Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Willingness To Pay For Reintroducing Wolves In A Divided Voting Base, Dana Lk Hoag, Jesse Burkhardt, Benjamin Ghasemi, Stewart W. Breck, Rebecca Niemiec, Kevin Crooks

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wolves will soon be reintroduced in Colorado based on a statewide ballot initiative that narrowly passed in November 2020. Using an economic choice experiment, we estimate the benefits that wolf introduction might bring to Colorado. We calculated willingness to pay (WTP) for a sustainable wolf population by considering six program attributes: 1) state wolf population, 2) compensation for livestock-related losses, 3) cost-sharing for conflict reduction, 4) number of livestock killed statewide, 5) lethal government control of wolves, and 6) wolf hunting. Respondents who reported they voted yes on the ballot initiative had a positive WTP for a population of 200 …

Nonbreeding Season Survival And Habitat Selection Of Northern Bobwhite In Northeastern Colorado, Joseph M. Wolske

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) have experienced range-wide population declines. Recent harvest data from northeastern Colorado suggests bobwhite populations have declined and populations can be sensitive to adult nonbreeding season survival. We monitored 157 bobwhites in northeastern Colorado, on the northern periphery of the species’ range, for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 nonbreeding seasons to estimate nonbreeding season survival and habitat selection. We used known-fate survival models to assess any variation in survival between the winter stages of early-winter, mid-winter, and late-winter, as well as sex, age class, and mass at the time of capture. Survival varied among winter stages, …

Psychological Drivers Of Risk-Reducing Behaviors To Limit Human–Wildlife Conflict, Stacy A. Lischka, Tara L. Teel, Heather E. Johnson, Courtney Larson, Stewart Breck, Kevin R. Crooks

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Conflicts between people and wild animals are increasing globally, often with serious consequences

for both. Local regulations or ordinances are frequently used to promote human behaviors that minimize these conflicts (risk-reducing behaviors), but compliance with ordinances can be highly variable. While efforts to increase compliance could be improved through applications of conservation psychology, little is known about the relative influence of different factors motivating compliance. Using concepts from psychology and risk theory, we conducted a longitudinal study pairing data from mail surveys with direct observations of compliance with a wildlife ordinance requiring residents to secure residential garbage from black bears …

Winter Diet And Hunting Success Of Canada Lynx In Colorado, Jacob S. Ivan, Tanya M. Shenk

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Information regarding the diet of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) at the southernmost extent of its range is critical for managing the species under current and predicted climate conditions. Therefore, from 1999–2009, we investigated winter diet and hunting strategies of Canada lynx in Colorado, USA by tracking individuals in the snow to identify sites where lynx encountered and killed prey. Similar to other parts of lynx range, snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) were the primary winter food in Colorado, especially when considering total biomass consumed. Red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) comprised the bulk of the remaining food …

Survival And Productivity Of A Low-Density Black Bear Population In Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, Roger A. Baldwin, Louis C. Bender

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) has supported a small black bear (Ursus americanus) population of low productivity. Increased visitor use of the park and development around its periphery could lead to a reduction in population viability of RMNP’s bear population or could increase the potential for human–bear conflict. Therefore, we investigated contemporary survival and productivity parameters for RMNP’s black bear population from 2003 to 2006 and compared these values to historic levels (1984–1991) and population means throughout the western United States to clarify the current status of RMNP’s bear population. The contemporary black bear population showed signs of …

Comment On "Comparison Of 15 Evaporation Models Applied To A Small Mountain Lake In The Northeastern Usa", Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Trans Fatty Acids Provide Evidence Of Anthropogenic Feeding By Black Bears, Gregory W. Thiemann, Randal S. Stahl, Sharon Baruch-Mordo, Stewart W. Breck

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Bears (Ursus spp.) that become conditioned to anthropogenic food sources pose a risk to human safety and generally need to be relocated, rehabilitated, or destroyed. Identifying food-conditioned bears may be difficult if the animal is not captured or killed while immediately engaged in the nuisance behavior. Fatty acid signature analysis has been used to examine the dietary habits of bears and other carnivores and is based on the predictable incorporation of ingested fatty acids into the consumer’s fat stores. Unusual fatty acids that are available in only a few food types may be particularly useful dietary markers. In this …

Fence-Line Contact Between Wild And Farmed Cervids In Colorado: Potential For Disease Transmission, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Michael J. Lavelle, Nathan W. Seward, Justin W. Fischer, Gregory E. Phillips

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Direct and indirect contact between wild and farmed cervids along perimeter fences may play a role in transmission of diseases like chronic wasting disease (CWD), but no studies have quantified such interactions. At 9 high-fenced commercial elk (Cervus elaphus) farms in Colorado, USA, during October 2003 to January 2005, we used animal-activated video to estimate rates of fence-line use by wild cervids, rates of direct contact between farmed and wild cervids, and probability of direct contact when wild cervids were present. We recorded 8-foldmore wild elk per unit time than mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) at fence …

Burrowing Owl Associations With Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colonies In Southwestern Kansas And Southeastern Colorado, Stephen L. Winter, Jack F. Cully Jr.

The Prairie Naturalist

We quantified the use of black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies as habitat for the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) in southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado. We used incidental sightings and breeding season avifauna surveys to document the presence of the burrowing owl on black-tailed prairie dog colonies, non-colonized rangeland, and cropland during the spring and early summer. Burrowing owl rarely was observed on noncolonized rangeland and cropland sites, and black-tailed prairie dog colonies appear to be used substantially as a habitat type for the burrowing owl in the region encompassing Cimarron and Commanche National Grasslands in …

Population Dynamics Of A Diverse Rodent Assemblage In Mixed Grass-Shrub Habitat, Southeastern Colorado, 1995–2000, Charles H. Calisher, James N. Mills, William P. Sweeney, J. Jeffrey Root, Serena A. Reeder, Emily S. Jentes, Kent Wagoner, Barry J. Beaty

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We followed seasonal and year-to-year population dynamics for a diverse rodent assemblage in a short-grass prairie ecosystem in southeastern Colorado (USA) for 6 yr. We captured 2,798 individual rodents (range, one to 812 individuals per species) belonging to 19 species. The two most common species, deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and western harvest mice (Reithrodontomys megalotis), generally had population peaks in winter and nadirs in summer; several other murid species demonstrated autumn peaks and spring nadirs; heteromyids were infrequently captured in winter, and populations generally peaked in summer or autumn. Interannual trends indicated an interactive effect between …

Longevity Of A Woodhouse's Toad, Richard M. Engeman, Melvin A. Engeman

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We follow up a report on a male Woodhouse's toad (Bufo woodhousii) that had been observed since 1978 (Engeman RM, Engeman EM. 1996. Longevity of Woodhouse's toad in Colorado. Northwestern Naturalist 77:23). The toad had found its way into, and remained in, a basement window-well of a brick home in an unincorporated western suburb of Denver, Colorado. This property has recently changed hands, and access for future monitoring of the toad's survival is uncertain. Thus, we report its longevity as of 2002.

Evidence For Disease-Related Amphibian Decline In Colorado, Erin Muths, Paul Stephen Corn, Allan P. Pessier, D. Earl Green

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The recent discovery of a pathogenic fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) associated with declines of frogs in the American and Australian tropics, suggests that at least the proximate cause, may be known for many previously unexplained amphibian declines. We have monitored boreal toads in Colorado since 1991 at four sites using capture–recapture of adults and counts of egg masses to examine the dynamics of this metapopulation. Numbers of male toads declined in 1996 and 1999 with annual survival rate averaging 78% from 1991 to 1994, 45% in 1995 and 3% between 1998 and 1999. Numbers of egg masses also declined. …

Streamflow Depletion Investigations In The Republican River Basin: Colorado, Nebraska, And Kansas, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Relative Effectiveness Of Various Breeds Of Livestock Guarding Dogs For Reducing Predation On Domestic Sheep In Colorado, William F. Andelt, Stuart N. Hopper

Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings

We surveyed 59 livestock producers that used multiple breeds of livestock guarding dogs to determine their ratings of the relative effectiveness of guarding dogs for deterring predation on domestic sheep in Colorado during 1995. Significantly (P < 0.05) more producers rated Akbash dogs as more effective than Great Pyrenees for deterring predation by coyotes (Canis latrans), black bears (Ursus americanus), mountain lions (Felis concolor), domestic dogs, and all predators combined. Significantly more producers also rated Akbash dogs as more effective than Komondors for deterring predation by coyotes and all predators combined. Great Pyrenees and Komondors were rated as similar in effectiveness for deterring predation. Significantly more producers rated Akbash dogs as more aggressive, …