NE Washington Wolf Livestock Grant Board Awards Five Grants

The Northeast Washington Wolf-Livestock Grant Board has completed their evaluation process of the seven applications.   In 2017, the state Legislature allocated $300,000 to this grant for the 2017-19 biennium.  The funding is intended to create a community-based approach to provide assistance for projects related to nonlethal methods of deterring wolves from livestock in Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties.  Individuals and nonprofit, community-based organizations are eligible for these grants.

WSDA Director Derek Sandison appointed four members to the Northeast Washington Wolf-Livestock Grant Advisory Board.  All members are knowledgeable about wolf depredation issues and approaches.  The advisory board met in January to review and select the projects to receive funding and advise WSDA on the expenditures of the northeast Washington wolf-livestock management grant funds. WSDA’s role is to ensure projects selected to receive funding are in compliance with state law and regulations.

The Board has awarded five grants totaling $257,001 for projects using nonlethal deterrence and nonlethal wolf-livestock management techniques including fencing, range-riders, fladry, and so forth.

Winners for 2017 include:

• Boesel’s Bear Creek Beef, LLC Award: $40,265
• Dawson Ranches Award: $20,000
• Vic Stokes Award: $11,242
• NE WA Wolf-Cattle Collaborative Award: $185,493
• Bryan and Deb Gotham Grant Award: $19,000

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