New Report Shows Slight Growth in Wolf Packs Despite Population Dip; WDFW Stresses Recovery Still on Track

According to the Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2024 Annual Report released today by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the number of gray wolf packs in Washington increased slightly in 2024, even as the overall minimum count of wolves declined. Despite the dip in numbers, WDFW biologists maintain that wolf recovery remains on track.

“The state’s wolf population grew by an average of 20% per year since the first WDFW wolf survey in 2008, until 2024,” said WDFW Statewide Wolf Specialist Ben Maletzke. “Despite reduced population counts statewide, the number of packs increased in the North Cascades in 2024, and both the North Cascades and Eastern Washington Recovery regions continued to meet or exceed recovery objectives for the fifth year in a row.”

As of Dec. 31, 2024, WDFW and partnering tribes counted 230 wolves (a 9% decrease from 2023) in 43 packs in Washington. Eighteen packs were successful breeding pairs. These numbers compare with 2023’s 254 wolves in 42 packs and 24 breeding pairs. WDFW counts wolves annually through activities like track, aerial, and camera surveys. As in past years, survey results represent minimum counts of wolves plus 12.5% for lone wolves and dispersers due to the difficulty of counting every animal.

To explain the decline in total wolf count despite the increase in pack numbers, WDFW Communications Manager Staci Lehman, speaking on behalf of Maletzke, pointed to several contributing factors. “WDFW has said for many years that there would come a time when population growth in Washington would slow down as areas with wolf packs hit ‘saturation’ levels,” she said.

While some state regions can still support wolf expansion, areas like northeast and southeast Washington may be nearing capacity. The 2024 report also notes that lawful and unlawful mortalities played a role. Despite these dynamics, Lehman emphasized that WDFW biologists do not believe recovery is at risk.

WDFW documented 37 wolf mortalities in 2024, including four removals in response to wolf-livestock conflict, 19 legally harvested by tribal hunters, and seven mortalities attributed to unlawful killing or poaching, among other causes of death. Charges have been referred to prosecutors for consideration in one of the unlawful take cases.

“Poaching wolves is unacceptable – in Washington, illegally killing a wolf or other endangered species is a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and one year in jail,” said WDFW Director Kelly Susewind. “In addition, poaching slows the natural recovery of wolves in the state and hinders their ability to reach recovery goals that could allow them to be delisted as a state-endangered species.”

Lehman said poaching cases are particularly difficult to investigate due to their remote settings. “Building poaching cases is difficult as there are not cameras and not usually witnesses in remote areas where these crimes happen,” she explained. WDFW enforcement officers conduct thorough investigations, and the agency urges members of the public to report suspicious activity. Both WDFW and partner organizations offer rewards for tips that lead to convictions.

Three of the four wolves that WDFW documented in the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast wolf recovery region in recent years were killed illegally, and the presence of the fourth has not been documented in more than a year. That region is the only one of three that did not reach the minimum recovery goals in 2024.

To address challenges in areas like the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast, where confirmed sightings remain sparse, Lehman said WDFW continues to invest time and resources into monitoring. “We spend a lot of time investigating reports of wolf sightings, placing game cams and reviewing photos and videos on them, looking for tracks and scat, and talking with people in these areas,” she said. Public reports are encouraged and vetted through WDFW’s wolf observation dashboard.

The Eastern Recovery region had 31 packs, 13 of which were considered successful breeding pairs, while the North Cascades recovery region had 12 packs, five of which were considered successful breeding pairs.

Lehman explained what qualifies as a successful breeding pair: “A successful breeding pair of wolves is defined as an adult male and female with at least two pups surviving to December 31st in a given year.” She noted that breeding pairs are the foundation of population growth and are a key metric in the state’s recovery goals.

To reach statewide recovery objectives, the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast need a minimum of four successful breeding pairs. In comparison, the other two regions maintain a minimum of four successful breeding pairs and at least six additional successful breeding pairs located anywhere in the state.

Other highlights from the Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2024 Annual Report include:

• Three new packs formed or re-established in 2024, including the Teanaway and Naneum packs in Kittitas County and the Reed pack in Okanogan County.
• Fifteen wolves (28% of the collared wolves monitored during the calendar year) were documented dispersing from their pack territories in 2024, while seven wolves (13% of the radio-collared wolves) dispersed out of Washington state.
• An error was made in the 2023 annual wolf report regarding the Strawberry pack, which resides primarily on Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservations (CTCR) lands and is managed under tribal authority. Five wolves from that pack were harvested during 2023 that were not subtracted from the CTCR minimum count of eight. The year-end count for that pack should have been three rather than eight. That pack had also been noted as a breeding pair, but did not meet the criteria to be considered a breeding pair after these harvests were included. Correcting this error meant decreasing the overall minimum count from 260 to 254 (including 12.5% reduction of lone/dispersing wolves) and number of successful breeding pairs by one to 24 successful breeding pairs in 2023. These numbers were corrected in the 2024 report.

WDFW documented 40 depredation events and confirmed that 17 cattle and one domestic dog were killed by wolves in 2024, while two calves were probably killed by wolves. Twenty-six cattle were confirmed injured by wolves, and 10 were probably injured by wolves. Up to 10 of the 43 (23%) known packs that existed in Washington during 2024 were involved in at least one confirmed or probable livestock injury or mortality.

Seventy-seven percent of known packs were not involved in any known or probable livestock depredation, even though many pack territories overlap various livestock operations. WDFW staff continued to work closely with livestock producers in 2024 to implement non-lethal conflict prevention measures.

Lehman emphasized that no single method works in all scenarios. “The effectiveness of non-lethal measures depends on the situation and landscape,” she said. Fladry, for example, is better suited to small pastures, while RAG boxes can lose effectiveness over time. “Range riders and human presence can be effective but aren’t always an option in remote areas,” she added. WDFW works directly with producers to identify the most appropriate tools for their specific operations.

Wolves continue to disperse into new areas, which plays a key role in long-term recovery planning. “Wolves have been dispersing in and out of Washington and within the state for many years,” Lehman said. “It is how we expect wolves will eventually reach the areas in Washington where they don’t currently reside.” WDFW’s public outreach efforts, including monthly wolf updates, target both regions with current wolf populations and those likely to see future activity.

Communications Manager Lehman said tribal partnerships remain an integral part of the department’s wolf management work. She explained that WDFW collaborates with tribes throughout the year to count and document wolves using methods such as aerial surveys, track surveys, and camera monitoring and that data from tribal biologists is integrated into the agency’s population assessments. Contributors to WDFW’s annual wolf report include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Spokane Tribe of Indians, Swinomish Tribe, Yakama Nation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

The agency expressed confidence that gray wolves remain on a path toward recovery in Washington. It stated that it would continue working with livestock producers in the coming year to proactively reduce wolf-livestock conflicts.

In addition to the Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2024 Annual Report, which is available on the Department’s website, a recording of the report’s presentation to the Fish and Wildlife Commission will soon be available on the website.

*Questions for this article were directed initially to Benjamin Maletzke, Statewide Wolf Specialist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. WDFW Communications Manager Staci Lehman provided responses at his request.

[Featured Image by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash]