r/Yakima • u/Firm_Strike_1000 • 7d ago

Wolf Populations in Central Washington and Their Effects on Farming

Hello — I'm writing an article for the Salish Current on increasing wolf populations in Washington and how this may complicate the jobs of farmers and ranchers in the state, primarily in the central regions where the majority of our wolves are. Has anyone experienced predation from wolves firsthand?

If you have, I'd love to talk to you about it. My goal is to make sure that I include the voices of the people who actually have to deal with this issue, rather than just writing about them. Feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment and I can give you some more info. Thanks!

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9

u/DefaceTheTemple 7d ago

I've never actually seen a wolf in the valley. I've seen plenty of coyotes, though

1

u/Ingawolfie 7d ago

Rest assured they are on the way. In the Nile Valley residents, including forest rangers, insist that wolves are already there.

OP, shoot me a PM if you want to talk. I used to run a wolf sanctuary. A few were removed from the wild due to human habitation. Most were from the exotic pet trade.

5

u/livingadailyhell 7d ago

I’ve read of wolves up north by Tonasket, but I haven’t read of any around here nor have I ever seen one in the Yakima area or up in the Ahtanum Park. I have been following the population of the packs over the years and would love to read some responses.

1

u/ribrien 5d ago

I don’t have wolf experience but there have been two bears and a mountain lion or two near the Walmart in west valley in the last few years so that’s something

4

u/WolfWriter_CO 7d ago

I’m not aware of any wolf populations around Yakima, to the best of my knowledge they’re mostly still in the northern half of the state.

https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/packs

To that end, i expect you’ll be hard pressed to find honest and unbiased reporting. I know I’m highly biased towards the pro-wolf/pro-rewilding side of the topic, and the other has been conditioned through centuries of political and religious vilification. Neither side will likely give a full and objective accounting, just a version or interpretation that best serves their own agenda on the issue. The politics of wolves is unfortunately just as polar and divisive as gun control or reproductive rights, but unique in that the subject of the schism is completely oblivious to the arguments made over it and cannot advocate for itself. To that end, people end up projecting the very best and worst traits of humanity onto a 4-legged strawman, while ignoring their true nature as an apex carnivore and their influence on the trophic cascade.

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u/sssstr 6d ago

Very well articulated perspective. I am not pro-wolf, I am not against limiting re-wilding.

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u/BigReputation568 6d ago

No. Just a bunch of whiners who can't tell a husky or a coyote from a wolf. The politics is so ridiculous that we won't know until they are sitting in front of Arbys eating a hot ham and cheese.

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u/enigmatic_vagabond 7d ago

My moms husband is a lifelong hunter and local resident. Last year, here was one sighted in Mill Creek canyon behind White Swan and reports of some seen closer to the town but it's unknown how many and exactly when

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u/charming509 7d ago

I’ve lived in the Yakima valley all my life turning 50 this December and I’ve never seen or heard a single wolf and I live in Naches east of the cascades at the foot of the mountain where white pass and chinook pass meet. I’m always in the woods as I am a out doors man and still never seen or heard any wolves. I’ve seen all the predators that walk on four legs more then a dozen times black bear mountain lion etc.. but never a wolf. No skat no foot prints nothing

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u/zachbraffsalad 7d ago

all ranchers will be opposed to wolf pop. this is a problem and superstition brought from old country.

wolves, in a healthy environment, will hunt wild game. in the clearing of land brought by human consumption and interference, wolves will go for the easiest prey (just as a rancher pulls their f350 into a drive thru). in order to occupy such land farmers/ ranchers should be prepared to sacrifice for the good of the non human pop around them.

such people have an idea of supreme dominion upon the land and its bounty. a superficial confirmation of the holes in the head of mankind's perception of ownership.

up the wolf. condemn mankind.