For the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, the local ecosystem is a fragile balance of prey and predator.
A single factor could change all of that in the next few years, an expert says.
Wolf management has long since been a contentious topic for farmers, hunters and environmentalists, and while most wolves reside in the states of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, Washington’s eastern population of the carnivores is growing, and spreading, to the western part of the state.
Wolves are federally protected, but the state is currently working towards the conservation goals that could get them de-listed in the near future.
About 100 wolves are currently registered or collared with the department, but Carnivore Manager Donny Martorello knows that isn’t all of them.
“We’re aware of maybe 70 percent of the packs,” he said during the recent Elk Management Committee meeting.
A pack is defined as two or more wolves traveling together. There are 16 confirmed packs, according to the department’s website, and most reside in Eastern Washington, “but there is a wave of wolf colonization from East to West,” Martorello said.
Male wolves have been known to travel hundreds of miles over their lifetimes. One of the most notable cases included the gray wolf OR-7, otherwise known as Journey, who was electronically tracked in Oregon and California.
Overall, the wolf population is growing at a consistent rate of about 30 percent each year, Martorello said.
For farmers, this could be bad news. In 2015, there were three wolf packs that had confirmed kills of livestock. While the department first tries nonlethal approaches to wolf management, there have been cases where one or more wolves are killed to avoid further human-wolf conflicts, he said.
In addition, about 100 farmers have signed “damage prevention” contracts with the department. The state cost-shares things like specialized fencing, guard dogs, range riders, hazing equipment and carcass removal, according to the department’s website.
Source: State experts eye westward wolf migration | Snovalley Local News | eastofseattle.news