |
5/17/22 |
Confirmed mortality of calf |
Yes |
3/17/23 |
|
|
|
5/18/22 |
Confirmed injury of calf |
Yes |
3/18/23 |
|
|
|
6/8/22 |
Confirmed mortality of calf |
Yes |
4/8/23 |
|
|
|
6/12/22 |
Confirmed injury of calf |
Yes |
4/11/23 |
Yearling female lethally removed 6/14/22; adult male lethally removed 6/17/22 |
|
Vulcan |
4/30/22 |
Confirmed mortality of calf |
Yes |
2/28/23 |
|