TUMWATER, Wash. — Washington’s wolf population increased by almost one-third in 2015, though progress toward meeting the state goal of statewide dispersal lagged, with packs and breeding pairs still concentrated mostly in the northeast corner of the state.

The state had at least 90 wolves, up from 68 in 2014, according to a count announced Monday by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The number of packs increased from 16 to 18, while breeding pairs went from five to eight. Breeding pairs, a male and female with at least two surviving pups at the end of the year, had been steady at five since 2011.

The 32 percent increase in the overall population is in line with the expectations of wildlife biologists.

The larger population, however, did not translate into a measurable advance toward meeting the state’s main recovery objective — at least four breeding pairs in each of three recovery zones and at least 15 statewide for three consecutive years.

Seven breeding pairs are in the Eastern Washington zone. One breeding pair was in the North Cascades zone, while there were no wolves at all documented in the South Cascades zone.

Some 13 of the state’s wolf packs and 77 of the wolves are clustered in northeast Washington, where most wolf attacks on livestock have occurred.

WDFW wolf policy lead Donny Martorello said wolves remain on track to meet the state’s recovery goals by 2021 by continuing to slowly migrate from the northeast to the North Cascades and from there to the South Cascades.

“It’s a steady progression. It’s not overnight,” he said. “We’re right on the path we expect to be on. I think it’s a sign that we’re on a path to our recovery goal.”

Washington identified four new packs in 2015 — the Loup Loup pack in the North Cascades, and the Skookum, Beaver Creek and Stranger packs in northeast Washington. The Stranger pack split from the Huckleberry pack in Stevens County.

The state did not find evidence that the Wenatchee pack in the North Cascades still existed. Also, the Diamond pack moved across the border to Idaho.

Wolves killed seven cattle in 2015 and seriously injured one sheep dog. Six of the depredations, including the attack on the dog, occurred in northeast Washington.

Depredations were down from 2014, when WDFW confirmed wolves killed 35 sheep, four cattle and dog. The total does not include suspected but unconfirmed livestock losses to wolves.

WDFW documented seven wolf mortalities in 2015. Three wolves were legally harvested on the Spokane Indian Reservation. One wolf died while being captured for collaring on the Colville Indian Reservation.

One wolf, the first known wolf to venture west of the Cascades, was hit and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 90, while another one was shot in self-defense by a homeowner in the Blue Mountains. One wolf died of unknown causes.

Wolves are a protected species statewide and federally protected in the western two-thirds of the state. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has delisted wolves in the eastern one-third of Washington.

Washington wolves stem from the reintroduction of wolves in Idaho and Montana in the mid-1990s.

The state’s overall wolf population and number of packs have been on a steady upward path since 2008, when WDFW counted five wolves and one pack.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife counted 110 wolves in 2015. The Fish and Wildlife Commission voted in November to delist wolves throughout Oregon.