EDUCATION:

B.S. with Honors in Wildlife Biology with a minor in zoology from Colorado State University, 2005

PROJECT:

Understanding territoriality to improve estimation of wolf population trends in Montana

The Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Montana, in collaboration with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, is researching alternatives to current wolf population monitoring techniques. Wolf population monitoring in Montana has relied largely on federal funding to deploy radiotelemetry collars. Following delisting, however, loss of federal funding will limit the state’s ability to continue using radiotelemetry as their primary monitoring technique. New monitoring techniques are essential in maintaining a recovered population of wolves and allowing states to meet USFWS annual reporting requirements accurately in a time- and cost-effective way.

The low density and secretive nature of wolves make them difficult to study on a large spatial scale. Many of the traditional sampling methods used to monitor wolves such as scat surveys, track surveys, scent stations, and aerial counts are difficult to conduct on a state-wide scale due to the man-hours required, cost, weather, limited accessibility, and the terrain of Montana. A new statistical technique, patch occupancy modeling, can combine all of these traditional methods, as well as non-traditional methods such as hunter surveys, to estimate abundance and distribution of packs. For this model a grid system is placed over the state where each cell is equal in size to the average wolf territory. Cells are assigned a value of 1 if sampling indicates wolves occupied that cell or a 0 if no wolves were observed. Because cells are equal in size to the average wolf territory, the number and distribution of occupied cells is an estimate of pack abundance and distribution.

Current research will determine if a patch occupancy model based on hunter surveys can be used to estimate wolf pack abundance and distribution for Montana. Hunters are widespread in Montana, and their observations represent a potentially large sampling effort. Every year MFWP employees conduct telephone surveys of a random sample of resident and non-resident hunters in Montana. At the end of 2007 and 2008 hunters will be asked if they saw wolves and if so, how many, in what hunting district, and by what landmark. Hunter observations of = 2 wolves will be used to determine what cells are occupied and in turn, to estimate pack abundance and distribution. The model results will be compared to MFWP annual estimate of wolf pack abundance and distribution to see if they are similar. Preliminary results from a study in Idaho indicate that estimates from a patch occupancy model based on hunter surveys accurately estimated the minimum number of packs known to be in Idaho.

To determine average territory size (i.e., what size our cells will be) 15 GPS radiotelemetry collars will be deployed throughout the state in the summer of 2008. These collars will also allow us to determine if factors such as human/road density, prey density, land cover and ownership, pack size and longevity, characteristics of surrounding packs, livestock density, control actions, and topography influence territorial behaviors throughout the state.