Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
DWR outlines experimental cougar-removal study amid heated public backlash
Summary
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources staff described a new, WRI-funded predator-control research project that will use government trappers on six units to test whether reducing cougar numbers helps mule deer and bighorn sheep populations; the presentation triggered strong public reaction over snares, disclosure and perceived lack of public process.
Darren DuBois, the Division of Wildlife Resources’ private-lands public-wildlife coordinator, presented an informational update on a DWR predator-control research project that will experimentally remove cougars on six units to test whether lowering cougar-caused adult-doe mortality allows mule deer and bighorn sheep herds to recover. The units named by staff are Pine Valley, Monroe, Zion, Boulder, East Wasatch and Stansbury.
Darren said the division’s decision to run the experiment rests on collar-data thresholds: "one of the touchstones ... is that once lion predation on adult does goes above 7 percent, those populations will not grow," he told the RAC. He described Utah’s collar dataset as unusually large and argued a rigorous, experimental approach is needed to produce definitive answers about predator impacts.
The presentation emphasized technical limits of population models — they are harvest-based and thus conservative and "always two years behind," Darren said — and noted…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
