Defenders of Wildlife Blog

MONTANA FISH, WILDLIFE AND PARKS COMMISSION RESOLUTION

David Gaillard, a resident of Bozeman, Montana in body, but a member, both in spirit and presence, of wild places in Montana and a true human friend of all wild things with whom he shared his outdoor home, lost his life tragically in the prime of his years on December 31, 2012.

Whereas: David Gaillard was endowed with special qualities of personal character and natural leadership that caused his fellow Montanans to seek him out as a leader of their choice for their conservation advocacy and was a long-standing member of the conservation community with a kind and generous heart.

Whereas: David Gaillard appeared in front of Montana’s Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission on several occasion in support of wolverines, fishers, kit fox, and wolves. David Gaillard was always polite, informative, and considerate even when the Commission did not support his position. This approach to public discourse and public participation was a tribute to his character and set the standard for wildlife advocates in the public arena.

Whereas: David Gaillard was a family man with a loving daughter and wife who live on in his absence. David’s work on behalf of wildlife in Montana will benefit not only the wildlife owned by the people of Montana but will insure that Montana’s wild places continue to be wild for many generations to follow.

Whereas: David Gaillard cared deeply about the public good, effective in his debate, informed in his advocacy, committed in his service, thoughtful in his approach, tolerant in his message, and responsible to the future.

Whereas: One of David Gaillard’s highest priorities was to get people in the conservation community and the other stakeholders in wildlife management issues to work closely, effectively and in a collegial manner.

Whereas: Advocates for wildlife conservation often look deep into their past to find inspiration in the life works of great citizens of high office many generations gone; we the living generation of Montana
wildlife conservationists, hunters and anglers need look no further into our past than the life and works of David Gaillard to find our personal inspiration to a calling greater than ourselves – to preserve a clean and healthy environment for this and future generations.

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Therefore, that his memory should serve the future, be it resolved by acclamation of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission acting in regular session on January 19, 2012 in Helena Montana that the life and service of David Gaillard to the people of Montana and to the preservation and enhancement of the fish and wildlife resources of this state be formally honored and preserved in the public record.

THE FISH, WILDLIFE & PARKS COMMISSION

Bob Ream, Chairman Dan Vermillion, Vice-Chairman

Shane Colton, Commissioner A. T. Stafne, Commissioner

Ron Moody, Commissioner

Monforton School FundraiserAs an enthusiastic supporter of Defenders of Wildlife, it was with sadness that I began 2012 learning of the news of my friend David Gaillard’s death in Cooke City. My name is Nai’a Le Dain and I am in 6th grade at Monforton School in Four Corners, Montana, which is just to the west of Bozeman. After doing my annual Solstice adoption of an endangered species with my mom (this time a mom and baby polar bear), I decided to do a fundraiser at my school to further bring the issues facing endangered species to my schoolmates (click here to see the flyer I made).

We successfully completed a fundraiser in honor of David Gaillard and for Defenders of Wildlife last week. Our school and friends brought over $300 to David’s memorial fund, with awesome experiences throughout the process of making the people at Monforton aware of all the endangered species. David Gaillard was also my art teacher Ms. Filloux’s ex-husband and they have an 11-year-old daughter. His death was very hard for many that had been touched by who he was and his amazing passion for his work. He helped me, personally get more information about one of my favorite topics, endangered wildlife – initially starting with our amazing local super creature, the wolverine.

The experiences I had were both good and bad. When speaking with one of the Kindergarten classes, for instance they were not really paying attention until I said we would get stuffed animals. They ended up being one of the classes that raised the most money. The hardest part of doing this fundraiser was not having David Gaillard to help me get more information. The fundraiser would have happened in half the time it took for me to organize this if David had been there to help me.

I loved the support everyone gave to me. One of the second grade teachers, Mrs. Henderson, was so supportive and kind. She really made me feel good. Ms. Filloux has been so strong and everyone is very proud of her for staying strong through this very hard time. And Lacy Gray at our local Defenders office organized getting Monforton endangered “wildcat” (our mascot) plushies and adoption certificates which will now live in our school trophy case.

So thank you to everyone who donated money and thank you to everyone who helped. If you have read this I hope you are encouraged to do something for endangered wildlife. Let’s just say, you can do anything as small as just going and enjoying nature to making a fundraiser.

Forest Carnivore Year-end Report 2011

By David Gaillard, Defenders of Wildlife, Bozeman, Montana

America’s large carnivores the wolf and grizzly bear continued to grab the lion’s share of the headlines (so to speak), but 2011 was an important year for smaller carnivores that must overcome  the same magnitude of challenges or greater across our northern forests with just a fraction of the attention and resources.  Here is a look at some highlights this past year for the forest carnivores—lynx, wolverines and fishers—in the contiguous United States.

Wolverines in 2011

This rare and mysterious carnivore continues to gain public awareness and excitement, thanks to major advances by researchers, award-winning documentaries, and increasing attention by land and wildlife management agencies…

• Wolverines documented in Oregon for the first time in decades
• Wolverines go to the front of the queue for Endangered Species Act protections
• New publication details decline, fragmentation of wolverine habitat due to climate change
• Colorado under consideration for a wolverine reintroduction
• Two new publications document status of the Greater Yellowstone wolverine population:
  • Wolverine Conservation in Yellowstone National Park by Kerry Murphy and others published by the National Park Service; and
  • Spatial Ecology of Wolverines at the Southern Periphery of Their Distribution by Robert Inman and others, published by the Journal of Wildlife Management
  • Wolverine documentary film nominated for Emmy Award

Lynx in 2011

Last year was another sleeper for lynx in the lower 48, which is ironic given they have now been listed as a Threatened species under the ESA for more than a decade, and critical habitat has been designated across 40,000 square miles in the northeast, Midwest, Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest regions.  These few news items pertain to the implementation of lynx protections on the ground…

• Oil and gas projects on the Bridger-Teton National Forest south of Jackson Hole, Wyoming delayed for further analysis, in part due to the potential harm incurred by lynx:
  • Oil and Gas Leasing Decision — 44,720 Acres in the Wyoming Range — Supplemental Analysis (EIS)
  •  Plains Exploration’s Eagle Prospect and Noble Basin Oil and Gas Master Development Plan (EIS)
• Montana completes a Habitat Conservation Plan focused on lynx, grizzly bears and three rare species of trout that will guide the management of its forested state trust lands across 500,000 acres of western Montana for the next 50 years.
• The State of Maine and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are developing regulations to reduce the risks to lynx from traps set for other species.

Fishers in 2011

Fishers lag even farther behind lynx and wolverines in terms of public awareness and conservation actions, despite the fact that they are probably the rarest forest carnivore in the U.S. Rocky Mountains, and perhaps even more imperiled across their West Coast range in California, Oregon and Washington.  Yet even fishers got some important attention in 2011…

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completes its 12-month status review and finds ESA protections are not warranted for fishers in the U.S. northern Rocky Mountains.
• Two important products are published from the West Coast Fisher Conservation Assessment and Strategy:  a region-wide conservation assessment and a synopsis of “key findings” from fisher research across western North America.
• Fisher reintroduction into Olympic National Park in Washington continues…

Monitoring Forest Carnivores in 2011

“Citizen science” is an emerging buzzword for all of the forest carnivores now that advances in wildlife genetics make it possible to gather important information from noninvasive sampling of hairs and scats.  Methods include snowtracking, hair-snare stations and remote cameras, much of which can be conducted by amateur wildlife enthusiasts with some basic scientific training and outdoor skills.  Here are some links showing interesting results in 2011:

• Friends of Scotchman Peaks (Northwestern Montana and the Idaho Panhandle)
• Defenders of Wildlife and Wild Things Unlimited (Continental Divide west of Helena, Montana)
• Defenders of Wildlife (Wyoming Range south of Jackson Hole, Wyoming)
• New wolverine range maps created by Defenders of Wildlife using data from wolverine studies across the western U.S.

Heartbreaking is the only way to describe it.  On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve 2011-12, the American conservation community lost a young, fearless and inexhaustible advocate.

David Gaillard, 44, of Bozeman, Montana, died in an avalanche while cross-country skiing the Hayden Creek drainage, located in the Absaroka Mountains just beyond the  back northeastern doorstep of Yellowstone National Park.

A proud graduate of the Yale School of Forestry and Williams College, Gaillard came West in 1990 seeking to groundtruth what he learned in the classroom.  He worked for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Predator Conservation Alliance and, for the last five years, Defenders of Wildlife. His special interest was with carnivores, which are key indicators of ecosystem health.

Gaillard was at his most passionate in giving voice to a suite of forest and mountain dwellers many of us take for granted because they are so elusive and seldom seen.  The animals on this list include the wolverine, Canada lynx, fisher, and pine marten.

“People will protect the things that are right before their eyes,” he told me in 2011 as I was writing a story about wolverines, then being considered for federal protection as a result of a listing petition that Gaillard himself helped craft.  “If people can’t encounter these animals directly, then I at least want them to realize they are out there—and they need our help.  Otherwise, they could easily disappear without anyone knowing the difference.”

Gaillard, a lanky, red-headed outdoorsman, loved traversing through snow on skis and snowshoes. He wasn’t the kind of conservationist who saw himself as a town crier;  rather, he was a celebrator of wild places.  During the course of his career, he attended countless public meetings and dared to testify before hostile audiences that automatically equated species protection with loss of jobs. He delighted most in sharing anecdotes about the life histories of wolverines and lynx, encouraging folks to learn what their tracks look like in the snow and to take up the mantle of “citizen science” by sharing information they gleaned from their own backcountry adventures.

In 2011, as the U.S. Forest Service in Wyoming deliberated over whether it will open the Hoback Basin and Wyoming Range to oil and natural gas drilling—bringing industrial strength development to an important wildlife corridor—Gaillard erected remote controlled cameras.  He wanted viewers to objectively see for themselves that the areas targeted for energy production were used by a wide variety of critters, including hunters and outfitters drawn to mountains unblemished by pumpjacks and air pollution.  For an example of David’s handiwork, enjoy the video below (click on the lower corner of player to bring it to full screen).

Gaillard had many friends in the conservation movement. Not long ago, Defenders magazine published a story about wolverines and global warming written by Douglas Chadwick and in it Gaillard was quoted:  “Nobody can say for sure what the future may bring,” he said. “But I want to be able to look my daughter in the eye and say we are doing everything we can to prepare lynx, wolverines and other wildlife that she loves for the big changes ahead.”

Gaillard delivered on his promise.  His daughter can always know that her Dad did everything he could to remind us that wild places matter.  Condolences go out to David’s family and close friends.