Wolves in Northeast Washington are getting in trouble early this year. The Togo Pack injured a calf on June 5, 2020, bringing their total predations to 7 in the last 10 months. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) can authorize lethal removal when a pack reaches 4 predations in 10 months or 3 in 30 days.
To compare, the Wedge Pack has 4 predations within a 30 day window; no lethal order has been issued for this pack to date. The Leadpoint Pack has 3 predations in 30 days.
In all of the above instances, the common thread is the use of range riding as a non-lethal deterrent. Range riding has been performed in the Togo area by WDFW, the NE Washington Wolf and Cattle Collaborative (NEWWCC, pronounced “nuke”), and the Cattle Producers of Washington (CPoW, pronounced "kapow"). Yes, cattle producers are the ones out there trying to protect wolves. If that sounds like a conflict of interest, it is. We have our own Washington Department of Agriculture to thank for this as the Department of Agriculture provided grant funds to cattle producers to deter conflict to protect wolves and livestock. CPoW has a noted anti-wolf agenda, yet was funded to mitigate conflict.
The Wolf Advisory Group has been working to standardize the practice of range riding for years. They have not been able to come to sufficient consensus on what duties a range rider should be performing to be considered an adequate non lethal deterrent. Currently, the lack of standardization renders the term “range rider,” with so many definitions that it has no meaning at all.
The Lands Council submitted a letter (see belowe) to the Governor on Monday, June 29, 2020, requesting that the Governor mandate WDFW to adopt standards of practice for range riding.
June 29, 2019
J.T. Austin
Office of the Governor
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002
Ms. Austin,
We appreciate the Governor’s recognition of the need for change in management to recover the gray wolf in Washington. I actually had a piece published in the Seattle Times in October of 2019 expressing our gratitude. I am attaching the letter Governor Inslee sent to Director Susewind on September 30, 2019.We are calling upon the Governor’s office to mandate WDFW’s standardization of the practice of Range Riding to protect our native wildlife.
We currently have 3 wolf packs in NE Washington that have met criteria for lethal removal, the Togo Pack, the Wedge Pack, and the Leadpoint Pack. This is the first time in the history of wolf recovery that we have been in this situation so early in the season.
Current practices, particularly a lack of standardized Range Riding, are contributing factors that are exacerbating wolf/livestock conflict. The Togo Pack Lethal Order (attached) documents three agencies; WDFW, Cattle Producers of Washington, and NE Washington Wolf Cattle Collaborative, with “Range Riders” on the landscape, notably at the time of conflict. Yet, with no definition of what Range Riding is, the public has little idea what is being done on the landscape to mitigate conflict.
I am also attaching the two reports for the Wedge Pack and the Leadpoint Pack for your reference. All three reports reference Range Riding as a predominant non lethal deployed to deter conflict. Currently without standardization, this could be an individual hiking or driving in their air conditioned truck down forest roads, or a rider deep in the forest tracking wolves and documenting their presence, location and behavior to keep livestock and wolves apart. The latter is Range Riding, the former is useless.
The WAG has been working to standardize Range Riding by defining what a Range Rider must be doing in order for the practice to be considered a non lethal deterrent (see attached draft document). The WAG has been unable to reach any type of consensus on what Range Riding should look like by the state or the individual livestock producer.
WDFW claims “high quality” Range Riding in the Togo Pack area. When a term lacks definition, how do you define its quality. Additionally, if WDFW deems Range Riding was done at its best available level, and livestock predation still occurred, it is an ineffective non lethal tool. Until it is defined and standardized we have no way to know.
We are calling upon the Governor’s Office to accelerate this process and mandate WDFW’s standardization of the practice of Range Riding. At this point, when Range Riding is a documented non lethal it can mean so many things that it means absolutely nothing. It is evident that undefined “Range Riding” is not been able to identify or mitigate conflict potential. Leadpoint and Togo provide examples where undefined Range Riding on private property failed to identify wolf activity or predation potential – indicative of a lack of daily observation and the knowledge to effectively intervene to deter conflict.
The people of Washington want gray wolves on the landscape. In order to coexist we need to develop tools that allow wolves and livestock to share the landscape without either being killed. Coexistence isn’t killing, it literally means “living together.” Wolves are going to recover and be on the landscape in perpetuity. We cannot continue to kill wolves for behaving the way we should expect them to behave. We need to adapt our practices and behavior and learn to live with wildlife and preserve biodiversity in the era of climate change.
WDFW is mandated with protecting and preserving our native wildlife.
Their current effort is failing.
We stand by to assist,
Chris