WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
BASICS
S.T. Smallidge
Wildlife Specialist
NMSU-CES
Wildlife Defined:
• free-ranging undomesticated animals in
natural environments (Krausman 2002)
• living things and especially mammals,
birds, and fishes that are neither human
nor domesticated (Merriam-Webster Online 2011)
Rangelands Defined:
• Uncultivated land that will provide the
necessities of life for grazing and browsing
animals (Holechek et al. 2011)
Range Management Defined:
• Manipulation of rangeland components to obtain
the optimum combination of goods and services
for society on a sustained basis. (Holechek et al. 2011)
Wildlife Management Defined
• is the art and science of manipulating
populations and habitats for the animals
and for human benefit. (Anderson 2002)
Leopold’s Conceptual Model
Figure 8-1, Krausman 2002
2 FUNDAMENTAL STRATEGIES
HABITAT MANAGEMENT
Food
Water
Shelter
Space
POPULATION MANAGEMENT
Direct
Indirect
Wildlife Management
1) Managing Habitat
2) Managing Individuals in the Population
3) Managing people
A combination of methods used to manage wildlife
resources.
(Anderson 2002)
Basic goals of Wildlife Mgmt. (Krausman 2002)
1) Influence population to increase or decrease
2) Manage for harvest
3) Monitor the Population
Wildlife Management
Population Management
Habitat Management
1) Preservation
2) Direct Manipulation (Population)
3) Indirect Manipulation (Habitat)
(Bolen and Robinson 2003)
Population Management
Based on the assumed understanding of population growth.
Agencies that manage wildlife populations tend to manage
conservatively as data and associated estimates tend to be
imprecise.
Harvest is premised on the idea of compensatory mortality.
Figure 8-2, Krausman 2002
Demographics
Population Size or Abundance
Population Trend
Life Tables
Reproduction
Recruitment
Age Structure
Sex and Age Ratios
Juvenile Mortality
Adult Mortality
Cause-specific Mortality
Age Structure
Figure 5-2, Krausman 2002
HABITAT
Yarrow and Yarrow 2005
BIOLOGICAL YEAR
Herbivore Digestive Systems
Concentrate Selector
Intermediate Feeder
Bulk Feeder
Hofmann 1989
Hofmann 1989
Habitat Requirements
Species specific
– differ for elk, deer, sheep, turkeys, quail
“All the components necessary for reproduction
and survival are not the same for all species . . . “
(Krausman 2002)
Change throughout the year (quality and quantity)
Any time you manipulate habitat you make it better
for some species and worse for other species.
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PLANNING
1.Determine objectives and goals
2.Determine status of resource
3.Establish science-based management
strategies
4.Monitor to determine how close to
reaching goals and objectives. (Krausman
2002)
R. Schofield, Rancher
“The central thesis of game management is this:
game can be restored by the creative use of the
same tools which have heretofore destroyed it—
axe, plow, cow, fire and gun...The conservation
movement has sought to restore wild life by the
control of guns alone, with little visible success.
Management seeks the same end, but by more
versatile means.”
Aldo Leopold, Game Management, 1933
Sam Smallidge
Wildlife Specialist
[email protected]
575-646-5944
Extension Animal Sciences &
Natural Resources Department
Cooperative Extension Service, College of
Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences
Extension Wildlife Publications online:
http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_L