The Washington Capitol.

OLYMPIA — The House agriculture committee chairman rejected claims Wednesday that wolves would be hunted without limits if taken off the state-protected species list in northeast Washington.

Rep. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles, rebutted remarks by Fish and Wildlife assistant director Eric Gardner, who said delisting could lead to year-round “unregulated, unlimited harvest.”

“I do not believe the legislative intent was an unregulated slaughter of wolves, and I take great offense at your characterization of the legislation,” Chapman said.

Gardner said he meant no offense, but stood by his assertion that the “default outcome” of de-listing wolves would be that licensed hunters could shoot wolves 365 days a year.

Northeast Washington is a “robust source” of wolves for the rest of the state, he said. “A bill like this would significantly alter the trajectory of (wolf) recovery.”

Wolf packs saturate northeast Washington, according to Fish and Wildlife, but have been slow to disperse to the western half of the state, keeping them on the state’s endangered species list.

For a decade, northeast Washington legislators, county commissioners, sheriffs and ranchers have been telling legislators that wolves are a problem in their corner of the state.

Republican Rep. Joel Kretz, who represents northeast Washington, said letting counties help Fish and Wildlife manage wolves would be a “tiny” step.

To argue taking wolves off the state’s endangered species list would strip all protections was ludicrous, he said.

“I’m really disappointed at some of the reactions,” he said. “I don’t know how long I can go home and tell people in northeast Washington there is any hope.”

Introduced by Kretz, House Bill 1698 would allow counties where wolves are well established to have a say in wolf management. The only counties that current qualify are in Kretz’s district.

Fish and Wildlife would still be involved in managing wolves. The bill does not require any specific on-the-ground policies.

Stevens County Sheriff Brad Manke said counties could help Fish and Wildlife track, trap and remove wolves. 

“Thus far, Fish and Wildlife has been unable to accept the full potential of this assistance because of perceived liability issues,” he said.

Wolf advocates oppose the bill. Washington Wildlife First executive director Samantha Breugger warned about the “heavy hand of local control.”

They were supported by Gardner and Gov. Jay Inslee’s natural resources policy adviser Ruth Musgrave, who said the bill would strip wolves of protection.

Musgrave linked the slow movement of wolves out of northeast Washington to hunting on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

“It seems that they’re not dispersing like wolves usually do, in part, because they’re getting hunted on the Coville reservation,” Musgrave said.

Speaking at the same hearing, Colville tribal chairman Jarred-Michael Erickson supported Kretz’s bill.

The tribe doesn’t want to exterminate wolves, he said. It does want to protect the animals that wolves prey on and that tribal members rely on for subsistence, he said.

“We’re not seeing a decrease. We’re seeing an increase in our wolf populations,” he said. “They’ve pretty much populated the whole reservation.”

Kretz’s bill has seven co-sponsors — three Republicans and four Democrats, including Chapman.

Chapman said he read the three-page bill three times during the hearing and couldn’t reconcile what he was reading with what he was hearing.

“There is not the word ‘killing’ or ‘hunt’ in this legislation,” he said.

The bill would let counties petition state government for more local control, he said. “This is good policy. This is not setting up the ‘Killing Fields: Part 2.'”