What is this thing called WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT?

Hedmark University College Campus Evenstad

Norway

Tomas Willebrand Professor in Applied Ecology Swedish Hunters Association Swedish University of

Agricultural Sciences

Wildlife species – not a precise definition

§ Game – wildlife that is hunted for sport (English) § More than species that are harvested § All wild birds and mammal § All wild mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians

§ Norway: But not marine mammals

Wildlife Management

§ Wildlife laws and management in Mongolia by Ginghis Kahn (1250 AD) § Hunting season § Winter feeding

North-America Norway/Sweden

Who is responsible?

§ State is responsible, also for practical management

§ Wildlife is owned by everybody

§ Professional wildlife biologists

§ Top-Down system § NGO’s?

§ State set principles § Landowner have hunting

rights (no one owns wildlife) § Fewer professional wildlife

biologists § Bottom-up system § Many NGO’s

Aldo Leopold, 1933

§ Game management and forestry grow natural species in an environment not greatly altered for the purpose in hand, relaying on partial control of a few factors to enhance the yield above what unguided nature would produce.

Aldo Leopold, 1933

§ Game management and forestry grow natural species in an environment not greatly altered for the purpose in hand, relaying on partial control of a few factors to enhance the yield above what unguided nature would produce.

Aldo Leopold, 1933

§ Game management and forestry grow natural species in an environment not greatly altered for the purpose in hand, relaying on partial control of a few factors to enhance the yield above what unguided nature would produce.

Aldo Leopold, 1933

§ Game management and forestry grow natural species in an environment not greatly altered for the purpose in hand, relaying on partial control of a few factors to enhance the yield above what unguided nature would produce.

Aldo Leopold, 1933

§ Their controls are barley visible; an observer, unless he was an expert, could see no difference between managed and unmanaged terrain.

Definitions

§ Game Management is the art of making land produce sustained annual crops of wild game for recreational use (A. Leopold)

§ Wildlife management is the human actions to reach a specified goal to either conserve, increase, harvest or limit wild populations. (DN, Norway)

§ Wildlife management attempts to balance the needs of wildlife with the needs of people using the best available science. (Wikipedia)

Population Management: the options

§  Increase § Decrease § Sustainable harvest § Monitoring – stewardship

Leve

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Full control. Regulate species

Mitigation. Counteract human impact

Protection. Support natural balance

Conservation Ecology – same wine in a new bottle?

§ Living things in the environment § How human activities augment or impair § Maintaining or restoring habitats § Population concept not always useful § Support natural patterns in biodiversity

Controllability & Understanding

In theory – Different roles

§ Monitoring is the common denominator

§ Population trends are central §  Index

§  Bag statistics §  Pellet counts

§ Cost-efficient ?

WILDLIFEWILDLIFE

POLICYPOLICY

MANAGE

MENT

MANAGE

MENT

RESEARCH

RESEARCH

Mosaic of values awareness is needed

Hunters

Ornithologists Other Users

Where are you?

Cause and effectIncreasing certainty

Plain

bureaucracyInvestig

ation

Evaluatio

n

Negotiatio

nCONFLICT!

?

Des

ired

Goa

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