France: Killing 200 Wolves is Not Coexistence — It’s a Signal France plans to kill 200 wolves this year — nearly 20% of its population.

Reposted from Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/suzanneashastone/p/france-killing-200-wolves-is-not?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Authorizing the removal of nearly 20% of a protected predator population is not a minor adjustment. It is a structural intervention.

The decision is framed as livestock protection. But the wolf cull is not just about wolves. It is a reminder of something larger: traditional livestock systems continue to define the limits under which ecological restoration is allowed to proceed.

The question is not whether farmers matter. They do.

The question is whether the scale — and increasingly archaic structure — of livestock production now defines the outer boundary of biodiversity recovery.

The Planet We Have Built

The numbers are difficult to ignore.

WWF’s Living Planet Index reports an average 73% decline in monitored vertebrate population sizes between 1970 and 2020 (WWF, Living Planet Report 2024).

At the same time, Earth’s biomass has been radically reordered. A landmark global synthesis published in PNAS found that humans and livestock now account for roughly 96% of all mammal biomass, leaving only about 4% as wild mammals (Bar-On et al., 2018).

By weight:

• 62% livestock and pets

• 34% humans

• 4% wild mammals

Birds tell a similar story. The same synthesis found that the vast majority of bird biomass is domesticated poultry rather than wild species (Bar-On et al., 2018; see also The Guardian, 2018 summary).

Life did not disappear. It was converted.

We have not eliminated biomass. We have domesticated and industrialized it.

Land Use Reveals the Structure

This reordering is driven by land.

More than three-quarters of global agricultural land is used for livestock — grazing or growing feed crops (Our World in Data; Poore & Nemecek, Science, 2018).

Yet meat and dairy provide only about 18% of global calories while using the majority of agricultural land (Poore & Nemecek, 2018).

Globally, agriculture is identified as a threat for 86% of species currently at risk of extinction (UNEP, 2021).

Livestock is not a marginal feature of the global economy. It is one of the primary forces shaping the biosphere.

The planet is not short on biomass.

It is short on wildness.

The French Case in Context

France is not the Amazon. It is not a tropical deforestation frontier.

But the structural logic is shared: ecological recovery is permitted only so far as it does not disrupt existing livestock systems.

When wolves expand, they are killed.
When ecosystems push back, they are managed downward.

This is not coexistence. It is boundary enforcement.

The wolf becomes the visible friction point in a much larger structural reality: biodiversity restoration remains subordinate to agricultural rigidity.

Coexistence Is More Than Presence

Wolves can remain on a landscape and still not coexist. They cannot fulfill their full ecological role when they are under intense hunting pressure.

Coexistence is not tolerance under pressure. It implies mutual adaptation over time. It means:

• Prevention improves.

• Livestock systems evolve to adapt to predator permanence.

• Conflict declines structurally.

• Lethal control becomes demonstrably rare.

When annual removals approaching 20% become normalized, adaptation is not occurring on both sides.

The wolf population absorbs the adjustment.

That is management by culling.

The French Numbers

Wolves are attributed to roughly 10,000–12,000 livestock losses annually in France, approximately 0.15% of the national sheep population (French Ministry of Ecological Transition data; national sheep herd ~6–7 million head).

For individual farmers, losses can be serious and destabilizing. France invests tens of millions of euros annually in prevention measures and compensation (French National Wolf Plan).

Research on wolf diet in France and the Alpine Arc consistently shows that wolves’ diets remain predominantly wild ungulates, even in high-conflict regions (e.g., Marucco et al.; European wolf diet syntheses). Livestock is taken — but it is not preferred prey.

So why does lethal removal remain central?

Is it political pressure? Institutional fatigue? Uneven implementation of prevention? Or a deeper governance reflex: protect production first, adapt ecosystems second?

Removing 20% of a predator population is not neutral management. It is governance by archaic culling — a step backward at a moment when biodiversity recovery demands modernization.

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What Real Coexistence Looks Like

The solutions are not utopian. They are practical — and they already exist.

In Abruzzo, Italy, long-term investment in livestock guardian dogs, fencing, shepherding, and cultural adaptation has supported wolf persistence without systematic annual population reduction. Prevention is treated as infrastructure, not an emergency response.

The choice is not wolves or farmers.

There are working models that demonstrate something more durable and more hopeful: systems in which livestock production adapts and wildlife stabilizes without routine large-scale killing.

One of the most documented examples is the Wood River Wolf Project in central Idaho, launched in 2008 as a landscape-scale demonstration of nonlethal coexistence across rugged grazing country running tens of thousands of sheep.

Rather than defaulting to wolf removal after depredation, ranchers, community members, wildlife agencies, and conservation partners implemented proactive deterrents — livestock guardian dogs, temporary fladry enclosures, increased human presence, lights, and sound devices — designed to reduce predation risk before losses occur.

Over nearly two decades, the project has helped protect roughly 20,000 sheep annually grazed on public lands while averaging fewer than five sheep losses per year — a loss rate of about 0.025%. These losses have remained roughly 90% lower than those reported elsewhere in Idaho under traditional management. Only two wolves have been killed in response to livestock conflict over the entire period.

In other words, in a rugged, mountainous, multi-use landscape comparable in many ecological respects to the French Alpine Arc — including large sheep bands averaging around 1,200 animals and a 90–120 day summer grazing season — predation can be minimized without making lethal control the backbone of policy.

Sheep graze in daily proximity to wolf packs with extremely low losses and without systematic wolf removal. Prevention costs per sheep are also lower than current French expenditures, even acknowledging the smaller geographic scale (approximately 1,200 km²).

These outcomes directly challenge the narrative that coexistence inevitably entails either high livestock loss or recurring predator reduction. They show that coexistence can be engineered through design — and that coordinated prevention and shared responsibility benefit both producers and predators.

A Comparable Alpine System — With Lower Losses

French officials often argue that alpine terrain makes coexistence inherently difficult. Yet the Wood River study area operates under a coordinated alpine transhumance system protecting thousands of sheep in rugged terrain under exposure conditions strikingly similar to those in the French Alps.

The Wood River Wolf Project study documents fewer than five sheep lost annually — approximately 0.025%.

France’s national rate of loss to wolves is approximately 0.15% — roughly six times higher.

The difference is not between catastrophic and negligible. It is between very low and extremely low.

Which raises a legitimate question:

If comparable alpine grazing systems can achieve significantly lower loss rates without relying on population-level lethal control as a primary strategy, what prevents France from replicating those outcomes in its highest-conflict zones?

These wolf and livestock coexistence systems are not conflict-free. But they demonstrate something essential: when human systems meaningfully adapt, reliance on killing declines.

Coexistence strengthens through redesign — not recurring reduction.

The Legal and Ecological Context

Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union recognizes animals as sentient beings and requires that their welfare be given full regard in EU policy, including wildlife management.

This does not prohibit lethal control.

But it does mean governments cannot treat recurring large-scale killing as administratively neutral or conceptually insignificant.

Wolves are socially structured apex predators. Their ecological role depends on territorial stability, pack cohesion, and learned behavior passed across generations.

A governance model that routinely removes 20% of the population each year treats them primarily as adjustable population variables. Like a crop to be harvested.

That tension should be acknowledged honestly.

Why Wolves Matter for Biodiversity

Wolves are not simply another species in need of tolerance. They are apex predators — and apex predators shape ecosystems in ways few other animals can.

Decades of ecological research show that large carnivores influence prey behavior, population structure, and landscape use. By regulating deer and wild boar populations — and even altering how and where those animals forage — wolves reduce overbrowsing pressure on forests and shrublands. This allows tree regeneration, understory recovery, and improved habitat for birds, insects, and small mammals.

The best-known example comes from Yellowstone National Park, where wolf reintroduction is now only three decades later associated with shifts in elk behavior, reduced browsing in riparian zones, and subsequent recovery of willow and aspen stands — with cascading benefits for beavers, songbirds, and aquatic systems (Ripple & Beschta 2012; Smith et al.). Wolves are not the only influencing element, but they are a primary driving factor.

European ecosystems function differently, but the principle holds. Research across Europe shows that the return of wolves contributes to regulating expanding ungulate populations, especially where hunting pressure is uneven or declining. In France, where wild boar and deer populations have grown significantly over recent decades, predator presence can complement human management rather than compete with it.

Wolves also target weak, sick, and injured animals, potentially limiting disease transmission within prey populations and reducing the ecological impacts of overabundant herbivores.

In short, wolves are not just inhabitants of ecosystems. They are regulators of them.

When management treats wolves primarily as expendable population variables, it risks overlooking their ecological role. Stable wolf populations are not only about species protection — it is about maintaining the trophic dynamics that support broader biodiversity.

In a continent confronting profound biodiversity decline, apex predators are not marginal species. They are ecological infrastructure — stabilizing food webs, reinforcing resilience, and strengthening biodiversity across landscapes.

The United Nations and its scientific bodies have identified biodiversity loss as one of the greatest global threats facing humanity — alongside climate change — with accelerating species decline and ecosystem collapse undermining food security, economic stability, and human well-being (IPBES, 2019).

If the wolf survives only until it becomes inconvenient, that is containment — not coexistence.

The Direction of Policy Matters

If annual culls approaching 20% become normalized, France is not advancing toward coexistence. It is institutionalizing culling as a management constant.

That reflects an archaic model of wildlife governance: one in which conflict is resolved primarily through population suppression rather than structural adaptation.

It is archaic not only because reactionary killing is old, but because it predates modern ecological understanding of apex predators as integral components of functioning ecosystems. It predates the EU’s formal recognition of animals as sentient beings. It predates contemporary biodiversity commitments that call for restoration and integration rather than containment.

An archaic approach adjusts predator numbers until social friction subsides. And social friction rarely subsides for good. It typically becomes a spiral of conflict until wolves exist only at the fringes.

A modern approach asks how human systems must evolve so lethal predator control becomes progressively unnecessary.

Relying on lethal control as a default response risks anchoring France in older models of wildlife management — models built to appease intolerance rather than adaptation in support of biodiversity. In doing so, France misses the opportunity to lead a deeper transformation toward genuine coexistence, where livestock systems evolve alongside predator recovery and biodiversity goals are strengthened rather than ignored.

Author Bio: Suzanne Asha Stone is the founder of the International Wildlife Coexistence Network and the Wood River Wolf Project, an 18-year study of wolf and livestock coexistence in Blaine County, Idaho. She has worked full-time as a wolf conservationist since 1988. She is the lead author of the foundational study Adaptive use of nonlethal strategies for minimizing wolf–sheep conflict in Idaho that helped revolutionize wolf management from lethal control to proactive solutions-based coexistence.

In her free time, she writes about Nature, growing up as a “feral” kid, foster pet rescue, and her journey restoring and protecting wolves in Idaho, Yellowstone, the American West, and beyond. She contributes paid Substack subscriptions to supporting this work. Visit the International Wildlife Coexistence Network to learn more.

If coexistence is to mean adaptation rather than reduction, the evidence base matters — and it is substantial. The following sources provide a foundation for that discussion.

📚 Top 5 Essential Reads on Wolves and Coexistence

Chapron, G. et al. (2014) — Recovery of large carnivores in Europe’s modern human-dominated landscapes (Science)
A landmark paper documenting the return of wolves and other large carnivores across Europe — and explaining why governance, not biology, is now the central challenge.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1257553

European Parliament (2018) — The revival of wolves and other large predators and its impact on farmers
A policy overview examining predator recovery, livestock impacts, and management responses across EU Member States.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/617488/IPOL_STU(2018)617488_EN.pdf

López-Bao, J.V. et al. (2017) — Toward a framework for human–large carnivore coexistence in Europe
A widely cited perspective arguing that durable coexistence depends on governance design, prevention, and institutional adaptation — not routine lethal control.
https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1487

Stone, S.A. et al. (2017) — Adaptive use of nonlethal strategies for minimizing wolf–sheep conflict in Idaho
A field study demonstrating that coordinated nonlethal tools can significantly reduce livestock losses while maintaining wolf populations.
https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/98/1/33/2977254

van Eeden, L.M. et al. (2018) — Managing conflict between large carnivores and livestock
A global meta-analysis assessing which mitigation strategies effectively reduce conflict — and when lethal control fails to do so.
https://trophiccascades.forestry.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/Eeden_2018_CB.pdf

Behind the Scenes of the Wood River Wolf Project

The following is an interview with Suzanne Asha Stone, the International Wildlife Coexistence Network Executive Director, and the Idaho Mountain Express Newspaper about the Wood River Wolf Project that was published on February 26, 2025.

Suzanne, what is your organization’s primary mission?

The International Wildlife Coexistence Network provides expert interdisciplinary assistance, training, collaboration, and shared research to enable communities around the globe to coexist with wildlife. Our primary field project is the Wood River Wolf Project in Blaine County. This project involves community members, livestock producers, wildlife NGOs, and county, state, and federal agencies collaboratively using proactive, nonlethal methods to minimize losses of sheep and wolves.

How long has your organization been established, and what has contributed to your success?

The Wood River Wolf Project was established in 2008 by three people from different backgrounds who came together as co-founders: Lava Lake Land and Livestock manager Mike Stevens, Rick Williamson, USDA Wildlife Services, Idaho, and me, the wolf conservationist. We tested practical approaches to protect sheep, wolves, bears, coyotes, and mountain lions, such as increasing livestock guardian dogs, lights, sound alarms, human presence, and grazing routes that help avoid conflicts.  We average 20,000 sheep in our project area, with fewer than five sheep losses to wolves annually. We’ve lost two wolves to livestock conflicts in the last 17 years.  This is the best record of coexistence in Idaho. 

What inspired you to pursue it?

When we started the Wood River Wolf Project, the consensus, even among wolf scientists, was that large-scale coexistence efforts couldn’t be accomplished. We expected we might fail, but no one else had attempted this approach across a large landscape. Everyone was surprised by our success. Today, our model is being duplicated around the world.

What keeps you going and gets you to work every day?

Wildlife biodiversity is plummeting globally. We are losing ecosystems that sustain life for everything and everyone. We must establish a healthier relationship with Nature for our own survival and that of all species that make these ecosystems thrive. Wolves are a keystone species that help maintain a healthy elk, deer, and predator balance, which in turn protects native plants, wetlands, and forests. By protecting the wolf, we help restore this essential balance.  Every day, I am driven by what I can do to save these animals and protect their future.

What do you wish more people knew about the Wood River Wolf Project?

We have operated for 17 years, mainly under the public radar, to help keep wolves safe, but new threats to these wolves may eliminate them entirely. This fall, we lost the Smokey Mountain pack’s alpha male and pup to bounty hunters seeking to expand wolf trapping and snaring locally. We need support to prevent this and sincerely appreciate the Blaine County leadership. The community must remain diligent to avoid losing wolf families peacefully coexisting with livestock operations in our valley.

Why did you establish your first wolf and livestock coexistence model in the Wood River Valley?

My family has deep roots here, and this community values wolf conservation and its sheep heritage. Community leaders were willing to try untested methods to protect both - and we succeeded!  Local donors helped us launch and continue this nonprofit work that provides this service freely to sheep producers.  Today, we are assisting other communities to develop similar models of coexistence with wolves and other native wildlife.

What has been your biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?

Our biggest challenge is keeping our community’s wolves from being destroyed by trapping and snaring. Idaho allows wolves to be killed on sight year-round, paying bounties for dead wolves and their pups. Our project area is the last place in Idaho that prohibits wolf trapping and snaring. If we lose this protection at the March 25-26, 2025, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Commission hearing in Boise, we will lose our stable wolf packs. This will unravel this successful balance we have worked hard to achieve and maintain. These unmarked traps and snares also pose a serious risk to our dogs and small children recreating on our public lands, trails, and campgrounds. These wolf families live peacefully on our national public lands, which belong to all Americans.  It will be up to all of us to defend both. 

In Memory of Mary Austin Crofts

Mary Austin Crofts was a valued member of the Wood River Wolf Team over the last 4 years. She supported our team in the field by producing newsletters and posting on social media.

Mary supported the Wood River Valley throughout her entire career and championed many projects including the Wood River trails systems. “Mary Austin Crofts received numerous awards, including the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber Citizen of the Year award, the State of Idaho Outstanding Achievement in Recreation & Tourism award and the Idaho Trails Achievement Award. She also served as president of the Idaho Recreation and Parks Association.” She also served as the executive director of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival for over 12 years.

Mary will be greatly missed but her contributions will never be forgotten.

To read more about Mary please visit: https://www.eyeonsunvalley.com/Story_Reader/10386/Mary-Austin-Crofts-Left-Imprint-on-the-Wood-River-Valley/

Jim Santa 2022 Volunteer Field Report —Wild places, Wildlife and Wolves

 My name is Jim Santa. I grew up spending a lot of time exploring the woods, lakes, streams, and rivers of Northern Minnesota. I have always had a passion for the outdoors and wildlife. During college I spent many days fishing the rivers and chasing Steelhead on the north shore of Lake Superior and traveling by canoe through the Boundary Waters and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. I worked At the Ski Hut in Duluth and upon graduation found my way to the Wood River Valley and went to work for Sturtevant’s. Some 25+ years later, I’m still here. Now I volunteer for the Wood River Wolf Project. 

  I absolutely love the Wood River Valley and have spent time as a Fly Fishing and Mountain Bike Guide. I first learned of the Wolf Project a couple years ago when Logan Miller, Field Manager, contacted Sturtevant’s looking to purchase an E mountain bike, or eMTB, for their field work. As I learned more, my interest was piqued, and I inquired about any possible volunteer opportunities. Salmon and Wolves are on top of my list of wildlife issues and I wanted to lend a hand. 

My first trip with Logan involved wildlife game cameras and eMTB’s, riding to an undisclosed location, up a couple of thousand vertical feet through patches of remaining snow to find a good camera location. 

Of course, picking where to set a camera is a big part of the equation. Looking for signs of animals, games trails, water nearby, all of this and more need to be considered. We went through the camera set up and settings making sure everything was in working order. As a final test we crawled around in view of the camera to make sure we had it right. We locked the camera to the tree, remounted our bikes, and descended back to the trailhead. Before parting Logan loaded me up with a couple more cameras, a Boneview card reader for use in the field, extra batteries and SD cards, some suggested locations, and I was off in search of new adventures! 

Jim with wildlife camera.

The next weekend I loaded up my pack, and with some GPS waypoints and a rental eMTB, went out to set my first cameras. Many of these suggested camera locations are “out there”. I rediscovered terrain I hadn’t seen in years, mostly because it’s time consuming to get to, and steep and technical. In other words, perfect for an eMTB. A big thank you to those who clear these trails, especially the motorcycle crew. One can really get “out there” into terrain that at least I would rarely ride on my “acoustic” bike. These bikes make an ideal tool for getting to and from these game cameras, while having an absolute blast doing it. So much so that after a couple times on the demo bike, I decided that I needed my own. 

Now, when the day arrives to go play in the woods and check the cameras, I’m like a kid on Christmas morning. Arriving at a camera I pull out my phone and the Boneview SD reader for a preview. I’ll check a few videos to make sure everything is working. These previews are typically a good measure of what we’ll find when we review it all. These deeper dives into the footage provided a lot of evening entertainment throughout the season. I’ll yell out “Moose”, “Bear”, “Badger” to Marcia, my wife, who’d be in the other room, and she’ll come running to look. She’s now as excited as I am when I return from a mission with fresh SD cards to review. Let me tell you, it’s a virtual Wild Kingdom out there! It’s simply amazing the amount of wildlife we have all around us, and many of these animals are rarely seen. 

Now to the big question, did I see any wolves on my cameras? It took a while, with my newly acquired experience navigating with the CalTopo trail app, to find the camera Logan had set and provided the coordinates to. I found it on my second attempt and this one had my first wolf viewing of the season. I was elated. They do exist! Still, I hadn’t accomplished my goal of finding wolves on a camera I had set myself. But not long after, I had a single wolf on one of my sets. Again, elated. Then a few weeks later came the joy of capturing a pack of 4 moving by one of my sets. This was so cool, and exactly what I had set out to do in the early spring. 

As I write this, the season is winding down, marked by the Trailing of the Sheep festival. A good place to mention that the sheep are the primary reason for the existence of the project in the first place, to find ways to reduce conflict between the wildlife and livestock in the Valley. This is the last of many summer events in the Wood River Valley and marks the transition from summer to winter. We’ve started to pull some cameras from up high, but leaving the closer, lower ones in place for as long as we can. 

I’ve had so much fun and adventure this summer that I hate to see it end. I learned a lot about the wildlife present in the Wood River Valley, how to navigate in the backcountry with Cal Topo, became familiar with the function of the Browning game cameras and more familiar with how all the drainages connect in the backcountry, and I found a new love, riding an eMTB. I am truly grateful and proud for the opportunity to serve the Wood River Wolf Project and to learn more about, and further the understanding and acceptance of wolves as a critical component of our ecosystem. I’m already looking forward to next season as I’ll begin with the new knowledge and experience that I gained this summer. 

Notes from the field: Lane Justus and sharing space with wolves for the first time

Wood River Wolf Project Field Technician, Lane Justus, shares her first summer withe wolves. Here she is helping another wildlife friend in need.

We are a little over two months into the field season, so I guess it’s finally time to introduce myself. I’m Lane Justus – this year’s field technician. While I’m originally from Arkansas, I have spent the last couple years traveling around the northwest United States and central America doing wildlife research, land management, and environmental education. I fell in love with Idaho while doing cattle grazing and Greater Sage-Grouse research in the Pahsimeroi Valley in early 2021.

I left soon after and moved to Hidalgo, Mexico where I completed a Fulbright Fellowship, taught at a public university, and assisted in local research projects pertaining to sustainable agave production as well as a project focused on jaguar and mountain lion conservation. Midway through my Fulbright grant, I heard that the Wood River Wolf Project was searching for a technician to begin just as my fellowship was ending, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to move back to the state that I had fallen in love with before leaving the US a year prior.

So far this season, we’ve been busy meeting up with sheep herders, tracking surveys, and checking cameras. My favorite part of the job thus far is getting to know all the herders. They are all Peruvian this year, so I’ve had a blast being able to use my Spanish skills and hearing about their experiences here.

I’ve also been pretty ecstatic to get camera footage of all kinds of predators. Hiking out to cameras is typically very beautiful, but nothing feels quite as good as hiking all the way out AND having successful camera trap footage.

Being that I’m from a state where there are no wolves, it’s been interesting for me to learn about their history in the area and the controversy surrounding them. To me, wolves have always been this mystical creature because I have never seen one or even a sign of one in person before arriving to the valley. The first time I saw wolf prints and scat in person, I was so overwhelmed with excitement. Of course, I knew that they were here, but all I could think in the moment was “woah, they’re REALLY here”. It felt monumental to be sharing a space with such an amazing creature.

I have loved being able to explore the project area and see so many beautiful places that Blaine County has to offer. While I wasn’t a mountain biker before joining the project, I’m learning (and have a couple bruises to show for it) and taking advantage of the trails out to herders and game cams.

I’m also so thankful to have the opportunity to learn the lay of the land from Field Manager, Logan Miller and Coexistence Expert, Kurt Holtzen, who are always willing to answer my millions of questions and show me the ropes.

Groundtruthing and Experimentation: A Coexistence Snapshot

Milton with new blank rounds and air horns for scaring wolves away from sheep in the area

Part of what makes this project special is the time spent trying to improve and understand the non-lethal conflict reduction systems we have in place. Early last week late at night I got a call Milton Jacobo, a shepherd with the Henslee operation, and he suspected wolves were preying on his sheep. . Those  sheep had been in thick timber and had been pushed far downhill. In my experience, this behavior of sheep being scattered can be indicative of wolves being involved. It was too late to head out that night, so Lane and I went out bright and early the next morning, complete with flashing lights we planned to affix to the remaining spike Livestock Guardian Dog collars that the herders had. We brought extra sound-makers for them, in case the potential wolf activity continued.

Tracks heading up to the sheep coming from a distance away. We compared this print to the size of their livestock guardian dogs to confirm this was a wolf.

Despite being mid-July, the early morning cold of the wet, meadowed valleys bit our faces and our hands. We very quickly ran into very fresh, large canid tracks on the trail. Immediately, we suspected wolf due to the size of the track and the stride length. The tracks continued for quite some time down the trail, leading towards where the sheep were. I felt a bit worried, but Milton had told me he now had five Foxlights placed around the sheep and that they weren’t bedded down near  where the first predation had occurred.

Field improvised livestock guardian dog protective collars with flashing lights attached.

Fortunately, nothing had occurred during the night. We were unable to confirm whether the three sheep had been killed by wolves as the carcasses were nowhere to be found. In hot weather like we had been having, carcasses very quickly deteriorate and make it very difficult to confirm a cause of death.

Still, to be extra safe we made these makeshift collars using the flashing ear tags that Dr. Julie Young has been using on  sheep as a deterrent. Kurt Holtzen has been making a very similar collar design, but as he was still making his by hand, we hadn’t been able to get extras in time. We glued the flashing ear tags  on the remaining collars the herders had on them and left them with the dogs

Going to verify that livestock guardian dog collars are functioning] and Foxlights had been placed.

Not having heard from Milton for a couple days, I returned with Jace Hogg from the Office of Species Conservation to show him how the Foxlights work and see how these collars were functioning. This time of year, it takes a while for the sun to go down, so we waited on the ridge overlooking the sheep, surrounding by fields of yellow lupine.

Foxlight placement verified!

Part of going out here was to see how the shepherds had placed the Foxlights, and fortunately it looked mostly all good. Milton had set up several along the ridge both east and west of where the sheep were sleeping. Their random flashing red, white and blue lights could be seen from quite a distance. Jace and I did find one Foxlight high in a pine tree making us laugh at the herder’s creativity and dedication, although they certainly don’t need to climb trees to put up the Foxlights.

As Jace and I waited for darkness, we heard a low bark starting in the background that sounded quite far away.  Jace asked me what the dog was barking at and suddenly we heard a low howl sound off from  down the ridge. At first it sounded similar to the low bark of the LGD, but after two more howls from the same animal, I looked at Jace and said “Yup, that’s a wolf.”

 I didn’t have any noisemakers with me, so I tried making a loud clacking noise with my tongue. While it definitely wasn’t loud enough to have any effect on a wolf, it did upset the Livestock Guardian Dogs to no end. Suddenly, we watched three of them start running and barking at us from across the hill. As they did, the lights on their collars began flashing, showing us that the collars were indeed working! Feeling confident that the sheep were well protected with Foxlights and protective collars, and anxious to not disturb the dogs anymore, we slowly clambered up the hill to the truck. Once back at the truck, we sounded off an airhorn to add one more deterrent given how close the wolf was to the sheep band.

 It ended up being a long, long day, but well worth our efforts. It is always important to ground truth how well our equipment is working, document any wolves in the area and ensure the Foxlights are being effectively placed. Being out there and trying to understand the issue on the ground is crucial to this work. Things on paper often look a lot different once they’re implemented in the field, and we are always looking to connect the two. We will continue to monitor the situation in this part of the Project Area[  to keep sheep safe and wolves alive, making sure the collars are working so that more predations aren’t occurring!  No further incidents have been reported!

Happy howls,

 Logan Miller

Summer is in full swing!

Howdy all!

 Since I last wrote, most of the sheep in the Project Area have entered the national forest surrounding the Wood River Valley. As they have arrived, we’ve been there to supply them with the necessary conflict mitigation tools including lights, sound, and new flashing Livestock Guardian Dog protective collars, made by our field advisor, Kurt Holtzen. These collars are designed to protect the dogs and scare wolves away from the sheep. By flashing only when the dogs move and during the night, they create a more randomized pattern that will hopefully be effective in deterring wolves and keeping the dogs safe.

  Field technician, Lane Justus, showing off the new livestock guardian dog protective collars.

When Lane and I went out to bring Darío, one of the herders working for the Kowitz operation, a protective collar for his dog, his livestock guardian dog didn’t want to approach him. He would stand nervously ten feet away as Darío tried to grab him, always jumping back at the last second. Eventually, Lane brought out the bag of chips we had from the truck. Laying the chips down in front of him while he was backed up into some willows, Lane slowly walked around him while I kept giving him chips. Finally, we grabbed him gently but firmly, making sure he couldn’t escape. The collar was fitted on him and he walked away a bit confused from the encounter. While we were both a bit nervous about trying to grab this dog while he was backed into a corner, him never barking or making any aggressive moves made me feel more comfortable. It was a great reminder of how gentle these livestock guardian dogs can be!

We’ve brought equipment out to the herders for the Henslee’s of Salmon Falls Land & Livestock and the Faulkner’s of Faulkner Land & Livestock. After six months of not seeing each other, it’s always great to catch up with the herders . Many of them  returned to Peru over the winter and only recently returned to Idaho and their work here.

Nilo, who works for Faulkner Land & Livestock, showed us this massive elk shed he found out in the desert and demanded we take a photo of him. The thing is taller than he is! Elk shed their antlers every year before growing a new set in time for the Autumn breeding season.

You start growing these only once you’ve spent as much time in the mountains as Nilo has!

As we tried leaving from the camp of Marco and Nilo, our path was stopped by their horse, a stubborn guy who didn’t want to stop licking the back of our truck.

Papa Sixto dancing with one of his herding dogs up in the green pastures of the Smokies

While visiting with Sixto and Alfredo, herders working for the Henslee’s of Salmon Falls Land & Livestock, I informed them of the area’s recent wolf activity. They weren’t too concerned, as the wolves hadn’t ventured too close but mostly because they consistently use the Fox lights we provided them last year. The father-son duo don’t mind wolves as long as they stay away from their sheep. Alfredo has been here since around 2014 and has moved sheep through the mountains mostly without issues as a result of adequate conflict mitigation tools and practices during his time here.

Alfredo and Edwin (a herder who no longer works in the Project Area) from 2014

Of course, no blog entry would be complete without sharing wolf sign, scat, and images.

 One of the first wolf images we have gotten back this season.

A black wolf spotted on camera, reminiscent of the famous Phantom Hill pack

A lone track spotted on a scouting mission in a far-off corner with Kurt Holtzen and Lane Justus

Luckily, the recent Idaho legislation hasn’t crashed their population in our area largely because trapping and snaring wolves is not allowed here thanks to the efforts of the Blaine County Commission. Last year only one  wolf was killed by Wildlife Services within the Project Area bringing the total to two wolves killed due to livestock conflicts in the 15-year history of the Project. In comparison, Wildlife Services killed 14 wolves last year alone in the areas adjacent to the Project Area. Our mission to provide nonlethal proactive solutions seems more important now than ever. We deeply appreciate the community’s support for our efforts and cannot overstate how important that community support is to the success of the project. 

 It’s always incredible knowing places like these have large carnivores roaming the hills. In our case, wolves remain due to a combination of the rugged terrain, their ability to stay away from people, and our conflict mitigation efforts.

The 15th Field Season is off to a great start

Spring is off to a great start, and so is the Wood River Wolf Project. This year we were fortunate enough to have cameras generously loaned to us from NatureSpy, a UK-based non-profit that help other conservation groups in monitoring, recording and protecting wildlife and habitats. They are loaning 20 new Browning cameras to the Wood River Wolf Project which are a great improvement from our old cameras and we are so incredibly grateful!

One of the new Bushnell cameras from NatureSpy placed near a wolf trail

These cameras will help us better document the wolves in our area, as well as the interactions between sheep and wolves. To do so, we place these cameras along routes that both sheep and wolves will travel, in order to capture instances where they are occupying the same area in a similar time frame. Doing so allows us to both understand where wolves are in the valley while demonstrating that the non-lethal tools are effective while sheep and wolves are in similar areas

Path used by wolves in early spring

Through the mud, rain, and snow of late spring, we have been out tracking wolves and placing these new cameras around the valley, alongside volunteers both new and old. Our Student Camera Project continues this year, tracking and placing cameras while also teaching students about how conflict mitigation tools work to keep wolves away from sheep. In the photo below I showed Ripley and Camas, two high schoolers from Sage School, how Foxlights work and how to best place them.  Foxlights were originally designed to scare fox and dingo away from sheep in Australia but today are common deterrents used to protect livestock from a wide range of predators around the world.

Sage School students test the Foxlights.

Foxlights form part of the backbone of the toolset we use alongside human presence and multiple Livestock Guardian Dogs. Used in groups of at least 4 to a sheep band, Foxlights rely on the premise that human presence scares wolves, so these lights seek to mimic human activity. They emit random strobes of red, white, and blue light throughout the night and turn off during the daylight hours. These are placed surrounding the sheep band in locations where they will be seen from a distance. Over the years, these have proved very effective, and many shepherds from the various sheep ranching operations swear by them.

 Sage School high schooler, Jodie Willow, placing a wildlife camera in a good-looking location

In addition to these new cameras, our supporters helped us to purchase two e-bikes for this season. The last two years the field staff has used their own bikes or the power of two legs to get them up and over the mighty central Idaho mountains. While we loved every minute of it, we are certainly grateful to have these sweet new tools at our disposable when regular mountain bikes limit our ability to travel as far as we need to go. These e-bikes will let us check more cameras per day while making us more available in the case of predation events, freeing up time for more urgent field work! The first week of the field season I was able to take the new e-bikes out to test and ran into wolf tracks immediately.  We’re very grateful for the support from our community and donors worldwide who understand how valuable this project is.  The Wood River Wolf Project is now in our 15th year of demonstrating how people can coexist with wolves and other native predators by keeping more livestock and wildlife safe from harm.

Our new e-bikes help us cover many more miles and much more terrain

On top of all this,  the first band of sheep has arrived in the valley, and we were there to meet them as they got there. Fortunately, the Plateau Farms herders out Greenhorn, father and son combo Sixto and Alfredo Castañeda Alvarado, are well versed in the use of non-lethal tools. They have been here for many years now, know the mountains well, and have a healthy respect for the wildlife here. Still, they want to keep their sheep and wolves separated, and they rely on the tools we provide them to get the job done. I was able to drop off a new backpack and a much brighter flashlight for them to aid in wolf deterrence this year. When Ray Mavencamp showed up, the Plateau Farms foreman, he greeted me with a hearty “Is that Logan?” I showed him the new e-bike we had just gotten, and off he went on it, yelling “Oh, this is cool!” As he rode away, Sixto and Alfredo looked a bit nervous clearly hoping he didn’t run the sheep off they had just rounded up. He turned around well before and rode back with a big grin. I feel very lucky to have these people to work with on the project, as they are enthusiastic about coexistence and want to see it work!

Ray Mavencamp of Plateau Farms takes the e-bike for a spin

Alfredo holding up the new backpack and Fenix light for the season

The beauty of the Boulder Mountains

Happy Howls,

Logan Miller, Field Manager
Wood River Wolf Project

Meet Our 2022 Field Team

Meet Lane Justus, the newest member of the Wood River Wolf Project Field team for the 2022 season. "I'm so excited to return to Idaho and thankful for the opportunity to work with such a beautiful animal in an area I love," she told us.

Lane is bilingual and brings extensive experience to the project. In 2021, Lane worked with the University of Idaho and Idaho Fish and Game on grouse and grazing research, working collaboratively with ranchers in the Pahsimeroi Valley on grazing and species monitoring. Before that she worked for the Nature Conservancy in Washington State, taught English in Mexico and spent time working with Rainbow trout, ray, sea turtle, fish and shark species in Costa Rica. She has also been involved with fishery and beaver research projects in her home state of Arkansas. Welcome Lane!

Lane will join Logan Miller, Project Field Manager for the Wood River Wolf Project. Logan is back for his third year in 2022. He has exceptional leadership and communication skills as shown in his regular blogs https://www.woodriverwolfproject/org and this video, ‘How far would you go to save your favorite animal?’ https://youtu.be/tteUEfOGqjE

The field team is charged with helping to achieve our mission of working to promote coexistence between wolves and sheep in the 300,000 acre project area. Logan has a B.S. in Agricultural Sustainability and a wealth of experience working with Wolf conservation in the Mexican recovery region and solar energy development and other conservation projects. He also spent time working for the U.S. Forest Service.
 
Logan has enjoyed great success working with sheep herders to distribute nonlethal equipment and to train them in the use of the equipment to save sheep from depredation. His efforts have resulted in a significant decrease in sheep losses – and the killing of wolves. Last season, of the 14,000 sheep grazing the area, only 3 sheep were lost.

Both Logan and Lane are bilingual; a crucial skill in working with herders who come to the United States on work permits, usually from South American countries that raise sheep.
 
Nonlethal equipment given to ranchers and herders by the Wood River Wolf Project include blank pistols, fox lights, airhorns, speakers, solar panels and headlamps and accessories. We also include a tent, sleeping bag and pad, binoculars, and accessories. We encourage staff and herders to spend nights sleeping with the sheep bands during times when it’s known that wolves are nearby.
 
A welcome gathering hosted by the Wood River Wolf Project will be held in June.

In Search of Wolves

Wolves are not constrained by political boundaries. While most of our efforts are focused on Forest Service grazing allotments in the Wood River Valley, we occasionally survey movement corridors just outside the project area.  We recently decided to travel one such drainage starting at its headwaters. We received reports of wolves nearby and were hoping to confirm their presence and potential use of the valley as a connection to the project area. I love days like this, theorycrafting wolves’ behavior based on their ecology and getting into the field to fact check yourself. After 5 hours of shuttling, our vehicles were positioned on each end of the drainage. We slept near the trailhead, resting up for a 25-mile hike – with significant off-trail portions – the next day.

Rising early, we conducted a howling survey above a wet meadow high in the Pioneers. This time of year the response rate is low, but in wildlife research it’s important to put yourself in a situation to get lucky. You never know. With nobody calling back we hit the trail, following the tracks of deer, elk, coyote, fox, and bobcat. No wolves, but other locals were out and about. 2000’ of climbing later we dropped over a beautiful high pass into a cirque at the head of the neighboring valley. Our destination was visible far, far below. Surveying the area, we noted a few potential rendezvous sites for later, and added mountain goats to the running track list. There was still plenty of water amongst the grasses, forbs, and whitebark pines that dominate this alpine meadow. The verdant landscape was a refreshing sight after spending so much time in the lower valleys in drought.

After rehydrating from a crystal-clear stream we hit the trail, dropping steeply down valley. This area was closed to sheep grazing a few years ago, and there is little visual evidence of their passage. A happy result. Other vestiges of human presence are more obvious though; the odd minecart, thick rusted cables, even a modern wheelbarrow…anachronistic amongst its neighbors. Leaving the rocks behind, we enter a forest dominated by subalpine fir, encountering a family of hunters after elk in the high country. We swap information on trail conditions and wish them the best of luck, they are much farther from the road than most.

Finishing our 3000’ nosedive, we pass an amazing waterfall as the forest transitions to Douglas fir and lodgepole. No wolf sign yet, but we are hopeful now that we have reached the flatter and wetter valley floor. Heading downstream, we follow a surprisingly fresh pair of cougar tracks, as well as numerous hoofprints from hunters packing in. Everyone we encounter is here for the elk, but we are surprised at the number of human visitors. So much traffic erases tracks and displaces wolves, we kick ourselves for not surveying the area prior to hunting season. Still, we soon encounter a large canine-shaped scat full of elk hair, impossible to confirm due to age but likely a wolf!

Plodding downstream, a mama bear and her cubs surprise us from a talus slope a few hundred feet above. They do not notice us, and we wish them well as they climb up an unnamed gulch, away from prying eyes. Bear season has started, but fortunately a sow with cubs is an illegal target. A few dusty miles pass and our pack trail elbows upslope. We plan on going off trail for the remaining 10 miles, following the creek itself out of the mountains and looking for high-quality wolf sign on the muddy banks.

The river gifts us sign of other species. Moose, bear, otter, weasels, mink… We walk the stream itself to avoid thrashing through the dense riparian growth. Dippers guide us downstream, fluttering from rock to rock as they shake their tails in protest at our passage. An indicator species for healthy mountain streams, I am happy to see so many of them. The river soon pinches down to a stunning canyon with vertical walls towering above. Tributaries roar in, fish dart about in pools, and the water deepens. It is a beautiful place, and we are honored to be given the opportunity to travel it. Carefully, we slide down a few rapids and are happy to find that the exit will not require a swim. We wade out of canyon onto a gravel bar and continue downstream into the foothills.

As the angle lessens, the river begins to meander, and beaver dams appear. This keystone species helped keep the riparian zone lush and green through the summer. The surrounding hills are brittle brown and dust. By now we have seen sign of nearly every larger mammal in the region, but only have one potential wolf scat. We continue, shortcutting bends on game trails left by elk, moose, and bear. The mud is an excellent teacher, providing a myriad of opportunities to hone our tracking skills. Slopes above give way to snags and fireweed, the result of a fire that tore through the area a few years ago. Still, there is much sign of regrowth, and I have no doubt this hard reset will bring a healthy forest back in its own time.

 In the final miles, we come across a nice canid print, approximately 4” in length and just as wide. We are excited and begin to search the area for more. Scouting the far bank, we find what we came for. Multiple sets of tracks from 3.5” to 4.5” with stride lengths around 30”. The smallest could be a large coyote but given the freshness and quality of tracks in mud, we are confident these are wolves! We take GPS points and make note of their direction of travel. The encounter has revived our aching legs, and we trot through the last riverbends, past a vexed moose, and out of the mountains.

The landscape ahead is stark and dotted with cattle, riparian vegetation and beaver ponds are a thing of the past. No losses have been reported here, and we are happy to know that these wolves chose to head upstream, likely in pursuit of their natural prey.

Until next time,

Nate

The Backbone of Coexistence in the Wood River Valley

This past week Nate and I got to know two of the herders that have been working for Flat Top Sheep Company for many years now. As part of filming with a small documentary crew, we hiked up into the Pioneers to find Abodón Ortega Yaure way up on a high ridge.  Talking with Abodón, he recounted how the equipment that we provided him had helped him keep wolves, and coyotes, away at various points. He has been working for Flat Top Sheep Company for about 20 years, nearly paralleling the reintroduction of wolves.

Abodón points out where his sheep will be sleeping for the night.

Abodón has a great deal of respect for wolves, noting that the tools we provide through the project really do work for him. He also follows the Wood River Wolf Project on Facebook and keeps up with all of our videos and updates. Furthermore, as we talked with him, swapping stories about seeing bears and wolves throughout the region, he brought up the Little Wood River drainage. Having just travelled through there, I was beyond excited to hear he knew it so well.

            As it got darker, Nate and I heard a dog barking far off. Nate went to investigate. He came back and said there was indeed a dog far off from the sheep band that we had been watching for a while. Abodón followed Nate up the hill, and lo and behold we saw a part of the band had split off. Abodón got out the air horn we had given him, and began using it. Even at nearly half a mile, the sound got the roaming sheep moving back towards the bigger herd. Good to know the tools work for a few purposes!

Abodón frequently uses Fox Lights around his sheep at night to deter wolves from coming near.

On a different occasion, I went up to check in with Roberto Colonio and let him know we had wolves sighted in his area. As Roberto was in Peru last season unable to return due to Covid, this is my first year working with him. He also works with Flat Top Sheep Company. We began talking, and he asked me if a trap he had seen was a wolf trap. I told him wolf traps are banned in Idaho Game Management Units 48 and 49, so it probably wasn’t. As he showed me where it was, we talked about wolves and his history with the project. Roberto has a deep respect for wolves, telling me “They are so similar to people. They have their own families and care for one another.” Hearing Roberto say this struck a chord with me, as I am always trying to relay this to people that I talk to when they ask me “Why wolves?”

There are a million reasons why wolves belong on the landscape. They are native to these lands and contribute to their health, by keeping ungulates out of riparian areas and allowing beaver access to more willows. These cascading effects are far-reaching and important for water retention, biodiversity, and a plethora of other reasons. However, on top of this, wolves mirror us in many ways. They have families with complex relationships. They play, fight, and support each other in a manner that parallels to a large degree how we as humans do. It was beautiful to hear Roberto say this unprompted, as it gave me some hope about the future of coexistence. If Idaho sheep herders, who live day in day out in wolf territory, are able to respect wolves, I think it’s possible to get everyone else on board.

 As always, it’s important to remember that the shepherds, like Roberto and Abodón, are the major reason wolf-sheep coexistence is possible in our area. Without their buy-in and willingness to try new tools and techniques, it would never happen!

The Others

Hi everyone! In this blog post I want to share some images from this season’s camera study of the other critters in our project area. While we obviously focus on wolves, it’s always great to receive images of other species, especially photos of carnivores, sheep, and prey species on the same cameras as wolves. My dream is to one day pick up a wolverine (Gulo gulo) or fisher (Pekania pennanti), though our stations are not set to target these. 

We receive hundreds of images of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and elk (Cervus canadensis) from our cameras. While it’s easy to shrug them off, their importance to wolves should not be underestimated. Wild ungulates (hoofed mammals) make up the majority of wolves’ diets in our region and a healthy ungulate population is key to the longevity of wolves in the area.

Elk with calves moving into high country

Mule deer leg found near a wolf rendezvous site

Blaine County is also home to many other large mammals. Moose (Alces alces) are prevalent in areas with dense forage and shade, especially riparian zones. While a large (15+) wolf pack will sometimes target adult moose, it is more likely that the packs in our area (which are smaller) sometimes target calves.

An adult male moose moves with surprising speed past a camera in a riparian zone

As far as ungulates go, mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) and a handful of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) also exist in our area, though we know much less about wolf interactions with these species. Our cameras tend to be placed outside their choice habitat. Pronghorn (Antilocapra Americana) also thrive here, preferring the open grassy and sagebrush-dominated areas that we cannot easily target with cameras. Evidence from Yellowstone shows that wolf presence actually raises pronghorn fawn survival rate via the presumed suppression of coyotes!

Wolves in Blaine County also share the landscape with a number of other large predators. Mountain lions (Puma concolor), for example, exhibit niche differentiation where wolves are present, meaning that their use of the landscape is modified to avoid potential interference with wolves. In their case, their temporal activity and habitat selection is often dramatically different. Hypothetically, wolves may target larger prey at night while a mountain lion may go after something smaller during the day, or in an area with more variable topography (e.g. rocky outcrops) that better suits their ambush-based hunting style.

A mountain lion patrolling a riparian zone in the evening

Small to medium sized carnivores, dubbed “mesocarnivores”, also dot the landscape. Some of the more commonly observed species are coyote (Canis latrans), bobcat (Lynx rufus), and red fox (Vulpes vulpes macroura). Coyotes are often thought to be suppressed by wolves (as discussed above), and it will be interesting to see how their occupancy changes as wolves continue to expand through Idaho. We continue to observe them visiting the same locations as wolves, sometimes an hour or less apart. We have spent many hours scratching our heads wondering what provokes this anecdoctal coexistence. It certainly warrants study.

A bobcat and coyote visiting the same camera night and day

A red fox marking a lure log that was visited by a wolf the day prior

The last of the larger mammals in the area we often encounter is the black bear (Ursus americanus). Though technically a carnivore, black bears should be thought of as omnivorous. With approximately 80% of a black bear’s diet consisting of vegetation and insects, there is not as much competition between wolves and bears for ungulate prey. While wolf – black bear interactions are not as studied as their grizzly counterpart, most evidence suggests the species prefer avoiding each other.

Mama bear and cub playing with a lured log. These two were spotted on a trail used by wolves, deer, moose, coyotes, hares, and weasels.

This post is already too full of pictures and we haven’t even considered the smaller predators, such as marten (Martes americana), weasels, and more in the area! While our project is focused on wolves, it’s important to remember the suite of other predator and prey species that coexist to make up a healthy ecosystem here in Blaine County!

Nate Redon

Project Field Technician

Resources:

Ballard, W. B., Carbyn, L. N., & Smith, D. W. (2003). Wolf interactions with non-prey.

Barnowe-Meyer, K. K., White, P. J., Davis, T. L., Smith, D. W., Crabtree, R. L., & Byers, J. A. (2010). Influences of wolves and high-elevation dispersion on reproductive success of pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). Journal of Mammalogy, 91(3), 712-721.

Bartnick, T. D., Van Deelen, T. R., Quigley, H. B., & Craighead, D. (2013). Variation in cougar (Puma concolor) predation habits during wolf (Canis lupus) recovery in the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 91(2), 82-93.

Berger, K. M., Gese, E. M., & Berger, J. (2008). Indirect effects and traditional trophic cascades: a test involving wolves, coyotes, and pronghorn. Ecology, 89(3), 818-828.

Wildlands of Central Idaho

Since our last post, all has been quiet on the home front here in the Wood River Valley. We have been collecting more and more photos of wolves throughout the study area, including first-time detections at several sites! The photo above was taken along a sheep travel route and we had lost hope that there were wolves nearby. Despite wolf detections in nearly all of our allotments there haven’t been more confirmed wolf depredations. As a result, we have been out howling frequently to identify rendezvous sites and confirm consistent wolf presence.

A wolf passing by an area sheep had recently occupied

Howling to locate a rendezvous site

On one such journey, Nate and I hiked high to the top of a peak above a drainage where sheep would soon be passing. Although we had found tracks and scat nearby, no wolves responded to our howling. We were disheartened to not receive a response in an area we were confident in, however, as we dropped down the spruce covered hillside a bobcat scattered in front of us. This was the first of the season for both of us and made the evening well worth the effort.

An ancient whitebark pine

Around the corner, Nate waited for me with his headlamp illuminating a massive, ancient whitebark pine. He pointed out several different bear claw marks,  climbing steadily up the trunk until they ended about fifteen feet up. It turned out to be quite  a satisfying end to the evening (or beginning of the morning, as we got back well into the early hours of dawn), despite not hearing howls back.

Delivery time!

While we didn’t hear wolves that night, the next morning I got a call from a herder in a nearby area. He told me he had heard wolves howling the night before, but from the complete opposite direction from where Nate and I had been. I had him point out on the map where he had heard it from. It could not have been us, as we were more than five miles away from his camp. This was exciting news, but even more exciting was that he immediately went out and sounded off his air horn and fired his starter pistol (this only fires blank rounds!). On top of this, he called his boss the next morning and asked for an extra Livestock Guardian Dog. This herder had called me to ask me to bring him more air horns, blank rounds, and an extra protective collar for his new dog. I was thrilled! This herder’s band had experienced pretty intense sheep loss the year before, and it seems like he took notice and  has begun to take  preventative action to stop it from occurring again. Seeing the slow shifts in people’s behavior and mindset makes all the difference in this work! It takes time and hard work, but the reward from getting to experience it keeps you motivated day after day.

Ungulate leg remaining at a kill site (either mountain goat or bighorn sheep)

To wrap up this month, Nate and I were out doing tracking surveys in a remote part of the Wood River Valley, accompanied by Nate’s research partner from Ethiopia. We have been curious about the borderlands of the project, and want to better understand the corridors wolves use to cross into and out of the project area. We kept looking for mountain goats in the hope we would see one of them. As we neared the top of the pass, I saw something large running among the rocks. Putting my binoculars up to my eyes, the creature started running towards us. “It’s a goat!” shouted Nate. “It’s a lion?” I questioned. “Nope, it’s a wolf.” As the exciting words flew from my mouth, the wolf spun a 180 as it realized we were humans, and began sprinting away to the far side of the pass. I tried to follow it from behind, but it was far gone by the time I reached the pass. These canids can travel up to 30 miles a day, so I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t catch up to it. In its place lay a semi-old kill site that the wolf had presumably checked out. It remains to be seen whether these are mountain goat or bighorn sheep remains. As Nate and I looked at the remains, our friend spotted two mountain goats climbing the ridge above us. We then looked over the pass to see a herd of elk grazing below. It turned out to be an amazing day for wildlife viewing, and gave us important information about the movement ecology of wolves in the area.

On top of that, seeing that much wildlife with my own two eyes always reconnects me to the importance of the work we are doing here. We want to see wolves here as a permanent fixture of the landscape. They breathe life into the wildlands of the West, allowing for riparian areas to thrive and keeping ungulate populations healthy. Wolves add to the mystique and wonder of the region, making us question what one might see around the corner. I want to live in a place where wild creatures still roam, and I wish that same joy on future generations. For that, I am grateful that I get to participate in a project like the Wood River Wolf Project because we continue to create the space necessary for wolves to thrive alongside humans.

Happy howls,

Logan Miller

Field Manager

Howling Through the Night

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful last couple of weeks. We have been a bit slow on getting these blogs out due to the whirlwind of a summer we have had. As the heat and smoke activity picked up, so did the wolves. 

While I was out checking cameras way out in the mountains the other week, I ran into one of the shepherds. He told me that his coworker had seen a few wolves in the morning messing with his sheep and that he had lost a single lamb. We were pretty far out, so I sent Nate a message on our Garmin and set up a plan for us to go stake out for the night. I went with one guy while Nate took the other band. 

The rationale behind this is that sometimes, if a wolf pack is very intent on getting sheep but they are effectively deterred from one band, they will simply switch their attention to the next one. By covering both bands, we hoped to avoid this problem.

Nate and Lane, a short term volunteer, out to sleep with the sheep.

Fortunately, we had just borrowed an E-bike for the weekend from Chris Leman with the Blaine County Recreation District. Thanks Chris and BCRD! As an aside, we are hoping to buy E-Bikes for the project soon to let us access far off places much quicker! We will be posting about a fundraiser soon. 

After checking several cameras, I rendezvoused with Nate. Food, sleeping bag, pad, along with our non-lethal deterrents went into the backpack. I also strapped Nate’s backpack to mine, as I lucked out and got the pedal assisted bike. Dropping off Nate’s stuff at the top of the ridge, I zoomed another ten miles, chasing the sunlight as I did. I arrived to the sheep with enough light to set up my sleeping set up and to put the Fox Lights a good distance from the sheep.

We like to put the Fox Lights in a perimeter surrounding the sheep, but not too close so as not to disturb them. Sometimes if they are too close, the sheep and dogs get nervous and the barking and baa-ing starts. In addition to keeping them the right distance from the band, it’s also important to think of the location. Placing them on the side of a hill rather than the top maximizes the area that will reflect the light. If the sheep are near dense forest, this is also a good place. Putting them in passes where wolves would travel, and in the direction that wolves have been detected, are also important aspects. 

Drifting in and out of sleep, I waited for the livestock guardian dogs to start barking. Suddenly, they erupted in a chorus, trying to match the howling that had started up from the other side of a nearby hill. Three howls pierced the air. Slowly but surely, two more joined in from across the valley, echoing the sentiments of their closer brethren. 

Nothing awakens you quite like a wolf pack howling. Like electricity coursing through your veins, it jumpstarts your heart and peels your eyes open in excitement. While I wanted to keep listening to the howling as long as I could, I pulled out my blank pistol (this is a BLANK pistol that cannot fire live rounds and only makes noise) and fired it into the air twice. I waited a few minutes. The wolves waited with me, but their patience wore thin and they began howling again. I fired it off two more times, and they went quiet. I waited until dawn, thinking they might come back, but fortunately they stayed away, scared off by the sound of fake gunshots. 

The Livestock Guardian Dogs played hide and seek with Nate’s sleeping pad. They won.

The following morning, I placed a camera on the sheep carcass in order for me to see what was returning. A week later, Nate picked up the SD card. Going through it, we found fox, coyote, and then, wolves! Unfortunately, they had been eating at the bones and visiting the site, as they often do. While they do certainly hunt, they are also major scavengers, getting what food they can where and when they are able to.

Wolves visiting the depredation site

Although all was quiet where I was for the next few nights, Nate had a different experience. First, a bear walked through the sheep band in the middle of the night. Then, on his last night out, three wolves began howling very close by at about the same time I had heard them the first night. After firing his air horn a few times, they left the sheep band alone. 

After several nights camped out with the sheep, the rain finally came. While it certainly wasn’t a drought breaker, it was a nice break from the smoke and heat. After seeing the effectiveness of the Fox Lights, the sheep producer we were working with tentatively agreed to keep using them. Being able to keep wolves away for a week was a huge success, and we are hopeful that by using the Fox Lights and noise makers, the herders will be able to discourage the wolves from getting too close. 

This isn’t easy work. Most of it involves building trust between us and our partners. Yes, we have data showing that our non-lethal deterrents work, but that doesn’t always convince people to use them. Sometimes long phone calls, tough conversations, and consistent demonstration are necessary to move people towards coexistence. By coming together and listening to what works for all parties, we are able to move forward and make some progress. Without this work, the likelihood of wolves being killed due to depredations is high. They live in a precarious balance out here, and we are doing all we can to keep them out of harm’s way.

Light and tight sleeping conditions with a great view!

Welcome Nate!

Hello all, my name is Nathan Redon and I’ll be working with Logan as a technician for the Wood River Wolf Project this year! I am an experienced field biologist and hope to bring a fresh pair of eyes to the project, brainstorming ways in which we can further promote coexistence while being an accessible resource for the community. 

My work has taken me all over the West and beyond. Since graduating from the University of Washington I’ve sought projects that feature human-wildlife conflicts and necessitate careful consideration of both sides of the issue. I assessed remaining lynx habitat in Washington, translocated sage grouse to a declining population in Utah, captured pronghorn fawns to assess survival following wind energy development in Wyoming, and tracked down reintroduced fishers midwinter in the Cascades. I also managed the Guassa Gelada Research Project in the highlands of Ethiopia, monitoring gelada monkeys and Ethiopian Wolves and their oft-negative encounters with farmers and shepherds. The common thread tying these projects together is the need for coexistence through collaboration with local communities.

It has been a busy first month on the project for me (see Logan’s last blog post). As we ramp up our camera trapping efforts for this season, I wanted to talk about our methodology and would welcome any critique from readers! With a general idea of the sheep’s routes over the next few months, we’ve designated several priority areas to target. Camera traps are cameras which are remotely triggered by changes in radiant heat (hopefully a wolf walking by) in their fields of view. Using our knowledge of wolf locations in the study area, we strategically place cameras along game trails with wolf fecal sign or tracks as well as “terrain traps” within their predicted home ranges which they may pass through. These sorts of features include low passes, tight ravines, easy stream crossings, valley forks…places that might funnel animal movement.

This camera lies four miles up a trail and is positioned on a low somewhat-forested pass

Here’s an example of how I’d look at a topographic map and consider camera locations from a previous study area in Washington:

Raw topographic map of the area.

Same map but with potential areas of interest highlighted.

Of course, sometimes these locations don’t look as great once we hike out there in person. There are no set rules! After identifying a spot we’re happy with we need to find a tree pointing at our target area from the side (preferably perpendicular to the direction of travel). If we setup a camera head-on it won’t trigger as well when an animal crosses the field of view and could also draw their attention more easily, provoking a fear response and altering future travel in the area. Ideal camera traps are non-invasive and will document photos of blissfully unaware creatures passing by.

A Rocky Mountain Red Fox visits a camera station

To minimize photos of other species, we set our cameras to only take photos at night. With only two people and a lot of hiking to do, we can only check them so often, and the many thousands of daytime photos (likely not of wolves) would fill our SD cards and be too much to comb through. Thanks again to all the volunteers who have agreed to check some of our cameras! Ideally, we would program our cameras to only take photos around dawn and dusk (when wolves are most active – known as being crepuscular) but unfortunately lack that ability on our equipment. Nighttime is a solid compromise.

I hope this has been informative and interesting and hope to see you out there.

Nate, Wood River Wolf Project Field Technician

Welcome to the Smokies

We drove deep into the Smoky Mountains of Central Idaho after hearing of a depredation way up in the mountains. Although the depredation occurred outside of the Project Area, we still wanted to check in with the herders and bring them a band kit. Often we only have a general idea of where the herders might be, making our tracking skills even more crucial. Nate, our new field technician, and I split up, each taking one fork. Way up into the subalpine meadows I went, with the landscape growing greener and greener. The air grew cooler and fresher as I climbed the mountain, and soon I could smell the sheep.

Nate Redon, our new field technician, placing a camera high up in the Smoky Mountains

I found the herders first. After a year tracking them through the mountains, I can generally tell where their camp is going to end up. Usually this involves looking for the highest point around, the most likely place for cell service.

Along with our overnight gear, Nate and I brought out a new band kit for the herders. Milton and Nils, both with the Plateau Farms operation, were thrilled to get the new equipment. Above all, Milton was looking forward to the Fox Lights, which he had been using for the past several years without a wolf incident. He even showed us a wind-up lantern with flashing red lights he had used on the nights following the depredation event while he was outside of the Project Area.

Milton and Nils look forward to keeping their sheep safe using our new band kits

After showing the guys how to use the new lights, solar panels, and blank pistols, Nate and I headed up the mountain. We set up Fox Lights in a perimeter around the tope, or mountain top, on which the sheep would later sleep. It is far easier to set up Fox Lights before sheep arrive because you can take your time examining how wolves may approach the sheep band, and it also helps prevent additional night time disruption. For this reason, communication with the herders is essential, so that we know immediately what is going on in the field.

Fox lights set up around the sheep to protect them during the night by mimicking human presence

Before we set up camp for the night we let off several howls, hoping to get a response and alert us to any nearby wolves in the thick forest surrounding us. With no response we settled in for the night, listening for any barking from the Livestock Guardian Dogs and periodically shining a 3000 lumens strobe light across the ridgelines. The moon rose and set over the Smoky Mountains, and in the morning no sheep had been lost. A successful outing.

Since delivering the band kit and the sheep entering the Project Area, the band has continued without wolf troubles up to this point. We hope to keep it that way!

Happy Howls,

Logan James Miller

A New Season and New Faces

Welcome back to the Wood River Wolf Project! So far, this season has been quite exciting. To begin the season, we reached out to students from several different schools in the Wood River Valley to help place cameras for the project while learning about coexistence and the work we do. Students from the Sage School, Community School, and Hemingway Middle School helped place thirteen cameras around the valley in key areas. 

“It never rains in Idaho” 

Students were eager to get a wolf photo back, but at first only coyotes and elk showed their faces for the students. However, we just got back our first wolf photos, and our student volunteers were thrilled! There’s nothing more rewarding than putting in hard work and seeing it pay off. Beyond that, understanding the patterns of where wolves are moving helps us keep sheep safe because it gives a better idea of what areas are high risk. 

One of the first images students captured. Even if there’s no wolf in this photo, students learning to identify animals by their tracks and scat, then using that information to choose where to place a camera is very important for their ecological awareness!  

A coyote lays down in front of the camera for students to see. 

                                                  First wolf photo by students!

On a personal note, getting the chance to work with students during this project has been very refreshing and hope-inspiring. Kids bring fresh energy, new perspectives, and an element of fun that is always needed. I feel honored to have been a part of their ecological learning journey. Thank you for making this such a fun project to be a part of! 

Beyond the Student Camera Project, the Wood River Wolf Project received a grant from the Office of Species Conservation to purchase new non-lethal equipment for our band kits. As a reminder, a band kits is a non-lethal tool kit. It comes equipped with powerful lights, a variety of sound makers, protective collars for Livestock Guardian Dogs, and Fox Lights. Thanks to the Office of Species of Conservation we were able to purchase much louder blank pistols, much brighter lights (3000 lumens with more than a half-mile range), and the solar panels to charge our equipment in the field. The blank pistols that we provide are non-lethal stage guns that do not shoot actual ammunition. Instead, they make an extremely loud noise, louder than many of the rifles that the herders carry. 

An example of all what our band kits contain

Now that the sheep have begun entering the Project Area, we are out bringing band kits to herders and training them on how to use the new equipment. The herders are quite excited that we are getting lighter and easier to carry equipment, as it makes their lives easier.

  A big thumbs up for a lighter, tighter, and more effective bandkit!

Unfortunately, the recent legislation passed in Idaho will likely have strong effects on our local wolf population. As packs are fractured by hunting, they often turn to predating on livestock. That makes the potential for this year to be much more difficult than years in the past. Additionally, the threat of night hunting adds an element of danger to this job, as the field team often works at night. 

Despite these challenges, we are keeping our chins high and continuing to strive towards coexistence. Through innovation, collaboration, and dedication, we here at the Wood River Wolf Project believe that we can build a culture of coexistence, and we continue to work towards this goal everyday. The community has shown an outpouring of support and concern regarding this legislation. Thank you for supporting us and for believing in the work we do!

See you down the trail,

Logan Miller, Wood River Wolf Project Field Manager

Close calls in the valley

The Flat Top sheep band now has a couple dogs with it! This is great news and will help the herder hear what is going on with his sheep at night. Additionally, we put a prototype non-lethal deterrent on one of the dogs, called a bark light. This light is attached to a collar and turns on when the dog barks. This combination of light and sound is very effective in deterring wolves, and we hope to start implementing these more in the future.

Abodon with his Punta de Lobos hat (Wolves Point)

Both of the Flat T-op herders I have visited with have been wearing some form of wolf-themed clothing when I’ve visited with them. When I first met Felipe, he had a wolf shirt on, and Abodon had a hat that said “Wolves Point”. I’m hoping this brings good karma with the wolves, though I think the effective use of non-lethal deterrents will yield better results.

Luckily for the sheep, Abodon has been a herder for over 20 years and has worked with the project for most of our history. He is consistently using the non-lethal tools we are prescribing. Thanks, Abodon!

Heading out to sleep with the sheep – via bicycle

This week I received a call from a herder out West of town. He said he had heard wolves nearby, and it was time that I checked in with him anyways. I headed out on my bike with my gear packed, thinking I would meet with him and then camp out and listen for wolves in the area. I assumed that the sheep would be close to where the herder was sleeping for the night, but when I arrived he pointed to where they were. Tiny white blips appeared on the far side of a wooded valley. Oh no, this isn’t good! With wolves potentially nearby and the sheep incredibly far from the herder, I decided to head over to where they were and stake out for the night, despite not planning on it beforehand. I arrived just as night fell. The sheep band appeared calm, barely baa-ing.

As I accustomed to their noises, I began hearing a far-off baa-ing that didn’t sit well with me. I quickly realized that the other half of the band was on the other side of the valley where we had just come from, though much further down the mountain and well off the trail.

One of the dogs had stayed with that half of the band, while the other two were with our half. The herder shined his light and fired off his rifle into the air, trying to make a commotion in the case the wolves he had heard were nearby.

It was quiet that night and everything ended up fine in the morning. The band was reunited, and I left without having to investigate any dead sheep. I did feel a little disappointed I didn’t get to hear the wolves but that was for the best in this situation.

A few days after my bike excursion, a new volunteer joined the project. We went to go check-in with two of the herders a bit north of Ketchum. The lambs were about to be shipped, and I wanted to make sure everything was going well. When we arrived, we heard that one of the herders had seen a wolf fairly close that morning. While our role is not to sleep near the sheep every night, occasionally it makes more sense than other times to do so. With a wolf nearby, the lambs about to be shipped, and the band sleeping quite a distance from the herder camp, I decided to show Tara, our new volunteer, the ropes of guarding the sheep at night.

Following the exceptionally vague instructions of the herder, we headed out to the sheep band at night. The livestock guardian dogs barked, letting us know we were on the right path. After setting up a few Fox Lights around the sheep, we stayed up till dawn, listening to the sheep and shining the occasional light across their sleeping area. No wolves that night but a spectacular meteor shower greeted us and the sheep band.

Another successful week in the Big Wood River Valley!

Thanks again for all your help and support. We couldn’t do this work without you.

Logan

Learning Curves and Breaking Habits (July 12-21st)

So far, the month has been going fairly smoothly with the project, and this week started off simple enough. Little did I know how hectic everything was going to get.

To begin, I brought out Darío a sleeping mat via mountain bike and checked-in with him. So far, no wolves had visited him or his sheep, although he keeps seeing a bear hanging around the band and visiting his camp. He had been sounding off the air horn and his rifle occasionally to scare off any other creatures that might be nearby.

Camera placed near the area that wolves had potentially attacked sheep

Quickly after this easy start with Darío, a week of pure adrenaline started. I went out to check a camera along a trail north of Ketchum, where I found Doroteo and Elvis at the trailhead. They had just moved camp and were on their way from the valley floor to high in the mountains. We started to chat, and as talked they mentioned that they had lost four sheep a week ago. Oh no. Here we go. Although I didn’t want to assume it was wolf, typically wolves kill all at once in larger numbers than other predators. Bears, coyotes, and mountain lions generally only take one or two sheep at a time, while wolves can kill large numbers in a single night. As they are scavengers as well as predators, this allows them in nature to return to a kill over and over again to eat for longer periods. A bit of anxiety coursed through my veins as I thought about the fact that these sheep had been dead for a week and I hadn’t known about it.

Well, first things first. I had to find those sheep and see if I could see any sign of predators nearby. As a project, we try to document as much as we possibly can about every depredation that occurs to learn about what caused the loss and how it can best be prevented again in the future.

Normally, I can smell out a dead sheep, but this day the strong winds made it near impossible to smell anything. A vulture overhead taunted me with the secret location that he clearly knew. Instead of wasting time here looking for a needle in a haystack, I headed up to check my camera. Unfortunately, there was nothing there that could help.

Leaving the search for the dead sheep behind turned out to be the right decision. Heading down the trail, I turned a corner to see a black bear running across a field of sage, throwing a piece of sheep up in the air and catching it. It ran back and forth, standing up to look around for any incoming trail traffic, then proceeding to chow down. I stood probably 50 feet from it, and it didn’t notice me. I suspect the violent wind thrashing the valley scattered my scent enough for the bear not to notice, though I certainly didn’t like being so close to it with its food nearby.  

The bear rather quickly lost enthusiasm and wandered off into the tall willows whipping in the wind. This was my chance. Slowly and cautiously I approached where it had been a moment before and checked for signs of sheep. There I found some torn up remains, but not much else other than the smell. Checking for predator signs, I couldn’t see anything. Not even the bear left much of a mark, due to the dry, gravel covered ground. It’s also very likely the bear had dragged the carcass away from its original resting place, as bears often move their food around to new sites.

I am forever jealous of the views the herders get to enjoy every night from camp.

On my way back out, I saw a few large canine shaped tracks in the dirt that could have been wolf. Sadly, my phone had died by this point and I couldn’t document them.

Pinto the horse keeping an eye on me.

Talking with Doroteo and Elvis on my way out, they told me they hadn’t been using the lights or airhorns that I had given them. Doroteo said he had been in the area for 8 years and had never had a problem.

I get it. We get used to a certain pattern and it’s hard to break out of that pattern. However, predators habituate to the familiar and adding the lights gives them an impression of greater risk, something wolves try to avoid. I emphasized that it was very important that they put the lights out at night, especially since dead sheep nearby could potentially attract more predators to the flock. Given the situation with sheep being killed by some predator in the area, I decided to camp out near the band in case the predator(s) returned. It was a peaceful night though and no more sheep were attacked.

That next night I met up with them way up high in the mountains and stayed out near the sheep for the night. While out there, I helped Doroteo and Elvis move rocks off the road that the sheep had dislodged in order to help avoid tensions with recreationalists driving through.

I didn’t hear any wolves that night as well. Instead, the sheep baaing greeted my ears till the early hours of the morning. Although we know the wolves are there, from local reports to images captured on field cameras and confirmed depredations by the federal agency Wildlife Services, sometimes I’m not the lucky guy that gets to see them. That’s okay with me. For me, it’s far more important that I know they’re out there, and that we are doing everything we can do stop conflict from turning into persecution.

Elvis and Pinto

I ended up returning the following day to interview them in more detail about the lost sheep as well as to see what nonlethal tools they may be using. Upon arriving, I started chatting with Elvis, who used to work as a mechanic in the mines of Peru. He told me how he can make double working as a shepherd here than as a mechanic down there. We also talked a bit about how intense the environmental damage caused by the mines is down there, specifically the water contamination.

Doroteo arrived a bit later. The way these two work in tandem is by having one of them, Elvis, stay mostly at the camp and cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Doroteo. Meanwhile, Doroteo gets up early in the morning to tend to the sheep, returns for midday, then goes back out until evening. It’s an ancient system that has been used for thousands of years.

Doroteo had just gotten back from placing Fox Lights, though he only placed one. I encouraged him to place more around the sheep. Fortunately, the band was sleeping fairly close to where they were camped. Human presence is a big part of what we prescribe as part of our non-lethal work, because wolves are quite fearful of humans. The more human activity there is around a band, the less likely wolves are going to come investigating.

Solar FoxLight on a stick to increase visibility. FoxLights turn on at dusk and off at dawn when predators are most active.

Sometimes the herders prefer to improvise with the Fox Light posts instead of carrying around something extra. This time they got by with a little help from mother nature with some sticks for Fox Light posts.

While I am out here to assist in any way I can, at the end of the day the project needs the herders and producers to take ownership of this effort. Without their buy-in and use of our equipment, this project can’t succeed. This being my first season with the Wood River Wolf Project, it may take some time for everyone to warm up to me, and that’s okay. I believe with time I can win folks over and we can continue to see the successful adoption of nonlethal practices. In the meantime, I’ll be checking in with these guys while trying to move them in the right direction.

Have a great week, all.

Logan

Foxlights, carcass removal (ugh), and livestock guardian dogs.

Not all wolf coexistence work is glamorous…

This last week brought some snow and rain to the Wood River Valley. It also saw me and Daniel, a long-time volunteer with the project, heading out to find a dead sheep. A network of locals alerted me to the sheep, and after receiving the call I ringed Daniel to recruit him. He was in.

Our task was simple: put this 150+ pound ewe in a large, black plastic bag. The idea behind this action is to keep the smell down while increasing the rate of decomposition of the body. In doing so, we hope to reduce the amount of time that a dead sheep can act as an attractant for predators, namely wolves, in the area. Wolves can smell a rotting carcass from miles away, so limiting the chance of them encountering the sheep and developing a taste for it is essential.

On a hot day, this work wouldn’t have been very fun, but the lucky for us the cold weather kept the smell down. We were able to get the sheep double bagged, then we rolled it up the hill to keep it out of sight. A couple days later, I headed out with another long-time volunteer, Kurt, who has been with the project since the beginning. We had heard that more dead sheep were in the same area, so we went out to check it out. After hiking in and looking around for a while, we couldn’t find anything. We also couldn’t find the sheep that we had bagged up the other day. While at first I thought it may have been a bear carrying it off, as had happened with Roberto the week before, the lack of tracks or any other animal sign seemed to point us in another direction. I called Doroteo and asked him for the scoop. He told me John Etchart, a camp tender for the Faulkner operation, had come and hauled the carcass away. This was exciting news. It is always better to remove a carcass from the area, as it almost completely eliminates the chance of a hungry predator coming to check out the area thus avoiding any potential conflict with the nearby sheep bands. It was inspiring to see John and his operation being proactive. This project depends on buy in from our partners in the ranching community. Without this, we would have very little impact in reducing conflict.

The following day, I headed up to meet Ray Mavencamp, the camp tender for the Plateau Farms operation. I showed up early to make sure I wouldn’t miss him, but Alfredo and Sixto assured me he wouldn’t be there till later in the day, despite having asked them when he would be coming the day before. Oh well. I would try back later to see if he had come by yet. 

Thinking of how to fill my time, I headed off to meet the herder that had just entered the Lake Creek area. Upon arriving, I saw the herder heading off on horseback at a far faster clip than I could muster. Kicking myself for not getting there sooner, I went back to the sheep wagon to investigate. Lo and behold, the door was swung wide open with a man inside eating some lunch. I introduced myself to Erazmo. We barely had a moment to chat before a truck hauling a trailer and a water-hauling truck pulled beside us. Two men get out, one speaking Spanish, the other following directions. Could this be John Etchart? I wondered to myself. That would be quite my luck. He seemed to speak pretty good Spanish, so I doubted whether he was the man I was hoping to run into. I had meant to catch him at various times over the previous weeks, but he moves quick and doesn’t stick around for long. “John?” I asked. “You must be Logan. How’re you doing?” I was thrilled to get to meet this guy, but before I could he had to get his business done. He asked the guy that came with him to show Erazmo how to work the pump on the water truck, and then told him to take the truck for a ride to teach him how to drive it. Erazmo didn’t have much experience driving a manual, let alone a huge water truck, so this would be interesting to watch.

John and I got to talking. He reminded me of my grandpa with the way he cracked jokes without stopping to breath. It turns out he not only speaks Spanish, but he speaks Basque as well which is an incredibly challenging language to learn. He seemed enthusiastic about getting equipment to his herders as soon as possible, knowing that they are already deep in wolf country. Once Erazmo came back, John went on his way. Erazmo and I talked for a while, and he showed me where he was from in Peru: Cajamarca. He uses his money earned here to pay for his two girls to go to school in Lima, the capital of Peru. He said he used to live in the countryside herding sheep, but now he lives in the city with his kids when he’s not in Idaho.

It turns out he worked as a cook for the herders down in Arizona, cooking for large groups of people at a time. Before heading on his way, John hollared to Erazmo that he needed to show me some of his cooking.

One of the Livestock Guardian Dogs on watch for trouble.

My favorite part of seeing this operation was that it helped me better understand the various operation’s methods of dealing with the sheep. Kowitz runs an operation where his herders are very remote, camping alone in tents. Faulkner, on the other hand, has two guys per band. They return to their sheep wagon each night. The benefit of this is that they have a greater flexibility to deal with a problem should one arise. One guy can go stay with the sheep while the other rests, and then switch off. In the case of a wolf trouble, this flexibility could be crucial.

I got lucky that day running into John, but I got even luckier heading back out to Greenhorn. There I found Ray Mavencamp and Alfredo setting up the corral for the next morning. He invited me to come out the next morning to meet with the Henslee brothers and see how they load up the sheep for transport. It seemed like the perfect chance to meet the Henslee family while also getting to see a bit more of the ranch work.

Setting up the corral at daybreak.

Very early the next morning I headed out to see for myself what loading the sheep looked like. When I got there, a livestock guardian dog had gotten away. I introduced myself to Mike and Mark Henslee, the two brothers that run Plateau Farms, and asked what had happened. He explained that if the dogs don’t get loaded into the corral before the sheep, they’re impossible to catch. “They hate getting loaded up in the trucks,” he said “The best way to keep these dogs away from you is to tell them: Come here boy!” I made a mental note that I would have to try that the next time the dogs start running after me while visiting the herders.

Before long, the sheep-loading began. A series of fences lets them move sheep into different loading zones. The final loading area gradually narrows till its wide enough for one sheep at a time to enter. The sheep then run up a plank into the awaiting semi for transport. Meanwhile, Alfredo, Sixto and Ray stand in the corral whooping and hollering while throwing their arms up and shaking some hollow plastic tools filled with what seemed like beads. Sheep are extremely skittish animals, so this was enough to motivate them to move forward into the truck. Some didn’t and jumped higher than I ever would have thought it possible for a sheep to jump, nearly careening over the fence itself. Some moved so fast they were able to fit themselves between the metal bars of the corral. Still, the far majority nervously baa-ed themselves along the corridor, ready to be transported north into the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. As the first couple rounds of sheep were herded up, I let Mike know that I’d been bringing equipment out to Alfredo and Sixto, and that we had more coming as soon as our orders came in. He seemed relieved that the project had already gotten out to talk with the herders and bring them equipment. I thanked the brothers for letting me watch their operation work, said goodbye to Alfredo and Sixto, and headed on my way.

To finish off the week, I went to find Roberto again. Kurt had shown me a much lighter, easier to carry way of setting up the Fox Lights. Using plastic posts, I can cut them down to the right height and eliminate the unnecessary burden of carrying extra weight for the herders. Cutting them down to about the height of a wolf makes them more effective because the lights are emitted horizontally. If the light is in the wolf’s line of sight, the light appears much brighter and thus is much more effective at deterring them. I brought a few of these posts out to Roberto, as well as a fresh, piping-hot chicken breast from Atkinson’s. He had asked me if I would bring him one, and boy he looked like he needed it when he showed up. His herd showed up first, with hundreds of sheep baa-ing incessantly, running towards a water trough situated just in front of Roberto and Darío’s sheep wagons.

Roberto arrived on foot. I had expected him to have his horse, but he left it up above. Once he got his flock settled, he dug into the chicken and cracked open a cold soda. After eating, he asked me to help him count his black sheep, which can be helpful to know whether other sheep are missing. Because sheep tend to stick together in groups, and because there are only a few black sheep to a flock, counting them can be a quick way of seeing whether a herder is missing sheep. For the next twenty minutes or so, I imitated what I had seen Alfredo and Sixto doing in the corral the day before, whooping and hollering to make the sheep moving up the drainage we were in. I moved back and forth to get at the straggles. Roberto stood at a vantage point to make sure he could see the whole flock and count them as they passed by. “Todo bien. Hay nueve.” All good. The nine black sheep were there. He probably hadn’t lost any others.

As Roberto prepared to head back up the hill, we watched as the sky grew ominously dark. He mentioned that he didn’t have a rain jacket. I asked him what else he might need, and slowly he told me that he could use some new work clothes, both shirts and pants, and a new backpack. All of his clothes are falling apart from constant use, day-in, day-out. His backpack’s zippers don’t close and the straps are close to coming off. He made it clear that he wouldn’t want anything new, just something from a thrift store. I let him know I would see what I could do

I want to try and make these guys’ lives as easy as they can be. They are helping us out when they use our equipment. They already work every day of the week, all year long. They spend long lengths of time away from their friends and family to come be herders. At the end of the day, the community’s desire to coexist with the wolves depends on the buy-in from the herders. People like Roberto and Doroteo are the ones using this equipment every day, in order to avoid depredations and conflict. I can go out there every day and talk to these guys, showing up to watch them load sheep and help count them, but if they don’t have the tools to assist them with the task that we have presented them with, they are far less likely to do it. Without the right shoes, backpacks, and clothes, their job of being a herder and a volunteer livestock guardian becomes far more difficult.

While talking about developing buy-in from the project’s partners in my previous blog post, I’ve spoken about the need to develop human relationships based on trust. At the same time, this trust needs to be followed up with reciprocity. We both help each other out in a way that enhances both of our lives and furthers both of our goals. By getting the herders the equipment they need, i.e. backpacks and good shoes, their jobs and our goals will be accomplished much easier. I think this reciprocal generosity and mutual aid between the herders and the project will bear fruit for years to come; hopefully much longer than I am around to see. With that being said, I will be scouring the Gold Mine and the Attic for dependable gear to get out to these guys in the hopes of getting them on solid ground so that they can do their jobs as best as they can.

Hope to see you on the trail!

Logan Miller, Field Manager

Wood River Wolf Project