the Wolf

Connecting for Wildlife
the Wolf
Jasmine Minbashian Director of special projects,
jasmine@conservationnw.org
of wolves for their pelts began with the arrival of the Hudson
Bay Company in the American Northwest in 1821. The furtrading
company and its hired guns, known as “wolfers,” used
strychnine to poison wolves at its early Washington farming
operations and set high prices on wolf skins to encourage killing
by Indians. Trapping and shooting were also common killing
techniques. According to their records, a total of 14,810
wolf pelts were traded from 1821 to 1859, at four locations in
Washington.
By 1939, the US Forest Service estimated that only about
ten wolves in total survived on all national forest lands in the
state.
Over the last few decades, there have been verified sightings
of individual wolves in the mountains of Washington.
There have even been a few documented cases of adults and
pups howling, mostly in and around North Cascades National
Park, but never had there been a way to confirm that these
were, in fact, wild wolves, and not illegally introduced wolfdog
hybrids. Until now.
On July 24, 2008, the lab results from the collared wolves were
returned to Olympia with fascinating results: These were indeed
pure wild wolves. They had migrated from British Columbia or
central Alberta and started a new pack of their own in Washington’s
North Cascades, now dubbed “the Lookout Pack.”
Have Legs, Will Travel
I recently spent three glorious days
hiking in the Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness
above Lake Chelan. After climbing
an unnamed 8,500 ft peak, I felt incredibly
small and incredibly tired. Looking
north from the summit, I could see the
snow-capped mountains of British Columbia
on the horizon. They looked
so vast, so distant, and so rugged that I
wondered how in the world could a wolf
make it from there to here?
Wolves are built for travel. They are
designed to be constantly moving. With
long, elegant legs, they trot on their toes,
giving them a fluid gait that allows them
to roam an average of 30 miles a day.
When they want to, they can move hundreds
of miles in several days.
Another land mammal with such
range is the surly and solitary wolverine.
An adult wolverine can cover 500
square miles in search of insects, berries, small animals, birds,
and carrion. A wolverine made headlines this spring when it
was photographed in the eastern Sierra Mountains of California,
where it was thought to be extinct for decades (see article
page 11). Researchers know that the animal traveled from the
Northern Rockies to get there.
Wolves’ home ranges or territories vary, but usually average
about 140 to 400 square miles. Territory size is often smaller
when prey is common and other packs live nearby. Wolves are
very social animals and mostly stick with their families, but
once in awhile—just like people—they will break away from
the pack and explore new territory, searching for a fresh start.
As habitat generalists, wolves don’t need much to survive.
Biologist Scott Fitkin explains, “For wolves to do well, they really
only need two things: an adequate ungulate prey base and
for us not to kill them.”
But increasingly that’s becoming more difficult.
Running the Gauntlet
Remember the old video game Frogger? Your joystick
moves a little frog character across a series of busy highways
and your challenge is to not get squashed. Now, add in hunters
that can shoot you on sight—oh, and no rest stops. The game
suddenly gets a lot harder.
Continued next page
Gray wolf. Photo © Don Getty
Keeping the Northwest wild Fall 2008