Ecological and Social Dimensions of Wolf-Livestock Conflict in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Abstract

The recovery of large carnivores beyond protected areas presents significant conservation and management challenges as both wildlife and humans adapt to shared landscapes. This issue is particularly acute in working landscapes where carnivores, such as wolves, frequently prey on livestock, causing hardship for rural ranching communities and potentially hindering carnivore recovery efforts. Thus, research investigating the factors driving and mitigating carnivore depredation on livestock is needed to better inform conflict reduction management practices. This study takes place in a working lands frontier east of Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, near the towns of Cody and Meeteetse, where ranchers and wildlife managers have contended with wolf-livestock conflict for over two decades. Given that conflict dynamics are influenced by both wildlife behavior and management decisions, this research employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate ecological and social dimensions of conflict. The first two chapters focus on predator-prey dynamics between wolves and migratory elk, as prey availability and distribution are believed to impact wolf-livestock conflict patterns. In Chapter 1, I use elk and wolf GPS collar data to investigate how wolves respond to seasonal elk migrations and describe conditions conducive to migratory coupling and decoupling. In Chapter 2, I collected wolf predation data from kill sites in winter and summer to characterize wolf seasonal predation patterns. In Chapter 3, I delve into the human dimensions of conflict mitigation using data from in-depth interviews with ranchers and wildlife managers, relationships developed during the course of the ecological research. I investigated the socioeconomic challenges of mitigating conflict by identifying factors that influence the adoption of conflict reduction practices and examining the roots of social conflict and intolerance towards wolves. Highlighting social constraints to conflict mitigation offers valuable lessons for communities facing similar challenges with recovering wolf populations. These findings can guide wildlife managers, wolf conservationists, and researchers in developing effective conflict mitigation strategies that balance the needs of both wolves and people, as wolves, already the most widespread large carnivore in the Northern Hemisphere, continue to expand their range.