OLYMPIA — A House committee unanimously endorsed a bill intended to increase the Colville tribe’s influence over how wolves are managed on 1.5 million acres north of the tribe’s reservation in northeast Washington.

Northern Ferry County and parts of northern Okanogan and Stevens counties fall within the region. It was the northern half of the Colville reservation until ceded to the U.S. government in 1892.

Tribal members have hunting rights in the ceded territory. The tribe reported harvesting three wolves in the North Half and seven on the reservation in 2022. The tribe has agreed to supply Colorado with 15 wolves next year.

House Bill 2424 directs Fish and Wildlife to meet regularly with the tribe to discuss managing wolves. The tribe and Fish and Wildlife support “coordinating” policies, though not aligning them.

“That’s not possible. We have different legal authorities,” Fish and Wildlife legislative affairs director Tom McBride said. “Hunting and trapping are not on the table.”

Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Okanogan County, said the bill was a “tiny, little step” for his wolf pack-saturated district.

“I feel good about it,” he said Friday. “I think it will be a good exercise between WDFW and the tribe.

“They (the tribe) have a wolf program that I think works,” Kretz said. “The big difference is that when a pack goes bad, they deal with it.”

Tribe: We seek a balance

The Colville tribe has management authority on its 1.4 million-acre reservation.

“We’ve been working really hard. We’ve been been monitoring to see if we’ve had any problems with the cattlemen, with our deer, our elk, our moose,” longtime tribal leader Mel Tonasket said at a hearing Jan. 26.

“We don’t shoot ‘em just to shoot ‘em,” he said. “We’re in the business to balance nature, our wildlife, our forestry and now the wolf.”

The House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee approved the bill on a bipartisan 11-0 vote. Another Kretz bill to study wolf management throughout Eastern Washington stalled in the committee.

The bills were the latest bid by Kretz to gain recognition that northeast Washington has exceeded the state’s wolf recovery goals, yet remains under the same management regime as the rest of the state.

“I think people understand wolves are here, and they have a place in the ecosystem, and they’re never going to leave,” Kretz said. “My effort in this is to bring a little more balance.”

Wolf advocates opposed both bills. With the support of Gov. Jay Inslee, environmental groups are pushing for more restrictions on removing wolves in northeast Washington to protect livestock.

K Diamond K guest ranch owner Kathy McKay told lawmakers wolves killed more than 20 animals, livestock and pets at her ranch in Ferry County last spring. “It was gut-wrenching. They were sitting ducks,” she said.