EBS STAFF
Dan Stahler will lead Yellowstone National Park’s Wolf Project, which oversees monitoring, research and management of wolf populations across the park’s 3,472 square miles.
Stahler currently also heads the Yellowstone Cougar Project, the Elk Research and Monitoring Program and serves as the threatened and endangered species coordinator, maintaining compliance with the Endangered Species Act.
Stahler has been involved in YNP for 26 years, starting as a volunteer technician and graduate student researcher. Since 2002, he’s worked as a National Park Service lead biologist for the Wolf Project while contributing to research and coordination with elk and cougar populations.
“I look forward to continuing the excellence of our 28-year program since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone,” Stahler stated in a YNP press release. “Our legacy of long-term research and monitoring has contributed to many new scientific discoveries about wolves, their impact on other species, and the role they play in ecosystems.”
“Not only is this knowledge important to our mission, but it also benefits those who seek to protect, conserve or coexist with controversial species like wolves,” Stahler stated. Wolves have been a topic of debate in hunting and trapping laws after wolf populations reportedly fell in 2022.
Stahler will succeed Doug Smith who retired in December 2022.
