Learning to Live With Wolves: Community-based Conservation in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana

We built on the existing capacity of a nongovernmental organization called the Blackfoot Challenge to proactively address wolf (Canis lupus)-livestock conflicts in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana. Beginning in 2007, wolves started rapidly recolonizing the valley, raising concerns among livestock pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Seth M. Wilson, Elizabeth H. Bradley, Gregory A. Neudecker
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Utah State University 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.26077/bf8e-6f56
https://doaj.org/article/8f75702aa574412a8f8c9d56b09bccea
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8f75702aa574412a8f8c9d56b09bccea 2023-05-15T15:50:56+02:00 Learning to Live With Wolves: Community-based Conservation in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana Seth M. Wilson Elizabeth H. Bradley Gregory A. Neudecker 2017-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.26077/bf8e-6f56 https://doaj.org/article/8f75702aa574412a8f8c9d56b09bccea EN eng Utah State University https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol11/iss3/4 https://doaj.org/toc/2155-3874 doi:10.26077/bf8e-6f56 2155-3874 https://doaj.org/article/8f75702aa574412a8f8c9d56b09bccea Human-Wildlife Interactions, Vol 11, Iss 3 (2017) grizzly bears wolves livestock conflict mitigation collaboration community Environmental sciences GE1-350 General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.26077/bf8e-6f56 2022-12-31T11:43:31Z We built on the existing capacity of a nongovernmental organization called the Blackfoot Challenge to proactively address wolf (Canis lupus)-livestock conflicts in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana. Beginning in 2007, wolves started rapidly recolonizing the valley, raising concerns among livestock producers. We built on an existing program to mitigate conflicts associated with an expanding grizzly bear population and worked within the community to build a similar program to reduce wolf conflicts using an integrative, multi-method approach. Efforts to engage the community included one-on-one meetings, workshops, field tours, and regular group meetings as well as opportunities to participate in data collection and projects. Initial projects included permanent electric fencing of calving areas and livestock carcass removal to address the threat of grizzly bears and, later, wolves. Subsequently we used intensive livestock and wolf monitoring through range riders in an attempt to reduce the frequency of encounter rates among wolves and livestock. Although we cannot claim causation from our efforts, results are encouraging. Confirmed livestock losses to wolves from 2006-2015 have been 2.2 confirmed depredations per year across nearly 50 ranches on about 3,240 km2 that are annually grazed by 16,000-18,000 head of livestock. Fewer than three wolves per year have been removed (2.4 wolves per year) due to these depredations for the same period as the population increased from one confirmed pack to approximately twelve. Our collaborative approach and prior experience with grizzly bears was key in building a proactive program to help reduce conflict with wolves in a community adjusting to an increasing large carnivore presence over a short period. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic grizzly bears
wolves
livestock
conflict
mitigation
collaboration
community
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
General. Including nature conservation
geographical distribution
QH1-199.5
spellingShingle grizzly bears
wolves
livestock
conflict
mitigation
collaboration
community
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
General. Including nature conservation
geographical distribution
QH1-199.5
Seth M. Wilson
Elizabeth H. Bradley
Gregory A. Neudecker
Learning to Live With Wolves: Community-based Conservation in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana
topic_facet grizzly bears
wolves
livestock
conflict
mitigation
collaboration
community
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
General. Including nature conservation
geographical distribution
QH1-199.5
description We built on the existing capacity of a nongovernmental organization called the Blackfoot Challenge to proactively address wolf (Canis lupus)-livestock conflicts in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana. Beginning in 2007, wolves started rapidly recolonizing the valley, raising concerns among livestock producers. We built on an existing program to mitigate conflicts associated with an expanding grizzly bear population and worked within the community to build a similar program to reduce wolf conflicts using an integrative, multi-method approach. Efforts to engage the community included one-on-one meetings, workshops, field tours, and regular group meetings as well as opportunities to participate in data collection and projects. Initial projects included permanent electric fencing of calving areas and livestock carcass removal to address the threat of grizzly bears and, later, wolves. Subsequently we used intensive livestock and wolf monitoring through range riders in an attempt to reduce the frequency of encounter rates among wolves and livestock. Although we cannot claim causation from our efforts, results are encouraging. Confirmed livestock losses to wolves from 2006-2015 have been 2.2 confirmed depredations per year across nearly 50 ranches on about 3,240 km2 that are annually grazed by 16,000-18,000 head of livestock. Fewer than three wolves per year have been removed (2.4 wolves per year) due to these depredations for the same period as the population increased from one confirmed pack to approximately twelve. Our collaborative approach and prior experience with grizzly bears was key in building a proactive program to help reduce conflict with wolves in a community adjusting to an increasing large carnivore presence over a short period.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Seth M. Wilson
Elizabeth H. Bradley
Gregory A. Neudecker
author_facet Seth M. Wilson
Elizabeth H. Bradley
Gregory A. Neudecker
author_sort Seth M. Wilson
title Learning to Live With Wolves: Community-based Conservation in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana
title_short Learning to Live With Wolves: Community-based Conservation in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana
title_full Learning to Live With Wolves: Community-based Conservation in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana
title_fullStr Learning to Live With Wolves: Community-based Conservation in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana
title_full_unstemmed Learning to Live With Wolves: Community-based Conservation in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana
title_sort learning to live with wolves: community-based conservation in the blackfoot valley of montana
publisher Utah State University
publishDate 2017
url https://doi.org/10.26077/bf8e-6f56
https://doaj.org/article/8f75702aa574412a8f8c9d56b09bccea
genre Canis lupus
genre_facet Canis lupus
op_source Human-Wildlife Interactions, Vol 11, Iss 3 (2017)
op_relation https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol11/iss3/4
https://doaj.org/toc/2155-3874
doi:10.26077/bf8e-6f56
2155-3874
https://doaj.org/article/8f75702aa574412a8f8c9d56b09bccea
op_doi https://doi.org/10.26077/bf8e-6f56
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