Predator & Prey

Download in PDF format 1BIOLOGICAL STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES FOR PREDATOR CONTROLIN ALASKA: APPLICATION OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL’SRECOMMENDATIONSVictor Van BallenberghePredator control aimed at reducing wolf and bear populations while attempting toincrease densities of ungulates for hunters has been a highly controversial issue in Alaskafor decades. Much of the controversy centered around methods of control including […]

Does the Alaska Game Board Really Care? Vic Van Ballenberghe / Wildlife Biologist / Wolf Song of Alaska Advisor  Let’s say you want a house and you hire a carpenter to build it. He tells you he doesn’t have a tape measure but he is pretty good at estimating the length of boards so he can

The National Academies Press / National Academies of Sciences http://books.nap.edu/catalog/5791.html This book assesses Alaskan wolf and bear management programs from scientific and economic perspectives. Relevant factors that should be taken into account when evaluating the utility of such programs are identified. The assessment includes a review of current scientific knowledge about the dynamics and management

Vic Van Ballenberghe / Wildlife Biologist / February 5, 2006 I followed the recent events regarding the wolf control issue with great interest.  It all started with a court decision, rendered after many months of deliberation, which declared the state’s wolf control regulations to be illegal.  The Board of Game (BOG) quickly held a teleconference

Dr. Vic Van Ballenberghe / Wildlife Biologist / Alaska / January 1, 2004 Wolf control (the first round of it) in 20A went from 1976 to 1983 but most of it was 1976 to 1980. Moose went from 2800 in 1975 to 11,000 by 1992. Moose numbers since then have fluctuated around 10,000. Now, moose body condition

Dr. Vic Van Ballenberghe / Wildlife Biologist / Alaska / January 1, 2004 Wolf control (the first round of it) in 20A went from 1976 to 1983 but most of it was 1976 to 1980. Moose went from 2800 in 1975 to 11,000 by 1992. Moose numbers since then have fluctuated around 10,000. Now, moose body condition

How Preservation Keeps Nature Whole My favorite advice for hiking in grizzly bear habitat goes like this: Avoid surprising bears, especially sows with cubs, by carrying a whistle to blow when moving through brush where visibility is poor. Also, tie bells to your pack. Finally, be alert for signs of bears — like large turd

Biologist’s new book combines his photos with wisdom gained from decades in the field George Bryson / Anchorage Daily News / August 1, 2004 Retired biologist Vic Van Ballenberghe poses in Denali National Park with antlers from an exceptionally large bull moose that he had followed for four years. The antlers had a spread of

Suzanne Bohan / Oakland Tribune YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK – More fear of fangs is what’s needed to revive hoof-worn Western lands. That’s the view of pioneering scientists certain that a scarcity of cougars and other large predators is devastating large stands of oak, aspen, cottonwood and even spectacular wildflower blooms in Western wild lands because

Alexis Madrigal / Wired Science Like a negative image of farmers breeding progressively larger chickens and cows, human hunters are making their prey become progressively smaller. Animals hunted by humans are evolving faster than any other animals of their kind in the wild, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy