Current Numbers: 2
Pack Status: Active. Designated in 2018.
The Naneum Pack was first confirmed as a pack in 2018, roaming a territory in the central Cascade mountains, southwest of Wenatchee. This pack consisted of two wolves as of the end of 2018, and was not counted as a successful breeding pair for the year. A wolf that was killed by a human in 2018 was likely also part of that pack; the death was under investigation until the statute of limitation expired.
As of April 2019, wolves were reported in the area, but state wildlife staff were unable to determine a denning site for the pack. A local sportsman reported a wolf sighting in the area in December 2019, but biologists were not able to confirm the photographed animal was a wolf. The 2019 annual survey confirmed three wolves in the pack, but no pups were confirmed.
The 2020 annual survey confirmed a minimum of three wolves in the pack with no successful breeding pairs.
In 2021, the two collared members that made up the Naneum pack, WA102M and WA109M, both dispersed, with one crossing the Columbia Basin toward the northeast to join the Stranger pack and the other moving south of I-90 into the Southern Cascades of Washington to start the Big Muddy Pack. No other wolves were located during winter surveys in the Naneum pack territory.
There were no wolves documented in the pack’s territory in 2022 and only one wolf was found in the territory in 2023.
In 2024, the pack reestablished, with two wolves confirmed; however, there was no successful breeding that year.
