Conservation Northwest

Getting wilder A plan for wolves—and deer If Washington's wolf plan is approved, the projected 15 breeding pairs will eventually result in a population of about 300 wolves in Washington. This number of wolves is expected to take about 3,000 elk and 5,000 deer per year. Washington hunters currently kill about 8,000 elk and 38,000 deer annually. Compare that to the estimated more than 300 elk and 12,000 deer killed by vehicles each year on Washington's highways. Elk in Washington number about 57,000 and deer (mule, white-tailed, and black-tailed deer), 300,000. According to the draft wolf plan, "Information from other states with wolves suggests that wolves will have little or no effect on elk and deer abundance or hunter harvest across large areas of Washington." History has shown us that elk and deer populations rise and fall over time. Wolves are just one of many contributing factors to ungulate population dynamics. Washington's proposed plan even calls for the Department of Fish and Wildlife to consider reducing wolf abundance in localized areas should ungulate populations become clearly negatively affected by wolves. It seems that doing the math can favor both wolf recovery and elk and deer hunters. In the end, the facts and the math tell us that wolves help keep elk herds strong, and the biggest threat to ungulate populations is not the wolf but rather the loss of habitat across the West. It's time to set aside the unfounded fears of wolves and their affect on ungulates in our state and focus on creating the greatest outdoor experience possible...one that includes the return of wolves on the landscape! Glimpsing wolves Barbara Christensen Social media and IT, barbara@conservationnw.org Elk and deer will change their behavior with wolves back in the mix, and some hunters will declare that there are fewer elk or deer in their favorite hunting locations. But as a wildlife biologist or a seasoned sportsman will tell you, hunters will have to adapt and hunt a little differently where wolves are present. It may create a Jay Kehne more challenging hunting experience. That's something I can easily attest to. The first time I heard a wolf howl, I was elk hunting along the Salmon River breaks in Idaho. We backpacked 6 miles to find our elk on extremely steep slopes. The first time I glimpsed a wolf, I was with hunting buddies backpacking a deer out of the Frank Church Wilderness, when a small pack stayed just out of sight but followed us for half an hour. My first good view of a wolf was of one of the last two wolves belonging to the Lookout pack. I was with my 11-year-old daughter who had come with me to see if she could see her first wolf. I will never forget any of these experiences, and I can say as an avid deer and elk hunter that the presence of wolves has made it even more enjoyable to spend time in the mountains and woods every fall. Keeping the Northwest wild The art & skill of David Moskowitz Off-trail for wildlife Sitting for days in a blind in the Selkirks, David Moskowitz enjoyed the challenge of getting to know the Diamond Wolf Pack via secondary evidence: raven activity, food caches, scat, and other signs. He wasn't more than a few hundred yards from the pack—he could hear howls from a nearby rendezvous. In the extremely dense forest, however, he hadn't actually captured any of the photos yet that he wanted for his new book, Wolves in the Pacific Northwest. Hours of patient and often difficult fieldwork is nothing new to Moskowitz. A professional wildlife tracker, photographer, and outdoor educator for more than 15 years, David is uniquely suited to understand the Northwest's wildlife renaissance on the ground, in animal sign, like scat and tracks. "The Methow is a great example. I've lived and worked in the Methow for over a decade now. You really get the sense that it's a landscape in transition, and—between the wolves and the wolverines—that it's recovering. It's exciting to go out to places I've been nu- merous times and suddenly there's wolf scat there, and it's full of deer hair and bones…. It's like, 'Wow. There's something different going on here!'" Of the grizzly bear photo captured recently he says, "I have been up and down all over the Cascades and hadn't seen grizzly sign, so it was really great to know that animal is out there." David expects that it will only become more likely find increased evidence of grizzly in the future as well. "We are feeling the results of changes that were made in our society decades ago. The choices we made as a culture to stop predator control in the '60s are finally starting to show results here in the Northwest. It's exciting, and hum- Dave Moskowitz bling to realize the timescale by which natural systems respond to changes." Moskowitz' upcoming book deals with even more massive timescales Cont. next page

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