Coexistence is at the heart of everything Project Coyote does, making our Coyote Friendly Communities program among our most vital work. Coyote conflict was a top topic this year, with many cities finding themselves in tough situations. Fortunately, Project Coyote supporters across the nation are always willing to speak up for North America’s song dog.

This year our staff and volunteers worked tirelessly to assist urban communities with non-lethal solutions to human-wildlife conflict by providing Living with Coyotes presentations to local communities across the country, distributing educational resources and signage, and assisting in developing coyote coexistence plans for municipalities. In Iowa, we are working with Des Moines and Urbandale to start development of city wide human-wildlife coexistence plans that protect both humans and wildlife. In Southern California, where wild space is at a premium, we provided community presentations and distributed education resources to share a message of coexistence. And in Dallas, TX, where a severe incident occurred this spring, we worked to provide resources and assist community advocates to reduce the risk of future conflict. Our Massachusetts representative, John Maguranis, shared his story in a Notes from the Field Blog on his work with local animal control officers to heroically rescue four coyote pups. In Northern California, Project Coyote’s ranching with wildlife coordinator Keli Hendricks provided numerous Living with Coyotes presentations and participated in an educational workshop on coyote coexistence for the City of San Rafael in partnership with Marin Humane and Marin County Parks.

We launched our new partnership with the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA) to provide animal control officers (ACOs) with the knowledge and tools needed to foster peaceful coexistence between people and wildlife. Project Coyote and NACA released co-branded, science-based resources — including fact sheets, brochures, tip cards, and signage — that inform and educate on human-wildlife coexistence. These co-branded materials are available in both English and Spanish on the new partnership webpage. In July, we kicked off our partnership by hosting a webinar for ACOs where we introduced these resources and how to effectively use them to foster peaceful coexistence between people and wildlife.

Protecting America’s Wolves

On February 10, a federal district judge in California restored Endangered Species Act protections for numerous wolf populations throughout the country at the request of multiple wildlife conservation organizations including Project Coyote. This decision was a major victory for wolves but did not include wolves of the Northern Rocky Mountains (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming).  In response we revved up our efforts to raise awareness of their continued plight. We placed billboards in major highway corridors in Montana and Idaho urging people to demand the federal government emergency #RelistWolves — to protect those under the most threat in the Northern Rockies. We also launched our Protecting America’s Wolves online advocacy campaign. We equip our supporters with weekly targeted actions aimed at protecting our nation’s wolves with a particular focus on the wolves of the Northern Rockies. 

We continued our advocacy efforts across wolves’ range, including in Colorado, where wolves are set to be reintroduced by 2023. We introduced an alternate wolf restoration plan with WildEarth Guardians and in partnership with 14 other wildlife organizations, provided to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to offer a science-based alternative to the plan currently being developed. Project Coyote’s Renee Seacor and Drs. Fran Santiago-Ávila and Michelle Lute co-authored an opinion piece about this issue in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

It was a busy year for lobos of the Southwest, with both a court ordered revision to the USFWS 10(j) management rule as well as the recovery plan for lobos published. We provided extensive comments to USFWS’s revised Mexican gray wolf recovery plan and mobilized our supporters to comment, providing talking points on how to implement the best available science to guide species’ recovery. Over 49,000 comments were submitted. The revised plan yet again failed to address the critical threat of human-caused mortality which is responsible for 70% of Mexican wolf deaths. We also advocated for the protection of the Seco Creek pack, a genetically valuable wolf pack residing in Gila National Forest that is currently under threat. Lastly, we mobilized our supporters to call for an investigation of the USDA federal Wildlife Services offices in New Mexico and Arizona in response to an investigative report published in The Intercept which uncovers systemic fraud and corruption by the Wildlife Services program in investigating possible livestock predation from wolves. The offices are now under investigation. We also advocated for Mexican gray wolves in the Arizona legislature by alerting Arizona supporters to oppose H.B. 2181, which liberalizes the killing of lobos.

Ending Wildlife Killing Contests

As a culmination of our ongoing fight to end wildlife killing contests, U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D – Tenn.) introduced legislation to ban killing contests on federal public lands that eventually garnered 26 co-sponsors. H.R. 7398, the Prohibit Wildlife Killing Contests Act of 2022, was an unprecedented opportunity to take our mission to end wildlife killing contests to the national stage and we will continue that fight with re-introduction of the bill in 2023–in partnership with our allies in the National Coalition to End Wildlife Killing Contests.

We partnered with and encouraged Wisconsin animal advocates to get involved in the Wisconsin Conservation Congress by submitting citizen resolutions and voting in the WCC Spring Hearing. Our efforts contributed to participation in the WCC Spring Hearing more than doubling relative to last year. More importantly, voting showed a notable shift toward more ethical and ecological practices. State-level wins included the approval of a resolution to create a regulation process for hunting contests. Many citizen resolutions passed in several counties, such as: banning chocolate bear bait, reducing the hound training season pursuing the black bear, eliminating compensation for hound owners, banning wolf hounding and ending killing contests in WI. Many of these wildlife-related resolutions were then referred to the WCC ‘Fur Harvest’ Committee, which decides to approve or reject the citizen-approved resolution for inclusion in the state-level survey during the next WCC Spring Hearing (2023). To that end, we continued our joint efforts with Wisconsin wildlife advocates to get the public involved in the Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC) citizen resolution approval process. Our supporters voiced their support for wildlife friendly resolutions in front of the ‘Fur Harvest’ Committee, including: banning coyote and wildlife killing contests, trapping and night-time hunting. Despite our help driving widespread support for a record 31 successful resolutions by over 16,000 in-state votes and testimony from 24 citizens (of 25 in attendance) during the committee meeting, the WCC ‘Fur Harvest’ Committee rejected every single one of the 31 public safety and wildlife friendly resolutions, citing tradition and reason over ethics and emotions. Instead, they advanced resolutions to expand bobcat hunting, beaver trapping and use of infrared lights to hunt predators. Our work in Wisconsin continues with opinion pieces (in the Price County Review, and Silent Sports Magazine) and media coverage to daylight the WCC’s biased and undemocratic process.

On August 15th, Project Coyote and The Rewilding Institute invited the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to collaborate on draft rule-making to prohibit wildlife killing contests, which has been done by five other states. We also provided the IDNR with information on known WKC events in Illinois for the past several years, along with spatial information and an initial spatial and ecological analysis (including state maps) of impacts. IDNR should ban WKCs given the cruelty and disrespect these contests display towards wildlife, the latest scientific evidence on indiscriminate killing’s negative ecological impacts and the lack of evidence for such contests serving any conservation or management purpose. During the past months, we have increased outreach through social media and released a state campaign website, and are now focused on driving public comments, working to earn media coverage and building a growing coalition of local and state organizations to support our efforts moving forward.

Through a show of solidarity by the thousands of wildlife photographers and videographers who photograph wildlife and wildlands, we can put a stop to this bloodsport that unethically kills beautiful wild animals, destroys ecosystems, is contrary to modern science-based management principles, and degrades the value of individual animals.

Ending the violent regime of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program

In a major victory for wildlife and their advocates, the California mountain counties of Plumas and Sierra agreed to immediately suspend their contract with the taxpayer-funded USDA Wildlife Services program, which indiscriminately kills wildlife that private parties deem a nuisance. This agreement settled a lawsuit brought by Project Coyote and Feather River Action! to stop Wildlife Services from killing wildlife without a full environmental impact report (EIR) pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

“Today is a win for the wildlife of Plumas and Sierra counties, and hopefully the start of a new approach to managing human-wildlife interactions,” said Michelle Lute, PhD in wildlife management and Carnivore Conservation Director for Project Coyote. “We are pleased that the Board of Supervisors for these counties has agreed to study the impacts of their killing contract with Wildlife Services. Now we hope they follow the best available science demonstrating that nonlethal methods are the most effective and humane ways to protect livestock and wildlife.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Plumas and Sierra counties are required to evaluate the ecological impacts of these killings and prepare an EIR before contracting with Wildlife Services in the future. By disallowing the use of indiscriminate snares set for coyotes and other wildlife targeted by Wildlife Services, cancellation of Plumas and Sierra’s lethal program will directly benefit the endangered Beckwourth wolf pack that has been found residing in Southern Plumas county.

Last year, Mendocino County ultimately chose to terminate its contract with Wildlife Services after multiple lawsuits and a groundswell of local residents pushed for an end to the deadly program. In the program’s place, Mendocino is now working with Project Coyote and allies to pursue non-lethal strategies for wildlife management. Project Coyote has offered the same assistance to Plumas and Sierra counties in developing a similar non-lethal program to address conflicts with livestock.

Protecting America’s black bears from trophy hunting and climate change

The plight of California’s black bears continues and our work to protect bears revved up this year. In January, Project Coyote partnered with the Humane Society of the US and BEAR League to galvanize support for a petition asking for a ban of black bear hunting in the state. Despite the increasing threats of drought, wildfires and vehicle collisions threatening bears across the state, the California Fish and Game Commission denied the petition.  We mobilized our supporters to attend the September California Fish and Game Wildlife Resources Committee meeting to testify in opposition to trophy hunting and in support of science-based management and ethical coexistence. We will continue this collaboration as we oppose another petition to increase available bear tags per hunter and aim to influence a forthcoming bear management plan.

Last year, we successfully defeated a proposed and ethically indefensible spring black bear hunt in Washington. This year, bear hunters returned with a petition to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission to reinstate and establish a permanent spring black bear hunt. In response to our collective advocacy efforts, we successfully canceled this year’s spring black bear hunt! In March, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission voted 5-4 to cancel a spring bear hunt from proceeding. Leading up to the vote, we mobilized our supporters, offered written comments and oral testimony to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in opposition to the hunt. This victory was solidified in November, when the Commission voted to establish a permanent state policy eliminating recreational hunting of black bears in the spring!

Promoting coexistence and rewilding in the Heartland

This year we officially launched a bold initiative, Heartland Rewilding, which seeks to create a Midwestern landscape where humans and nature thrive. We will accomplish this by focusing on protecting, reconnecting, and restoring wildlands and sharing a message of compassionate coexistence.

Heartland Rewilding is a partnership of Project Coyote, The Rewilding Institute and the Half-Earth Project. We are dedicating staff and other resources to support rewilding and coexistence efforts in the Mississippi River watershed. This watershed, the fourth largest in the world, covers one-third of North America and is too often undervalued and under-appreciated despite global importance and beauty. Devastatingly, the Midwest has lost 90% of its natural areas. We must now strive to restore balance to wildlands and wildlife and work to recreate a robust, healthier landscape for humans and wildlife.

Heartland Rewilding aims to work with a network of environmental organizations and government agencies to provide the strategy, staff, and resources needed to protect wildlife and advocate for reform in conservation policies and practices using sound science. The initiative will build a framework for rewilding large landscapes across the entire Mississippi River watershed, which spans from New York to Montana and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Building a thriving Midwestern landscape where people and wild nature thrive will take all of us. You can learn more about Heartland Rewilding and how you can get involved by visiting our website HeartlandRewilding.org. And be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest news.

Project Coyote continues to partner with the National Animal Care and Control Association in coordinating efforts to encourage coexistence between people, domestic animals, and our native predators. We’ve launched a new webpage as a one-stop-shop for animal control officers nationwide to access co-branded Coyote Friendly Communities signage and information. Future additions to the website will include videos and other resources so those in the field can share best practices.