Restoring and sustaining healthy ungulate populations.

This bill requires Washington's wildlife department to act when key ungulate populations (like mule deer and white-tailed deer) decline 25% below their 10-year average in areas where gray wolves are no longer federally protected. Within 60 days of such a decline, the department must implement predator mitigation (including targeted wolf removal or relocation) and monitor recovery until populations meet or exceed 2004 harvest levels for two consecutive years. It mandates annual, collaborative population surveys with hunters and public reporting of results by March 31st each year. The law directly affects rural communities dependent on hunting tourism, tribal and nontribal hunters, and the state wildlife department, which must coordinate with sportsmen groups and report progress to the legislature annually.