Direct and Indirect Impacts to Ranchers from Wolves and Other Predators: Building a Baseline in California

Abstract

While the direct economic impacts of gray wolves and other predators on rangeland livestock production are relatively easy to measure, indirect impacts (e.g., reduced livestock productivity and increased expense) may be more economically significant. We initiated a long-term (10 year), longitudinal survey of rangeland cattle, sheep and goat producers in northern California to quantify the direct and indirect impacts from gray wolves, which are increasing in numbers in the state, and other large carnivores on rangeland livestock production. During winter/spring 2017, we hosted seven producer-researcher workshops across northern California, featuring livestock-predator conflict experts. At these workshops, we collected the first round of survey data from 90 livestock operations. Our initial survey results document the adoption rates, efficacy and cost of a variety of commonly used livestock protection tools on rangeland livestock operations at a variety of scales.