Coexisting with Large Carnivores: Lessons from Greater Yellowstone

As in the rest of the United States, grizzly bears, wolves, and mountain lions in and around Yellowstone National Park were eliminated or reduced decades ago to very low numbers. In recent years, however, populations have begun to recover, leading to encounters between animals and people and, more significantly, to conflicts among people about what to do with these often controversial neighbors.

Coexisting with Large Carnivores presents a close-up look at the socio-political context of large carnivores and their management in western Wyoming south of Yellowstone National Park, including the southern part of what is commonly recognized as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The book brings together researchers and others who have studied and worked in the region to help untangle some of the highly charged issues associated with large carnivores, their interactions with humans, and the politics that arise from those interactions.

This volume argues that coexistence will be achieved only by a thorough understanding of the human populations involved, their values, attitudes, beliefs, and the institutions through which carnivores and humans are managed. Coexisting with Large Carnivores offers important insights into this complex, dynamic issue and provides a unique overview of issues and strategies for managers, researchers, government officials, ranchers, and everyone else concerned about the management and conservation of large carnivores and the people who live nearby.

Tim Clark is a biologist by training who does most of his work now on questions of environmental policy. He divides his time between Yale, where he is an adjunct professor, and Jackson, WY, where he is the president and founder of the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, a successful nonprofit group with a good reputation, whose mission is creative, cooperative, practical problem solving in the conservation of nature.

Murray Rutherford is an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University and one of Clark's recent Ph.D. students.

Denise Casey is Secretary/Treasurer, Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, Jackson, Wyoming. Denise is a graduate of the geography department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a former librarian.