Maintaining wildlife habitat on ranches comes with a risk—greater predation pressure on livestock. In Alberta, the provincial government has found an effective way to balance the needs of ranchers with the need for forests and other wild areas on private ranch land.
When livestock are killed by wild predators (often wolves), Alberta ranchers receive compensation for the losses. The funds come from the sales of fishing and hunting licenses, although less than 3.6% of this revenue is used for the program.
While the funds may not completely cover the value of an animal, particularly breeding stock, the compensation does reduce the financial risk of maintaining forests and undisturbed areas on ranches. Researchers found that the ranches that received compensation for losses were more likely to be ranches where ungulates were hunted. This suggests that the wildlife habitat included habitat for large carnivores (e.g., wolves) as well as ungulates (e.g. deer, elk, moose and antelope). The compensation approach has been used in other areas, particularly in the U.S., to encourage ranchers to maintain wild areas.
Source: Coexistence with Large Carnivores Supported by a Predator-Compensation Program. Andrea T. Morehouse, Jesse Tigner and Mark S. Environmental Management. 2018. Issue 1, pp: 1-13.
- Janet Wallace