Biologist pick up wolf signal after week of silence

Biologists tracking a gray wolf pack in the higher reaches of the Methow Valley report that the
wild family of wolves are moving around and may be headed to the next county.

Biologists tracking the pack using handheld radio receivers picked up a weak signal from the
radio-collar of the male wolf on Tuesday (Aug. 12) near the crest of the Chelan-Sawtooth ridge.

"They may even be in Chelan County," said Scott Fitkin, the wildlife biologist leading the wolf
pack investigative fieldwork for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Fitkin and a
team of wildlife technicians have been tracking the wolves since two adult members of the pack
were trapped, radio-collared and released on July 18 in the Methow Valley.

This was the first signal from the wolves in seven days. Earlier in the week, Fitkin had
speculated that the pack had moved and gone farther than expected or were tucked in
somewhere making it harder to pick up a signal.

"It’s hard to say why the signal was weak." He said distance and obstructions are some of the
many factors that limit radio telemetry.

"They have big home ranges and can move pretty far," said John Rohrer, a Forest Service
biologist who has been helping monitor wolf observations in the valley. He said the radio signals could be blocked by a mountain but could bounce around a canyon even if an animal was not in line of sight.

"We’ll zero in on the signal in the next few days," said Fitkin. Otherwise, he will go to the air,
flying over the area where the last signal was picked up.

In the meantime, one wolf pup continues to cavort for a motion-sensor trail camera in a mid-
elevation site monitored by Conservation Northwest, a conservation group that is collaborating
with state and federal agencies to monitor the wolves. The pair of radio-collared wolves are
presumed to be the parents of six wolf pups whose images were captured by the conservation
group’s cameras.

The pack is the first confirmed wild wolf pack in Washington state since the 1930s. DNA
samples connect the pack with wolves from British Columbia and Alberta, and biologists said
they have naturally immigrated, dispersing from larger wolf populations in Canada.

The state has developed a draft wolf conservation and management plan in anticipation of the
wolf moving into Washington. The plan is being reviewed by scientists and will be available for
public comment in January 2009.

The draft Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and facts and information
on the wolf and how to reporting sightings may be viewed at www.wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/diversty/soc/gray_wolf