This update provides an overview of gray wolf conservation and management activities in Washington during April 2024.
Program updates and coordination
- WDFW is accepting limited applications for statewide contracted range riders in the 2024 season. Applications and contract updates can be found here. Questions about applying? Reach out to WildlifeConflict@dfw.wa.gov.
- Due to a directive from the fiscal years 2024-2025 budget provisos, WDFW is working to transition a majority of contracted range riding in northeast Washington to Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) grant funded local non-profits providing those non-lethal deterrent services. WDFW will continue to offer Damage Prevention Cooperative Agreements for Livestock (DPCA-Ls) in areas where these services are not provided and as funding allows. WDFW-contracted range riders will only be employed when a clearly identified gap exists that cannot be covered by one of the non-government groups providing range riding, or under a cost-sharing DPCA-L.
- WDFW encourages anyone who might have relevant information on poaching to report it confidentially by calling WDFW's poaching hotline, 877-933-9847, or by texting a tip to 847411.
Gray wolves are listed as endangered under state law throughout Washington. In the western two-thirds of the state, they are also listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Under state law, the illegal killing of a wolf or other endangered fish or wildlife species is a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
- WDFW continues to support the Conflict on Workinglands Conservation Innovation Grant (CoW-CIG) research team’s evaluation of the effectiveness of range riding at reducing conflicts between livestock and carnivores. The Conservation on Working Lands Conservation Innovation Grant (CoW-CIG) is a collaborative team consisting of livestock producers, Western Landowners Alliance, Heart of the Rockies, Defenders of Wildlife, Wildlife Services, and other state and federal wildlife agencies, and Utah, Colorado, and Montana state universities. The team is tasked with evaluating the effectiveness of several nonlethal tools at reducing conflict between livestock, wolves, and grizzly bears.
Outreach and education
Wolf biologists and other WDFW staff compiled and shared the 2023 Annual Wolf Briefing to the Commission on Saturday, April 20. The 2023 Annual Wolf Report can be found here.
A wolf biologist also gave a presentation to West Seattle’s Tilden school 4th and 5th graders on the ecology and status of wolves in Washington. In addition, members of the Wolf Advisory Group (WAG) and a wolf biologist presented to the North Cascades Institute and interested public on the status of wolves in Washington and how the WAG works and how they contribute to durable solutions in wolf management in Washington.
Current population status and proactive conflict mitigation
The year-end minimum population count for 2023 was at least 260 known wolves in 42 known packs including at least 25 successful breeding pairs. Annual wolf population surveys are conducted in the winter because wolf populations experience the least amount of natural fluctuation during this time. Counting the population at the end of each year allows for comparable year-to-year trends at a time of year when the wolf population is most stable. The year-end minimum population count for 2024 will be released at the 2025.
Reports of remote camera images or videos, wolf tracks, or sightings from the public are extremely helpful in locating previously undocumented wolf activity and potential new packs on the landscape. Please take photos of wolves or wolf sign (learn how to differentiate between wolves and coyotes; use some way to measure the size of a track) and upload them to the wolf reporting page here: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/observations
Definitions: A “pack” is defined as two or more wolves traveling together in winter, and a “breeding pair” is defined as at least one adult male and one adult female wolf that raised at least two pups that survived until December 31. In any given year, the number of packs will always be greater than or equal to the number of breeding pairs. The known territories and more information for each pack can be viewed by clicking the pack name.
Beaver Creek pack
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Big Muddy territory
No activity to report.
Butte Creek pack
No activity to report.
Carpenter Ridge pack
No activity to report.
Chewuch pack
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Chopaka pack
No activity to report.
Columbia pack
No activity to report.
Couse pack
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Diobsud Creek territory
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Dirty Shirt pack
No activity to report.
Dominion pack
No activity to report.
Five Sisters pack
No activity to report.
Goodman Meadows pack
No activity to report.
Grouse Flats pack
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Huckleberry pack
No activity to report.
Leadpoint pack
No activity to report.
Lookout pack
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Loup Loup pack
No activity to report.
Maverick pack
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in the pack territory.
Mt. Spokane pack
No activity to report.
Naneum territory
No activity to report
Napeequa pack
No activity to report.
Navarre pack
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in the pack territory.
Onion Creek pack
No activity to report.
Ruby pack
No activity to report.
Salmo pack
No activity to report.
Scatter pack
WDFW is aware of social media posts shared in April 2024 from a livestock producer in northeast Washington showing the shooting of a wolf from the Scatter Pack and a horse carcass that is inferred to have been killed by a wolf or wolves. WDFW staff have confirmed that the wolf was legally harvested by a Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation tribal member. In the video posted to social media, the wolf was identified as a female with swollen mammary glands. It is unknown if this was the breeding female of the pack. WDFW does not know the status of any potential pups but is monitoring the situation closely.
WDFW staff has not been called to investigate any depredations on this property since June 2023 and the horse shown in the post has not been confirmed to have been killed by wolves. In late March 2024, a WDFW wildlife conflict specialist told the livestock producer that he suspected wolves may begin denning on or near the property if carcasses were attracting and providing a food source for the wolves. The wildlife conflict specialist explained the consequences of having carcasses attracting carnivores on the property.
While natural decomposition of animal carcasses can be utilized as a farming practice under Washington law, leaving carcasses on the landscape in proximity to other livestock can attract wolves and other carnivores. This increases the risk for depredation on those livestock in the vicinity. WDFW encourages livestock producers to bury or remove anything that could be an attractant. State law prohibits negligently feeding, attempting to feed, or attracting large wild carnivores to land or a building. The Department’s Wolf Conservation and Management Plan (2011) indicates that “lethal removal may be used to stop repeated depredations if it is documented that livestock have clearly been killed by wolves, nonlethal methods have been tried but failed to resolve the conflict, depredations are likely to continue, and there is no evidence of intentional feeding or unnatural attraction of wolves by the livestock owner.
WDFW works closely with livestock producers to remove carcasses and is committed to reducing wolf-livestock conflict. The Department encourages producers to follow the guidelines in the wolf-livestock interaction protocol developed by the Wolf Advisory Group. Over the years, the practices in the protocol have proven effective at reducing livestock losses while promoting wolf recovery in Washington. WDFW has resources available to producers to discourage interactions between wolves and livestock, and there are programs to pay for range riders that can assist producers with wolf-livestock deterrents. Information on non-lethal wolf-livestock mitigation tools can be found in this blog.
Shady Pass pack
No activity to report.
Sherman pack
No activity to report.
Smackout territory
No activity to report.
Sprague Lake territory
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Stranger pack
No activity to report.
Sullivan Creek pack
No activity to report.
Teanaway territory
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Togo pack
No activity to report.
Touchet pack
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Tucannon pack
WDFW biologists conducted monitoring activities in this pack territory.
Vulcan pack
No activity to report.
Wedge pack
No activity to report.
Miscellaneous/lone wolves
WDFW biologist conducted monitoring activities in the historic Naneum pack territory of Kittitas County.
Note: The Dollar Mountain, Frosty, Nason, Nc’icn, Keller Ridge, Strawberry, Whitestone, and Wilmont pack territories are within Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CTCR) lands and are managed under tribal authority. Information regarding these packs is proprietary and reported at the discretion of the CTCR.
Mortalities
- One wolf mortality was documented in April in the Scatter Pack territory (see above under Scatter pack).
- As of the end of April, WDFW has documented three wolf mortalities in 2024.
Depredation activity
In general, about 80% of known wolf packs in Washington have not been involved in any documented livestock depredation in any given year.
WDFW staff did not document any depredation events on livestock by wolves in April. The average number of depredations for the month of April is 1.2 based on depredation records from 2019-2023.
Please report any suspected livestock depredations or the death or harassment of wolves to the WDFW Enforcement Hotline at 1-877-933-9847.
Below is a summary of packs with documented depredation activity within the past ten months (some packs have depredation history prior to the current ten-month window; this timeframe is considered based on guidance from the wolf-livestock interaction protocol).
Pack | Depredation date | Depredation type | Proactive non-lethals | Ten-month window | Agency lethal removal actions |
Columbia | 9/10/23 | Confirmed injury of 2 calves | Yes | 7/10/24 | |
Dirty Shirt collar/Dominion Pack | 8/28/23 | Confirmed mortality of calf | 6/28/24 | ||
Grouse Flats | 9/8/23 | Probable mortality of calf | Yes | 7/8/24 | |
10/25/23 | Confirmed injury of an adult cow | Yes | 8/25/24 | ||
Onion | 5/12/23 | Probable injury of dog | N/A | N/A | |
Smackout | 9/1/23 | Confirmed injury of cow that later died | Yes | 7/1/24 | |
Scatter | 10/7/23 | Confirmed mortality of calf | No | 8/7/24 |
|
Sullivan Creek | 12/14/23 | Confirmed injury of adult cow | Yes | 10/14/24 | |
Couse Pack | 7/31/23 | Probable mortality of calf | Yes | 5/31/24 | |
8/15/23 | Confirmed mortality of calf | Yes | 6/15/24 | Adult male and yearling female removed on 8/26/23 | |
Undetermined pack (Stevens County) | 8/12/23 | Confirmed injury of calf | Yes | 6/12/24 | |
9/5/23 | Confirmed injury of calf | Yes | 7/5/24 |
- Beaver Creek ,
- Big Muddy ,
- Butte Creek ,
- Carpenter Ridge ,
- Chewuch ,
- Chopaka ,
- Columbia ,
- Couse ,
- Diamond ,
- Diobsud Creek ,
- Dirty Shirt ,
- Dollar Mountain ,
- Dominion ,
- Five Sisters ,
- Frosty ,
- Goodman Meadows ,
- Grouse Flats ,
- Huckleberry ,
- Keller Ridge ,
- Kettle ,
- Leadpoint ,
- Lookout ,
- Loup Loup ,
- Maverick ,
- Mt. Spokane ,
- Naneum ,
- Napeequa ,
- Nason ,
- Navarre ,
- Nc'icn ,
- Onion Creek ,
- OPT ,
- Profanity Peak ,
- Ruby ,
- Salmo ,
- Scatter ,
- Shady Pass ,
- Sherman ,
- Skagit ,
- Skookum ,
- Smackout ,
- Sprague Lake ,
- Stranger ,
- Strawberry ,
- Sullivan Creek ,
- Teanaway ,
- Togo ,
- Touchet ,
- Tucannon ,
- Vulcan ,
- Wedge ,
- Wenatchee ,
- Whitestone ,
- Wilmont