Creates a new chapter in Title 77 RCW establishing mandatory procedures to restore and sustain healthy ungulate populations. The bill defines an "at-risk population" as any ungulate herd that falls 25% below its 10-year rolling average within a game management unit and defines a specific "federal delisting area" in eastern Washington. Ungulates covered include mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose, mountain goat, mountain caribou, and bighorn sheep. The bill requires the department to designate an at-risk population and begin predator mitigation within 60 days when an ungulate population in the federal delisting area drops 25% or more below its 10-year rolling average. Authorized mitigation measures include seasonal or geographic predator reduction, translocation of gray wolves within Washington, targeted removal or nonlethal mitigation, diversionary feeding, hazing, and other actions consistent with law. Mitigation must continue until mule deer and white-tailed deer meet or exceed 2004 harvest levels for two consecutive years and both species exceed their 10-year rolling averages. The measure imposes procedural requirements: the department must conduct and resume annual white-tailed deer population counts in partnership with sportsmen using collaboratively designed, publicly transparent survey methods; publish population counts and deer season harvest reports annually by March 31 (or two weeks before seasons can be set); and report annually to the Legislature by March 31 on trends, at-risk designations, mitigation actions, and progress toward 2004 benchmarks. The department may adopt rules to implement the chapter. The bill is a new statutory chapter that changes wildlife management procedures and authorizes specified predator control and relocation actions; it does not state new criminal penalties. Several implementation details are not specified in the provided text: the bill repeatedly references "the department" without naming the agency; the geographic names "Monse" and "Mesa" are not explained; the baseline data and method for determining 2004 harvest levels are not provided; specific survey standards and the content of external plans cited are not included; and how department resources might constrain implementation is not detailed.

If enacted, the bill would force the state wildlife agency (referred to as “the department”) to rapidly identify deer and other ungulate herds that fall sharply and to begin predator control actions within 60 days in a defined eastern Washington area where wolves are no longer federally listed. That creates new, time-sensitive operational duties: restarting annual, collaboratively designed white-tailed deer counts with sportsmen, publishing population and harvest reports by March 31, reporting to the legislature each year, and carrying out a range of predator mitigation measures (including wolf translocation, targeted removals, diversionary feeding, and hazing) until mule and white-tailed deer meet specific harvest and population benchmarks. Practically, the department and its partners will likely need more staff, funds, and logistics capacity to run surveys, implement and sustain predator mitigation, and meet reporting deadlines; licensed hunters and hunting organizations will be more directly involved in surveys and could see changes in hunting opportunities if populations recover, while rural economies may gain if herds rebound. The proposal also raises risks of contentious predator removals and unclear costs because the bill text here does not name the specific department, does not define the precise 2004 harvest baselines, and leaves survey standards and certain geographic spellings and implementation details open.