FW 353 NCSU DePerno 2021 Exam 1

Conservation

Wise use of natural resources, implies saving for later use

Preservation (protectionism)

"Hands off" of natural resources

Wildlife

"Wild animals, wild birds, and all fish found in inland fishing waters" - NC statute

"All undomesticated terrestrial creatures"

"Populations of organisms that persist without an essential component of human interaction"

"Free-living species" - ESA, 1969

Wildlife value

-Material (food)

-Spiritual (beauty, wilderness)

-Intrinsic (independent of usefulness)

-Economic (leasing, land values)

-Scientific (medicines)

-Ecological (web of life, ecosystem services

Medicinal value of wildlife

-80% of the world uses herbal medicines or supplements

-40% of medicines have ingredients from living organisms

Management

"Influence and application of human manipulation...demands the use of judicious means to achieve specified objectives"

Why do some people dislike the term wildlife "management"

It implies dominance over wilderness

Gifford Pinchot

-First chief of the US Forest Service

-Came up with the term "conservation" in 1907

-"Conservation means wise use of earth and its resources for the lasting good of man"

Sustainability

Implies use over time

Restoration

Implies hands on needed to correct

Direct manipulation

The stocking, trapping, shooting, poisoning, etc. of wildlife species

Indirect manipulation

Altering the vegetation, water, soil, etc. of a habitat, which then affects the wildlife species

Ecological Principles

-Home range, survival, mortality, and reproductive rates

-Habitat use and availability

-NOT preference

-Habitat management + enhancement

Animal welfare

Species population health

Animal rights

Individual specimen health

Wildlife management (Leopold 1933)

"The art of making the land produce sustained annual crops of wild game for recreational use."

Wildlife management (Anderson 1999)

"The art and science of manipulating populations and habitats for the animals and human benefit."

Wildlife management (Robinson and Bolen)

"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."

What does wildlife management involve?

-Human population

-Human consumption

-Habitat and environmental stewardship

-Wildlife history traits

-Draws upon many fields and disciplines, including art and experience

Wildlife management triad

-Populations

-Habitats

-People (bio, eco, socio, and econ components. More socio and political than bio)

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT = PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

Paradigm/structural shift in wildlife management

-Historically, focus was on rural game species (hunting and fishing regulation)

-Now, broadened to include stakeholder interests, urban wildlife, and animal damage control

How has time changed in ways that affect wildlife management?

-Urbanization

-Development

-Fewer natural wild areas

-Expanding interaction between urban and rural areas

-Increased interaction between humans and animals

-Increased need for animal control and pest management

Linear resource management

-Assumes complete knowledge and understanding

-No feedback, nothing left to learn or alter

Adaptive resource management (ARM)

-Assumes incomplete knowledge

-Feedback needed, monitoring

-Management as "experiment" designed to gain reliable knowledge with dual objectives of doing and learning

-Used to set hunting seasons

Wildlife management (final definitions)

"Wildlife management is the use, maintenance, protection, control, and regulation of wildlife populations."

"Wildlife management is the art and science of reaching goals by manipulating and/or maintaining wildlife habitats and populations."

Aldo Leopold

-"Father" of wildlife management

-Professor at University of Wisconson, although from Iowa

-"Game Management" (1935)

-"A Sand County Almanac (Series of essays written in his shack, land ethic)

Land Ethic (Leopold)

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

"To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."

Wildlife belongs to the people

-American colonies rejected English law that declared wildlife to be owned by the king

-First appeared in court in 1842 - oyster bed in NJ - produced the public trust doctrine

-By law, a landowner cannot own wildlife

The reality of the freedom of wildlife

A landowner can privatize wildlife with no trespassing signs, high fences, barbed wire, captive cervids.

This undermines the public trust doctrine, because even if we all own wildlife, but we don't all own land.

How to fix the privatization of wildlife?

-Can't get rid of leases, so must do best with them. No perfect fix.

-Connect hunters with landowners (walk-in programs, block management)

-Tax break programs for landowners

-PROTECT PUBLIC LAND

-Do NOT allow wildlife to be reduced to livestock

Hunting opportunity for all

-Every citizen of the US can hunt

-Protected by 2nd Amendment

-Teddy Roosevelt started Conservation Movement in the 1800's, leading to State Agencies in the early 1930's followed by game stamps, PR and DJ Acts

-Hunters/fishers funding through duck stamp, PR dollars, licenses

Reality of hunting opportunity for all

-Hunting/fishing under pressure, even with over 20 million participants

-More money needed for conservation efforts

-Only people being taxed/actively funding programs are hunters and fishers - other nature enthusiasts use public lands but don't have mandatory investments

How to fix hunting opportunity for all?

-Expand PR dollars to tents, knives, optics, boots, etc.

-General sales tax for wildlife agencies (Missouri, Minnesota, Arkansas)

-Prevent landowners from selling tags/privatizing wildlife

Pittman-Robertson Act (1937)

-Added an 11% tax on guns and ammunition (including archery equipment and handguns)

-Revenue distributed amongst states depending on who contributed the most

-2 billion dollars from the feds

Scientific management

-Leopold first trained Wildlife Program in the 1930's

-Carrying capacity, habitat restoration, game recovery and stability

Reality of scientific management

-Politics, ballot initiatives, excessive public involvement

How to fix scientific management?

-Reform the Equal Access to Justice Act (Wildlife activists use this to sue agencies and collect state money)

-Engage the public with science over emotions

-Actively manage national forests

-Join groups that lobby with scientifically sound principles

Cont. at slide 31

Cont. at slide 31