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PostFri Sep 20, 2019 6:28 pm 
Friday September 20, 2019 08:25 PDT WDFW GRAY WOLF UPDATE Two new updates on wolf activities are available on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/updates -WDFW-

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PostSun Sep 29, 2019 9:37 am 
Tuesday September 24, 2019 09:42 PDT WDFW NEWS RELEASE WDFW director authorizes lethal action in Grouse Flats wolf pack OLYMPIA – Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Director Kelly Susewind today authorized the incremental removal of wolves from the Grouse Flats pack in southeast Washington in response to repeated depredations of cattle. The Grouse Flats pack has been involved in two depredations in the last 30 days and four in approximately two months despite the use of proactive non-lethal deterrents by area livestock producers. Those deterrents include: Using range riders to monitor the herd, Maintaining regular human presence in grazing areas, Removing sick and injured livestock from the grazing area until they are healed, Removing or securing livestock carcasses to avoid attracting wolves to the rest of the herd, Calving away from areas occupied by wolves, Avoiding areas known for high wolf activity, and Delaying the turnout of livestock onto grazing allotments until calving is finished and calves are typically at least 200 lbs. "Despite proactive non-lethal efforts and deterrents by multiple producers affected, this pack has continued to prey on cattle," Susewind said. "While not an easy decision, this step is part of mitigating wolf-livestock conflict if non-lethal measures cease to prevent incidences of wolves preying on livestock." At this point, the non-lethal deterrents have not influenced or changed pack behavior. Based on pack history, WDFW expects depredations to continue if action is not taken. Director Susewind's decision is consistent with the guidance of the state's Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and the provisions of the Department's wolf-livestock interaction protocol. Under the protocol, WDFW can consider lethal removal of wolves if department staff confirm three depredations by wolves on livestock within 30 days, or four within 10 months. WDFW's approach to incremental lethal removal consists of a period of active lethal removal operations followed by an evaluation period to determine if those actions modified pack behavior. The lethal removal of wolves in the Grouse Flats pack is not expected to harm the wolf population's ability to reach statewide recovery. Following an eight-hour required notification process (one business day), the Department will initiate lethal removal activity. WDFW will use humane lethal removal methods. WDFW will provide a final report on this and other lethal removal operations that have occurred during 2019 in the Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2019 Annual Report, which will be published during spring 2020. -WDFW- ========================================================= Tuesday September 24, 2019 07:37 PDT Thursday September 26, 2019 10:55 PDT Friday September 27, 10:31 PDT WDFW GRAY WOLF UPDATE A new update on wolf activities is available on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/updates -WDFW-

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PostFri Oct 04, 2019 3:52 pm 
Governor Inslee requests WDFW to review their practices to reduce lethal means of managing Washington wolves: Letter to WDFW re: wolf management

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PostWed Oct 09, 2019 3:50 pm 
Friday October 4, 2019 13:42 PDT WDFW WILDLIFE PROGRAM Gray Wolf Update A new update on wolf activities is available on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/updates -WDFW- ========================================================= Monday October 7, 2019 09:13 PDT WDFW NEWS RELEASE Contact: Donny Martorello, 360-790-5682 Staci Lehman, 509-710-4511 Candidates needed for Wolf Advisory Group OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is seeking candidates to serve for the next three years (2019-2021) on the citizen committee that advises the department on wolf recovery and management. The Wolf Advisory Group (WAG) was formed in 2013 with nine members representing the interests of environmentalists, hunters, livestock producers, and other stakeholders. In 2015, WDFW increased the group's size to 18 members to better reflect the diversity of perspectives on wolf conservation and management. "This group has been extremely helpful in advising the department on the challenging issue of recovering and managing gray wolves in our state," WDFW Director Kelly Susewind said. "We are looking for candidates who value working cooperatively with others to develop management recommendations to advise the agency." There are currently four vacancies on the WAG. WDFW is looking to recruit stakeholders who represent environmentalist, hunter, livestock producer, and at-large identity groups to fill these positions. Candidates must value compromise and cohesion on issues, with the intent to resolve conflicts. "The WAG’s members have a wide range of perspectives and opinions on wolf recovery and management, and we are committed to continuing this collaboration," said Donny Martorello, WDFW wolf policy lead. In addition to the four vacancies, Director Susewind will fill WAG positions that become vacant within the next year from the applications and nominations received. To apply, submit letters of interest or nominations that address the following items: The applicant or nominee's name, address, telephone number, and email address; People or groups making nominations must also submit their own names and contact information; The candidate's relevant experience, organizational affiliations, and reasons why they would be an effective advisory group member; Familiarity with Washington's Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and current wolf recovery status and management issues; and Experience in collaborating with people with different values. The deadline for submission is 5 p.m. Nov. 8, 2019. Letters of interest, relevant application materials such as CVs, and nominations may be emailed to wildthing@dfw.wa.gov or sent to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, P. O. Box 43200, Olympia, WA 98504-3200. Applicants who applied in 2018 and are still interested will be considered during this application period, and do not need to resubmit application materials. New members should be available for meetings beginning as early as January 2020. The group holds at least four two-day meetings per year. Most meetings take place in Spokane, Ellensburg, and Olympia. Advisory group members may be reimbursed by WDFW for travel expenses to attend meetings. More information about the Wolf Advisory Group is available at wdfw.wa.gov/about/advisory/wag/. The department's wolf conservation and management website is located at wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf. -WDFW-

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PostWed Oct 09, 2019 4:43 pm 
JT Austin Senior Policy Advisor for Natural Resources Governors Office Olympia, Washington RE: Hon. Gov. Jay Inslee’s letter to WDFW Director Kelly Susewind of Sept. 30, 2019 “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” So you have to ask the question: WHICH is more insane: Dumping millions of tax dollars into a “wolf recovery” program so that we can repopulate Washington State with the gray wolf, which will in turn kill deer, elk, and domestic livestock in order to survive? OR Dumping millions of tax dollars into a “wolf recovery” program so that we can finally come to the realization that wolves and cows do not mix, and then spend upwards of $25,000.00 per animal to go out and shoot the wolves? Sure, there are all kinds of “reasons” why wolves MIGHT be a good thing. I say MIGHT because the THEORY touted by Professors Beschta and Ripple (of Oregon State University) – the “Trophic Cascade” theory – is just that: a THEORY. It is not scientific LAW. It’s not even accepted by the entirety of the academic community. (Refer to the comments of Olympic National Park’s Wildlife Biologist Patti Happe made to Seattle Times reporter Lynda Mapes in an article published years ago, in which Happe called Beschta and Ripple’s “conclusions” “KIND OF A STRETCH”.) While you’re researching those Beschta-Ripple papers on wolves and all the wonderful things they’re supposed to do for riparian ecosystems, you might note also that Beschta and Ripple are the ONLY people writing papers and coming up with the same conclusions. DO let me know if you can come up with any other peer-reviewed papers authored by ANY other academics (other than Beschta and Ripple) that arrive at the same conclusions, because I’d sure love to see them! Also while you’re doing that research, do make note of the fact that ALL of the “pro-wolf” proponents use that “Trophic Cascade” THEORY as the entire basis for their argument. As far as the SCIENCE goes, that HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE “THEORY” is all they’ve got – they have NOTHING else to back up their arguments. That litany of adjectives – “majestic”, “noble”, “iconic” – is just a lot of fluff designed to sway opinions of those lacking the ability to actually sit down and read and understand the lengthy papers written by various wildlife biologists, fisheries biologists, stream morphologists, and various and sundry other “ologists” whose business it is to understand rivers and how they work. (See papers of Naiman/Abbe et al, UW Fisheries) Until the State of Washington is ready to tell the cattle industry that they’re not welcome here, you will continue to see conflicts between wolves and livestock producers. As livestock producers generate revenue for State coffers and provide employment opportunities, I doubt that we’re going to tell the cattle ranchers to pack up and move elsewhere. If you’re a betting man, your odds are much better putting money on a major snowstorm in Hell than believing that cattle ranchers are going to sit idly by and allow their stock to be killed by predators and not make a fuss about it. They’re going to scream, and they’re going to scream loudly, and they’re going to want compensation. And they all VOTE, and their elected State representatives are going to side with THEM, and not the wolves. To believe otherwise is simply wishful and delusional thinking. In a perfect world, perhaps we might have wolves and cows living happily side by side, each staying on their own sides of the rainbow-painted crosswalks, while unicorns fart fairy dust into the wind. In the real world, dumping millions of tax dollars into this sham known as “wolf recovery” is, in reality, an obscene and unconscionable waste of time, effort, and money. Thank you sincerely for your time and consideration. cc: Hon. Jeannie Darneille cc: Hon. Jake Fey cc: Hon. Laurie Jinkins cc: Lynda Mapes, Seattle Times

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PostThu Oct 10, 2019 3:42 am 
WDFW is looking for applicants for its citizens advisory group on wolf management.

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PostThu Oct 10, 2019 8:58 am 
Ski wrote:
DO let me know if you can come up with any other peer-reviewed papers authored by ANY other academics (other than Beschta and Ripple) that arrive at the same conclusions, because I’d sure love to see them!
Human activity mediates a trophic cascade caused by wolves M Hebblewhite, CA White, CG Nietvelt, JA McKenzie… - Ecology, 2005 Timed myself. It took me 22 seconds to come up with that on Google Scholar. Very strong support for the theory. There are pages of papers on trophic cascades in natural systems, but one would have to actually look. rolleyes.gif

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PostThu Oct 10, 2019 9:11 am 
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M Hebblewhite, CA White, CG Nietvelt, JA McKenzie… - Ecology, 2005
theory refuted rather convincingly: Channel-planform evolution in four rivers of Olympic National Park, Washington, U.S.A.: The roles of physical drivers and trophic cascades Washington is not Yellowstone. Washington is not Banff National Park, either. And while we do not have any aspen here in Western Washington, I do not know of any rivers suffering from a lack of native willow along the banks. Please let me know if you know of any riverine systems in which there is a lack of, or absence of, willow. As to the repeated mention (in the paper you've cited above) of songbird populations: Wasn't there a recent thread here in which an article was cited that said that bird populations all across the North American continent had precipitously declined over the last several decades? I seem to recall the article noting that even the European Starling population had declined by 49%. Ergo: I have to dismiss out of hand any claimed correlation between declines in songbird populations and the presence of wolves when there are clearly other factors involved which may or may not have anything at all to do with predatory species. Feel free to disagree on that point, but I think it's a bit premature to claim that the declines in bird populations are solely the result of the extirpation of wolves. More to the point: It appears that this study was conducted over a relatively short time period, and the sampling plots were of rather small sizes. Toward the end of the article, you'll note that there were "models" used (as opposed to on-the-ground data.) It does look good on the surface, however. wink.gif

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PostThu Oct 10, 2019 9:44 am 
Ski wrote:
theory refuted rather convincingly:
Not refuted at all. frown.gif Not even an attempt at refutation, but rather an affirmation. The last sentence of the abstract: "Our findings differ from previous interpretations of Olympic National Park fluvial dynamics and contrast with the classic example of Yellowstone National Park, where legacy effects of elk overuse are apparent in channel morphology" Get it? "Classic." They called the evidence "classic." "Of or pertaining to an entire class" (of evidence supporting trophic cascade). They are convinced by the evidence in Yellowstone. Your skeptics are convinced. And you moved the goalposts. The paper you cited was exclusively about stream morphology. Why would a person resort to these tactics, moving goalposts, making false claims about theories based upon exactly zero evidence, and citing supporters of the theory as skeptics? huh.gif

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PostThu Oct 10, 2019 9:57 am 
sculpin wrote:
The paper you cited was exclusively about stream morphology.
No, I didn't move the goalposts. If you look at the arguments presented by the pro-wolf proponents, they all go back to the effects on riparian systems. The video (easily found on YouTube) about How Wolves Change Rivers epitomizes all the arguments favoring wolf reintroduction. How is that not about stream morphology?

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PostThu Oct 10, 2019 12:55 pm 
http://wolf.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/333scienceindangersanctifying.pdf

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PostSat Oct 12, 2019 9:06 am 
Ski wrote:
http://wolf.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/333scienceindangersanctifying.pdf
This is a good summary of wolf research and a good read for anyone interested in re-establishment. Studying natural systems is hard! Not a lot in there about stream morphology. clown.gif The important aspect of this paper that has to be kept in mind is that it is a summary of the arguments revolving around the extrinsic value of wolves. The value that wolves provide to us. In some ways, it is regrettable that conservationists even have to resort to extrinsic arguments, because that is not what re-establishment is really about. Same with grizzlies. These animals have as much right to exist as we do, full stop. And that is not moving the goalposts, that is pointing out that the goalposts have always been in a certain place and they will not be moved by bickering about extrinsic values.

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PostSat Oct 12, 2019 10:12 am 
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These animals have as much right to exist as we do, full stop.
and who, in the last 12 years that this thread has existed, has argued that they do not?

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PostSat Oct 12, 2019 10:15 am 
Friday October 11, 2019 10:48 PDT WDFW GRAY WOLF UPDATE A new update on wolf activities is available on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/updates
WDFW, in their Wolf Update of 10/11/19 wrote:
On Aug. 9, WDFW Director Kelly Susewind reauthorized the lethal removal of the two remaining wolves from the Togo pack in response to repeated depredation of cattle on grazing lands in the Kettle River range of Ferry County under the guidance of the state's Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and the lethal removal provisions of the department's wolf-livestock interaction protocol. This is the third time (Aug. 20, 2018, Nov. 7, 2018, and Aug. 9, 2019) Director Susewind has authorized lethal removal in the Togo pack since a pattern of depredations started on November 2, 2017. The Department removed one wolf on Sept. 2, 2018 under a previous authorization.
-WDFW-

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PostSun Oct 13, 2019 7:57 am 
Ski wrote:
and who, in the last 12 years that this thread has existed, has argued that they do not?
This is the second time you have denied the literal meaning of your own words. Like these: "Dumping millions of tax dollars into a “wolf recovery” program so that we can finally come to the realization that wolves and cows do not mix, and then spend upwards of $25,000.00 per animal to go out and shoot the wolves?" I will admit it is a new debating tactic for me, where credibility is not even a goal. So let's move on. In her book "Shadow Mountain," Renee Askins quotes Henry Beston: "We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."

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