Contact:       
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Sophia Ressler, Center for Biological Diversity
Lizzy Pennock, WildEarth Guardians
Jocelyn Leroux, Western Watersheds
Tim Coleman, Kettle Range Conservation Group

Requirements for Nonlethal Measures Sought for State Endangered Species

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Five conservation groups filed a lawsuit today asking a state court to enforce Gov. Jay Inslee’s order directing state wildlife officials to enact wolf management rules. The rules should have outlined what steps must be taken before wolves can be killed for conflict with livestock.

Today’s filing notes that Gov. Inslee ordered the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to undertake a formal wolf rulemaking process in 2020, following a petition from conservation organizations. The petition asked the state to require the use of nonlethal deterrence measures by livestock operators before authorizing the killing of wolves involved in livestock conflicts. While the department started this process, in July the state’s wildlife commission voted 5-4 not to enact the proposed rules.

“Gov. Inslee recognizes that Washington needs science-based nonlethal strategies to protect wolves and livestock, but some wildlife commissioners are ignoring his request,” said Sophia Ressler, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re asking the court to recognize the governor’s authority and require commissioners to finally approve wolf rules they were supposed to finalize long ago. We need rules that put a check on the state’s trigger-happy approach to managing imperiled wolves.”

The groups filed their May 2020 petition in response to state officials’ repeated killing of wolves on behalf of one livestock owner in northeast Washington, where the lack of adequate conflict-deterrence measures has resulted in chronic conflicts. The petition also aimed to prevent chronic conflict areas from developing elsewhere in the state by standardizing accountable and enforceable measures statewide.

“Unfortunately, by failing to take action to promulgate science-based wolf management regulations despite Gov. Inslee’s clear direction, the WDFW Commission has aligned itself with anti-wolf minority interests,” said Nick Cady, legal director for Cascadia Wildlands. “We were only asking the agency to follow its own guidelines.”

“Washington’s wolves needed the commission to put enforceable rules in place requiring livestock producers to use effective nonlethal conflict mitigation measures,” said Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence advocate at WildEarth Guardians. “Instead, five members of the nine-member commission wasted two years of work and voted for the status quo: irresponsible livestock grazing and government-sponsored wolf killing.”

“The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission’s July decision to not enact a rule to better protect Washington’s wolves from agency killings was not only disappointing, but illegal,” said Jocelyn Leroux, Washington and Montana director with Western Watersheds Project. “The commission ignored Gov. Inslee’s direction to create a rule that would ensure improved livestock-wolf conflict management and save wolves now and into the future.”

“Rulemaking is an important process in the governance of public resources, in this case, gray wolf recovery in Washington,” said Timothy Coleman, executive director for Kettle Range Conservation Group. “An essential element of a rule is to establish a level playing field, that is, clearly defining standards and processes that government and the public must follow. The current wolf management strategy of the Department of Fish and Wildlife is more like a game of rugby, whatever comes out of the scrum of pro and con wolf interests is how the game is played. But that’s arbitrary and it’s really more about who has more mojo rather than a fair set of rules that everyone abides by – that’s what this petition is striving to achieve.”

Today’s lawsuit was filed in in Thurston County Superior Court on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Cascadia Wildlands, Kettle Range Conservation Group, Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians.

###

The post Press Release: Lawsuit Challenges Washington’s Failure to Enact Wolf Management Rules first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife released its annual wolf report today. The population posted meager overall growth resulting in a total count of 108 wolves up from 97 wolves last year. The number of packs decreased. Oregon posted large population gains this year, indicating that the stagnant growth in Washington was not a function of weather patterns but again a function of large amounts of lethal control of which Oregon had none.

20 wolves were killed in Washington last year by humans; 9 by WDFW, 6 by tribal hunters, and 5 by ranchers. The annual culling of wolves in Washington by the Department or as permitted by lax state regulations is having population level effects and the rules and regulations surrounding wolf conservation in Washington needs to be revisited.

The 2019 report can be found here.

The post 2019 Washington Annual Wolf Report Released! first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

On November 7, 2018, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) authorized the killing of wolves in the Smackout pack in Stevens County and ordered the complete elimination of the Togo pack in Ferry County. Department staff are still actively trying to kill the last adult and pup in the Old Profanity Territory pack. This is the most intensive level of wolf-killing we have seen from the WDFW to date amidst a budding recovery program with approximately 150 wolves in the entire state.

Aside from the high levels of mortality being inflicted upon Washington’s low wolf population, most of these kill orders have been at the behest of a single rancher in Washington, one whom is a vehement and prominent anti-wolf voice. Since 2012, the state of Washington has spent hundreds of thousands of tax-payer dollars to kill 21 wolves, and 17 of these have been to support this single livestock operation.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife generally does a thorough job of encouraging the implementation of non-lethal techniques to prevent wolf-livestock conflicts before they begin. But the problematic producer that has requested the killing of these 17 wolves has adamantly refused to implement preventative techniques and has actively grazed cattle in known wolf territories and in close proximity to wolf dens.

We have been able to demonstrate in Washington and Oregon that a strong emphasis on non-lethal techniques designed to prevent wolf-livestock conflict works, and works really well. But if Washington continues to kill wolves at the behest of bad actors, there is no incentive for livestock producers to get on board with the prevention program. The livestock producer has wolves killed with tax-payer dollars and then is further compensated with public dollars for any cattle lost or injured. The system in Washington is fundamentally flawed.

The people of Washington overwhelming support the recovery of wolves, and the state’s current approach is hindering that recovery. Change is necessary now. That is why Cascadia Wildlands and the Center for Biological Diversity are challenging the legality of these kill orders in court. This has been an uphill battle, but one that needs to occur.

Help Cascadia Wildlands give wolves a fighting chance in Washington! Donate today.

The post Washington Targeting Three Wolf Packs for Killing first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact:
Gabe Scott, In-House Counsel (907) 491-0856; gscott@old.cascwild.org

Olympia, WA — A milestone for aquatic health was achieved today when the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously ordered the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to initiate a rulemaking process that would require individual permits for suction dredge mining in the state.

Suction dredge mining has become controversial throughout the West due to its impacts on aquatic ecosystems and salmon health. The practice requires the use of a motorized, floating dredge to vacuum up the streambed as miners look for gold flecks. Science has show that the process destabilizes the streambed environment, releasing plumes of silt and mercury and harming fish.

“Today’s vote is a significant victory for salmon and river health in the Evergreen State,” said Gabriel Scott, In-House Counsel for Cascadia Wildlands, who provided testimony in advance of the Commission’s vote. “The Commission deserves a lot of credit and wisely recognized that Washington can’t afford to keep giving suction dredge miners a free pass as they suck up our rivers in search of gold.”

Due to its impacts on watershed health, suction dredge mining has recently been reformed in neighboring states. California banned the practice in 2009 and earlier this year the US Supreme Court upheld the ban. In the 2017, the Oregon legislature outlawed the practice in key salmon waterways, and Idaho now requires stricter permitting to better protect its rivers.

Prior to today’s vote, Washington allowed suction dredge mining to occur without a permit. However, the state still allows the practice to occur in designated critical habitat for Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and trout. Rivers important to salmon recovery, like the Nooksack, Peshastin, Methow and Wenatchee, have been hit hard by the practice.

“While today’s vote was a positive step forward, the state must make sure that adequate protections are put into place to ensure salmon and our rivers are protected from the impacts of suction dredge mining,” Scott added.

Cascadia Wildlands’ current lawsuit, Cascadia Wildlands vs. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, was mentioned often in the Commission’s deliberations today, and the issues addressed by the Commission mirror the claims of the litigation. The lawsuit is currently pending in Washington Superior Court in Thurston County, and it is set for oral hearing in Olympia on July 6.

####

The post Press Release: WA Fish and Wildlife Commission Orders Rulemaking to Require Permits for Suction Dredge Mining first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Lawsuit Challenges Washington Wolf-killing Protocol

Injunction Sought Against Further Killings After State Nearly Wipes Out Three Packs for One Livestock Owner

OLYMPIA, Wash.— Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit today seeking to stop the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and its director, James Unsworth, from killing any more state-endangered wolves.

Today’s suit, filed on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands, asserts that the agency’s killing of wolves from the Smackout and Sherman packs in northeastern Washington relied upon a faulty protocol and failed to undergo required environmental analysis. The suit was filed in Superior Court of Washington for Thurston County.

“We can’t sit by and watch Washington wildlife officials kill more wolves from the state’s small and recovering wolf population,” said Amaroq Weiss, the Center’s West Coast wolf advocate. “Washingtonians overwhelmingly want wolves recovered, not killed. The Department of Fish and Wildlife needs to listen to public opinion and consider the dire environmental costs of killing more wolves.”

In June of this year, Fish and Wildlife officials adopted a revised “wolf-livestock interaction protocol” for determining when to kill wolves in response to livestock conflicts. The protocol provided for the state to kill wolves more quickly than in prior years. As the lawsuit notes, the protocol was adopted without any public input or environmental review, in violation of the state’s Environmental Policy and Administrative Procedure Acts.

“Reasonable minds can differ on when we should and should not be killing wolves, and whether the killing of the wolves in these two packs was justified,” said Nick Cady, legal director for Cascadia Wildlands. “But there is no question that we should be fully analyzing the efficacy of these actions, welcoming public and scientific input, and be able to hold the state accountable. This is a state agency spending taxpayer dollars.”

The department has since relied on the protocol to order killing of wolves from two packs, with two wolves from the Smackout pack and one wolf from the Sherman pack killed to date. At the time of the Sherman pack kill order, only two wolves could be confirmed as comprising the pack, one of which the department has now killed. The department has temporarily paused killing wolves from both packs, but will resume if there are more livestock losses.

Overall, since 2012, the state has killed 18 state-endangered wolves, nearly 16 percent of the state’s current confirmed population of 115 wolves. Fifteen of the wolves killed since 2012 were killed on behalf of the same livestock owner; those kills have now led to the near eradication of three entire wolf packs, including the Profanity Peak pack last year, and the Wedge pack in 2012. The rancher in question has been a vocal opponent of wolf recovery and has historically refused to implement meaningful nonlethal measures designed to protect his livestock from wolves.

Washington’s wolves were driven to extinction in the early 1900s by a government-sponsored eradication program on behalf of the livestock industry. The animals began to return from neighboring Idaho and British Columbia in the early 2000s, and their population has grown to 20 confirmed packs as of the end of 2016.

But wolf recovery in Washington is still a work in progress. Wolves remain absent from large areas of the state and although the population has been growing, it remains small and vulnerable. Given the continued endangered status of wolves, the state and livestock operators should stick to nonlethal methods as the sole means for reducing loss of livestock to wolves.

“We appreciate that many livestock owners already are using nonlethal methods, said Weiss, “since the science shows such methods are more effective anyway.”

Plaintiffs are represented in the case by attorneys from the law firm Lane Powell.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.5 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Recognizing the ecological importance of wolves, bears and other carnivores, the Center uses science-based advocacy to defend these magnificent animals from persecution, exploitation and extinction. Find out more about our Carnivore Conservation campaign here.

Cascadia Wildlands educates, agitates, and inspires a movement to protect and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems. We envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, and vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia bioregion.

The post Cascadia Lawsuit Challenges Wolf Killing in Washington! first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

In 2012, following the creation of the Oregon rule, Cascadia Wildlands then turned its eyes to Washington state.  Washington at the time had approximately the same number of wolves as Oregon (60), but had yet to experience the wolf/livestock conflicts that had caused so much polarization in Oregon.  Conflict between wolves and livestock in Wallowa County ultimately led to the livestock industry introducing wolf kill legislation, threats of poaching, and threats of secession. 

The post The Saga of Wolf Recovery in Washington first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

With Huckleberry Wolf Pack in Crosshairs, Conservation Groups Appeal to Gov. Inslee to Require Rules Limiting Killing of Washington’s Endangered Wolves

The post With Huckleberry Wolf Pack in Crosshairs, Conservation Groups Appeal to Gov. Inslee to Require Rules Limiting Killing of Washington’s Endangered Wolves first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

The post State Fish and Wildlife Commission Denies Petition to Require Nonlethal Steps to Manage Washington Wolves first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

The post Groups Urge More Cautious Approach on Washington’s Wolf-kill Policy first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s and watched Westerns with my dad.  We liked the action, wildness and, at times, the messaging contained in the films about cowboys, mountain men, desperados and the first folks in the Americans.   Somewhere in the proteinaceous filing cabinets of my brain I am sure that I have a collection of favorite scenes and lines.  And one of my favorites is the scene between Clint Eastwood and the late Will Sampson in The Outlaw Josey Wales (below).  
 

I think of this clip because I was just getting briefed on Nick Cady’s trip to Washington to speak before the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife wolf team on behalf of these recovering canids.  Our intent in sending Nick to Olympia was two-fold.  First, after developing a relatively strong Wolf Plan in Washington, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, under pressure from the livestock industry, has been steadily whittling away at protections for wolves.  And clearly the Wedge Pack train wreck still stings and we wanted to make absolutely sure that happenstance was not repeated.

Our second intent was to bring what we have crafted through nearly two years of negotiation in Oregon north so that parties in Washington can benefit from all the hard work and lessons—both good and bad—that we have learned through our efforts in Oregon.  

The message delivered by Nick and others in our collation is much like the movie’s in that it proffers a clear choice between a path of unpleasant and painful, mutual destruction or one where we figure out exactly what we need to do to live relatively peacefully together.  Our preference is for the latter as our experience tells us that the most creative and effective solutions come from situation with similar dynamics, but we are also fully prepared for the former.  

The post Mr. Cady Goes to Washington or Ten Bears and Josey Talk Wolves first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.