Richard P Reading - Awakening Spirits: Wolves in the Southern Rockies

2010 by Richard P. Reading, Brian Miller, Amy L. Masching, Rob Edward, and Michael K. Phillips

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval systemexcept by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a reviewwithout permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Awakening spirits : wolves in the southern Rockies / edited by Richard P. Reading ... [et al.].

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-55591-674-9 (pbk.)

1. Gray wolf--Reintroduction--Rocky Mountains Region. I. Reading,

Richard P.

QL737.C22A93 2010

599.7730978--dc22

2009014273

Design by Jack Lenzo

Cover photograph Shutterstock | Ronnie Howard

Interior photographs:

Page viii, courtesy of Tim Springer, 2009, www.pbase.com/tspringer.

Page 12, courtesy of Doug Dance, 2009, www.ddancenaturephotography.com.

Page 24, courtesy of Dan Drost, 2009, www.pbase.com/ddrost.

Page 48, courtesy of Doug Dance, 2009, www.ddancenaturephotography.com.

Page 60, courtesy of National Park Service/Bob Wesselman.

Page 78, courtesy of John Savage, 2009, www.pbase.com/1229jr.

Page 102, courtesy of Doug Dance, 2009, www.ddancenaturephotography.com.

Page 118, courtesy of Tim Springer, 2009, www.pbase.com/tspringer.

Page 146, courtesy of Dan Drost, 2009, www.pbase.com/ddrost.

Page 160, courtesy of Anne Edward, 2009, www.pbase.com/yllstonewolf.

Page 186, courtesy of Larry Peterson, 2009, lppphotography@gmail.com.

Page 196, courtesy of Doug Dance, 2009, www.ddancenaturephotography.com.

Fulcrum Publishing

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800-992-2908 303-277-1623

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Contents

: A Comprehensive Approach to Evaluating the Potential for Wolf Restoration in the Southern Rockies

Richard P. Reading, Brian Miller, Amy L. Masching, Rob Edward, and Michael K. Phillips

Overview

: A Brief History of HumanNature Interactions

Brian Miller and Dave Foreman

: Extermination and Recovery of the Red Wolf and Gray Wolf in the Conterminous United States

Michael K. Phillips and Brian Miller

: The Importance of Large Carnivores

Paul C. Paquet, Brian Miller, Kyran Kunkel, Richard P. Reading, and Michael K. Phillips

: Variables Influencing Carnivore Translocation

Brian Miller, Richard P. Reading, Katherine Ralls, Susan G. Clark, and James A. Estes

Social Assessment

: The Human Landscape

Hannah Gosnell and Doug Shinneman

: Public Attitudes toward Wolves and Wolf Recovery

Brian Miller, Richard P. Reading, and Hannah Gosnell

: The Legal Framework for Wolf Recovery in the Southern Rockies

Jay Tutchton and Melissa Hailey

: Policy: Integrated Problem Solving as an Approach to Wolf Management

Susan G. Clark, Brian Miller, and Richard P. Reading

Ecological Assessment

: Natural Landscapes of the Southern Rockies

Doug Shinneman, Brian Miller, and Kyran Kunkel

: Disease and Translocation Issues of Gray Wolves

Colin M. Gillin and Dave Hunter

: Potential for and Implications of Wolf Restoration in the Southern Rockies

Michael K. Phillips, Brian Miller, Kyran Kunkel, Paul C. Paquet, William W. Martin, and Douglas W. Smith

Acknowledgments

A number of people and organizations made this book possible. First and foremost, we would like to express our gratitude to each of the authors of the chapters. Producing this volume took several years, and we appreciate the authors patience and willingness to continually update their work. Each chapter also benefited from the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of other experts. In addition to the editors, we received thoughtful, well-written reviews from Dr. Joel Berger, Steve Forrest, Ty Gee, Dr. David Kenny, Dr. Berton Lee Lamb, Dr. Lauren McCain, Erin Robertson, Dr. Michael Soul, Dr. Richard Wallace, and several chapter authors. Dr. Alyson Wiedenheft assisted us in putting technical medical terms into laymens terms. Ed McPherson spent hours helping to format and edit several chapters. While reviewers comments greatly strengthened the manuscript, we accept full responsibility for any errors that remain. Of course, research continues on several aspects of wolf restoration, and we expect that new insights will render inaccurate some of the conclusions we reached.

Producing a multiauthor, multidiscipline volume on a complex subject requires that contributors organizations support their staff as they compile their chapters. We appreciate the contribution of organizations with which the individual authors are affiliated and for allowing them to work on this project. A few organizations provided substantially more support for this project and deserve special acknowledgment, including the Turner Endangered Species Fund, the Denver Zoological Foundation, the Wind River Ranch Foundation, Sinapu (which has since merged with another organization to become WildEarth Guardians), and the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project (which no longer exists). We also recognize the support of several individuals within these organizations, including Craig Piper and the late Dr. Clayton Freiheit of the Denver Zoological Foundation.

Finally, we owe a debt of thanks to the wonderful people at Fulcrum Publishing for helping mold the rough draft of our book into the highly polished finished product you hold in your hands. First and foremost, we thank Bob Baron for finding merit in our manuscript and for providing excellent recommendations for improving our presentation, and Haley Berry for all of her wonderful guidance and expert assistance along the way. Many thanks also to Patty Maher, who helped this project reach fruition.

Introduction

A Comprehensive Approach to Evaluating the Potential for Wolf Restoration in the Southern Rockies

Richard P. Reading, Brian Miller, Amy L. Masching, Rob Edward, and Michael K. Phillips

Wolves ( Canis spp.) represent one of the most iconic species of wildlife. Until recently, peo-ple heavily persecuted wolves throughout most of their range, and in many areas of the world wolves remain the targets of eradication, or at least control. Yet there are people working to restore wolf populations.

Humans eliminated gray wolves ( Canis lupus ) from the Southern Rocky Mountains of the United States (figures ) by the middle of the last century, but today wolf restoration proceeds in other portions of the species range in North America. Some have begun to explore the feasibility and desirability of restoring wolves to the Southern Rockies, the region of mountains, foothills, and basins extending from southern Wyoming into northern New Mexico, or at least letting wolves reestablish themselves on their own in this area.

This books authors include wildlife biologists, geographers, legal and policy experts, and conservationists whose common concern is the future of the wolf and the long-term ecological health of the Southern Rockies. Because of the wolfs absence from the Southern Rockies, these are not unrelated concerns. We organized this book to answer, or at least shed light on, the following questions: