Wolves Making Strides in Central Washington

By the 1930’s, breeding wolf populations had been all but extinguished within Washington State. Throughout the following decades, intermittent reports and alleged sightings of wolves suggest that animals from neighboring states and British Columbia may have maintained at least a transitory presence in Washington. However, the successful documentation of a breeding population of wolves within the State’s borders would not again take place until 2008.

Reports of increasing wolf activity began as early as 2004, but the 2008 discovery of a successful pack in Okanogan County made it official. The reemergence of North America’s most successful predator in the woods of Washington comes on the heels of reintroduction efforts in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Efforts resulting in thriving wolf populations, along with significant political rumbling between advocacy groups representing hunters, ranchers and environmentalists. By the time that the Okanogan Pack was identified, the debate over wolf management in Washington had already begun.

By the end of 2009, two more packs had been confirmed, totaling three distinct units in far northeastern Washington. January of 2010, an active pack was discovered in north-central Washington, near Omak. The mere existence of a pack in the Cascade Mountains’ eastern foothills, more than 120 miles from another breeding population, suggests that wolves may be moving in from Canada, or already exist within Washington in much greater numbers than we’ve yet been able to confirm.

By the summer of 2010, the new north-central Washington wolf population, dubbed “The Lookout Pack,” had been nearly eradicated by poaching. Bill and Tom White, ranchers out of the Twisp, WA area, were convicted of killing 9 wolves over the course of an 18 month span. In addition, Bill White—the elder of the father/son combo, was convicted along with his wife of attempting to smuggle wolf-pelts across the border to Canada. The three White’s were convicted to a combined 14 years in prison and ordered $600,000 in fines.

Despite the apparent slaughter of the Lookout Pack, reported wolf sightings continued to occur with increasing regularity. Inhabitants of the numerous towns dotting the eastern flank of the Cascades insisted on the presence of regional wolves; from Mazama-- near the Canadian border, to Naches in the south-- along highway 12 outside of Yakima. As reports began to stack up, many regional biologists came to agree that wolves must be more active within the state than they had been able to document.

In July of 2011 a breeding pack of Grey Wolves was confirmed along the upper reaches of the Teanaway River, not far from Cle-Elum. The sub-alpine valleys roamed by the Teanaway Pack are less than 20 miles north of Interstate 90 and only an hour and a half’s travel from Seattle.

Above: Image captured by a motion-sensing camera high in the Teanaway River drainage near Cle-Elum, WA; June 2011.

It is unlikely wolves will set up shop near the Seattle metro-area within the foreseeable future. However, it does appear that the animals are here to stay. Given that the Teanaway pack appears to be fairing quite well, experts agree that it is only a matter of time until wolves set up shop somewhere south of Interstate 90; in areas where farming has stretched into the periphery of the mountains and livestock are much more prevalent.

A panel of state officials, biologists and recreational hunting advocates are set to meet in Olympia this August in an attempt to mete out an effective wolf-management plan, to be put into action as soon as possible. Residents in neighboring Idaho voted to open up nearly 50% of their wolf population to public hunting this fall, a prospect that could have disastrous implications on the regional ecosystem. Proponents of wolf hunting in Idaho and Washington preach a concern of the potential effects that wild wolves could have on regional deer and elk herds. Most reputable biologists agree that wolves actually have a positive effect on wild bovine populations by culling weak or sick animals from the herd. The initial impact of wolves on these populations is notable, but given time research elsewhere shows that the herds ultimately recover; growing stronger as the healthy genes of animals able to evade wolves are passed down the genetic line.

After a 75 year hiatus, Canis-Lupus has returned to the woods of central Washington, bringing with them varying degrees of both excitement and controversy. The meetings to take place this August are a key point in the ongoing saga of Washington’s wolves. Whatever is agreed upon behind those doors will inevitably declare what, if any role wolves will be allowed to play within the state.

2011: The Year Without a Summer?

Here in the Pacific Northwest June has given way to July, but judging by the chill outside this morning it could have been April. The calendar shows us that it is clearly summer; technically this cannot be denied. Yet, for a region recently gripped by an icy La Nina winter, followed by one of the coldest, wettest springs on record, summer, and the typically warmer, drier weather associated with it could not arrive soon enough.

After much La Nina related fanfare, the winter of 2011 started not with a bang, but a whistle. The Cascades, although having caught some early winter weather late in October, would not sustain a snowpack until December. The weeks preceding the Christmas Holiday were fairly average for a Washington winter; some snow in the mountains, rain near the deck around Puget Sound and a mix of wintery bleh east of mountains. Then came “June-uary.”

At 11:50 PM, as 2010 prepared to turn the corner into 2011, precipitation atop Stevens Pass, one of the highest anywhere in the Cascades abruptly turned from snow, into torrential freezing rain. Warm, moist air travelling along an atmospheric current known as “The Jet Stream” had overrun a stubborn mass of cold air which had been perched east of the Cascade crest for days. The warm and productively wet weather systems associated with this sort of atmospheric activity are referred to as “Pineapple Express” events. These events are capable of producing immense amounts of precipitation, and when passing over an existing pocket of colder air can produce hours, or even days of the heavy mixed precipitation that our cute and cuddly weather-folks have recently taking to calling a “wintery mix.”

In a normal Pacific Northwest winter, let alone one where strong La Nina conditions exist, Pineapple Express events are few and far between. January 2011 saw four such events and more than 20 inches of rain falling in the Cascades.

In Late February, things changed abruptly. The current of warm, moist air that had persisted since early January was suddenly blocked by high pressure ridging, allowing cooler systems-- often associated with an Arctic boundary front, to enter the region from the north. These systems were wet and very cold, often producing lowland snow events, and are more characteristic of La Nina conditions. March and April shattered cold weather records throughout the state of Washington.

In May, cool and wet weather persisted ever on. Seattle was having one of the more dismal spring seasons that anyone could remember. In the Cascades, ski resorts already closed for the summer watched helplessly as they accumulated more snow in the month of May than in December or January.

June brought more of the same, as many locations throughout Western Washington had yet to record a 70 degree afternoon. The southwest Washington town of Chehalis tallied only 8 precip-free days between March 22^nd and June 14^th, a period perfectly capable of providing summeresque weather. Things were wet west of the crest, but the Eastern portion of the state was not spared.

Above: Temperature data out of Ellensburg, WA for the month of June 2011. Shown are daily high and low temperatures and their relationship to statistical mean temps. The red line is the mean high temp, the blue line the mean low.

-Graphic courtesy Cliff Mass Blog

 Statistically speaking the most likely time of year to see warm, sunny weather around Northwest is the second part of July and the first three weeks in August. The persistence of northwesterly flow aloft deep into the summer is very unusual. Chief regional meteorologists agree that this weather can’t last forever and that we will inevitably see some summer, at some point. Today, as Washingtonians hustle to make their 4^th of July preparations, the weekend forecast calls for some rain, wind and chilly evenings throughout the state. That sort of weather is not conducive to forest fires; music to the ears of the numerous Eastern Washington communities plagued by flames each summer.