ALERT: Wildlife Commission to consider final Wolf EIS Thursday

As the Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission prepares to meet this Thursday to consider a recommended wolf conservation and management plan, a new controversy has erupted in Colville, where a veteran big game guide and outfitter is raising the alarm about a possible recent attack that left at least two dogs dead and a neighborhood on edge.

The Commission is not finished with the wolf plan process. Three more special meetings are slated:

The Commission has scheduled three more special meetings to discuss the recommended Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and take public comment. Those meetings are tentatively scheduled for Aug. 29 in Ellensburg, and Oct. 6 and Nov. 3 in Olympia. Final action on the plan is expected to occur at the December 2011 Commission meeting

The final EIS may be viewed here. It is quite a document that will take a while to read and digest. According to the plan, the recommended option is Alternative 2. According to the Executive Summary, this is the logic:

Alternative 2, the wolf conservation and management plan, is the Preferred Alternative because it meets the goals and objectives for establishing a long-term viable wolf population in Washington while at the same time addressing wolf-livestock conflicts and interactions between wolves and wild ungulates. The Final Preferred Alternative was modified from its previous version in the Draft EIS based on the public, scientific, and agency reviews and input.

According to the actual document, Alternative 2 “sets a moderate geographic distribution of recovery objectives for downlisting and delisting, with an emphasis on adequate numbers being present in the Southern Cascades/Northwest Coast recovery region, but does not require the establishment of wolves in a fourth Pacific Coast recovery region to achieve delisting. This alternative includes a range of proactive, non-lethal and lethal control options for addressing livestock conflicts, and generous compensation for confirmed and probable depredations on livestock.”

At this point, hunters may want to ask, “But what about predation on the state’s elk and deer herds?” Here is what can be found on pages 36 and 37 of the EIS:

"The modification to this provision in the revised Preferred Alternative 2 was the removal of the sentence regarding “managing ungulate harvest to benefit wolves if research determines wolves are below recovery objectives and prey is limiting” (Table 1). The Draft EIS Alternative 2 directed managing for healthy ungulate populations through habitat improvement, harvest management, and reduction of illegal hunting to improve abundance in areas occupied or likely to be occupied by wolves. It also included a provision that if research determined that wolves were not meeting recovery objectives in localized areas and prey availability was a key limiting factor, WDFW would have considered adjusting recreational harvest levels to provide adequate prey for wolves. This provision was removed in the revised Preferred Alternative 2.

"Maintaining robust prey populations will benefit wolf conservation in Washington by providing adequate prey for wolves, supplying hunters and recreational viewers of wildlife with continued opportunities for hunting and seeing game, and reducing the potential for livestock depredation by providing an alternative food to domestic animals. In the revised Preferred Alternative 2, WDFW would manage for healthy ungulate populations through habitat improvement, harvest management, and reduction of illegal hunting, consistent with game management plans."

Just as this document was being made public, though, Colville-based hunting guide Dale Denney was firing off a letter to the Fish & Wildlife Commission that is bound to raise hackles among big game hunters across the state. Denney’s letter, detailing an alleged wolf attack within a couple of miles of the Stevens County seat and the county’s largest city, is already getting comment on the Hunting-Washington forum, where wolves are getting lots of attention.

‘I am going to tell you this with all seriousness, if these wolves come on our private property and start killing my hounds I am going to try and stop them, if I feel threatened by a wolf that comes toward me in the process of saving my dogs, I am going to protect myself.’—Dale Denney, Colville

Denney is no alarmist, but he is definitely alarmed. By the time this hearing process is completed, he is likely to have lots of company.

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