![]() The last wolves in the Columbia River Gorge were documented in the 1920s. ![]() Back from the deadĪfter years of trapping, poisoning and government-sponsored bounty programs, the gray wolf was almost entirely eradicated from the Pacific Northwest by the early 1900s. It’s a sparsely populated area where local livestock producers have long been anticipating the arrival of wolves and are already testing strategies to prevent conflicts with cattle. ![]() The wolves have established a territory in the southwest portion of the reservation and western Klickitat County, Spence said. The creek lies within the Yakama Indian Reservation, and the Yakama Nation chose the pack’s name. The new pack is named after the Big Muddy Creek, which comes off the east side of Mount Adams and empties into the Klickitat River north of Glenwood, Wash. Wolf pups are typically born in late April or early May. It’s likely the pair will have pups soon, the wildlife agency’s wolf biologist Gabe Spence told Columbia Insight earlier this week. But that’s enough to meet the minimum requirement to be recognized as a pack: two or more wolves traveling together in winter. The Big Muddy Pack so far has only two known members, one male and one female. ![]() In an annual report released on Friday afternoon, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed the new pack’s existence. Southwest Washington has its first wolf pack in a century. This photo was taken by a trail camera earlier this year in Klickitat County. They replaced his radio collar, which periodically transmits his location to a satellite, in January 2023. Wildlife biologists captured and collared gray wolf WA109M in 2021. ![]()
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