Audubon talk focuses on elk and wolves
Elk and their relationship to predators – especially wolves – is the topic for the next meeting of Mission Mountain Audubon. (Courtesy photo)
Mission Mountain Audubon's next educational program, held at 7 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Polson Library meeting room, will focus on the relationship between elk and wolves.
Cara Thompson, a wildlife biologist with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, will discuss "elk landscape use in response to predation risk from reintroduced wolves." The program is free, and all are welcome.
In the past 30 years, efforts to restore predators eradicated from the American West have increased. A common concern of predator reintroductions and recolonization is their impact – both direct and indirect – on important game species. Thompson's presentation will focus on the recent reintroduction efforts of Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.
Her program will summarize the research on the indirect effects of their continued expansion, and specifically, how they appear to affect elk landscape use and resource selection.
The behavior and relationships seen in Arizona and New Mexico will also be compared to predator relationships and studies in Yellowstone and elsewhere around the world.
Thompson's current position with CSKT focuses on non-game species and biodiversity within the Flathead Reservation. She has spent the past decade working with a wide variety of wildlife, ecosystems and agencies, primarily in the western United States.