By Scott Sandsberry
With Yakima County being home to one of the state’s largest elk herds, it was only a matter of time before wolves made their way here.
That time may be now.
A couple of Selah-area men riding quads near the Wenas elk-feeding station last month came upon fresh tracks of what was either a very large dog or a wolf, seemingly on the trail of a solitary elk moving southeast from the flanks of Cleman Mountain in the direction of Wenas Lake.
Their photographs of the tracks — including one with an outstretched hand next to a paw print for perspective — were eventually forwarded on to state wildlife officials. Their assessment: yep, probably a wolf.
Brad Coty, the quad-rider who had taken the initial photographs, never had any doubt.
“That was one big dog track when you saw that in person. That was incredible,” Coty said. “I’ve hunted all my life, and I’ve seen cougar tracks and wolf tracks up where I hunt in Montana. This was a wolf.
“That was a fresh track, too. It had rained a couple days before, so there was no dust,” he added, “so it made a perfect impression. You could look at (the tracks) and tell they were fresh from the previous night.”
The man who forwarded Coty’s photos to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Joe Schliesman — a longtime Wenas resident not far from the tracks’ location until recently moving to Ellensburg — wasn’t excited about the prospect of wolves in the area.
“Being that Cleman is completely enclosed by elk fence on the south and east side, and with the feeding station right there, if wolves got in there they could pin the elk against the fence,” he said. “I could see where it could turn into a massacre.”
In an email, Wenas Wildlife Area manager Cindi Confer Morris told Schliesman similar wolf-like tracks had been seen and photographed by department engineers working on Cleman Mountain in recent weeks.
The wildlife department’s carnivore specialist, Donny Martorello, said the wolf that made the tracks in the Wenas — if indeed it was a one — was very likely a solitary wolf either dispersing from another area or simply traveling through.
“We’ve had several wolves in Washington disperse great distances,” Martorello said. “We’re not surprised by tracks or sightings in that part of the state.
“When we start to get a bit more excited is when we see two or more animals traveling together. That would be more suggestive of a pack formation, and that’s really what we’re looking for. One of the scenarios with these single sightings or tracks of a single animal is often it’s a single disperser, and it’s here today and gone tomorrow.
“It could be 100 miles away by the next day.”
So, too, can smaller packs. The state had confirmed at least 16 wolf packs and nearly 70 wolves — though they believe the actual number of wolves to be higher — but only five verified successful breeding pairs by the end of 2014. And one of the confirmed packs, in the canyons south of Wenatchee, has essentially disappeared.
Schliesman wouldn’t mind seeing wolves disappear — or, perhaps, never appear — from this part of the state.
“Elk lose the only defense they have when they can no longer run past the fence. Deer likewise,” he said. “I would also note that the state does not even let the general public into the (Wenas) feeding station for several months out of the year, but wolves will have free and unrestrained access to a massive herd of elk pinned into a corner.
“I hope the wolf — or wolves — finds the mountain to be not to its liking. But I highly doubt that.”