Conservation Northwest

Getting wilder Conservation Northwest has advocated for and advanced carnivore conservation largely from the utilitarian focus but not without an awareness that societal values and emotional connections with predatory animals will be pivotal in their conservation. Predators' value and place Playing catch up Do the big fierce animals excite, intrigue, and stir us enough to allow them the space and tolerance to thrive, evolve, and continue to help shape our ecosystems? Or will we retreat into a medieval narrative whose premise is fear, loathing, and misunderstanding? These are the questions of our time. There is an indigenous Colombian myth that says: "The jaguar was sent into the world as a test of the will and integrity of the first humans" (From One River, Wade Davis, 1996, as cited in Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity). It is estimated that in the mid-1700s there were roughly 190,000 grey wolves in the area now covered by the lower 48 states, nearly 120,000 of which roamed the Great Plains amidst enormous herds of bison, elk, deer, and pronghorn. West of the Mississippi, there were an estimated 50,000 grizzly bears, whose populations stretched down into central Mexico. Today there are approximately 1,500 grizzly bears in a couple of wild pockets like Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, and even their future remains in doubt with looming climate change and possible removal from the protection of the Endangered Species Act. The Eastern cougar is gone. Wildlife agencies, cattlemen, hunters, and conservationists joust in meeting rooms, the media, and the courts about how many "breeding pairs" of wolves should be allowed to roam from small remnant and recovering populations in the Midwest and West. The ancient Colombians probably weren't the first, and aren't the only, indigenous culture to recognize the value and place of large carnivores. One can only hope that the rest of us can catch up. Lookout wolf pups, 2008. Conservation Northwest During the rut, male deer are more susceptible to predation because their attention is focused elsewhere. © David Moskowitz Links to human health Is it possible that even human health can be affected by the lack of large predators in an ecosystem? If you've spent any time in the Eastern states like Connecticut, you may have noticed that white-tailed deer outnumber the BMWs—most of which have probably run over a white-tail at least once. You may have also noticed that large four-legged predators are scarcer than Yugos—no wolf or cougar controversies there. In fact, the Eastern cougar was recently declared extinct by the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Wolves haven't likely patrolled the mid-Atlantic and southern New England states for more than a century. Today the main predator of deer is the automobile. Let's forget for a minute how deer numbers in the absence of significant predation are negatively affecting the forests and understory plants of the East and focus for a minute on a little creature that benefits immensely from the white-tailed population explosion—the deer tick. Deer ticks carry the dreaded Lyme disease and whitetailed deer help them deliver it—to people and to other wildlife. But the delivery system breaks down when deer densities are more consistent with historic levels of 10 animals per square mile instead of the current more than 50 deer per square mile in some areas. "The loss of apex consumers is arguably man's most It seems that too many deer—and not enough predators—are not only bad for your garden but potentially bad for your health as well. pervasive influence on the natural world." –Estes et al. Keeping the Northwest wild Keeping the Northwest wild Spring/SummerFall 7 7 Fall 2011 7 2011

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