Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) released its annual survey showing an increase of 33 wolves in 2020, a 22 percent increase over 2019 and the 12th consecutive year the population has increased.
WDFW reported a minimum year-end population of 132 wolves in 24 packs with 13 breeding pairs. Pack size ranged from two to 13 wolves, with most packs having three to six animals. Because this is a minimum count, the total number of wolves in Washington is likely higher. Since the first WDFW survey in 2008, the state’s wolf population has grown by an average of 26 percent per year.
“Washington wolf recovery continues to make solid progress,” said WDFW Director Kelly Susewind. “For the first time the North Cascades wolf recovery area has met the local recovery objective—four successful breeding pairs—during 2020.”
Wolves formed four new packs in 2020. The Navarre Pack formed in Okanogan County, the Vulcan Pack in Ferry County, the Onion Creek Pack in Stevens County, and wolves also reestablished in the area formerly occupied by the Skookum Pack in Pend Oreille County.
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CTCR) reported 46 wolves in five packs in 2020. WDFW noted in the annual report CTCR considers the wolf population recovered. Therefore, they did not allocate the same resources counting the population, and “these numbers are not comparable to previous year’s numbers and come with less certainty.” CTCR reported harvesting a total of eight wolves in 2020.
Including the eight harvested by CTCR, WDFW documented 16 wolf mortalities during 2020. WDFW reported three were removed by the department in response to wolf-livestock conflict, two died of natural causes, and the other three were killed by a vehicle, shot as a perceived threat and killed for an unknown reason.
Livestock depredations were down in 2020 with nine cattle deaths, compared with 14 in 2019. Investigators confirmed injuries to 30 cattle and the injury of one herding dog, an increase over 2019 levels of 11 injured. Additionally, three calf mortalities and two injured calves were considered probable wolf-caused depredations. Most mortalities occurred during the summer-fall grazing season from June through August.
“WDFW staff, and partnering producers, non-government organizations, and county officials worked hard last grazing season at reducing wolf-livestock conflict,” said WDFW Wolf Policy Lead Donny Martorello. “This coming grazing season we will pilot some newly innovated nonlethal tools and are working with producers, range riders, and landowners on action plans for deploying them.”
During the calendar year 2020, WDFW spent a total of $1,554,292 on wolf management activities, including $110,035 in reimbursement to 33 livestock producers for nonlethal conflict prevention expenses (range riding, specialized lighting and fencing, etc.), $151,640 for 23 contracted range riders, $17,201 to five producers for livestock losses caused by wolves, $77,281 for lethal removal operations in response to depredations on livestock, and $1,198,135 for wolf management and research activities. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
