This state's classification carries no date range for the species.
WA's only resident ptarmigan species (alpine North Cascades).The pamphlet lists 'Ptarmigan' as closed statewide without naming a subspecies, but white-tailed is the only ptarmigan present in WA.
A narrow, high-alpine specialist. WDFW's own species page states Washington's white-tailed ptarmigan are found in the Cascades from Mt. Adams north to the U.S.-Canada border, in alpine/parkland rocky or tundra habitat generally between 5,000 and 7,500 feet, with no population in the Olympics or elsewhere in the state. Within that Cascades corridor, occupancy is uneven and named by specific range/wilderness area: Mt. Adams itself holds a believed-rare population; the Pasayten Wilderness (far northern Cascades, near the Canadian border) holds birds described as common; Mt. Rainier is occupied habitat; and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness (immediately north of Mt. Rainier) is separately occupied, with an apparent ~31-mile gap in confirmed occupancy between Mt. Rainier and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The species is closed to hunting statewide, state-tracked, and the subject of both an active WDFW/Mountaineers citizen-science volunteer monitoring program and a pending federal proposal to list Washington's population (as the 'Mt. Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan,' Lagopus leucura rainierensis) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, driven by climate-related loss of high-alpine habitat.
Closed statewide (Cascades, high-elevation). A citizen-science volunteer monitoring program run in partnership with The Mountaineers is confirmed active, but WDFW publishes no recurring annual population report -- active monitoring, no dated figure, the same pattern as Washington's sage-grouse and sharp-tailed grouse. Climate-driven alpine-habitat loss is the stated primary long-term concern.
Join the waitlist and tell us what you’re working on — the planner reads it first once your access opens.
Free, invite-gated, unsubscribe anytime. See what it returns