(Jack Field of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association. Photo courtesy of Sean Lanksbury.)

Raising cattle when wolves are nearby is a challenge for ranchers, especially nowadays with the latter being a protected species.

That was one of points made by Washington Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice-President Jack Field and former WCA President Rick Nelson, featured speakers at a noontime “brown bag” event hosted Thursday at the Washington State Library in Tumwater. Field and Nelson discussed raising cattle and ranching under the state’s Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, as well as ranchers’ concerns about their livelihood as wolf packs increase throughout Washington.

Field told the gathering that a key question is how ranchers find middle ground between protecting livestock and meeting wolf recovery objectives. He said ranchers are trying to secure funding from the Legislature for mitigation (example: providing a protective barrier between predator and prey) and compensation. The Legislature’s scheduled 105-day regular session ends Sunday. A special session is highly expected.

According to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, there are seven confirmed and two suspected wolf packs in northeastern Washington, and three confirmed packs and one suspected pack in north-central Washington.  There are no wolf packs reported in Western Washington.

The gray wolf is listed as a state endangered species throughout Washington and is endangered under federal law in the western two-thirds of the state, according to WDFW.

The noontime talk by the cattlemen came on the heels of the State Library displaying a “Wolves in Washington” exhibit earlier this year, courtesy of the Burke Museum in Seattle.