Recovery program a success

N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Tuesday, February 26, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Efforts to recover populations of the gray wolf in the Northern Rockies is going so well federal officials expect more wolves to move into Washington.

Since they were wiped out about 1930, wolves have been occasional visitors to Washington. The gray wolf was listed as an endangered species in 1973.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has no plans to actively pursue wolf recovery in Oregon or Washington, said Ed Bangs, head of the Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf recovery program in the northern Rocky Mountains.

Any recovery would be from wolves migrating from British Columbia or Idaho. The female wolf recently sighted in northeastern Washington -- officially known as Y206 -- apparently moved in from a Montana pack through Idaho. It has since left the state.

But with the burgeoning population in neighboring Idaho, the chances of wolves expanding their territory into Washington is pretty good, said Carter Niemeyer, head of Fish and Wildlife's wolf recovery program in Idaho.

Wolves thriving

In 1995 and 1996, 31 wolves were transplanted from Alberta to Yellowstone National Park and 35 were transplanted to central Idaho. Despite a few lethal clashes with livestock owners, the wolves have thrived. As of Dec. 31, officials estimate there are 572 wolves in 35 packs in the three-state recovery area of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

In Idaho, the number is about 260 wolves in 17 packs, Niemeyer said.

As long as they are on the federal endangered species list, the state would co-manage any wolves that arrive here. If they are removed from the federal list, the state would continue to manage them as state endangered species, said Harriet Allen, manager of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife's threatened and endangered species section.

The criteria for delisting wolves was to have 30 breeding pairs for three consecutive years in the three-state recovery area. The end of this year would be the third year, Bangs said. The definition of a breeding pair is a pack that successfully raises at least two pups.

Once the three states produce wolf management plans acceptable to the Fish and Wildlife Service, officials will begin the process of delisting the wolf.

Federal officials also are working on a proposal to change the status of the gray wolf from endangered to threatened, Bangs said.

The first government bounty on gray wolves was set in 1622 in New England.

Early settlers in the West launched a concerted effort of hunting, trapping and poisoning wolves when they began to attack livestock that had replaced the native wildlife. Settlers and government hunters effectively exterminated wolves in Washington by 1930.

"We deliberately killed them," Bangs said.

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445 and at nnokkent@olympia.gannett.com.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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