WILDLIFE CONSERVATION IN NORTHWEST ECOSYSTEMS
ESRM 459 - 3
credits, Spring Quarter 2009
Field trip:
21-28 March 2009
John
Marzluff L. Monika Moskal
123E
Anderson 334
Bloedel
corvid@u.washington.edu lmmoskal@u.washington.edu
Introductions
to the issues currently defining the Yellowstone Ecosystem as studied by
previous ESC 459 classes are available at: http://www.cfr.washington.edu/classes.common/comweb/Case%20Studies/usa/yellowstone/index.htm
The required
Text book. Read it
prior to departing on the trip and bring a copy with you:
·
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem by R. B. Keiter and M. S. Boyce (Yale University Press). You can get it from Amazon or directly from
Yale U.Press or check with your local bookstores.
Given
our emphasis on wolves and ravens while in the park we also want you to pick either:
·
Mind of the Raven, by Bernd Heinrich, or
·
Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to
Yellowstone by Douglas W. Smith and Gary Ferguson
General
reviews
of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem can be found in:
·
T. W. Clark, M. B. Rutherford, and D. Casey
(editors). 2005. Coexisting with Large Carnivores—Lessons from Greater
Yellowstone. Island Press.
·
Keiter, R.B. and
M.S. Boyce. 1991. Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Redefining America’s
Wilderness Heritage. Yale Univ. Press.
·
Chase, A. 1986. Playing God in Yellowstone.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Theme Song
Jimmy
Buffett—Ringling, Ringling---get it for your mp3 player.
This course will provide an
opportunity to examine and analyze wildlife conservation issues in Yellowstone
National Park. Management of
Yellowstone’s natural resources generates significant controversy because
diverse and powerful stakeholders recognize that Yellowstone often acts as a
conservation “weathervane” for other national parks. As usual we will also do
other neat things like catch golden and bald eagles, explore the thermal
features of the Mammoth basin, eat pizza in Gardiner, and look for otters,
bighorn, pronghorn, and deer. You will
be required to develop an oral presentation as a group on a topic related to trophic cascades, scavengers, or other experiences during
the trip. These group projects will be
presented later in Spring quarter.
What You
Might See
Our travels bring us up close to a
large variety of birds and mammals. Our
full list includes over 80 bird species and nearly 20 mammals. Highlights are American Crows, Common Ravens,
and Gray Jays. But you will also likely
get a look at wolves, elk, and if we’re lucky a grizzly bear. Download
the checklist for your trip.
The
course fee will be approximately $500. That includes transportation, lodging
(hotels with 2 or 3 of you per room) breakfast, and lunch (and expert guiding!).
Dinners are on your own, but pretty cheap in the Gardiner and Bozeman area.
We will purchase food for our
breakfasts and lunches, but each person is responsible for planning and
obtaining their dinners during the trip while we stay at motels in Bozeman and
Gardiner. We will stop at grocery stores
and fast food “restaurants” during travel days.
Be very prepared for cold, windy, and
wet weather. It is winter in Yellowstone
in March, so warm waterproof clothing and boots are a must. We will be outdoors and away from shelter for
most of each day.
|
warm clothes (wool, fleece, layers) |
duffel or small suitcase (no
expedition packs) |
camera (optional) |
notebook and animal checklist (linked above) |
|
boots (hiking and snow) |
small backpack (daypack), refillable
water bottle |
GPS (optional, we will have a few
for you to use) |
personal toiletries |
|
gloves, hat, warm socks, extra socks |
swimsuit and towel if you want to go
in hot springs; water shoes for hot springs |
compass (optional, we will have a
few for you to use) |
hand/foot warmers |
|
rain jacket/parka |
binoculars (a must) |
sunglasses and sunscreen |
cash (~$100) |
Before
leaving for Yellowstone:
1.
Reading (textbooks and other background
reading) prior to the trip.
2.
Surfing - go through the entire
interdisciplinary web site (linked above)
3.
Google Earth exploration of the park
(specifically the northern access road from Gardiner to Cook City.
During the
field trip:
1.
Each student will have ½ day responsibility
of keeping the field trip list of sighted birds and mammals.
Post-field
trip meetings and assignment:
We will meet twice in mid May so that
each of you may present your project to the class. Presentations should use computer software
(PowerPoint or an html browser) to walk the class through your project (see
below).
We will meet in mid May to discuss
large scale conservation in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). This will be a formal presentation of your
impressions from the trip to the public.
Each student (small teams can work together on a topic of mutual
interest as well) will be responsible for investigating some aspect of
continental conservation in the GYE and MAKING THIS RELEVANT TO CITIZENS OF
WASHINGTON. Each group will develop a
2-4-page factsheet and 20 min oral presentation on their topic. Details and expectations will be discussed
during the field trip.
Tentative
Daily Itinerary
Saturday
March 21st
Depart Seattle for Gardiner, Montana
Land Use
Patterns – Wildlife Implication
Columbia
River Overlook
Silver
Valley Idaho
Arrive in Gardiner at Best Western
Gardiner (800 828-9080)
Evening discussion with Kurt Ault in
Gardiner, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks in Bozeman (406 570 1690) to discuss
management issues
Sunday
March 22nd
Early morning wildlife viewing and
identification in YNP
Afternoon free to explore / snowshoe
Evening in Gardiner; might do owl
calling later in the evening
Monday
March 23rd
Early morning with wolf crew and raven
sampling
1:00 – Meet with Doug Smith, Leader
Yellowstone Wolf Project. Lecture on wildlife issues in Yellowstone National
Park
Evening in Gardiner
Tuesday
March 24th
Early morning with wolf crew and raven
sampling
Evening in Gardiner
Wednesday
March 25th
Early morning with wolf crew and raven
sampling
3:00 Meet with Dr. Rick Wallen, NPS Bison Research Leader, Gardiner, (406) 581
9040, discussion Evening in Gardiner
Thursday
March 26th
Early morning with wolf crew and raven
sampling
3:30 Remote Sensing and carnivores of
Yellowstone with Bob Crabtree, YERC,
Bozeman
Evening in Bozeman at Best Western
City Center (800 870 3661)
Friday
March 27th
Eagle tracking and trapping with Al Harmata (Montana State University) and Marco Restani (St. Cloud State University)
Belgrade, Montana
Evening in Bozeman
Saturday
March 28th
Depart Bozeman for Seattle
Discuss paper topics reroute
Evening in Seattle
Pool winner announced for closest ETA