Marie Bolt. Wildlife: free-ranging birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles Not all wild animals...
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Transcript of Marie Bolt. Wildlife: free-ranging birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles Not all wild animals...
Marie Bolt
Wildlife: free-ranging birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles• Not all wild animals and plants• Not fish• Not just “game” species• Not just “nongame” species
Wildlife management is the application of ecological knowledge to populations of vertebrate animals and their plant and animal associates in a manner that strikes a balance between the needs of those populations and the needs of people.
Preservation• Nature takes its course without human
intervention
Direct manipulation• Animal populations are trapped, shot, poisoned,
and stocked
Indirect manipulation• Vegetation, water, or other key components of
wildlife habitat are altered
Wildlife management is not purely basic nor applied science, but uses both to apply an integrated approach to solve a given problem
Not a “cookbook” approach Requires application of skill,
knowledge and imagination
Ecology/Natural History Law Habitat Management Team Work Land Navigation/GIS/GPS Communications People Management
Early US/Colonial: game laws 1800s: Increased regulation of game 1900s: Gifford Pinchot “Resource
Conservation Ethic” 1930s: Aldo Leopold, father of wildlife
management, “Game Management” 1937: Pittman-Robertson Act, 10% tax on
hunting arms and ammo for research and management by states
The qualities found in nature could be considered “natural resources”. The goal of proper use of natural resources is the greatest good of the greatest number (of people) for the longest time. (G. Pinchot)• Resources should be fairly distributed among
present as well as future users• Resources should be used with efficiency—
that is, put to the best possible use and not wasted (i.e., non-use is waste)
The most important goal of land management is to maintain the health of ecosystems and ecological processes. Maintaining these ecological processes will ultimately give greater long-term value to humans than managing natural areas only for particular resources (A. Leopold)• Humans are part of the ecological community
rather than standing apart from nature and exploiting it (move away from over-exploitation of “conservation ethic”)
1960s and 1970s: greater expectations• Changes from “maximum” to “optimal”
yield for game species
1970s: Environmental movement and Environmental Laws (NEPA, ESA, CWA, CAA, FIFRA, RCRA, CERCLA, etc.)
1980s: National Forest Management Planning Act
Late 1980s: Conservation Biology
Address complex issues with both research and management skills by• Reviewing the scientific literature• Finding answers with field &/or lab work• Implementing and evaluating remedies
Political, social & economic factors influence methods and how successfully they can deal with stewardship of wildlife populations and habitats
Desired Goal
Appropriate Management Option(s)
Best Management Action
Where do we want to go? Can we get there? Will we know we have arrived? How do we get there? What are the costs? What are the benefits? Will benefits exceed costs?
Increase Population• Endangered Species
Decrease Population• Nuisance species
Harvest• Game species
Monitor• Nongame species
You can not increase the numbers of all species on every piece of land….when you manage for certain species, you manage against other species
Exploitation Bison Passenger Pigeon Other Extinctions Some Near Extinctions Problems of Excess Predator Control Exotic Wildlife
God’s instructions to Adam and Eve were to “be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the Earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on upon the Earth.” Genesis 1:28
Eliminate predators and competitors Repopulate with domestic animals Move “familiar” animals across the
world Privileged classes and sport hunting Market hunting
Waterfowl Bison Songbirds Plumage Beaver hats
To 1850, large population in American West, coexisted with humans
Provided food, shelter, bowstrings, fuel
Grass-bison-human food chain for years
6 million in 1860 to 160 in 1889 Small herds existed & replenished
population
Railroads made access easy
Repeating rifles & scopes
Army condoned it Food for railroad
workers Hides/tongue
prized Most rotted,
unused
Most abundant animal on the planet
Migration darked the sky
1871, 136 million in central WI alone
Market hunting, nesting habitat destruction, single egg, no laws, lead to extinction in 1914
Steller’s sea cow Carolina parakeet Labrador duck Heath hen Great auk
Wood Duck Wild Turkey California Condor Beaver Canada Goose Mountain Lion Grey Wolf Double-crested
cormorant Bald eagle
White-tailed deer Raccoon Canada goose Beaver Double-crested
cormorant
Two charts• Reindeer• Mule deer
Beaver Basin deer herd
Bounties• Not effective, no population changes• Fraud
Poison controls• Non-target animals
Overall, not effective
Man has moved animals from place to place across the world, either intentionally or unintentionally
Exotic wildlife may increase or fail to prosper
If they increase, many times they become nuisance species
Many examples on trying to control, “new immigrants” who alter the ecology of the habitats they are released into by fulfilling/displacing native species niches
Spotted owl Sea turtles California condor Grey wolf
Background Bison Lead Poisoning Wood Ducks Wild Turkeys Mammals Marine Mammals Birds Elusive Measures
1639, 1st closed season for white-tailed deer in Rhode Island colony (May-Nov)
Many laws to protect species including heath hens and passenger pigeons
No ecological considerations, no habitat protection
No preservation of food, cover, water Not until 1900s did management occur
American Bison Association, NY Zoo
Bison preserves Yellowstone NP Canada: 2 NPs, one
for Wood Buffalo European bison
restocked in Bialowieza Forest, Poland/Russia
2 Problems with Bison reintroduction• Lack of natural
predators, leads to overpopulation
• Overpopulation and outstripping resources, and control measures not accepted by populus
Primary issues:• Use of lead in
shotgun shells• Use of lead in rifle
bullets• Use of lead in
fishing gear
Lead shot• Banned in 1976/78• Decrease in raptor
deaths• Decrease in
waterfowl losses• No increase in
waterfowl crippling deaths
Lead Poisoning• Primary Routes
Shot Grit for gizzard
Grinding plus acid in stomach, organo- lead, neurotoxin
• Secondary Route Incidental ingestion of
lead in prey
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Before (71-75) During (76-78) After (79-84)
Ducks
Geese
Coots
All
Mean No. Lost/100 Retrieved
Rifle bullets• Issues for
California Condor• Issues for Steller’s
sea eagle in Japan
Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 1918
Protected wood ducks
Population rebounded without help at first
• 1938, biologists in Illinois erected wood duck houses
• Noticed insufficient nesting sites
• Quickly spread• Some areas have
more produced in boxes than natural habitat
• Now, 2nd/3rd most abundant waterfowl species
Extirpated in most of North America by 1930s
Reintroductions were tried, many failed
Finally appropriate genetic types were used for each site
New populations were protected
When appropriate, hunting was allowed
Now 40 states have turkeys
Turkey Harvest in Michigan
05000
100001500020000250003000035000
1970
1980
1990
2000
Harvest
• White-tailed deer– 0.5 million, 1900– 12 million, 1980
• Elk– 0.04 million, 1900– 1 million, 2000
• Pronghorn antelope– 13,000--1920– 400,000--1980
• Beaver– Nearly extirpated
1800s– Nuisance species, now
Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)
Endangered Species Act (1973)• Pinnepeds (seal)• Sirenians
(manatee)• Cetaceans
(dolphins & whales)
Sea Otter• Reintroductions, natural increases• Protection from trapping, fishermen• Orcas new threat in Aleutian Islands
Gray whales• Predictable migratory route• Stay close to shore• Now problems with carrying capacity• Salt plant in calving grounds
Trumpeter swans Roseate spoonbills Upland sandpipers Sage grouse Sharp-tailed grouse Snowy egrets Whooping cranes Wood ducks California condors Heath hen
“Candidates for oblivion” listed in Our vanishing wild life, by William Hornaday 1913
Only the Heath hen is extinct today
Bald eagles Peregrine
falcons Kirtland’s
warbler Atlantic puffin Many other
species
Need to have neither extinction nor excess populations
How do we measure success, is 40 million ducks from 400 million a success or a failure?
Need to include the social dimension in answering these types of questions
Technical• Current status of population
Size Rate of population change Reproductive capacity Seasonal requirements
Social• Public education• Public support