Will gray wolves, which had almost disappeared from Washington state by the 1920s, ever return to the North Olympic Peninsula?
It’s not likely. But there is a possibility wolves could be moved from one part of the state to a large area that includes the Peninsula in the future — probably a decade or more from now — if a proposed state management plan under consideration is approved.
It would not happen through reintroduction.
The idea of moving wolves from British Columbia to Olympic National Park was blocked in 1999 by Washington state’s Republican former senator, Slade Gorton, who said that some 65 percent of people on the Peninsula who came to public meetings on the proposal were opposed to it.
Reintroduction — moving wolves into the state from outside of it — “is not going to happen. It’s not in our plan. It never has been and never will be,” said Madonna Luers, a public information officer for the state Fish and Wildlife Department, who is based in Spokane.
But “translocation” is a possibility.
Translocation would move wolves from one part of the state to another.
The idea, Luers said, was developed by a citizens advisory group that has been working on a wolf management plan since 2007 and would allow wolves from areas of the state where they are prevalent to be moved to areas of the state where they are scarce enough to qualify for federal and state protected status.
“One of the main things we want to do with this plan is to get wolves off the state endangered list,” Luers said.
“That means that the state wants to encourage the growth of the wolf population in the state, and ensure that the population is distributed throughout the state.”
Translocation might never be used, she said.
But the department’s preferred alternative, and another alternative among four proposed in the plan, both include the Peninsula as part of a broader region that could host wolves.
The preferred alternative, Alternative 2, would include Clallam and Jefferson counties in a region of 15 counties, plus parts of six others, called the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast region.
Alternative 3 includes the Peninsula in a region made up of seven counties, plus parts of three others, called the Pacific Coast.
Although reintroduction “is not an option,” Luers said, it is also true that having “no wolves is not an option.”
Wolves in Washington
Wolves are inching into Washington state from Idaho and Wyoming, where — along with Montana — they were reintroduced several ago, using wolves from British Columbia.
Two successful breeding pairs have been documented in Washington state. One is in Okanogan County, in the north-central part of eastern Washington state, and another in Pend Oreille County, on the northeastern border.
A successful breeding pair is a pack — two adults, mated for life, with cubs. The number of wolves in a pack can range from five to 10.
Okanogan County’s pack is thought to have six wolves, while Pend Oreille County’s has five, Luers said.
Those packs are likely to grow, with individual wolves dispersing to find mates or a new territory, Dispersing wolves have been known to travel as much as 600 miles from their home, Luers said.
Nothing in the plan proposes artificially increasing the number of wolves in the state. Instead, it supposes that the wolf population will grow naturally, lays out alternatives for re-distribution of wolves, and creates rules for the degree of control, lethal or otherwise, that would be permitted.
Since wolves are in the state, the idea is to move them quickly out of protected status, so that people have more flexibility in protecting themselves, Luers said.
“A livestock owner is excited about being able to get to the point that if he has livestock attacked by a wolf, he can shoot it,” she said.
Protected status
Animals are moved off the protected listing in steps, from endangered to threatened, from threatened to sensitive, and from sensitive to complete de-listing.
Fifteen breeding pairs, confirmed for at least three years, would be needed for the state to de-list wolves.
The preferred alternative would have those wolves distributed with two pairs in the Eastern Washington region, two in the Northern Cascade region, five in the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast, and six in any combination of recovery regions.
Wolves would be proposed to be moved from one region to another — or translocated — when they exceed this standard, Luers said.
Before the wolves would be moved, the proposal would go through an environmental impact study and public hearings.
“It’s nothing that would happen quickly, or without a lot of public discussion,” she said.
“Since this is strictly wolves naturally returning to the state, it may take a decade or more,” for translocation to become an issue, Luers said.
Without translocation, wolves would find it hard to get to the Peninsula at all, since they would have to survive many encounters with people in moving from the eastern part of the state to the northwestern area.
“It would take a long time,” Luers said. “It’s not impossible.”
“That’s why I’m saying it expedites the process. Once you get a bunch of wolves in the state, you capture a pack and translocate them to another part of the state.”
________
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
