This project examines the restoration histories of beavers (Castor canadensis), moose (Alces alces americana), and wild canines (Canis spp.) within the Adirondack Highlands of northern New York. Devastated by the depredations of nineteenth century woodsmen, the populations of these large mammals rebounded during the twentieth century. Numbering fewer than ten in 1895, the Adirondacks remnant beaver population recolonized the regions lakes, ponds, streams, and rivers over the next twenty-five years, assisted by the presence of prime habitat, a state-enforced moratorium on beaver trapping, and timely reinforcements. Hunters shot the last of the Adirondacks moose near Raquette Lake in 1861. Moose began returning naturally to the region during the second half of the twentieth century, dispersing into the Adirondack Highlands from the resurgent woodlands of Vermont. More than four hundred now inhabit northern New York. While the Adirondacks wolves outlasted the regions moose, bounty-hunters had successfully eliminated canine predators by the early 1890s. But in the next four decades rapidly expanding coyote populations hybridized with wolves as they extended their range eastward around the Great Lakes. Capable of traveling through regions largely impermeable to wolves, coyote hybrids served as hardy vessels of wolf genetic material, interjecting wolf DNA from Canada back into the Adirondack Highlands. The entry and continued evolution of wolf-coyote hybrids within the Adirondack ecosystem thus represents a genetic, if not a physical, restoration. These unique restoration histories together illustrate the considerable resilience of the Adirondack ecosystem and its large mammal species, while providing valuable context for future rewilding efforts within the Northeastern woodlands.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-05122008-125833 |
| Date | 06 August 2008 |
| Creators | Aagaard, Peter |
| Contributors | Dan Flores, Jeffrey Wiltse, Paul Krausman |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-05122008-125833/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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