Wood River Wolf Project

The Wood River Wolf Project promotes the coexistence of livestock and wolves by proactively using nonlethal measures to prevent depredation.

The project started in 2008 in Blaine County, Idaho, as a short-term study to understand the effectiveness of nonlethal methods to deter wolves from preying on livestock. 14 years on, the project has experienced tremendous success through an engagement programme that works with local stakeholders to support coexistence between the people, their livestock and wolves. Of the 20,000 sheep grazed in this landscape, an average of just 5 per year are lost to wolf predation and only one wolf has been killed in response to depredations since the project efforts began. These sheep losses are 90% lower than those reported elsewhere in the state. The Wood River Wolf Project has proven that their non-lethal methods to deter livestock predation are at least 3.5 times more effective than traditional lethal wolf control measures.

Trail cameras are an important tool for the project, enabling the team to better document wolves in the area and gather footage of interactions between sheep and wolves.

Who's Involved
Wood River Wolf Project
A NatureSpy Supported Project
Wonderful wolves!
Wolf conservation is a vital part of supporting healthy ecosystems. We're also working with Voyageurs Wolf Project in Minnesota and Bioterra in Croatia, learn more about these projects over on our project pages.
See more wolf projects

The challenge
Project mission
Project achievements to date...
How NatureSpy is helping
  • Wolf predation of livestock impacts the livelihoods of farmers.
  • This creates conflict between people and wildlife and can result in the persecution of predators.
  • The loss of native predators has wide-ranging, negative impacts on ecosystem health.
  • The Wood River Wolf Project promotes the coexistence of livestock and wolves .
  • This is achieved by proactively using nonlethal measures to prevent depredation.
  • Reduced predation of livestock by native predators.
  • Improved community support in human-wildlife coexistence practices.
  • Improved economic sustainability of the ranching community through reducing costs of wolf-livestock management.
  • Improved working relationships among stakeholders.
  • Increased tolerance of wolves and other native predators in the local community.
  • Evidence-backed outcomes for the benefits of using non-lethal predation deterrents.
  • Advancements in knowledge through data collection, case studies and the application and testing of non-lethal predation deterrents.
  • We've loaned 20 trail cameras to Wood River Wolf Project.
  • These cameras help the project record wolf activity and interactions with sheep.
  • The footage gathered by these cameras helps the project to demonstrate the effectiveness of non-lethal tools .
09/22
Camera Used
The Browning Spec Ops Edge is used by the Wood River Wolf Project for high quality video and no-glow LEDs, keeping the camera well hidden.
Take a closer look

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