Steve Forrest

Independent Researcher

Elephant Island sits on the front lines of ecological change in the Scotia Arc region, but most of the island has remained unsurveyed for nearly 50 years. As a result, there has been no way to establish whether changes on the island reflect those to the south along the Western Antarctic Peninsula or whether, in contrast, populations have remained s...

Seabirds along the western Antarctic Peninsula are known to be shifting in abundance and distribution in response to changing sea ice and prey distributions, but the spatial extent of these changes has remained an open question because survey efforts have focused on the more easily accessed northern coastline. We used a yacht-based field expedition...

The main goal of these guidelines is to help herd managers conserve the wild characteristics of bison through the conservation of the species’ genetic and behavioral traits while at the same time supporting ecosystem function and biodiversity conservation goals on the range the herd inhabits.

Deception Island (62°57′S, 60°38′W) is one of the most frequently visited locations in Antarctica, prompting speculation that tourism may have a negative impact on the island’s breeding chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica). Discussions regarding appropriate management of Deception Island and its largest penguin colony at Baily Head have thus...

The Northern Great Plains in many ways represents North America’s grassland future. It houses high-quality grassland and sagebrush habitat for a diverse assortment of species that are uniquely adapted to the region, and it supports farming and ranching livelihoods that have helped to shape the land. Because grasslands and shrublands are such comple...

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are threatened by loss of sagebrush habitat and the spread of West Nile virus throughout much of their range in North America; yet, future impacts of climate change on these potential stressors have not been addressed. Here, we aim to quantify the potential impacts of climate change on the distributio...

More than three-quarters of the land in the Northern Great Plains is privately owned and less than 2% of the region is in public protected areas; therefore, sound private-land management is critical for restoring and conserving the region's biodiversity. Although considerable progress has been made in recent years in fostering and assembling nature...

A recent Forum article by Vermeire and colleagues (BioScience 54: 689–695) presents a critique of claims made by various authors who advocate heightened prairie dog conservation. Vermeire and colleagues assert that the only existing historic rangewide estimate of prairie dog occupancy circa 1900 is “artificially high” as a result of human activitie...

Many wide-ranging mammal species have experienced significant declines over the last 200 years; restoring these species will require long-term, large-scale recovery efforts. We highlight 5 attributes of a recent range-wide vision-setting exercise for ecological recovery of the North American bison (Bison bison) that are broadly applicable to other...

In recent years, people have interpreted scientific information about the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) in various, and sometimes conflicting, ways. Political complexity around the relationship among black-tailed prairie dogs, agricultural interests, and wildlife has increased in recent years, particularly when prairie dogs occur...

Before European settlement the plains bison (Bison bison bison) numbered in the tens of millions across most of the temperate region of North America. Within the span of a few decades during the mid- to late-1800s its numbers were reduced by hunting and other factors to a few hundred. The plight of the plains bison led to one of the first major mov...

Recorded presettlement observations of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are not adequate to fully determine their abundance and distribution. Early naturalists and explorers made only casual reports of prairie dogs on an opportunistic basis; their written records do not represent systematic surveys. Cumulative accounts of prairie do...

Prevalence of leucism was observed in 3 Pygocelid penguin species from the Antarctic peninsula, including the first report in the literature of this condition in Chinstrap Penguins (P. antarcticus). The frequency of occurrence of leucism in the sample we observed was 1:114,000 in Adelie Penguins (P. adeliae), 1:146,000 in Chinstrap Penguins, and 1:...

This paper discusses common organizational problems that cause inadequate planning and implementation processes of endangered species recovery across biologically dissimilar species. If these problems occur, even proven biological conservation techniques are jeopardized. We propose a solution that requires accountability in all phases of the restor...

The comparison of new and historic census counts of pygoscelid penguins and other seabird populations on Petermann Island (65°10'S, 64°10'W) and neighboring islands shows several trends consistent with theories of climate-mediated change in the Antarctic Peninsula. Long-term data on the number of gentoo nests on Petermann Island show that their abu...