Wildlife Ecology Institute

06/01/2026

Is Trapping consistent with the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation? Spolier: Yes, and here's why, from colleague John Organ.

By John Organ — Recently, there has been a resurgence of legislative action that would ban or greatly restrict fur trapping in certain jurisdictions in the United States. The protagonists of these initiatives claim that trapping is inconsistent with the North American Model of Wildlife Conservatio...

05/23/2026

05/09/2026

BOOK CHAPTER PUBLISHED AND AVAILABLE

Wild Furbearer Management and Conservation in North America
Edited by Tim Hiller, Roger Applegate, Bob Bluett, Nicki Frey, Eric Gese, and John Organ

NOTE: Although this project is being indefinitely paused, we continue to publish individual chapters as funding becomes available.

Now published online and available for download at no cost:
Chapter 14: S*x Identification and Age Estimation of Furbearers
Authored by Paula White, Carolyn Nistler, and Tim Hiller
Thanks Authors!

To learn more about the book, click here:
https://www.wildlifeecology.org/fur_book.html

To download this chapter, click here:
https://www.wildlifeecology.org/fur_book_14fursexage.html

05/09/2026

Check us out on the recent Northwest Nature Matters Podcast with long-time friend, college, and podcast host, Monty Gregg.

A casual conversation about what we do, along with a few stories, and how to avoid the mistakes we have made along the way!

Monty and Jess speak with Dr. Tim Hiller, the Executive Director and Founder of the Wildlife Ecology Institute in Helena, Montana. 

04/28/2026

BOOK CHAPTER PUBLISHED AND AVAILABLE

Wild Furbearer Management and Conservation in North America
Edited by Tim Hiller, Roger Applegate, Bob Bluett, Nicki Frey, Eric Gese, and John Organ

NOTE: Although this project is being indefinitely paused, we continue to publish individual chapters as funding becomes available.

Now published online and available for download at no cost:
Black-footed Ferret
Authored by Jesse Boulerice, Holly Hicks, and John Hughes
Thanks Authors!

To learn more about the book, click here:
https://www.wildlifeecology.org/fur_book.html

To download this chapter, click here:
https://www.wildlifeecology.org/fur_book_49blackfootedferret.html

04/28/2026

New Publication from our Indiana Gray Fox Project. Look for several more scientific articles this year.

Full citation:
White, C. L., G. Albers, T. L. Hiller, J. M. Marshall, D. M. Reding, and S. M. Bergeson. 2026. Modeling the distribution of gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Indiana using community surveying tools. Journal of Mammalogy 2026:gyag027. doi: 10.1093/jmammal/gyag027

https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jmammal/gyag027/8664179?redirectedFrom=fulltext

03/24/2026

New Open-Access Publication from ODFW and WEI on Sierra Nevada Red Foxes:

Ecological, Demographic, and Physical Characteristics of Sierra Nevada Red Foxes in the Oregon Cascades

Full citation:
Bowles, J. L., C. Heath, and T. L. Hiller. 2026. Ecological, demographic, and physical characteristics of Sierra Nevada red foxes in the Oregon Cascades. Northwest Science 98:1–18. doi:10.3955/046.099.0102

Little is known about the Sierra Nevada red fox (Vulpes vulpes necator; SNRF), a montane subspecies of red fox. The SNRF is a habitat specialist putatively limited to sky islands of alpine and subalpine meadows and parklands in the Cascades of Oregon and California and the Sierra Nevada of Californi...

01/06/2026

New Project with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife:

Ecology of North American Porcupines in Oregon:
Why are porcupines populations declining in so many areas?

Learn more here:
https://www.wildlifeecology.org/porcupine-ecology-or.html

11/14/2025

New paper from WEI and colleagues: Evaluating conservation detection dogs during surveys of black-footed ferrets in Colorado

Click on DOI link below for an open-access PDF of the article!

Hiller, T. L., J. Nawrocki, T. Jackson, F. Bled, A. Hurt, M. Steen, P. G. Smith, J. T. Boulerice, A. Meyer, and R. L. Jones. 2025. Evaluating conservation detection dogs during surveys of black-footed ferrets in Colorado. Northwest Science 98:190–205. https://doi.org/10.3955/046.098.0302