Conclusion



Photo courtesy of
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Our approach was intended to show how geographically-explicit data can be useful in a variety of management decisions. Results indicated that various parts of Washington state are suitable for wolves. However, actual establishment of the state by wolves will largely depend on a multitude of factors including those other than which we explored.

Understanding how attitudes of residents varied across the state can further enhance the ability of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff to manage wolves once wolves become established. For instance, we used our final "most suitable" habitat as a layer on maps that also depicted county level data of attitudes held by Washington residents toward wolf management to determine varying levels of wolf acceptance.

This type of information could be used by the agency to assess appropriate locations within the state to move wolves from one area where they are already established to a new area in the state to boost population numbers. Alternatively, residents in some portions of the state were accepting of a recreational hunt of wolves, and combining such information with an understanding of where wolves are likely to live can help the agency target localized areas where education efforts may increase wolf support by highlighting the ability to hunt wolves as a benefit of their presence.