Factors influencing transboundary wildlife management in the North American ‘Crown of the Continent’

Abstract

Jurisdictional boundaries and borders are rarely coincident with ecological systems. The long-term persistence of viable wildlife populations and habitats, especially for highly mobile and migratory species, is contingent upon effective management that transcends administrative boundaries. Although transboundary natural resource management has emerged as a topic of academic and professional discourse, implementation has been hampered by a host of barriers that include institutional, administrative, financial and contextual factors. The Crown Managers Partnership, a collaborative initiative of public land managers in the transboundary Rocky Mountains of Canada and the United States, is exploring the approaches to overcome these barriers. This paper reports on the results of interviews to identify the factors that influence the management of transboundary wildlife and provides a series of recommendations that are specific to the study area context, but are also transferable to other regions. Formalizing the existing partnership, exploring options for expanding participation in the partnership to include non-government interests, engaging third party facilitation, using non-traditional data sources, applying metapopulation ecology theory, and interdisciplinary problem solving are all elements recommended for improved transboundary management and of wildlife in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem.