Wolf Population Grows Statewide, But Not In Western Washington

SPOKANE, WA - The wolf population in Washington grew in 2017, but wolves living along in the North Cascades are not growing as quickly as ones living in Eastern Washington near the Idaho border, according to a new state Department of Fish and Wildlife report.

There are now at least 122 wolves living in the state - up from nearly zero in 2008. There are 13 breeding pairs in Eastern Washington, but just one in the North Cascades. The two packs closest to Puget Sound include the Skagit, located southeast of Bellingham, and the Teanaway, located north of Cle Elum.

The Skagit pack, however, contains only one known wolf, according to DFW.

State and tribal wildlife specialists counted the number of wolves in 2017 by air, with remote cameras, by looking for wolf tracks, and signals from collared wolves. Four new packs in the state were discovered, all east of the Cascades.

"Here and in other states, wolf demographics are highly dynamic from year to year," state wolf specialist Ben Maletzke said. "The real value of these surveys is the information they provide about long-term trends, which show that our state's wolf population has grown by an annual average of 31 percent over the past decade."

In Washington, wolves are considered an endangered species. The federal government considers wolves endangered only west of the Cascades. The number of breeding pairs in Eastern Washington grew steadily between 2010 and 2017 from four to 13. There have been no more than two breeding pairs in the Cascades over that same period.

File photo by Neal McNamara/Patch