Oregon Public Broadcasting

There’s been a major development in the recovery of wolves in the Northwest. Friday Washington Fish and Wildlife officials announced that they believe a wolf pack is living in North Central Washington.

If that’s the case, it would be the first confirmed resident pack in the state since the 1930s. Correspondent Austin Jenkins has details.

Fish and Wildlife made the announcement after biologists conducted a howling survey earlier this week. That’s where biologists make wolf-like howls and listen for a response.

This time they heard what they believe were multiple howls from adult and juvenile wolves.

Fish and Wildlife Director Jeff Koenings says he’s 80 to 85 percent sure Washington State now has a resident wolf pack. But he won’t reveal its exact location.

Jeff Koenings: “We would like before we release the information to have the ability of trappers to come in, we want to get some collars on these animals – both juveniles and adults - and we fear if we gave away, even though it’s a remote location, there would be people that would interfere with that.”

Some ranchers are obviously worried about wolves moving back into Washington State.

Koenings says he hopes to have a statewide wolf management plan in place by next spring.

Biologists decided to conduct the howling survey after a private landowner last month used a remote camera to capture pictures of wolves in Okanogan County.

So far Oregon has no confirmed wolf packs or breeding pairs of wolves.