State considers strategy on wolves

OLYMPIA – The state Department of Fish and Wildlife says it expects increasing numbers of gray wolves to migrate into Washington from neighboring states and Canada, and officials want to know what to do about it.

The department has named 18 people to a working group to come up with a conservation and management strategy for dealing with the wolves. The group includes ranchers, farmers, government workers, conservationists, biologists and hunters.

Gray wolves were largely eradicated in Washington by the 1930s, but sightings have increased since federal wolf-recovery efforts began in Idaho and Montana in the mid-1990s. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing gray wolf populations from the federal list of endangered species in three states and parts of four other states, including Washington.

“If gray wolves are removed from federal species protection status, Washington and other Western states will have primary responsibility for managing their wolf populations,” said Jeff Koenings, state Fish and Wildlife director. “We need to prepare for that possibility by developing a conservation and management plan that works for people and wildlife.”

The gray wolf is also protected under the state endangered species law.

A draft plan is expected from the group by the end of the year. A plan is expected to be finalized by June 30, 2008, following a public comment period.