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Wildlife Ecology
What is Wildlife Management?
- the term “wildlife” usually refers to mammals and birds when speaking in the
context of wildlife biology (although technically, wildlife refers to all animals)
1940 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt combined the Bureau of Biological Survey
(concerned with mainly mammals and birds) with the Bureau of Fisheries
- the new agency was to be called the “US Wildlife Service”, but fishery scientists
felt they might be neglected under that name
- therefore, FDR added “and Fish” to the name to get “US Fish and Wildlife
Service”
- the term “management” implies influence and application of human manipulation
- the term “conservation” implies preserving organisms for future generations
- before the 1960’s, wildlife management was mainly game management – this is not
true today
- there is big difference how wildlife is viewed in the US/Canada versus Europe
- in Europe, animals are the legal property of the landowner
- in US and Canada, wildlife belongs to the people of the state or province; if the
species is migratory, it belongs to the nation
- maximum yield – take as much as you can (not so popular today)
- optimal yield – take less, take only what is best (optimal) to maintain the
population
- what wildlife managers do – read
- read and know what is meant by the terms wildlife management (p. 2-3) and
conservation (p.2)
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