What is the feasibility study and why was it needed?
The Olympic Peninsula has changed significantly since the last recorded wolf was killed in the Elwha Drainage in 1920. Much of the area has been adapted to human use; cities and communities flourish where wolves once hunted and their primary prey species are now pursued by human hunters. When a proposal was made to return wolves to the peninsula, questions were raised about whether sufficient suitable wolf habitat still existed and if enough prey remained to sustain a wolf population. There were also questions about whether wolves still lived on the peninsula; about how large a wolf population would need to be to persist over time without human intervention; whether enough suitable habitat still exists to sustain such a population, how large such a population could get; and, the possible socioeconomic impacts of wolf reintroduction. Researchers at the University of Idaho were contracted to do a feasibility study to answer those questions.
