Gray wolves in Washington will remain on the state's endangered species list.
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission decided to maintain the wolves' status as endangered, resisting a recommendation from wildlife biologists to reduce protections in response to the wolves' population growth and expanded distribution since their return to the state.
In a pair of 5-4 votes on Friday, commissioners rejected proposals to drop the listing of the wolves to sensitive or threatened, citing uncertainties in population data and the state's failure to meet certain wolf recovery objectives.
The decision also heeded a request from Gov. Jay Inslee, who sent a letter to the commission asking members to maintain the wolves' endangered status.
The listing means the penalties for poaching or other unlawful kills remains at the most stringent level, and that there will be no state-sanctioned wolf hunting. It is separate from the wolves' status under the federal Endangered Species Act. Wolves in eastern Washington are not listed under the federal law, while wolves in the western two-thirds of the state are.
Earlier this year, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff proposed downlisting the wolves to sensitive after a five-year review. A sensitive listing would not have removed protections entirely, but would have reduced penalties for illegally killing a wolf and given WDFW more flexibility in authorizing landowners to kill wolves that have repeatedly attacked livestock.
The review noted that the population had been increasing for 14 consecutive years, and said that changing the status would reflect the progress made in wolf conservation since the species was first listed as endangered in 1980. WDFW's most recent count found that the state has at least 260 wolves across 42 packs.
But critics have raised concerns over the state's numbers, arguing that they've over-estimated the population's success. The Washington State Standard reported last week that wolf advocates are concerned that data the state received from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation was flawed.
Melanie Rowland, a commissioner from Okanogan County, said Friday that there are "significant uncertainties" in the population counts, and that those uncertainties mean the commission should maintain the wolves' protections.
"The standard is the biological status of the species, which in my understanding is too uncertain to change the listing to either threatened, sensitive or no listing whatsover," Rowland said.
Other commissioners disagreed, saying that wolves' success since their return to Washington in 2008 has been better than expected and that they're not at risk of extinction.
"What we've got now suggests that we're in a situation where we should be downlisting," said Commissioner Jim Anderson, of Pierce County.
Molly Linville, a commissioner from Douglas County, suggested listing the wolves as threatened, the second highest level of protection. She said the data had convinced her that downlisting to sensitive was warranted, but that going to threatened seemed like a good compromise.
The commissioners who ended up sinking that proposal ballyhooed the idea of compromising on a listing, saying that the only consideration should be the biological status of the population.
Lorna Smith, a commissioner from Jefferson County, argued that they shouldn't be considering any form of delisting until the species meets goals laid out in the state's 2011 recovery plan. In particular, she said the state has yet to meet the objective of having a breeding pair of wolves in the southern Cascades and northwest coast, the largest recovery area in the plan.
"As of yet we are not in compliance with the recovery plan," Smith said.
Barbara Baker, the commission chair, said the state has done a "tremendous" job of recovering wolves, and that she's grateful to the landowners and ranchers who have worked to coexist with the canine predators, but voted to maintain the endangered status.
Baker, who is from Thurston County, said the state should spend time figuring out how to get past barriers to meeting the recovery objectives, such as by moving wolves into areas where they aren't present.
Wildlife advocates celebrated the vote as a win for wolves.
Colin Reynolds, senior adviser for Defenders of Wildlife's northwest program, said in a statement that it "provides a sigh of relief for one of our nation's most iconic animals."
"The Commission has shown that it remains committed to following the science to ensure this keystone species has a full chance at recovery," Reynolds said.
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