Conservation effort vs. Reliance on livestock

By Oliver Benson

o Apex predator plays the largest role in ecosystem(Wallach et al., 2013)

o Ecosystems are losing apex predators due to humans

o Defense is vital in upholding an equilibrium (Ripple et al., 2012)

Intro ROL Question/Hypothesis Methods Results Discussion Bibliography

o 1920s management plans removed wolves from Yellowstone National

Park

o No wolves means:

o More ungulates

o Over-herbivory from overpopulation of ungulates (Ripple et. al,

2003, 2004, 2008, 2015)

o Severe drop in wolf and plant populations in the 1920s

o Change climates, prevent erosion, and provides food and shelter

(Nelson et. al, 2011)

o Affected ecosystems reach unhealthy levels

o Trophic Cascade: Wolves → Ungulates → Plants

o Suppression of plant species after the removal of wolves (Beschta et. al,

2010, 2012)

http://www.britannica.com/science/trophic-cascade


o Wolf populations are stable but are in danger of instability

o Lethal management proven ineffective - more predation

o Wolves cause less than 5% of livestock mortalities

o Farmers need to consider the other forms of wolf management

(, 2015)


Legislation in certain states prevents wolf protection

Farmers are reluctant to make an effort to coexist

Populations are growing as conservation effort diminishes

Extensive lack of education on importance of wolves


To what extent does the reliance on livestock ranching effect

grey wolf conservation in the United States?

o H0: There is no correlation between a state’s reliance on ranching

and the effort to conserve wolf populations.

o H1: The reliance on livestock ranching will significantly affect

each state’s effort to conserve wolf populations.

o H2: The state’s that protect wolves will not provide adequate

compensation for loss of livestock.


o Populations: give insight into the prevalence in a state ecosystems

o Protection: Federal/state protection of wolves will bar the killing of all wolves in

region.

o Management: Plan to lower populations generally due to a population that is

considered too high or to remove wolves that have been killing livestock.

o Livestock reliance per state: should be the underlying factor of whether or not a

state focuses on protecting its wolves or livestock.


American Journal of Agricultural Economics provided amount of

revenue coming into the state from livestock

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) produced state GDP data

from census in 2012

Fish and Wildlife Services for each state provided population,

harvest, poaching, and protection status data


The livestock revenue was divided by the full GDP of the state to

produce the percent reliant on livestock

These percent values were then put into a two sample t-test

Trying to prove correlation between reliance on livestock and the

state’s conservation effort

Looked into methods used to conserve when states protect wolves


Results


P value of .158

Statistically suggestive but not significant ….

Overall rise in populations leading to higher likelihood of an

unprotected status


States protecting wolves compensate for the livestock lost due to wolf

predation

“Landscape of fear” caused by the presence of wolves

Wolves stress mother cows and cause inefficient foraging behavior leading

to less food for calves

Calves of 18 Montana ranches were on average 22 pounds less

Loss of $6,679 for an average ranch per year

Not seen by state governments as a compensable issue


oWolf populations must be kept stable in order to

oCertain states must learn how to coexist

oStudy suggests that states with high reliance have low conservation

oNumerous non-lethal option cans replace lethal management

oNational Parks should be helping state conservation effort


Only ten out of the eleven states used in the t-test

Novel findings

Alaska’s percent reliance on livestock was far too low compared to its

protection status (result of the huge populations and the public’s

need to harvest wolves for income)


o How will reintroduction to California affect conservation legislation?

o How will the recent reintroduction to the Southwestern US continue to change ranching

dynamics?

o Which is the best method of non-lethal management?


oNY Wolf Conservation Center

oRebecca Bose

oMr. Inglis and Mrs. Carnahan

oMy Family


•Idaho Department of Fish and Game, 4 Apr. 2016. "Wolf Management / Status Timeline." Idaho Fish and Game. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.•Kovacs, K. E., K.E. Converse, M.C. Stopher, J.H. Hobbs, M.L. Sommer, P.J. Figura, D.A. Applebee, D.L. Clifford, and D.J. Michaels. Conservation Plan for Gray Wolves in California. 2016. California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sacramento, CA 329 pp. •Larsen, Eric. Sciencedirect. 3 July 2003. "Aspen Age Structure in the Northern Yellowstone Ecosystem: USA." Web. 10 Dec. 2015. •Montana Stockgrowers Association . 24 Nov. 2014 "Montana Farm and Ranch Facts | 10 Things To Know.". Web. 28 Apr. 2017.•Nelson, Michael. Sciencedirect. March 2011. "The Isle Royale Wolf–Moose Project (1958-present) and the Wonder of Long-Term Ecological Research ☆." 10 Dec. 2015. •Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mar. 2016. "ODFW Frequently Asked Questions About Wolves." ODFW Frequently Asked Questions About Wolves. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.•Parr, Sadie. "Wolves & Livestock." Wolf Awareness Inc. Wolf Awareness Inc., 2016. Web. 3 Nov. 2016.•Ripple, William. Sciencedirect. 15 July 2006 "Linking Wolves to Willows via Risk-sensitive Foraging by Ungulates in the Northern Yellowstone Ecosystem." Web. 10 Dec. 2015. •Ripple, William. Sciencedirect. May 2008. "Trophic Cascades Involving Cougar, Mule Deer, and Black Oaks in Yosemite National Park." Web. 10 Dec. 2015. •Ripple, William. Sciencedirect. 15 October 2015. "Trophic Cascades from Wolves to Alders in Yellowstone." Web. 10 Dec. 2015. •Ripple, William. Sciencedirect. January 2012. "Trophic Cascades in Yellowstone: The First 15 years after Wolf Reintroduction." Web. 10 Dec. 2015. •Ripple, William. Sciencedirect. October 2003. "Wolf Reintroduction, Predation Risk, and Cottonwood Recovery in Yellowstone National Park." Web. 10 Dec. 2015. •Ripple, William. Sciencedirect. 25 October, 2004. "Wolves, Elk, Willows, and Trophic Cascades in the Upper Gallatin Range of Southwestern Montana, USA." USA. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. •Sinclair, A. R. E., Simon Mduma, and Justin S. Brashares. "Patterns of predation in a diverse predator–prey system." Nature425.6955 (2003): 288-290.•USDA Census of Agriculture, 2012. "Recent Census Years." USDA - NASS, Census of Agriculture. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.•U.S. Department of the Interior, "Wolf Restoration Continued." National Parks Service. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.•U.S. Fish and Wildlife. 2015. "Gray Wolf Recovery in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan." USFWS: Gray Wolf Recovery in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.•U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Nez Perce Tribe, National Park Service, Blackfeet Nation, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Wind River Tribes, Confederated Colville Tribes, Spokane Tribe of Indians, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Utah Department of Natural Resources, and USDA Wildlife Services. 2015. Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Program 2014 Interagency Annual Report. M.D. Jimenez and S.A. Becker, eds. USFWS, Ecological Services, 585 Shepard Way, Helena, Montana, 59601. •Wielgus RB, Peebles KA (2014) Effects of Wolf Mortality on Livestock Depredations. PLoS ONE 9(12): e113505. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0113505


•Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 2017. "Wolf Harvest Information." Wolf Harvest Information. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.•Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Wildlife Conservation, Oct. 2012. "Status of Wolves in Southwest Alaska." Web. 16 Feb. 2017.•American Journal of Agricultural Economics 96.3 (2014): Ramler, Joseph P., Mark Hebblewhite, Derek Kellenberg, and Carolyn Sime. "Crying Wolf? A Spatial Analysis of Wolf Location and Depredations on Calf Weight." Web. 27 Feb. 2017.•Ballotpedia, July 2016. "Endangered species in Arizona." Web. 27 Feb. 2017.•Beschta, Robert. Sciencedirect. July 2012. "Berry-producing Shrub Characteristics following Wolf Reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park." Web. 10 Dec. 2015. •Beschta, Robert. Sciencedirect. November 2009. "Large Predators and Trophic Cascades in Terrestrial Ecosystems of the Western United States." Web. 10 Dec. 2015.• Beschta, Robert. Sciencedirect. 30 July 2010. "Mexican Wolves, Elk, and Aspen in Arizona: Is There a Trophic Cascade?" Mexican Wolves, Elk, and Aspen in Arizona: Is There a Trophic Cascade? Web. 10 Dec. 2015.•Conniff, Richard. 31 Jan. 2014 "Getting Ranchers to Tolerate Wolves-Before It's Too Late." Strange Behaviors. TakePart,. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.•Conservation Northwest, Oct. 2016. "Washington's wolves." Washington's wolves. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.•Dorrance, M. J., & Bourne, J. (1980). An evaluation of anti-coyote electric fencing. Journal of Range Management (33), 385-387.•Duggins, D. O., C. A. Simenstad, and I. A. Estes. "Magnification of Secondary Production by Kelp." Science 24 (1989): 5.•Earthjustice, 14 Jan. 2016 "Timeline: Wolves in Danger.". Web. 16 Feb. 2017.•Estes, James A., and David O. Duggins. "Sea otters and kelp forests in Alaska: generality and variation in a community ecological paradigm." Ecological Monographs 65.1 (1995): 75-100.•Estes, James A., et al. "Trophic downgrading of planet Earth." science333.6040 (2011): 301-306.•Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2012. "States." States | FRED | St. Louis Fed. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.•FSW. 31 Dec. 2015. "Mexican Wolves in the Wild, The Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Project." The Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program - Mexican Wolves in the Wild - The Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Project. Web. 13 Feb. 2017•Howling For Justice, 2 Nov. 2009. "Wolf Killing Time Upon Us Once Again." Howling For Justice. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.•Howling For Justice, 22 Sept. 2015. "Posts about wolf poaching on Howling For Justice." Web. 27 Feb. 2017.•Idaho Department of Fish and Game. 2015. 2015 Idaho wolf monitoring progress report. Idaho Department of Fish and Game, 600 South Walnut, Boise, Idaho. 71 pp.

Conservation effort vs. Reliance on livestock

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