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More Wolves, safer roadstinyurl.com/3tc7mbymEfforts to conserve and reintroduce wolf populations can be controversial. Such programs can be expensive and ranchers and farmers sometimes fear the potential impact on livestock.What if the benefits of wolf conservation and reintroduction are greater than we think? What if such programs generate economic gains that far outweigh their costs, including the costs of compensating those who might be adversely affected by increased wolf populations?Measuring the economic benefits conveyed by predators is difficult—often, effects are indirect and operate through complex ecological changes. As a result, debates about the expansion of predators have pit salient costs against more speculative estimates of benefits that might be dismissed as unreliable or ideologically motivated. We quantify the indirect benefits of wolves (Canis lupus) to human lives and property through reductions in deer-vehicle collisions. Moreover, we decompose the effect into two components: changes in prey behavior versus prey abundance. This decomposition is important when effective policy depends on whether hunters can replicate the effects of predators. In the case of wolves, we conclude that human deer hunters cannot.It is often hard to measure the economic benefits of wildlife conservation (and such benefits may not always exist), but this appears to be a case where the benefits are substantial. ... See MoreSee Less

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