» Michael Soulé

In Memory of Michael Soulé

Project Coyote Science Advisory Board, 2008–2020

It is with a heavy heart that we share that Project Coyote Science Advisory Board Member Michael Soulé passed away on June 17 at the age of 84.

Considered the “father of conservation biology”, Michael co-founded the Society for Conservation Biology in 1985, also serving as its first president, and went on to co-found The Wildlands Project and serve as its president. He wrote and edited nine books on biology, conservation biology, and the social and policy context of conservation, and published more than 170 articles on population and evolutionary biology, fluctuating asymmetry, population genetics, island biogeography, environmental studies, biodiversity policy, nature conservation, and ethics.

I first met Michael in 2004 at a Society for Conservation Biology conference. A colleague introduced us and I remember feeling a mixture of awe and excitement to meet this man I had long admired in the wildlife conservation sphere. I shared with Michael some of the work I was doing with regard to carnivore conservation and predator management reform, and he encouraged me to publish and expose some of my findings.

Michael mentored countless conservationists—many of whom went on to have their own significant careers in wildlife conservation and environmental protection. Among his many noteworthy students was Kevin Crooks, whose seminal research with Michael in San Diego contributed to the mesopredator release theory. This ecological theory (developed by Michael to describe the interrelated population dynamics between apex predators and mesopredators within an ecosystem, such that a collapsing population of the former results in dramatically increased populations of the latter). Crooks, who was studying at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and Michael surveyed enclaves of land around San Diego. They found areas visited by coyotes had fewer small predators such as raccoons, skunks, and cats, but more native birds. Elsewhere, in areas devoid of coyotes, midsize predators like skunks and cats were common and birds were more rare. Describing the importance of this study and the theory behind it, Michael stated:

“When we studied coyotes in the canyons of San Diego in the 1980s, we discovered that the canyons the coyotes still visited were healthier. There were more species of native birds than in those canyons that coyotes couldn’t access because they were isolated from the surrounding rural areas. That pattern has been seen around the world many times, where the large predators are removed and the populations of small predators, including raccoons, foxes and birds like ravens, jays, and robins explode. We call these smaller carnivores meso-sized predators. Their populations explode because there is no cap on predation or behavioral inhibition of their hunting. The smaller animals begin to go extinct in the area, as we saw in San Diego. When coyotes are present, housecats and other predators are much less active and don’t hunt as much. In this sense, it turns out that coyotes are good for native birds and ground nesting birds. These processes are called trophic cascades. You remove one part of the ecosystem, and it causes a ripple effect through other parts of the ecosystem that depended on the absent part. This can affect both flora and fauna.”

(source: Michael Soulé, Grandfather of Conservation Biology from the Voices for Biodiversity)

I was very fortunate that Dr. Soulé served on my graduate school thesis committee. It was during this time that I came to better understand Michael’s thinking around the need for protecting wildlife corridors and rewilding the continent with large carnivores—and for integrating compassion and consideration of animal welfare into the field of conservation.

After I completed my graduate studies in 2008, Michael became one of the founding Science Advisory Board members of Project Coyote when I founded the organization that same year. He joined a gathering of our Science Advisory Board in Yellowstone in 2014 where we discussed such issues as how we shift the paradigm of predator management in the US toward carnivore conservation and stewardship and how we define coexistence with large carnivores. We broke out into small groups to discuss these issues, surrounded and buoyed by the beauty and magic of Yellowstone. In this short video, Michael is joined by fellow PC science advisors Dr. Paul Paquet and Dave Parsons in a discussion about how best to define coexistence:

To have been in the presence of these three giants in the field of carnivore conservation discussing what It really means to coexist with wildlife (when we were literally surrounded by wildlife!) is a cherished memory that will remain with me forever.

Before compassionate conservation became a movement and a field unto itself, Michael Soulé was advocating for the need to recognize and protect the interests and welfare of individual animals while also preserving biodiversity and species’ populations.

A prescient visionary, Michael helped develop Project Coyote’s mission and vision, incorporating the concepts of coexistence and compassionate conservation into our work for Wildlife and Wildlands.

Those who knew Michael recognized that he struggled with grief and deep despair over the state of the world and our treatment of the planet and other sentient beings. He was a hyper-empath who felt the pain and suffering of others acutely—as well as the beauty and awe of Wild Nature. He shared that his Buddhist practice kept him mindful, aware, and centered in a world that he described to me as “unmoored” and “collapsing in despair.” I always wished I could have spent more time with Michael to absorb his knowledge, wisdom and mentoring.

Going through old photos, videos and email exchanges with Michael since his passing has brought tears and laughter—and has served as a constant reminder of how fragile and precious this life is.

One of my last exchanges with Michael included a sharing of Mary Oliver‘s poem, “The Summer Day,” where she asks:
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Michael certainly had a plan with his one wild and precious life, and he executed it with gusto.

RIP Michael. You are missed by many and appreciated and loved by even more.

For you and the wild ones and wild spaces to whom you dedicated your life,

~ Camilla Fox, Founder & Executive Director

I feel quite blessed to have been one of Michael’s friends. I’m not quite sure exactly how and when our friendship began, but I suspect it came about through my hanging out with Dave Foreman over the past 20 years or so, and being invited on river trips. I know I was on the river trip where Michael met his wife June, then known as Joli, whom I already knew through contra dancing. Many of you might not know that Michael was once an avid contra dancer himself. Michael was an immensely intellectual and humble man; he made friends with people from all walks of life. Yet he commanded the stage for decades as a world-class scientist in an equally humble manner. In my view, one of Michael’s most important contributions was the wedding of conservation science to conservation activism. This was his vision and the mission of the Society of Conservation Biology, which he founded. He believed that ecological science should serve a broader purpose than intellectual curiosity – it should serve the goal of saving Nature from ravaging humans. Michael practiced what he preached. I have written many comment letters to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the years, especially on issues of wolf recovery. I often asked scientists to endorse these comments, and Michael was always eager to sign on and add his world-renowned credibility to my recommendations, for which I will be forever grateful. Even in his final days on Earth, Michael was the first scientist to endorse comments submitted less than a week ago to guide the USFWS’s heretofore-misguided efforts to recover the critically endangered Mexican gray wolf. His name tops the list of over 100 scientists who endorsed those recommendations, which were submitted on behalf of Project Coyote and The Rewilding Institute. Thank you, Michael! Would you mind if I continue to add your signature to my future comments?

David Parsons
Project Coyote Science Advisor, and
Carnivore Conservation Biologist with The Rewilding Institute

My last conversations with Michael were serenely revealing and left no doubt why Michaels ‘s legacy will be long-lasting and entirely admirable. He pondered on several occasions that among the few compensations of old age is the acuity of hindsight and how the awareness of limited time can paradoxically expand time. He spoke of being pleasantly overtaken by a feeling of the rightness and beauty and uniqueness of those he loved while in amazement of the curious ecstasy of simply feeling fine, feeling good.

He frequently reminded me that empathy naturally arises when the sense of oneness (non-separation) is allowed to break through the ego’s defenses, having a constant and daily effect on our relationship with the world we live in. An ethical circle begins with a knowledge or feeling of relationship and the compassion that arises from that. Michael said all such “openings” offer a glimpse of the “truth” of non-separation or the non-dual. Although some people are deeply alarmed or frightened by the insights, others are joyous. Both can happen to the same person. He understood, however, that in an anthropocentric world anyone who loves nature as much or more than they love people is going to be avoided or distrusted. Not surprisingly, he helped to get the field of conservation biology started, in large part, due to insight from such an experience.

Michael, you are thanked from the bottom of my heart for your always thoughtful counsel and all that you have so generously shared. In paraphrase of your own words, If nature had a voice (and any influence, besides “batting last”) I am sure that “she” would thank you too.

Paul Paquet
Project Coyote Science Advisor
Raincoast Conservation Foundation Senior Scientist

MICHAEL SOULÉ, PHD

Michael Soulé is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz. He was born, raised, and educated in California. After spending much of his youth in the canyons, deserts, and intertidal of San Diego and Baja California, and after graduating from San Diego State, he went to Stanford to study population biology and evolution under Paul Ehrlich. Upon receiving his Ph.D. at Stanford, Michael went to Africa to help found the first university in Malawi. He has also taught in Samoa, the Universities of California at both San Diego and Santa Cruz, and the University of Michigan. He was Chair of the Environmental Studies Department at UCSC. He has done field work on insects, lizards, birds, and mammals in Africa, Mexico, the Adriatic, the West Indies, and in California and Colorado.

Michael was a founder and first President of the Society for Conservation Biology and The Wildlands Project (also the current President). He has written and edited 9 books on biology, conservation biology, and the social and policy context of conservation. He has published more than 170 articles on population and evolutionary biology, fluctuating asymmetry, population genetics, island biogeography, environmental studies, biodiversity policy, nature conservation, and ethics. He continues to do research on ecosystem regulation by highly interactive species. He is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, is the sixth recipient of the Archie Carr Medal, was named by Audubon Magazine in 1998 as one of the 100 Champions of Conservation of the 20th Century, is a recipient of the National Wildlife Federation’s National Conservation Achievement Award for science, the recipient of the Conservation Medal for 2007 from the Zoological Society of San Diego and in the first class of recipients of The Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award.

Now living in Colorado, Michael speaks and writes on ethics and conservation, and serves on the boards of several conservation organizations, including the Wildlands Network, and consults internationally on nature protection. He is completing a book about the origins and evolution of sin and how it can inform our understanding of human nature can guide conservation and related life-affirming movements. To read more about Michael’s work and publications, visit: www.michaelsoule.com.