CMU Biological Station director James Gillingham defends Beaver Island coyotes, 1986

Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago — Took place at Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.

Event

Dates: circa 1985 – 1986-07
Kind: Observation
Where: Beaver Island
Eras: Modern era
Concepts: environmentconservationheritagecommunicationeducation
Within: Beaver Island

Summary

The July 1986 Beaver Beacon introduced James Gillingham as director of the Central Michigan University Biological Station and published his defense of Beaver Island coyotes as ecological participants rather than a cause of deer decline.

Evidence limits

This is an informed essay and personal observation, not a wildlife census, predation study, or management decision.

Sources

In Defense of the Coyote, James Gillingham, Beaver Beacon, July 1986.
Introduces Dr. James Gillingham as the new director of the Central Michigan University Biological Station and publishes his argument that coyotes generally take weak or vulnerable deer, help maintain a healthy herd, follow prey cycles, and are part of the island’s natural heritage. He describes an approximately fifteen-minute coyote observation made about a year earlier on King’s Highway. This is an informed essay and personal observation, not a wildlife census, predation study, or management decision. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1986-07_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, July 1986, held issue PDF, source scan.
The held nineteen-page July issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the coyote essay and CMU appointment introduction.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1986-07_Beaver-Beacon

Added 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “CMU Biological Station director James Gillingham defends Beaver Island coyotes, 1986”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-coyote-defense-1986/, accessed [date], citing In Defense of the Coyote, James Gillingham, Beaver Beacon, July 1986. (and 1 further source listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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