Ecology of Cougars (Puma Concolor) in North-Central Montana
Ecology of Cougars (Puma concolor) in north-central Montana: Distribution, resource selection, dynamics, harvest, and conservation design Chippewa Cree Tribal Wildlife Program In cooperation with World Wildlife Fund Northern Great Plains Program Bozeman, Montana Final Report April 2012 Kyran Kunkel1, Tim Vosburgh2, and Hugh Robinson3 1World Wildlife Fund; presently University of Montana, Gallatin Gateway, MT; 2Chippewa Cree Tribal Wildlife Program; presently Bureau of Land Management, Lander, WY; 3University of Montana; presently Panthera, New York, NY Space for Cougar photo Photo credit: Kyran Kunkel 1 Ecology of Cougars (Puma concolor) in north-central Montana: Distribution, resource selection, dynamics, harvest, and conservation design Kyran Kunkel, Tim Vosburgh, and Hugh Robinson Chippewa Cree Tribal Wildlife Program in cooperation with World Wildlife Fund, Final Report April 2012 Citation: Kunkel, K, T. Vosburgh, and H. Robinson. 2012. Ecology of cougars (Puma concolor) in north-central Montana. Final Report to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. World Wildlife Fund Northern Great Plains Program 202 S. Black, Ste 3 Bozeman, MT 59715 P.O. Box 7276 Bozeman, Montana 59771 (406) 582-0236 To learn more, visit www.worldwildlife.org/ngp/ ©2010 WWF. All rights reserved by the World Wildlife Fund, Inc. 2 1. Introduction opportunity. Information about cougar recolonization and ecol- Increasing attention is being directed to ecological ogy of established populations will greatly enhance restoration in North American grasslands (Forrest et understanding and management of cougars in the al. 2004), particularly with respect to species that grasslands and prairie breaks of north-central Mon- have been lost or eliminated from these systems. tana. This is especially important because cougars Some species, notably wolf (Canis lupus), bear (Ursus have been little studied in this type of landscape (Wil- spp.), and cougar are expanding in Montana through liams 1992) and very little work has been conducted reintroductions and natural recolonization.
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