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OLYMPIA – Three bills introduced by Sen. Shelly Short in Washington’s just-finished 2025 legislative session have been approved by lawmakers and have been sent to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
The bills address problems related to the exponential growth of wolf populations in Short’s 7th Legislative District and establish an appeals process at the Department of Natural Resources for burn-permit violations.
Washington lawmakers adjourned their 2025 legislative session Sunday evening after 105 days in Olympia.
“Unfortunately, Northeast Washington has borne the burden of wolf recovery as predator populations rebound,” said Short, R-Addy. “Conflicts between humans and wildlife are inevitable when apex predators enter the picture.
Living with wolves requires active handson management to reduce harm to farmers, ranchers and everyone else who lives in the most rural regions of our state.”
Wolves made their way back to Washington in 2008, crossing the border from North Idaho nearly a century after they were hunted to extinction in this state. They quickly recolonized portions of their historic range across the state’s northeastern counties. Today a minimum of 230 wolves are living in Washington state in 43 packs, most of them in the rugged mountains and forests of the 7th Legislative District, according to the annual report issued on wolf conservation and management issued by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Though these latest figures reflect a nine percent decrease from 2023, they demonstrate a 20 percent annual growth rate in the wolf population since 2008. This steady growth in the wolf population prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to lift an endangered species listing in the eastern third of the state, while a Washington-state listing remains.
With this rise in population has come an increase in attacks on livestock. Last year state officials documented 40 depredation events and confirmed that 17 cattle and one domestic dog were killed by wolves, with wolf attacks suspected in two additional cattle deaths. Many other attacks went unreported. Other impacts have included reduced livestock pregnancy rates and reduced birth weights.
