CLARKSTON, WA — Wolf populations across Washington state have been steadily increasing. Washington Fish and Wildlife now has new information on how to best keep those populations protected. There are 122 wolves across Washington that make up 22 different packs. But even though numbers are still low, wolves are still being poached for encroaching on livestock. Three wolves were killed in 2017, and Fish and Wildlife are now asking for county input on what their options are.

In 2013, Washington Fish and Wildlife began tracking wolf populations in the state with radioed collars that can pinpoint to a specific location within a few feet.

“Wolf location information as a tool for livestock producers. To try to help producers on the ground have a sense of a radioed wolf’s territory, and when that particular animal was in proximity to its livestock.” Says Steve Pozzanghera, Fish and Wildlife Region One Director.

There are currently three wolf packs in the Blue Mountains, with one of the packs residing in Asotin County near the Oregon border. The data from those wolf collars is to be used for warning producers of potential wolf activity.

“I’m going to call up Mr. Johnson and let him know there’s wolf activity in his area, and livestock behaving normally, anything unusual, probably need to have a little bit of a heads up,” he says.

That’s how the information is supposed to be used. But Fish and Wildlife have seen maps with pinpoint data replicated and passed out to the public. That presents a problem.

“We also know that we have had collared wolves that have been poached. As well as un-collared wolves that have been illegally killed. We do know that in 2017 alone, we had 3 collared wolves that were killed.”

That’s why the department is now reworking the way that system works.

“When the wolf appears at the point on the map, the program that we utilized takes that point, and it fills in an entire section. It says the wolf was in that one mile by one-mile section.”

It’s also because they now have Washington specific data on the denning period. It was previously thought denning was from March 15th through June 1st. But now there’s newer data.

“Wolves are actually at their den until the middle of July. July 15th.”

During that period, producers are blacked out from the data, to ensure wolf safety.

“It becomes pretty obvious where the den site is. Currently, producers have that blackout. We need to modify that blackout period to actually reflect that denning window.”

That blackout window doesn’t apply to county commissioners, but Fish and Wildlife is collecting input from commissions across the state to see if they should also be blacked out from the data.