Posts Tagged: poaching

Wolfwatcher

5 hours ago

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Managing wolves
Natural colonization is an important process that balances wolf habitat needs with human development. Eli Francovich’s article presented wolf recolonization in Washington as limited by Washington’s wolf mortality. However, wolves within Washington are not the only source for recolonization. Though still being studied by biologists, dispersal from other states is a possibility. Given time, wolves will find their equilibrium.
Still, there are several factors to consider. For example, dispersal rates and distances vary with lethal removal. In Washington, about 19% of the population died naturally or were killed through hunting or self-defense or in response to livestock depredations. In Montana about one-third of the wolf population is removed annually through a combination of hunting, trapping and lethal removal in response to livestock depredations (the latter is a small minority of mortalities).
More information is needed about how to effectively range ride in allotments with low visibility. Organizations like Western Landowners Alliance are actively looking at ways to bring together cowboys, cowgirls and range riders from across wolf occupied habitat to discuss what works, and sometimes just as important, what does not. A lot can be learned from these experienced interactions.
Zero mortality is not the only path to recolonization. Preserving the ability to manage wolves reduces social resistance in communities where the economic impacts of wolves can be high. Learning to reduce depredations and finding the right balance of removal will give wolves a chance to find the path of least resistance that can be hard for humans to predict.
Alex Few
Working Wild Challenge Coordinator
Western Landowners Alliance
Powell, Wyo.

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