USU Ecologists Offer Expert Perspective About Gray Wolves Found in Cache Valley

State officials recently killed three gray wolves near Avon, Utah, in the southwestern corner of Cache County. Wildlife ecology experts from the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University answered questions about wolves in Utah.

Q. Is it surprising to find gray wolves in the state?

A. No, not surprising, according to David Stoner, wildlife ecologist and assistant professor for wildlife extension. This is their historic territory. Wolves lived across much of Utah until the 1920s, after which they were killed off because of conflicts with agricultural producers. They remained common throughout Alaska and Canada, with individual animals occasionally moving into Montana as recently as the 1990s.

In 1995, wolves were captured in western Canada and moved to Yellowstone National Park and wilderness areas in central Idaho as part of a reintroduction program. Since then they have reestablished packs and territories in many parts of Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and even in California.

Southern Utah has the ecological potential to host endangered Mexican wolves, though they are currently limited to territory in New Mexico and Arizona — the Grand Canyon poses a formidable barrier to movement into southern Utah. Red wolves are also highly endangered and live in the southeastern U.S. but are smaller in size. In fact, one of the problems of keeping them from going extinct is trying to keep them from cross-breeding with coyotes, said Nicki Frey, wildlife extension specialist at USU.

Q. How were these wolves tied to the Yellowstone packs?

A. These wolves likely came from Wyoming, Stoner said. Jackson Hole and the Teton Range mark the southern end of what is a near-continuous wolf distribution all the way north into the Arctic. Importantly, the Bear River Range, which marks the northern end of the Wasatch Mountains, provides a largely uninterrupted corridor into the Gros Ventre Range and Yellowstone plateau, where many packs live and have been reproducing for three decades.

Younger wolves, 1½ to 2 years old, can move hundreds of miles from where they were born, as shown by the recolonization of northern California by wolves coming from Oregon, Frey said. These animals need to break from their birth packs at some point. They start moving, looking for suitable habitat that doesn't already have a wolf pack in it. They may pick up a mate or some other dispersers along the way.

Q. What concerns should most people have about gray wolves?

A. People are not in any danger from wolves when they are out and about in the mountains of Utah, Frey said. If they do encounter a wolf, they should just leave the area and give the wolf some distance.

Wolves are also not currently a threat to the livestock in Utah, though they do sometimes kill cattle and sheep in other states. In Montana in 2023, wolves killed 23 cattle, 8 sheep and 1 guard dog, a low percentage of livestock loss, Frey said. Nationally, wolves account for 0.01 to 0.04% of all livestock deaths. Utah’s management plan for wolves goes above and beyond to ensure that wolves do not get established here, she said.

Wolves are smart enough to avoid high densities of people, Frey said. These animals were likely looking for food and/or a safe place to make a new pack.

Q. Why are livestock managers concerned about wolves near their operations?

A. Wolves can have a big impact on livestock — sheep and cattle — and on their owners, said Julie Young, director of the Berryman Institute of Wildlife Damage Management. There are economic, human safety and quality of life concerns when coexisting with large predators. But if there is ample wild prey, most livestock producers actually have more losses to things like injury and disease than from wolves in areas with established packs (which Utah does not have). But some packs have been removed because of aggressive depredation, she said. A pack in California is the latest example of this.

Q. What options are there for managing predators around livestock?

A. There are increasing numbers of nonlethal tools to reduce that risk of wolf depredation and allow ranchers to coexist with them, Young said. These include using range riders (a human presence where livestock are being grazed), hazing with drones, electric fences, night penning, using livestock guardian dogs, installing a specialized flagging on range fences called fladry, and equipping cattle with inexpensive flashing ear tags.

“Preventing livestock kill is more efficient and cost-effective than reacting after it happens,” she said. “Ultimately, it’s human tolerance that determines whether or not predators can survive on these open rangelands. When producers have the right tools, that is more likely to happen.”

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources offers more information about gray wolf management.