What is COEX doing now and planning for next year?

Our work with rural communities combines local empowerment with wildlife conservation science to help people and wildlife share the land. We are currently engaged in several projects unified by the theme of human-wildlife conflicts. In all these projects, we combine our technical and material support with the local knowledge of interested livestock producers and crop farmers to mitigate wildlife damages while protecting the long-term viability of wildlife populations. We have four main programs: Wisconsin (focus on wolves and black bears), across the USA (focus on wolves, grizzlies and wildlife-friendly farming), East Africa (focus on lions, leopards and golden cats), and tropical Andes (focus on spectacled bears and pumas).

Wolves and Bears

For nine years, we have studied coexistence between people and large carnivores in the USA, including the following specific elements:

• Spatial and temporal patterns of conflict between agricultural producers and large carnivores such as wolves and black bears,
• Methods of mitigating carnivore attacks on domestic animals and crops, and
• Future dispersal of wolves across the Lake Superior region.

We reach out to interested livestock producers, rural landowners, and state and federal wildlife managers. We provide stakeholders with a menu of options to manage conflicts with wildlife non-lethally, tailored to their local needs. We advise landowners and farmers, certify their properties and help promote their [products to ecologically minded consumers.

Managing conflicts with wolves and bears

We are also working with state and federal wildlife managers to influence policy away from unpopular or ineffective management of wolves and bears, and inform the public so debates over management stem from sound science rather than fear and misunderstandings between stakeholders. We have been asked to report our findings to the State Natural Resources Board, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Endangered Resources Bureau, and various stakeholders' meetings. Our work in Wisconsin has been featured in more than 10 scientific and popular media articles ).

See our Publications and Media Articles page

Wolves and Bears in the Northern Rocky Mountains



COEX is now leading a participatory research project in collaboration with Keystone Conservation of Bozeman, MT, entitled "Public opinion of grizzly bear and wolf management options prior to delisting in the GYE" in collaboration with Keystone Conservation and supported by the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) and the Wilburforce Foundation.

Grizzly bears and wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Area have recovered sufficiently to consider removing the largely successful federal protection of the Endangered Species Act. Future management of these carnivores must successfully balance conservation with human safety and economic needs. if the public does not accept the wildlife policies and management strategies proposed in the coming decade, one could see a reversal in the recovery of grizzlies and wolves or referenda that remove flexibility for state management agencies. To avoid these political outcomes, wildlife managers in the region could use data on public acceptance of various management scenarios to ensure stakeholder endorsement and even participation in implementation of policies. We will survey 1000 respondents in three states to measure public opinion of various potential management strategies for grizzly bears and wolves. We will explore approval for lethal and non-lethal control of agricultural damages, as well as acceptance of regulated hunting of large carnivores. We will involve six key stakeholder groups in survey design to ensure its relevance and build an audience for our findings. We plan an informed yet independent process for collection and analysis of data, followed by intensive, regional dissemination of findings to interested parties.

COEX also announces the release of our final report on grizzly bear and wolf management in the Northern Rocky Mountains!

Visit our Grizzlies and wolves page for more details.

For wolves and bears If you prefer not to use the web for your donation, checks can be mailed to: COEX, 6010 South Hill Dr, Madison, WI 53705. Please write in the notes section which project you want to support. All of our donors' personal information is always kept strictly confidential and shared with no one outside of COEX.

International

Africa COEX is collaborating with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Uganda and South Africa, on a number of projects. We are working to predict lion abundance in the Greater Virungas Landscape which bridges Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This region hosts unrivaled diversity of wildlife in a network of marvelous national parks. But wildlife are severely threatened by armed insurgents poaching, encroachment of habitat by refugees and other threats. COEX also supported analysis of wildlife photographed by remotely triggered camera traps in Uganda's western forest parks. Stay posted for the report on our findings. In addition, Adrian Treves has taken a position at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, UW-Madison, where he founded a lab for research and collaborations on conflicts with lions, leopards and hyenas in Kenya and South Africa. For more details, visit the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. For African carnivores If you prefer not to use the web for your donation, checks can be mailed to: COEX, 6010 South Hill Dr, Madison, WI 53705. Please write in the notes section which project you want to support. All of our donors' personal information is always kept strictly confidential and shared with no one outside of COEX. Tropical Andes COEX has joined forces with Ecociencia (Quito, Ecuador) and Fundacion Cordillera Tropical (Cuenca, Ecuador) to find solutions to conflicts between livestock producers and large carnivores, such as spectacled bears and pumas. COEX will lead training workshops on understanding and managing human-wildlife conflicts, as well as facilitate participatory planning for the establishment of a new protected area on private lands. Stay posted for updates on this exciting new initiative. For spectacled bears and pumas If you prefer not to use the web for your donation, checks can be mailed to: COEX, 6010 South Hill Dr, Madison, WI 53705. Please write in the notes section which project you want to support. All of our donors' personal information is always kept strictly confidential and shared with no one outside of COEX.

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