Rewilding the American West

Ripple, William J.; Wolf, Christopher; Phillips, Michael K.; Beschta, Robert L.; Vucetich, John A.; Kauffman, J. Boone; Law, Beverly E.; Wirsing, Aaron J.; Lambert, Joanna E.; Leslie, Elaine; Vynne, Carly; Dinerstein, Eric; Noss, Reed F.; Wuerthner, George; DellaSala, Dominick A.; Bruskotter, Jeremy T.; Nelson, Michael Paul; Crist, Eileen; Darimont, Chris T.; Ashe, Daniel M.

doi:10.1093/biosci/biac069

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Important non-T&E species such as wolves (Canis lupus) and beavers (Castor canadensis) would see forest habitat protection increase from 35 to 59% and from 10 to 40%, respectively, if this preservation target was met. These wolf and beaver habitat targets would help fulfill a recent proposal for rewilding the American West (Ripple et al, 2022). The additional habitat that could be protected by 2030 and 2050 increases dramatically for most of these species when forestlands are jointly prioritized based on carbon, biodiversity and climate resilience, which includes connectivity for animal movement.…”

Section: Forest Habitat Carbon and Drinking Water If Protectedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When these characteristics were prioritized within each ecoregion, it identified sufficient forestland to meet both the 30% protection by 2030 and 50% by 2050 targets that are important nationally and internationally. Our study did not consider the effects of livestock grazing, but this topic was recently investigated in Oregon and across the American West (Ripple et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strategic reserves in Oregon’s forests for biodiversity, water, and carbon to mitigate and adapt to climate change

Law

Berner²,

Mildrexler³

et al. 2022

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Creating strategic forest reserves is essential for stemming the loss of biodiversity and contributing to climate mitigation and adaptation. Meeting preservation targets of 30% protection by 2030, and 50% by 2050 would lead to greater protection of animal taxa and tree species habitat, carbon stocks and accumulation, and forests that are important sources of drinking water. Here, we develop a regional framework to specifically identify at a fine resolution (30 m) high priority forestlands for preservation in Oregon, USA. We include a resilience metric that represents connectivity and topographic diversity, and identify areas within each ecoregion that are ranked high priority for carbon, biodiversity, resilience and drinking water. Oregon has less than 10% of its forestlands protected at the highest levels, yet its temperate forests are among those with the highest carbon densities in the world. Reserves for surface drinking water sources and forest habitat for birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles could increase to 50–70% protection at the highest levels by 2050. Protected aboveground biomass carbon could triple to 635 teragrams of carbon by 2050. The ownership of the high preservation priority lands for carbon and biodiversity is primarily federal (67% by 2050) followed by private (28% by 2050), with much less in the other ownerships. Forest reserves could be established on federal lands through executive action, regulation and rule-making, while private landowners could be incentivized to store more carbon, limit harvest in certain areas and transfer ownership to land trusts. Protecting mature and old forests on federal lands fulfills an urgent need for protection and provides a low-cost way to simultaneously meet national and international goals. This study provides a flexible, dynamic framework for identifying areas that are high priority to protect for climate mitigation and adaptation at regional and sub-regional scales.

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Section: Forest Habitat Carbon and Drinking Water If Protectedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic reserves in Oregon’s forests for biodiversity, water, and carbon to mitigate and adapt to climate change

Law

Berner²,

Mildrexler³

et al. 2022

Front. For. Glob. Change

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show abstract

“…The colonization of suitable yet unoccupied habitat can benefit recovery of threatened species (Camaclang et al, 2015). Efforts to buffer vulnerable species from extinction threats such as climate change, habitat loss, invasive species and direct human conflict often focus on increasing connectivity among remaining populations (Peck et al, 2017; Ripple et al, 2022; Thatte et al, 2018). In situations where populations cannot be connected or face barriers that inhibit natural colonization of remaining suitable habitat, conservation translocations (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conservation translocations are also often components of proposals to restore or ‘rewild’ landscapes (Svenning et al, 2016). A growing number of efforts have focused on restoration of native carnivores within historic ranges (Carver et al, 2021; Ripple et al, 2022; Wolf & Ripple, 2018). Apex carnivores can enhance ecosystem function, acting as keystone species and generating trophic cascades with myriad direct and indirect effects on herbivores, mesopredators and plant communities (Estes et al, 2011; Peterson et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting dispersal and conflict risk for wolf recolonization in Colorado

Ditmer,

Wittemyer,

Zeller

et al. 2023

Journal of Applied Ecology

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The colonization of suitable yet unoccupied habitat due to natural dispersal or human introduction can benefit recovery of threatened species. Predicting habitat suitability and conflict potential of colonization areas can facilitate conservation planning. Planning for reintroduction of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to the US state of Colorado is underway. Assessing which occupancy sites minimize the likelihood of human–wolf conflict during dispersal events and seasonal movements is critical to the success of this initiative. We used a spatial absorbing Markov chain (SAMC) framework, which extends random walk theory and probabilistically accounts for both movement behaviour and mortality risk, to compare the viability of potential occupancy sites (public lands >500 km2 to minimally meet wolf pack range area). The SAMC framework produced spatially explicit predictions of wolf dispersal, philopatry and conflict risk ahead of recolonization prior to reintroduction efforts. Our SAMC model included: (1) movement resistance based on terrain, roads and housing density; (2) mortality risk and potential conflict (absorption) based on livestock presence, social tolerance, land ownership and state boundaries; and (3) site fidelity based on habitat quality. Using this model, we compared 21 public land units by deriving predictions of: (A) relative survival time outside each site, (B) intensity of use and retention time within each site and (C) the probability of use on adjacent public lands. We also predicted and mapped potential conflict hotspots associated with each site. Among the units assessed, a complex of USFS Wilderness areas near Aspen, chiefly the Hunter‐Fryingpan and Collegiate Peaks Wilderness areas, had the best overall rankings when comparing predictions of each metric. The area balances high‐quality, well‐connected habitat with relatively low livestock density and high social tolerance. Synthesis and applications. Our findings highlight the utility of the SAMC framework for assessing colonization areas and the capacity to identify locations for effective proactive management, especially of conflict prone species. The flexibility of the SAMC framework enables predicting likely areas of philopatry and human–wildlife conflict using spatially explicit metrics which can improve the success of conservation translocations and management of species with changing geographic extents.

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“…Similarly, Ripple et al. ( 18 ) recommend rewilding apex predatory wolves and ecosystem engineering beavers in US western states. They marshaled evidence that bringing back those focal species across selected landscapes could substantially help achieve the goal of the Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful initiative codified in President Biden’s Executive Order 14008—to conserve at least 30% of our national lands and waters by 2030.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bison outperform cattle at restoring their home on the range

Harms

2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Rewilding the American West

Cited by 14 publications

References 5 publications

Strategic reserves in Oregon’s forests for biodiversity, water, and carbon to mitigate and adapt to climate change

Strategic reserves in Oregon’s forests for biodiversity, water, and carbon to mitigate and adapt to climate change

Predicting dispersal and conflict risk for wolf recolonization in Colorado

Bison outperform cattle at restoring their home on the range

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