Washington’s wolf population grew for the 15th consecutive year in 2023, according to the Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2023 Annual Report released by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have published a final Environmental Impact Statement that identifies the preferred alternative to reintroduce grizzly bear into the North Cascades Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone, including North Cascades National Park.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee last week directed the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission to draft new rules to guide when wolves can be killed for conflict with livestock and prioritize using nonlethal methods of conflict deterrence over killing wolves.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced its final rule to list the distinct population segment of the North American wolverine in the contiguous U.S. as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

In support of a statewide voter-led initiative passed in November 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finalized the designation of an experimental population of gray wolves in Colorado under the Endangered Species Act. This action provides management flexibility in support of the state of Colorado’s voter-mandated gray wolf reintroduction program.

In a one-year agreement announced between Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon will be a source for up to 10 wolves for the Colorado gray wolf reintroduction effort. These wolves will be captured and translocated between December 2023 and March 2024.

Almost twice as many gray whale calves swam north with their mothers to their Arctic feeding grounds this spring compared to last year, according to a new count completed by NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

For the second year in a row, wolf numbers in Montana did again fall slightly in 2022, according to the 2022 Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Wolf Report.

A bill to create a 1,000-yard buffer around the critically endangered Southern Resident orcas is headed to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s desk for his signature after clearing a final legislative hurdle this week. Senate Bill 5371 requires that boaters stay 1,000 yards away from Southern Residents, beginning in 2025.

The Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2022 Annual Report released by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife shows a 5% increase in wolf population growth from the previous count in 2021. WDFW also documented Washington’s first pack to recolonize the south Cascades this winter.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed the initial review of three petitions filed to remove the grizzly bear in the lower 48 States from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife under the Endangered Species Act in certain ecosystems. The Service says two of these petitions present substantial information indicating the grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem may qualify as their own distinct population segment and may warrant removal from the ESA list.

Twelve scientists are urging the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to promptly protect the Pacific walrus under the Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity first submitted a petition to list the Pacific walrus as threatened or endangered in 2008, more than a decade ago.

Faster and more widespread testing for chronic wasting disease in deer is now possible due to a new partnership between the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Oregon State University’s Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Bears are not cats or dogs, and feeding them like they are likely shortens their lives.

The rapid growth of harmful algae along parts of the Southern California coast is producing high concentrations of a toxin that affects California sea lions. It has led to strandings of more than 60 of the marine mammals since mid-August. Many have acted erratically, suffered from seizures, and in some cases died.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 90-day finding on a petition to delist the southern sea otter says it presents substantial information that the petitioned action may be warranted. The species was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1977.

Wildlife conservation organizations sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Tuesday for missing a deadline to decide whether gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains warrant federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has designated a new “Area of Known Wolf Activity” in the Upper Deschutes River area near the border of northern Klamath and southern Deschutes counties. 

A Montana District Court judge Thursday agreed with conservation groups that wolverines need additional protections while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reconsiders its 2020 decision not to protect the species as threatened or endangered.

Following a petition, the National Marine Fisheries Service has announced that a shark found off the Northwest coast may warrant protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

A highly contagious bird flu that has sicken commercial chickens and turkeys, and is now spreading among bald eagles, has been found in Montana geese and Idaho chickens.

A comprehensive new map and report tracking whale migrations around the globe highlights where they go in the high seas and the cumulative impacts the animals face from industrial fishing, ship strikes, pollution, habitat loss and climate change.

With almost two months remaining, this season’s Montana wolf harvest is on par with past seasons. As of Jan. 20, 166 wolves have been harvested during the current hunting and trapping seasons, a number similar to that of previous years. The general hunting and trapping seasons are open until March 15.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has been on the lookout for Chronic Wasting Disease since the late 1990s. Over the past 20-plus years, staff have collected and tested more than 23,000 samples from hunter harvested, road-killed and other deer and elk found dead in Oregon. No Oregon animal has ever tested positive for CWD.

U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Gary Peters (D-MI) led 21 of their colleagues this week in urging the U.S. Department of Interior to issue an emergency listing to restore temporary federal Endangered Species Act protections to the gray wolf in the western United States. No Northwest senator signed the letter.

Between September 20 and 26, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife received three separate reports of a gray wolf with a purple collar in northern Ventura County. CDFW staff began site inspections and have confirmed recent wolf tracks in the vicinity.

With scientific reports of multiple pregnancies among J-pod, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Fisheries, and partners are calling upon recreational boaters to follow Be Whale Wise regulations and give endangered Southern Resident killer whales extra space.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, after completing the initial review of two petitions, says listing gray wolves again in the western U.S. under the Endangered Species Act may be warranted due to potential increases in human-caused mortality under new hunting and trapping rules in Idaho and Montana approved after wolves were de-listed.

Greater sage-grouse populations may decline by more than 70% within free-roaming horse-occupied areas by 2034 if horse populations increase unchecked at current rates. Reducing horse numbers could neutralize their negative impacts.

Idaho Fish and Game announced Friday, June 4, that it is seeking public feedback on a proposal to extend wolf hunting and trapping and enhanced methods of take, as allowed by a new state law that takes effect July 1. Comments are due June 13.

NOAA Fisheries this week released for review a proposed amendment to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan to ensure endangered Southern Resident killer whales have enough salmon to eat during years when salmon returns are low.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed a bill passed by the Idaho Legislature last week that would allow the killing of 90% of the state’s wolf population.

Washington’s wolf population continued to grow in 2020, as the minimum count of wolves reached its highest levels since the species began returning to Washington in recent years. The annual wolf report was released today by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

State wildlife biologists counted 173 wolves in Oregon this past winter, a 9.5 percent increase over last year’s count of 158 according to the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management 2020 Annual Report released today.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is extending the effective date of the Jan. 15, 2021, final rule that excluded additional areas from the existing critical habitat designation for the northern spotted owl.

Idaho Fish and Game’s second annual wolf population estimate documented the population was stable from 2019 to 2020, indicating that a similar number of wolves were added to the population and removed from the population between the two estimates. The 2020 estimate was 1,556 wolves, 10 fewer than the 2019 estimate of 1,566.

Four Northwest U.S. Senators and other legislators this week requested the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior to investigate whether former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt overruled guidance by career officials to push the Trump administration’s decision to remove critical habitat protections for the Northern Spotted Owl on 3.4 million acres of federal lands in the Pacific Northwest.

After an assessment of the monarch butterfly’s status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has found that adding the monarch butterfly to the list of threatened and endangered species is warranted but precluded by work on higher-priority listing actions. With this decision, the monarch becomes a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act, and its status will be reviewed each year until it is no longer a candidate.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission last week denied a petition that would have initiated rulemaking to consider ending beaver hunting and trapping on federal lands in a 3-3 vote after hearing public testimony from 31 people.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized a rule Thursday that removes Endangered Species Act protection for all gray wolves in the lower 48 states except for a small population of Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. There are now roughly 6,000 wolves in the lower 48 states.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that the coastal distinct population segment of the Pacific marten, known as the coastal marten, warrants listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.