Wolf management plan OKed, but critics remain

A wolf management plan approved last weekend by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission takes effect immediately, setting goals for gray wolf recovery throughout the state and providing methods to control wolf predation on livestock, deer and elk.

In the Methow Valley, which is home to one of five wolf packs documented in the state, wolves are still listed as endangered under federal law, which takes precedence over the state regulations. Wolves in the eastern third of the state, including areas east of Highway 97, were taken off the federal endangered list earlier this year, but remain endangered under state law.

The prospect of restoring gray wolves in Washington has alarmed livestock owners and hunters, and the plan describes a variety of measures, including killing wolves on private or public lands, to control their impact.

The core of the new management plan is restoring 15 breeding pairs of wolves, distributed throughout Washington, before the wolves can be removed from the state list of endangered animals. Those 15 breeding pairs, which represent an estimated 97 to 361 wolves according to state estimates, are considered the minimum number needed for recovery throughout the state.

The plan requires that the breeding pairs be distributed throughout three geographic regions of the state – Eastern Washington, Northern Cascades and Southern Cascades/Northwest Coast. The final plan requires four successful breeding pairs in each of those regions, and three additional pairs anywhere in the state. The wolves must be confirmed as breeding successfully for three consecutive years before the species can be removed from the endangered species list.

“The goal is that wolves will no longer need special status in our state and can be managed as part of the overall ecosystem,” said Miranda Wecker, chairman of the citizen Fish and Wildlife Commission, which unanimously approved the plan Saturday (Dec. 3).

The Methow Valley’s Lookout Mountain pack, discovered to be living in mountains near Twisp in 2008, was the first confirmed gray wolf pack in Washington in 70 years. State wildlife officials believe that poaching has decimated the pack, reducing it from an estimated 10 animals three years ago to only two wolves today.

The final wolf management plan includes a provision, not included in previous drafts, that would allow the state to initiate the process of removing wolves from the endangered species list immediately, rather than waiting for three years, if 18 breeding pairs are confirmed in any one year and meet the requirement of at least four pairs in each of the three geographic regions.

Another revision included in the final plan allows livestock owners to kill wolves on public grazing allotments as well as private property if they can prove the animals are responsible for killing or injuring livestock and they obtain a permit from state wildlife officials.

Allowing wolves to be killed on public land is seen as a concession to livestock owners by Jasmine Minbashian of Conservation Northwest, a Bellingham-based organization that promotes wolf recovery and was involved in monitoring the Methow’s Lookout Mountain wolf pack.

“Public lands are generally places where you have the best wildlife habitat and should be places where wildlife is allowed to thrive,” Minbashian said. However, she added, allowing lethal control of wolves on public land “gives livestock owners another tool … and may increase social tolerance of wolves over the long run.”

Twisp rancher Shauna Hicks said the likelihood of getting a permit to kill wolves anywhere is slim, because it’s hard to prove that wolves are responsible for killing or injuring livestock.

“They so seldom rule it as a wolf kill. You have a dead animal, you have to contact authorities. When the authorities finally come … they say, ‘We saw a coyote on the kill.’ When you go through all the rigamarole of finally proving the wolf kill, you’ve lost other animals or the wolf has moved on.”

Hicks, who with her husband, Dave, manages a herd owned by Del and Donna Prewitt, grazes cattle on public allotments in Cub Creek, Boulder Creek and Bridge Creek. She said the mere presence of wolves can be detrimental to cattle.

“It’s not just the death of an animal … the cows are nervous and losing weight and don’t do as well. I’d be nervous too wondering if I was going to be eaten,” Hicks said. Provisions to manage the impact of wolves on ungulates, including deer and elk, are another essential element of the management plan. If wildlife officials determine that wolves are adversely impacting at-risk deer and elk populations, they can move or kill wolves.

Previous drafts of the plan required the wolf population to exceed delisting objectives within the recovery areas before action could be taken to mitigate wolf-ungulate conflicts, while the final plan loosened restrictions somewhat by saying state officials could move or kill wolves if the minimum requirement of four breeding pairs per region is met.

Jack Field, executive vice president of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association, said he’s concerned about the potential that wolves will decimate deer and elk populations “and turn to livestock … that’s going to be the downfall of this plan.”

The 300-page document devotes many pages to the issue of wolf impacts on their primary prey – deer and elk. It cites information from other states with wolves “that suggests that wolves will have little or no effect on elk and deer abundance or hunter harvest across large areas of Washington.” The plan describes managing for healthy deer and elk populations through habitat improvement, harvest management and reduction of illegal hunting.

Field criticized the plan’s provisions to compensate livestock owners for animals killed by wolves. “It’s a joke,” Field said. “It’s not funded.” He said fish and wildlife officials have not made clear where money would be found in the budget to compensate ranchers for lost livestock.

Field said he opposed state officials taking any action on a gray wolf management plan until a federal status review of gray wolves that is currently underway is completed. The review is expected to be finished in February.

The management plan outlines proactive measures to reduce wolf-livestock conflicts by providing technical assistance to livestock owners, and notes that some costs for assistance programs may be paid by nonprofit organizations or other entities.

Minbashian of Conservation Northwest said she will begin working next year on a pilot project involving livestock owners near Colville with the aim of minimizing conflicts.

WDFW began developing the wolf management plan in 2007, anticipating that gray wolves would naturally migrate into the state from Idaho, Oregon, Montana and British Columbia. Since then, five wolf packs have been documented in the state – three in northeastern Washington and two in the Cascade Mountains, including the Methow’s Lookout Mountain Pack.

A 17-member Wolf Working Group, which included conservationists, hunters, ranchers and scientists, helped draft the plan. The process included 23 public meetings, 65,000 written comments and a blind scientific peer review.