March 18–YAKIMA, Wash. — While the population of resident wolves in Washington state has been growing, with four new packs established over the past year, wildlife experts know the next logical place for a new pack could well be in the forested Cascade foothills west of Yakima.
But it isn’t there yet, say state wildlife experts.
“We’re continuing to keep our eyes on the area south of I-90 and west of Yakima,” said Scott Becker, wolf biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It’s the next area that’s probably going to be populated by wolves at some point in the future.
“But we can’t predict when that’s going to be.”
One would think it’s already happening based on the frequency of anecdotal reports, rumors and sightings of animals that may be wolves — but probably aren’t.
“There’s lots of reports that come in west of Yakima, and a lot of them may turn out to be coyotes or, as in the case earlier this year, a Cascade fox or those types of things,” Becker said. “We haven’t been able to confirm anything. We’ve conducted surveys and there’s thousands of cameras out there as well, and we’ve got nothing solid.
“That doesn’t mean there’s nothing there.”
One thing that is there — and may be slowing wolf expansion into this part of the state — is an already plentiful population of cougars. The big cats, drawn to the same sort of ungulate prey that attracts wolves, have long been well-established on the Central Washington landscape, and are apparently willing to defend their territory against the region’s newest predator — or eat it.
Earlier this month, a cougar killed and partially devoured a radio-collared wolf north of Ellensburg, a year after another collared Washington wolf had been killed by a cougar. This month’s victim was a young male, almost 3 years old, that was believed to be dispersed from the Teanaway pack.
“A lone wolf doesn’t stand a chance against a lion,” Becker said. “A lion’s a pure predator. If you have a pack of wolves, that’s a different story — in that case, I think the lion’s going to run away. But (against) a single wolf, or even two, a lion would be able to hold its own in just about any situation.
“And (cougars killing wolves) may happen more than we know, because those two (fatalities) just happened to be wolves that had radio collars on. Whether that’s happened to uncollared wolves, we don’t know.”
The Teanaway Pack, based in the Teanaway area of western Kittitas County, north and northeast of Cle Elum, is one of 13 packs in the state, based on the WDFW’s annual survey released 10 days ago. While that number counts four new packs, though, the state has only verified five successful breeding pairs and the total number of individual wolves in the survey, 52, constitutes an increase of just one wolf over the previous year’s count.
Three of the four new packs were formed by wolves that split off from the Smackout Pack in northeast Washington, according to WDFW state carnivore specialist Donny Martorello. The fourth new pack, though, the Wenatchee pack, might already be gone or might actually consist of Teanaway pack wolves that are on what biologists are calling “a walkabout.”
Since this time in 2013, when there were multiple photos and sightings of two wolves traveling together — the minimum requirements for a pack, according the state wolf management plan plan — the only evidence of the wolves was two trail-cam photographs captured over this past winter by a landowner in the Pitcher Canyon area southeast of Wenatchee.
“That was the only evidence we’ve had of that pack,” said Dave Volsen, a Wenatchee-based WDFW wildlife biologist. “When they appeared (in early 2013), they met all the requirements to be called a pack, and they’re still what we refer to as the Wenatchee pack in that area.
“But in reality, packs sometimes persist or do not persist. Conditions can change and their range can change, based on changes in the prey base and things like that.”
It’s been relatively easy for state officials to keep apprised of wolf activities in the northeast part of the state, with its relatively high density of wolves and livestock. But of the state’s 20 reported attacks on pets and livestock by wolves last year, WDFW officials determined that wolves were actually only involved in four of those attacks, resulting in one calf being killed and three dogs injured.
Those numbers constituted a significant drop from depredation in 2012, when Washington wolves killed at least seven calves and one sheep and injured another six calves and two sheep. Most of those attacks were attributed to the Wedge Pack, and the WDFW killed seven pack members that year. Two wolves from the Wedge, though, were still traveling as a pack in the same area in 2013.
A 2-year-old female from another northeast Washington pack, the Smackout pack in Stevens County, was shot and killed early last month. The WDFW, with support from three non-profit organizations, is offering a reard of up to $22,500 to find the person or persons responsible for its death.
But while wolves in that part of the state remain at the center of an emotional maelstrom, Central Washington’s wolves have “been fairly well-behaved,” without a single 2013 lifestock or wolf report involving the Teanaway pack.
That hasn’t stopped reports from coming in that wolves are, well, everywhere.
“Those reports are constant,” said Yakima-based WDFW biologist Jeff Bernatowicz. “Even along the I-5 corridor over by Seattle, they’re constant. Everywhere in the state you get reports of wolves. People see things.
“And, really, wolves aren’t very reclusive. They’re actually pretty bold. They like to run roads, and they howl. If there’s a pack, you’re going to know it. And it’s not going to be one report here and there, it’s going to be numerous reports.”
As for the occasional report of a set of wolf tracks — or what appears to be wolf tracks — Bernatowicz said that doesn’t mean there’s a pack anywhere around.
“That could be a single wolf traveling through or on a walkabout from another pack,” he said. “One set of wolf tracks, that’s not a pack. And that wolf, if it is a wolf, the next day could be many miles away.”
And the removal of wolves from the state’s endangered species list could be years away. The management plan calls for documenting 15 successful breeding pairs for three consecutive years spread among three designated wolf-recovery regions, or 18 successful breeding pairs in one year for the whole state.
And five breeding pairs, the current official count, is a far cry from that.