Washington's second gray wolf pack has been confirmed in northeast Washington's Pend Oreille County, the state just announced. An adult wolf has been equipped with a satellite-telemetry tracking collar by state biologists.

State Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement Officer Pam Taylor steadies a male gray wolf in Pend Oreille that has been temporarily sedated so it can be equipped with a satellite tracking collar. (WDFW photo)

Here is the rest of the news release:

This morning, biologists with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife led by a wolf expert from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game temporarily captured a 105-pound wolf-believed to be the alpha-male pack leader-to equip it with a satellite-telemetry collar so its movements can be tracked. Two wolf pups also were temporarily captured, equipped with ear tags and released.

The collared wolf's movements will be monitored with periodic relocation data transmitted by satellite and downloaded on a computer. The Global Positioning System equipment allows monitoring without the aerial or ground tracking required in standard radio telemetry.

Biologists found earlier evidence of the wolf pack - they have named the Diamond Pack - through howling responses from multiple wolves of various ages, and from photos of up to four young wolves recorded on a remote, motion-triggered camera. A wolf pack is defined as two or more wolves traveling together.

Biologists with WDFW and the Washington Department of Natural Resources have been monitoring the area in recent weeks, after a DNR remote camera recorded images in May of what appeared to be an adult male and female gray wolf. The female wolf was lactating, indicating she was nursing pups. Subsequent genetic testing of a hair sample collected from a camera station indicated the hair came from a male gray wolf from the northwestern Montana/southwestern Alberta wolf population.

More recently biologists conducted howling surveys, and responding howls were heard from multiple wolves-both juvenile and adult.

Last summer, Washington's first breeding pair of wolves found since the 1930s was radio-collared in western Okanogan County in north-central Washington.

Gray wolves were removed from Washington by the 1930s as a result of trapping, shooting and poisoning, and later listed as both a federal and state endangered species.

Gray wolf populations in nearby Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have rebounded in recent years as a result of federal recovery efforts in the northern Rocky Mountains. Gray wolves were recently removed from the federal endangered species list in those areas and the eastern third of Washington, including Pend Oreille County. They remain federally listed as endangered in the western two-thirds of Washington and state endangered throughout Washington.

WDFW is in the process of drafting a gray wolf conservation and management plan, which will be circulated for public comment later this year, and will be considered for adoption by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2010. The draft plan was developed with a 17-member citizen working group composed of wolf conservation representatives, ranchers and hunters.

Anyone wishing to report a possible wolf sighting or activity should call a toll-free wolf reporting hotline at 1-888-584-9038. Those with concerns about possible wolf-caused livestock depredation should contact the USDA Wildlife Services office in Olympia at (360) 753-9884 or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Wenatchee at (509) 665-3508.

Click here to see a photo gallery.

The state is going to allow anglers to keep pink salmon caught on the Skagit River for three days next week.

Effective date: 12:01 p.m. Aug. 6 through Aug. 9.

Location: Skagit River from the mouth to Gilligan Creek.

Reason for action: Surplus pink salmon are available for harvest.

Other information: Salmon fishing is allowed only from the mouth to Gilligan Creek. All other portions of the river remain closed to salmon fishing. The daily limit is two salmon. Only pink and chinook salmon may be retained. Only one adult chinook may be retained. Night closure is in effect.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced its proposal to continue liberal hunting seasons for the upcoming 2009-2010 late waterfowl seasons.

Duck hunting season lengths would be 60 days in both the Atlantic and
Mississippi Flyways, 74 days in the Central Flyway, and 107 days in the Pacific Flyway, according to a news release.

Among the highlights area a proposed full season on pintails with a two-bird daily bag limit in the Pacific Flyway and a full season on canvasbacks with a one bird daily bag limit offered nation-wide. Additionally, the framework calls for a bag limit of three scaup in the Pacific Flyway for 86 days.

States select their season and earliest season beginning and latest ending dates from within the frameworks which establish the maximum season length and bag limits.

Here are the highlights of the proposed late-season frameworks for the
Pacific Flyway which includes Washington, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and portions of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming:

Ducks: Under the proposal, states are allowed a 107-day general duck season between Sept. 26 and Jan. 31. The proposed daily bag limit is seven ducks, including no more than two mallard hens, two redheads, one canvasback and two pintails. In addition, an 86-day season for scaup can be chosen with a daily bag limit of three.

Geese: 100-day seasons are proposed for the Pacific Flyway between Sept. 26 and March 10. Proposed basic daily bag limits are up to 10 light geese and four dark geese. In Washington, the dark goose limit does not include brant. For brant, the proposed season lengths are 16 days in Washington, with a two-bird daily limit.

Click here to find the proposed late season waterfowl frameworks, scheduled to be posted in a mid-August edition of the Federal Register for public comment.

Click here to see the "Status of Waterfowl" report and video as well as last year's harvest figures.