Wilderness discount on livestock compensation costs for imperiled gray wolf Canis lupus

Abstract

There is evidence that Wilderness reduces costs for livestock depredations caused by the endangered and threatened gray wolf (Canis lupus) in the northern Rockies and upper Midwest, U.S.A. From 1995 to 2004, direct costs for compensation in the northern Rockies came to only 47 to 78 percent of losses anticipated at wolf reintroduction and projected from non-wilderness habitat. Compensation was lowest in the wilderness-rich, central Idaho recovery area ($69/wolf/year), more than doubling in greater Yellowstone ($160/wolf/year) where private ranches commingle with extensive grazing leases on public land. Per capita compensation in northern Minnesota and Michigan was 5 percent to 14 percent of costs in wilderness-deficient northern Wisconsin ($163/wolf/ year). Globally, compensation for carnivore depredations tends to be higher where wild lands are scarce, but husbandry practices and grazing subsidies confound the discount in some regions. Nevertheless, a wilderness discount reduces some costs of (and may mitigate cultural resistance to) conservation programs aimed at restoring large predators.

Parent Publication

• Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium

Citation

Haney, J. Christopher; Kroeger, Timm; Casey, Frank; Quarforth, Alysa; Schrader, Gina; Stone, Suzanne Asha. 2007. Wilderness discount on livestock compensation costs for imperiled gray wolf Canis lupus. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium; September 30-October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 141-151