x Acknowl edgments
these proj ects, and ensured the success of their proj ects. We learned much about the
species in a relatively short period of time.
The staff of the Department of Natu ral Resource Management (formerly the De-
partment of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences), including department heads Chuck
Scalet and Dave Willis, helped with administrative issues that always come up when
fieldwork is conducted through university systems. Terri Symens, Diane Drake, Carol
Doyle, and Dawn Van Ballegooyen (department staff) provided students with the in-
formation they needed to meet the expectations of the department and guidelines for
bud getary information for their proj ects, thus allowing the students to focus on the
collection of data. All proj ects (proposal numbers 99- A002, 99- A010, 02- A034, 05- E013,
07- A046, 09-019A, 09-079A, 11-002A, 11-078A, and 14-005A) were approved by the
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at South Dakota State University.
I am indebted to Tom Kirschenmann, Dan Thompson, Larry Gigliotti, John Kanta,
and two anonymous reviewers who provided critical comments on and suggestions
for earlier drafts of the manuscript. I appreciate their suggestions, which helped to
ensure that the information provided is correct. I am especially indebted to Dan
Thompson, who went out of his way to obtain needed information and provide
photos for the book. Dorothy (Fecske) Wells also helped in this regard. Our dear
friends Kari and Jerry Olson also provided comments on an early draft of the manu-
script. Eric Michel, Kyle Kaskie, and Virginia Coudron provided much-needed help
with formatting figures for publication. I thank the staff at Johns Hopkins University
Press, including Vince Burke, Tiffany Gasbarrini, and Mary Lou Kenney, who pro-
vided substantial support throughout the development, review, and production of the
book. I am grateful to Lois Crum for her expert copyediting.
I also thank my mentors, David M. “Chip” Leslie Jr., R. Terry Bowyer, and Ron Barry,
for their support, which has continued throughout my career. Fi nally, and most
importantly, I thank my wife, Gail, for her support over the past 44 years, and of course
my children and their spouses, Heather and Tad, Jonathan and Erin, and Abigail and
Brandon, and my grandchildren, Andrew, Brynn, Bailey, Bode, and Boston.