The Western Landowners Alliance has released a guide aimed at landowners on how to reduce conflict between humans and wildlife.
The Western Landowners Alliance include members in Wyoming, Montana and Colorado. A problem many of these private landowners have in common is conflicts with wolves, grizzly bears and elk.
For the past two years, landowners, nonprofits and state agencies met together to discuss successful past solutions and possible new ones.
Cole Mannix, the associate director of the alliance, said the guide began to help bring attention to landowners already taking proactive steps to reduce conflicts.
"In some cases, there are some pretty good solutions," said Mannix. "So, we felt like that proactive voice from landowner community, of actively looking for and trying to implement solutions, was important to demonstrate."
He said the guide is important not only for landowners but also for helping the public understand how supporting landowners can help ensure essential wildlife habitats.
"Unless we support private landowners, unless we make it economically feasible for their operations to continue, those wildlife population are really going to struggle," said Mannix. "So, it's also a guide that suggest some ways policy and funding could better support implementation of this kind of stuff."
Mannix said there are three main take-homes: first, it's important to prevent problems with wildlife before they start, especially with habituation of grizzly bears. Second, both non-lethal and lethal solution are useful. And lastly, providing sustainable funding for landowners.
