Wolf Management in North East Washington
When we first started looking at wolves and cattle in Stevens and Ferry counties, one version of the question was simple: Why should we require cattle operators to lose calves to wolves reintroduced by Puget Sound wildlife advocates? The issue was sharpened by the refusal of the cattle operators to accept compensation for their economic loss because that would mean that they accepted the state’s policy of bringing the wolves back. On the other side, there were claims that cattle operators were deliberately pasturing their herds where they knew they would take losses.
There was mutual hostility among the bureaucrats, the cattle operators, and the wolf advocates. No one trusted the other.
Where are we now? Has familiarity worn the edges off? Has the policy succeeded?
Just maybe. Maybe the wolf policy in the northern counties is good news. Julia Smith, presenting a Periodic Status Review last summer, declared, “Wolves are doing great...The species is gaining population.”
How about the people? How are they doing? Our guest host, Jay Shepard wrote in the Spokesman-Review, “This part of the story – collaboration, work, and stress – hasn’t made it out to the general public. It’s a story about hard work, tough conversations, and eventual trust and friendships. Not sensational, but it’s a remarkable story that needs telling.”
He writes, “We are working on potential paths forward, paths that include both cattle and wolves.”
This is a story not just about wolf recovery in the northern counties but also about the evolution of an issue. What Jay is reporting is a world apart from our initial conversations in Colville. The hostility of the ranchers then was on display and easy to understand. The lack of trust in the WDFW wildlife managers was palatable. And, in language more familiar to us today, ranchers felt they were disrespected.
You do not hear quite the same language today in the northern counties. A prominent advocate for the ranchers now sits on WDFW’s Wolf Advisory Group.
Move to southeast Washington, and you still hear some of the same rhetoric. You also continue to hear uncompromising language from some wildlife advocates (see box below).
Join Jay and Representative Joel Kretz (R-LD7) now to hear the good news of wolf-cattle interaction and how the issue may have evolved in the northern counties. We can query, too, whether the rest of us need to catch up with their evolution.
Don Schwerin is the Chair of the Ag and Rural Caucus of the Washington State Democrats. He is a former State Committee Person for the Walla Walla County Democrats.