U.S.F.W. BIOLOGIST AND EASTERN COUGAR DEPT. HEAD MARK MC COLLOUGH COMMUNICATION WITH ME REGARDING THE YALE UNIVERSITY NEW ENGLAND/NY PAPER ON THE FEASIBILITY OF COUGARS ONCE AGAIN "MAKING A LIVING IN THIS PART OF THE USA

U.S.F.W. BIOLOGIST AND EASTERN COUGAR DEPT. HEAD MARK MC COLLOUGH
COMMUNICATION WITH ME REGARDING THE YALE UNIVERSITY NEW ENGLAND/NY PAPER ON THE FEASIBILITY OF COUGARS "MAKING A LIVING IN THIS PART OF THE USA


read henry glick's full Eastern Cougar paper by clicking on this link
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=db83cda7d2&view=att&th=1494c904b51e7cd1&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_i1qerabd0&safe=1&zwhttps://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=db83cda7d2&view=att&th=1494c904b51e7cd1&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_i1qerabd0&safe=1&zw

On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 8:18 AM, McCollough, Mark <mark_mccollough@fws.gov> wrote:

Hi Rick - I am familiar with the Yale student.  I can't recall his name at the moment, but he visited our office about a year ago and I gave him access to our file, talked to him at length, etc.  He shared some of his preliminary cougar models with me.

Can you please send a copy of the attachment of the Yale study?  It does not seem to be attached to your email.

I have no argument that there is potential habitat for cougars in eastern North America in New York, ME, NY, PA, and points further south.  In fact, if you review the Service's status review for the eastern cougar (under the state, province sections) you will find a review of what science was available at that time on cougar habitat evaluations in the East.  I can recall at least three significant evaluations.  Since then, John Laundre did an evaluation for the Adirondacks and the Yale study.

The USFWS recommendation from our recent cougar review was to delist the eastern cougar subspecies based on extinction.  Our Region 5 headquarters is preparing the paperwork.  When we do so, there will be an announcement in the Federal Register of our proposal to delist and a call for public comments.  We could find no evidence of the presence of the original eastern cougar subspecies remaining in eastern North America.

That's not to say that cougars/pumas do show up in the East, again as documented in our cougar review.  However, we believe these to be either dispersing animals from western populations (e.g., the animal that made the spectacular movement from the Dakotas to CT) or release/escaped pets, neither of which are technically protected under the ESA.

I've encougaraged cougar and large carnivore enthusiasts to concentrate on starting a public dialogue about the potential for restoring large predators to our eastern forest.  Instead, many focus on  trying to prove that the eastern cougar subspecies still exists, government conspiracies, etc.  I am disappointed that State and Federal governments have been reluctant to initiate discussions about restoration (whether it is wolves, cougars, etc.), but there are some good reasons.  One is that we simply do not have the funds, nor the political will/interest to initiate such public discussion.  However, this could change if the public demonstrated greater interest in this topic.  

Case in point, a few years ago Defenders of Wildlife and National Wildlife Federation were interested in promoting wolf restoration to the Northeast.  Their public presentations, news releases, response to possible wolf sightings, etc. brought this issue to the forefront of State and Federal wildlife agency attention.  Unfortunately, both organizations seem to have abandoned this work (except for the private work of a few individuals like Geri Vistein in Maine).  As a result, there is little discussion of wolf restoration in wildlife agencies.

I thought the Chris Spatz and others were planning a cougar/large carnivore forum in the Northeast this fall, but have not heard any details.

Good to hear from you again. 

Mark McCollough