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Large Mammal Restoration

Ecological And Sociological Challenges In The 21St Century

David Maehr, Reed Noss, Jeffery Larkin

Published: 10/01/2001
Publisher: Island Press
336 p. 6 x 9
Tables.
ISBN: 9781559638173
Paperback: $35.00

Also Available: Hardcover

Biographies | Table Of Contents

Evidence is mounting that top carnivores and other large mammals play a pivotal role in regulating ecosystem health and function, yet those are the species that are most likely to have been eliminated by past human activities. In recent decades, numerous efforts have been undertaken to return some of the species that were previously extirpated on local or regional scales.

Large Mammal Restoration brings together for the first time detailed case studies of those efforts, from restoring elk in Appalachia to returning bison herds to the Great Plains to the much- publicized effort to bring back the gray wolf to Yellowstone National Park. Together these case studies offer important lessons and new ways of thinking for wildlife managers and conservation biologists involved with restoration programs. Sections examine:

approaches to determining the feasibility of a restoration program
critical hands-on aspects of restoring large mammals
obtaining public input into the process and gaining community support for programs
the potential of some species to return without direct human intervention, and what can be done to facilitate that natural colonization

An introductory chapter by Reed F. Noss explores some of the reasons for restoring large mammals, as well as some of the ecological and social complications, and a concluding overview by David S. Maehr discusses the evolutionary importance of large mammal restoration. Contributors include Paul C. Paquet, Barbara Dugelby, Steven H. Fritts, Paul R. Krausman, Larry D. Harris, Johnna Roy, and many others. Large Mammal Restoration brings together in a single volume essential information on the lessons learned from previous efforts, providing an invaluable resource for researchers and students of conservation biology and wildlife management as well as for policymakers, restoration advocates, and others involved with the planning or execution of a restoration program.

Biographies

David S. Maehr is assistant professor of conservation biology in the Department of Forestry at the University of Kentucky and author of The Florida Panther (Island Press, 1997).

Reed F. Noss is a consultant in conservation biology, past editor of the journal Conservation Biology, and president of the Society for Conservation Biology (1999 - 2001). He is the author of The Redwood Forest (Island Press, 2000), The Science of Conservation Planning (Island Press, 1997) and Saving Nature's Legacy (Island Press, 1994). He also wrote the foreword for Restoring Diversity (Island Press, 1996).

Jeffery L. Larkin is a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Kentucky.

Contents
Foreword, by John F. Eisenberg
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Restore Large Mammals?
Part I: Feasibility
1. Is the Return of the Wolf, Wolverine, and Grizzly Bear to
Oregon and California Biologically Feasible?
2. Feasibility of Timber Wolf Reintroduction in Adirondack
Park
3. Rewilding the Sky Islands Region of the Southwest
4. Using Public Surveys and GIS to Determine the Feasibility of
Restoring Elk to Virginia
Part II: Practice
5. Returning Elk to Appalachia: Foiling Murphy's Law
Case 1: Restoring of White-Tailed Deer in Kentucky: From Absence to
Overabundance
6. Outcomes of Hard and Soft Releases of Reintroduced Wolves
in Central Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone Area
7. Health Aspects of Large Mammal Restoration
Case 2: Health Aspects of Gray Wolf Restoration
8. Restoring the Mexican Gray Wolf to the Desert
Southwest
Part III. The Human Link
9. Translocation of Plains Bison to Wood Buffalo National Park:
Economics and Conservation Implications
10. Restoration of Grizzly Bears to the Bitterroot Wilderness:
The EIS Approach
Case 3: The Paradigm of Grizzly Bear Restoration in North America
11. Mountain Sheep Restoration Through Private/Public
Partnership
Part IV: Abetting Natural Colonization
12. Black Bear at the Boarder: Natural Recolonization of the
Trans-Pecos
13. Restorating a Large-Carnivore Corridor in Banff National
Park
14. Tiger Restoration in Asia: Ecological Theory vs. Sociological
Reality
15. The Florida Panther: A Flagship for Regional Restoration
Case 4: Can Manatee Numbers Continue to Grow in a Fast-Developing
State?
16. The Biotic Province: Minimum Unit for Conserving
Biodiversity
Large Mammal Restoration: Too Real to Be Possible?
Contributors
Index"