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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2019
Washington’s wolf population Frogs under threat by climate change
A new study
likely larger than estimated
projects extinction
Two years of study
using dogs
By NICHOLAS K.
GERANIOS
Associated Press
The number of wolves in
Washington state is likely
much higher than previ-
ously thought, according to
a University of Washington
researcher who spent two
years studying the animals
using scat-sniffi ng dogs.
Samuel Wasser said his
dogs detected 95 wolves in
one area of Stevens and Pend
Oreille counties, in the rural
northeast corner of the state,
during the 2016-17 season.
That approached the total
number of wolves wildlife
offi cials estimated for the
entire state.
The state Department of
Fish and Wildlife a year ago
estimated Washington had
a minimum of 122 wolves,
grouped in at least 22 packs,
and 14 successful breeding
pairs.
Wasser told a state Sen-
ate committee last week that
it’s possible the population
of wolves is closer to 200
animals.
State wolf managers also
addressed the panel, saying
Washington’s wolf popula-
tion has grown on average
30 percent per year.
“We are seeing a wave of
recovery,” said Donny Mar-
torello, head of wolf policy
for the Department of Fish
and Wildlife. “This is indica-
tive of adequate protections,
available habitat and suitable
prey base.”
Washington also has
fewer confl icts between
wolves and cattle than many
other states, he told the Sen-
ate Agriculture, Water, Nat-
ural Resources and Parks
Committee.
The question of how
many wolves roam the state
is important because it deter-
mines whether wolves are
considered a protected spe-
cies under state and federal
law.
Wolves are a state endan-
gered species throughout
Washington, where they
were all but wiped out early
in the last century but started
returning from neighbor-
ing Idaho and Canada after
the turn of the new century.
They also remain federally
protected in the western two-
thirds of the state, where kill-
ing wolves is prohibited.
According to Washing-
ton’s wolf recovery plan,
wolves can be delisted after
15 successful breeding pairs
are documented for three
consecutive years, or after
offi cials document 18 breed-
ing pairs in one year.
Most likely, the state will
document 18 breeding pairs
in one year before they doc-
ument 15 successful pairs
over the course of three
years, Martorello said.
In any event, those who
wish for the removal of all
wolves will not get their
wish, the wildlife depart-
ment’s director, Kelly Suse-
wind, told the committee.
“Wolves are doing quite
well. They’re here. They’re
here to stay,” Susewind said.
The return of the wolves
is problematic in ranching
areas because they some-
times prey on livestock. To
the dismay of some con-
servation groups, that has
prompted the state to track
and kill several wolf packs
in recent years.
While many urban resi-
dents support the return of
wolves, livestock producers
on the front lines — in the
lightly populated northeast-
ern part of the state — are
wary.
A state lawmaker from
that rural area, where Wasser
conducted his study, intro-
duced a bill in the Legisla-
ture to create a wolf sanctu-
ary in the heavily residential
Seattle suburb of Bainbridge
Island. Republican state
Rep. Joel Kretz’s bill was
in response to the legisla-
tor from Bainbridge Island
introducing a bill to ban the
killing of wolves.
“I’m sure the gray wolves
will seek to placidly co-ex-
ist with the dogs, cats,
horses, sheep, people and
other peaceful animals of
the island,” said Kretz, of
Wauconda.
His bill also said the state
can kill wolves only after
“four dogs, four cats or two
children have been killed.”
Wasser and his team used
dogs to sniff out scat of dif-
ferent animals. By analyzing
the excrement, biologists can
determine whether an animal
is malnourished, pregnant or
stressed.
Wasser’s team is also
looking at how wolves and
smaller predators, such as
coyotes and bobcats, interact.
Preliminary fi ndings indicate
wolves are avoiding coyotes.
Preliminary analysis of
the scat composition shows
wolves have been eating
mostly deer, followed by
moose and elk. Coyotes and
bobcats have been eating
mostly snowshoe hares.
Washington is a good
place to study wolves
because the animals hav-
en’t spread to all areas of the
state, Wasser said. Study-
ing areas where wolves are
not widely found, such as
south of Interstate 90, and
observing how the ecosys-
tem responds will shed light
on the interaction between
wolves and other predators.
The environmental group
Conservation
Northwest
welcomed Wasser’s fi ndings
on wolf numbers.
“Wolf recovery is pro-
gressing well in Washington,”
the group said. “Despite a few
high-profi le events, the rate of
wolf mortality is much lower
here than in Rocky Mountain
states.”
By ERIN ROSS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Northwest is looking
at another dry, low snow-
pack year. That’s bad news
for the frogs, salamanders
and newts that live at high
elevation in Oregon and
Washington state.
A new study, published in
University of Washington
the journal Ecological Soci-
ety of America, fi nds that Cascades frogs like this one face multiple threats: they’re
increasing temperatures and eaten by non-native trout, and now, increasingly, they’re
decreasing snowpack could losing habitat to climate change.
put populations of the Cas-
cades frog, Rana cascadae, the sorts of land use changes, ing them to burn calories
at risk of extinction by 2080. like logging, that hurt or help that they can’t replace until
The results were some- native animals. It’s also iso- snowmelt.
Seventeen and 7 percent
thing of a surprise to the lated, and amphibian-kill-
researchers, who thought ing diseases such as chytrid may not seem like a lot, but
that warmer, longer sum- fungus are rare there. The they add up. By 2080, pop-
mers might actually help the results were clear: warm, dry ulations of frogs would be
going extinct in 62 percent of
high-elevation frogs. A lon- winters meant less frogs.
ger summer would mean a
Then, they combined that the scenarios they ran. And
longer growing season and data with models of how spe- this was under a middle-of-
more time for the frogs to cifi c watersheds and ponds the-road climate scenario,
load up on insects and get were expected to change one where some progress is
made on curbing emissions.
ready for hibernation.
because of global warming.
“It started out as a
That data showed that It could look a lot worse.
Although this study only
potential good-news cli- warmer summers had the
mate story,” says ecologist biggest impact on tadpoles. looked at one species of
Amanda Kissel, who was Unlike adult frogs, tadpoles frog in one location, Kis-
at Simon Fraser University are fully aquatic. They have sel says the research applies
in British Columbia at the gills and lack lungs, and to amphibians throughout
time, and is now with Con- they can’t breathe outside of the Northwest. Salaman-
servation Science Partners in water. Most of the ponds tad- ders and newts also rely
Colorado.
poles hatch in are seasonal on these seasonal ponds to
But that good news and fed by snowmelt, so reproduce and face the same
wasn’t refl ected in the data. some disappear by the end challenges.
There might be a way
Instead, they found that of the summer. If they dry up
snow-light winters and long too soon, so do the tadpoles. to save the frogs and other
summers meant drier ponds. Their model showed that 17 native amphibians from
And that meant less avail- percent more tadpoles would extinction: Not all of the
ability of crucial habitat for die due to pond drying by ponds in the Cascades evap-
orate by the end of summer.
the frogs, which are listed 2080.
as “near-threatened” by the
Adult frogs won’t escape, The larger lakes could serve
International Union for Con- either. Adult survival is as “climate change refuges”
servation of Nature.
expected to decrease by 7 for the frogs, Kissel says.
For 15 years, researchers percent by 2080 — and since But many of the lakes are
have trekked miles through the adults lay the eggs, that also stocked with non-native
the early-summer Olympics has a big impact on the total fi sh for anglers, and those
snow to their study sites, population numbers. It’s fi sh eat amphibians.
University scientists have
where they tagged adult possible that warmer win-
frogs and tracked their abun- ters could harm the frogs, been collaborating with
dance. Kissel says Olym- too, and not just summers. national park offi cials to fi g-
pic National Park is a per- Normally, they hibernate all ure out which lakes are best-
fect place to study the effects winter and save energy. But suited to frogs, and which
of climate change on frogs the warmth could tempo- lakes would be the easiest to
because it’s protected from rarily wake them up, caus- remove trout from.
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