I just found this thread. And even though the young lady seemed to have good intentions, I don't trust anyone connected to wildlife and conservation in our colleges. She gathered information in good faith, but I will guarantee you it was used against ranchers in Eastern Oregon. This is how it works in Oregon. Our governor and her anti ranch crowd use college students to go gather data under false pretenses. This data is used to write legislation that will put a burden on ranchers the likes they have never seen.
I lived off the grid for 10 years in the Oregon mountains bordered by FS range on 3 sides. I worked on sizable ranches in the valley below. The wildlife specialist loved to brag about how they would someday bring back the wolf. I kept my mouth shut because the gray timberwolves in my area had gone nowhere. They were from the same pack that had been there before the Paiute. I heard them every morning and evening. They never once bothered my livestock or even the range cattle. They live on red diggers, rock chucks, and grouse. Maybe they got a fawn or two, but that is natural. When the area started to grow, the land was subdivided, and when all the wealthy people moved in, the wolves left.
Then some brilliantino with a piece of paper, unworthy of being called even a "sheepskin" decided that wolves needed to be reintroduced. It was a disaster for all of Eastern Oregon with especially the sheep ranchers of the Keating Valley taking losses like never seen before. Gruesome sites of savage kills. Anything that is decided for Eastern Oregon by a majority vote that comes from Portland, is going to be a disaster.
While I think the young lady that started this thread was sincere in her efforts to better the environment, what she and other city and many bamboozled rural folks don't get is nature needs no help from them. Long-time rural folks who have lived in harmony with wildlife for a long time are doing great living in harmony with wildlife.
When the student said she was especially interested in Eastern Oregon, I smelled a big fat Brown vindictive packrat and my hackles went up immediately.