Once common across most of Washington state, gray wolves (Canis lupus) declined rapidly between 1850 and 1900 as European-American settlers established farms and ranches throughout the region. By the 1930s, hunting, trapping, and poisoning had driven wolves to local extinction in the state. But early this century, thanks to recovering populations in Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia, wolves began making their way back into Washington. According to the state’s Gray Wolf Conservation and Manage