Washington wolf numbers up 17%
The gray wolf population in Washington bounced back last year after recording its first decline in 16 years.
Washington had at least 270 wolves across 49 packs at the end of 2025, according to the latest Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Annual Report.
A minimum count of 270 is a new high for gray wolves in Washington. It represents a 17% increase over the count of 230 at the end of 2024 - the first year the count had declined since the species' return to Washington was confirmed in 2008.
WDFW biologists Trent Roussin and Gabe Spence presented the numbers to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday. The bulk of the state's wolves are still in Eastern Washington, but they said there are signs of growth in the North Cascades.
They pointed to the number of successful breeding pairs in the North Cascades, which doubled from five to 10. Two new packs also formed there.
Meanwhile, Roussin said the number of breeding pairs was stable in eastern Washington, where packs have overlapping territories and less room to spread out.
"That's what we'd expect in a fully colonized region," Roussin said.
Wolves were once widespread, but their numbers declined starting in the latter half of the 19th century as the result of hunting and bounty programs. They were considered extirpated from Washington by the 1930s, according to WDFW.
A resident pack was confirmed for the first time since then in 2008. The discovery followed years of growth for populations in British Columbia and Idaho, where the species was reintroduced in 1995.
Wolf counts increased steadily after that pack was confirmed and the species began expanding into new territories. Washington's population remains smaller than that of states like Montana and Idaho, which each estimate their wolf populations at more than 1,000.
Wolves are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act in the western two-thirds of Washington. They are delisted in the eastern third but still protected as endangered under state law.
WDFW biologists recommended that the commission reduce state protections for the wolves in 2024, arguing that the population was in good shape. The commission narrowly voted to keep the protections.
Commissioner Molly Linville, of Douglas County, supported reducing protections in 2024. She said Friday that the most recent report looks good for the species.
"If wolf recovery is the stated goal and objective, this looks like wolf recovery to me," Linville said.
Some wolf advocates wouldn't say the population is recovered just yet, and they point to the lack of resident wolves in the South Cascades and Northwest Coast - one of Washington's recovery regions. A few wolves have made it to that region before, including one last year, but they've either turned around and left or they've been illegally killed.
No resident wolves were observed in the South Cascades region during the winter count.
Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an emailed statement that the overall increase is encouraging but that work still needs to be done.
"Regaining lost footing is essential, but these numbers don't mean wolves are recovered in Washington," Weiss said. "The southern Cascades and North Coast boast some of the best wolf habitat in the state but still have no wolf packs or breeding pairs."
The minimum count published in the annual report represents a combination of data from WDFW biologists and the Confederated Colville Tribes. Of the 270, 224 wolves were counted by WDFW and 46 were counted by the Colville Tribes.
The total of 49 packs is an increase of six over the previous year. Three are entirely new packs - one formed on the Colville Reservation in addition to the two that formed in the North Cascades. Three packs that had disappeared the prior year were re-established.
A total of 28 wolf deaths were documented last year, according to the report. Most of those deaths were human caused. Legal hunting on the Colville Reservation accounted for 12 of those deaths.
Four wolves were killed by WDFW in response to conflicts with livestock. Two were killed by livestock producers when they were "caught in the act" of attacking livestock.
The overall number of attacks on livestock shrank significantly in the report, going from 56 in 2024 to 17 in 2025.
Subhadeep Bhattacharjee, WDFW's grizzly bear and wolf policy lead, told the Fish and Wildlife Commission they shouldn't read too much into that. Livestock producers sometimes choose not to report wolf kills to WDFW.
"We cannot say the conflict (has) gone down," Bhattacharjee said. "I would say more it was not reported this year."
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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 7:18 PM.