ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Wethank Dave McDonald, University of Wyoming, Department of Zoology, who performed the population matrix analysis and identified the important conservation conclusions of the analysis. Many biologists and researchers contributed data, unpublished reports, and their personal expertise to this assessment. The following deserve special mention: Jerry Apker, Colorado Division of Wildlife; Mace Hack and Jeff Hoffman, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission; Alyssa Kiesow, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks; Matt Peek, Kansas Department ofWildlife and Parks; and Reg Rothwell, Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Gary Patton and Greg Hayward, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, provided key guidance and tirelessly answered many questions. Lynn Wickersham, Ecosphere Environmental Services, provided administrative and technical support. Finally, we are grateful to Andrea Easter-Pilcher, University of Montana-Western, and Bruce Schulte, Georgia Southern University, for their helpful reviews of an earlier draft of this manuscript. AUTHORS’ BIOGRAPHIES Steve Boyle is Senior Biologist and owner of BIO-Logic Environmental in Montrose, Colorado. He holds anMS degree in Wildlife Biology (Colorado State University, 1981) and has 28 years of experience in biological assessments, natural resource planning, and wildlife management and research in the western United States and overseas. He authored the USDA Forest Service Region 2 River Otter Species Conservation Assessment, and has led a number,of regional conservation planning efforts including a Sagebrush Steppe Ecosystem Conservation Assessment and Management Plan for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and Statewide Programmatic Biological Evaluations for four grouse species in Colorado for the USDI Bureau of Land Management. As former Senior Wildlife Biologist for AGEISS Environmental, Inc., Mr. Boyle was Principal Investigator for research projects on