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46TH NORTH AMERICAN MOOSE CONFERENCE AND WORKSHOP
JACKSON, WYOMING

23-26 MAY 2011

wondered why we weren’t staying at the Lodge.  A 
barbeque lunch was provided on the north shore of 
Lake Jackson at the University of Wyoming-NPS 
Research Center’s AMK Ranch in Grand Teton 
National Park.  The Center sits at the base of the 
Teton Range and offered participants breath-taking 
views of the Tetons and ice breaking up on Jackson 
Lake.  After lunch, Dr. Hank Harlow, Director of the 
Center and noted ecophysiologist at the University 
of Wyoming, gave a short history about the Ranch 
and related research.  Dr. Terry Kreeger (WGFD), 
renowned expert, followed with an informative 
workshop on chemical immobilization of wildlife.  
Moose, elk, and bison were observed at several 
locations on this field trip that marked the start of 
beautiful local weather.

The Banquet was held Wednesday evening 
when Amanda McGraw, recent M.S. graduate of the 
University of Minnesota, received the Newcomer 
Award, and Bill Samuel, of winter tick fame and 
long-time conference attendee and recently retired 
from the University of Alberta, received the Senior 
Travel Award.  The members of the Organizing 
Committee received the Order of Alces with kind 
and insightful words from Dr. Pete Pekins, Chief 
Editor ALCES.  The highlight of the evening 
was when Dr. Kjell Danell of Sweden graciously 
received the 2011 Distinguished Moose Biolo-
gist Award for his many contributions in research 
and management of moose.  The evening ended 
with live music provided by the Jared Rogerson 
Band; during the day, Jared is a biologist with 
the WGFD.  

This highly diverse Conference featured 3 
plenary presentations, 22 contributed presentations, 
5 posters, a capstone lecture, and field trip.  We 
are grateful to our sponsors including (in alpha-
betical order) Advance Telemetry Systems (ATS), 
Hayden-Wing Associates, Jackson Hole Outfitters 
and Guides Association, Jackson Hole Wildlife 
Foundation, Lotek Wireless, National Museum of 
Wildlife Art, Nature Mapping, Rocky Mountain 
Elk Foundation, Teton Science School, Vectronic 
Aerospace, Virginian Lodge, Western EcoSystems 
Technology (WEST), Wildlife Heritage Founda-
tion of Wyoming, The Wildlife Society-Wyoming 

The 46th North American Moose Conference 
and Workshop was held at the Virginian Lodge 
in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on 23-26 May 2011.  
The conference was hosted by the Moose Working 
Group of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 
with extensive help from the Wyoming Chapter 
of The Wildlife Society and the Teton Science 
School.  There were 100 registered delegates 
from throughout North America (13 states and 6 
Canadian provinces), as well as Germany, Norway, 
and Sweden.  Their broad experience resulted 
in vigorous discussions about moose research, 
management, and biology.  Due to an extremely 
wet May and flooding across several states, travel 
to and from Jackson was an adventure for several 
participants. 

Welcoming remarks were provided by Dr. 
Fred Lindzey, Chairman of the Wyoming Game 
and Fish Commission and Professor Emeritus, 
University of Wyoming.  Contributed presenta-
tions followed, covering a broad range of topics 
including harvest, productivity of populations, 
parasites, and climate change. 

A public plenary session entitled “Manag-
ing Predator-Prey Systems” was held Tuesday 
evening at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, 
and was preceded by an open tour of the museum 
for conference attendees.  Invited speakers were 
three outstanding large predator ecology special-
ists, Mike Jimenez (USFWS), Dr. Bob Garrott 
(Montana State University-Bozeman), and Rod 
Boertje (Alaska Department of Fish and Game), 
who discussed the USFWS wolf reintroduction pro-
gram in the Yellowstone region, specific research 
on wolf-elk/bison interactions in Yellowstone, 
and Alaskan wolf/bear-prey systems, respectively.  
Their informative presentations provided a strong 
scientific foundation for subsequent public discus-
sion focused on predator management issues and 
balancing the new and dynamic large predator-prey 
systems in the greater Yellowstone area.     

Wednesday featured an educational and 
sight-seeing field trip north of Jackson where 
participants viewed winter moose range in Grand 
Teton National Park and the willow flats behind 
the beautiful, historic Jackson Lake Lodge; some 



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Chapter, Wyoming Biologist’s Association, Wyo-
ming Game Warden’s Association, and Wyoming 
Outfitters and Guides Association.  We also thank all 
the participants who provided items for the auction.  
The Conference was a tremendous success and we 
are pleased that so many enjoyed first-time viewing 
experiences including Yellowstone National Park, 
the Jackson elk feeding grounds, wolves, bison, 
“sage-brush moose”, displaying sage grouse, spring 
elk migration, and wolf predation.  

CO-CHAIRS:  Tim Thomas and Steve Kilpatrick
HOST: Wyoming Game and Fish Department
LOCATION: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
DATE:  23-26 May 2011
NUMBER OF DELEGATES/PARTICIPANTS: 100