Fish and Wildlife Population Ecology - Dr. Edward O. Garton

Wilderness Wildlife Monitoring

Wlf 504 – CRN 61086
E. O. Garton
Spring 2009
Thursday at 1:30-3:20 p.m. in AgSci 104
Accelerated course finished by March 12.

Does the Heisenberg uncertainty principle apply to wilderness wildlife? Could we study wildlife in Idaho’s River-of-No-Return and Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness Areas to understand the ecology and dynamics of species largely protected from local impacts of human activities and habitat changes and do it without harming these species? Designing and carrying out such a monitoring effort would require balancing potentially competing goals of gathering high quality scientific information without degrading the pristine, wilderness environment and aesthetic experience of animals and visitors and thereby changing the species ecology.

Wilderness areas provide a unique landscape in which natural processes and communities are protected from overt human manipulation. As such they offer a foil against which to evaluate major changes such as those produced by global warning, habitat conversion and harvesting. The purpose of this course is to develop guidelines and illustrative examples of the potential for conducting monitoring programs for wildlife in wilderness areas in the Northern Rocky Mountains.

Format: 8 weekly sessions consisting of a presentation followed by discussion of the topic and readings. I or other faculty members will make the first 6-7 presentations and then students will lead a discussion on the presentation and readings on the topic.

Projects: Each student will choose a species of interest and do a project consisting of designing a monitoring program for that species in the River-of-No-Return Wilderness area in the vicinity of Taylor Ranch, the University of Idaho’s wilderness research facility along Big Creek, 7 miles above its confluence with the Middle Fork of Salmon River. Each student will present his/her proposed monitoring program for discussion by the group during the final 1-2 sessions.

Grading: Based 25% on student’s role as discussion leader, 25% on student’s written class assignments, 25% on student’s presentation of their monitoring program and 25% on student’s final written proposal for a monitoring program.

Tentative Schedule:

1/15/09 – Introductions and orientation/discussion of course plan

1/22/09 – Overview of Monitoring Research and Sampling Design

1/29/09 – Gathering preliminary data for a cost-efficient baseline inventory

2/5/09 – Monitoring approaches for birds; Sampling dippers in Selway-Bitteroot and River-of-No-Return Wilderness areas – Kath Strickler

2/12/09 – Monitoring approaches for mammals

2/19/09 – Practical experiences with bears in Glacier National Park – Dr. Lisette Waits

2/26/09 – Practical experiences with cougar, wolves, elk, deer, bighorn sheep and their habitats in Idaho wilderness areas over the past 40 years – Dr. James Peek

3/05/09 – Student presentations of proposed monitoring programs

3/12/09 – Monitoring approaches for amphibians and reptiles – Dr. Chuck Peterson, ISU

3/27-30/09 – Field trip to Taylor Ranch, River-of-No-Return – Drive to McCall or Cascade and fly in to Taylor Ranch.

Preliminary Bibliography:

Garton, E.O. 1984. Cost-efficient baseline inventories of research natural areas. Pp. 40-45, in: Johnson, J.L., J.F. Franklin, and R.G. Krebill. Research in natural areas: Baseline monitoring and management. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report INT-173. Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Ogden, Utah. 84 pp.

Garton, Edward O., John T. Ratti, and John H. Giudice. 2005. Research and Experimental Design. Chapter 3 In Braun, Clait (ed.). Techniques For Wildlife Investigations and Management. The Wildlife Society, Bethesda, MD.

Gibbs, James P. 2000. Monitoring populations. Pp. 213-252 in Boitani, Luigi and Todd K. Fuller (eds.) Research Techniques in Animal Ecology. Columbia University Press, New York, NY.

Thompson, William L., Gary C. White, and Charles Gowan. 1998. Monitoring Vertebrate Populations. Academic Press, Inc. San Diego, CA