Proceedings of the Ninth Mountain Lion Workshop - Carnivore ...

Preface
Chronology of Mountain Lion Workshops
1 st Mountain Lion Workshop – Sparks, Nevada, 1976
2 nd Mountain Lion Workshop – St. George, Utah, 1984
3 rd Mountain Lion Workshop – Prescott, Arizona, 1988
4 th Mountain Lion Workshop – Denver, Colorado, 1991
5 th Mountain Lion Workshop – San Diego, California, 1996
6 th Mountain Lion Workshop – San Antonio, Texas, 2000
7 th Mountain Lion Workshop – Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 2003
8 th Mountain Lion Workshop – Leavenworth, Washington, 2005
9 th Mountain Lion Workshop – Sun Valley, Idaho, 2008
The 9 th Mountain Lion Workshop was held in Sun Valley, Idaho from May 5-9, 2008. The
theme for the workshop was Past, Present, and Future Challenges. Organizers provided
sessions for state and province status reports; interactions with humans and the urban interface;
habitat use and movements; multi-carnivore and prey interactions; genetics and disease;
population estimation and dynamics; education and social issues; and key concepts. During the
state status reports, the state managers were asked to provide the 2 primary issues their
jurisdiction is dealing with in regards to cougar management. On the last day of the workshop, a
panel of experts discussed these issues and opened the discussion to workshop participants. A
poster session was also provided with many excellent posters from students and researchers. The
banquet night was also a 40 th anniversary celebration of cougar research by Dr. Maurice
Hornocker and Wilbur Wiles in central Idaho, and we provided them both with lifetime
achievement awards.
There were 165 registered participants. We received $34,902.81 in registration fees,
contributions, sponsorships and vendor fees. We expended $33,067.48, which left us with
$1,835.33 which will mostly go toward printing of the proceedings, the remainder will be sent to
WAFWA. We provided each conference registrant with several conference items along with an
abstract/agenda book for the price of the registration. Sun Valley is an expensive place to hold a
conference, but due to vendors and sponsors, we were able to hold registration fees to $175.
Thanks again to sponsors - The DeVlieg Foundation, The Cougar Fund, and the Felidae
Conservation Fund. The rooms and facilities were top notch, banquet food was excellent, and I
only heard praise about the facilities. We had two field trips, a bird watching expedition and a
wolf viewing and management tour.
Cougar management though different in each state does have overarching similarities.
Management of problem cougars was a common theme in every state, particularly at the urban
interface. Most states provide a protocol for dealing with problem cougars. Also of interest was
the similarity in cougar population growth during the 1980’s and peaking in the mid late 1990’s,
then a decline during the last decade. This trend was found in almost every state including
California where they do not allow hunting. Funding, long-term research, and population
estimation were all concerns. On Thursday afternoon of the conference, WAFWA cougar
Proceedings of the Ninth Mountain Lion Workshop 1