Where to find Wildlife Damage Management Information on the Web

Numerous government agencies, educational institutions and private operators and advocacy groups provide wildlife damage information on the Web. Chief among these Web sites are those provided by research and service organizations including the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service (CSREES), the USDA's Wildlife Services (WS) program, The Berryman Institute for Wildlife Damage Management, state natural resource and conservation agencies such as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, and animal rights and animal welfare groups such as the Fund for Animals and the Humane Society of the United States.

The primary federal agency is the USDA's Wildlife Services Program. Wildlife Services (WS) has a research function and an operational and technical assistance function. The National Wildlife Research Center is the research branch of Wildlife Services. Individual state and regional offices provide direct assistance to cooperators, stakeholders, and the general public. Research and operational activities of the WS program are presented on numerous Web sites.

At the state level, another program providing wildlife damage information within the USDA is the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES). The Extension Service is charged with identifying, developing, and managing programs to support university-based and other institutional research, education, and extension. Land-grant universities are state partners in CSREES.

Two major university-level research centers include the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management and Utah State's Berryman Institute for Wildlife Damage Management.

The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management (ICWDM) was funded partially through CSREES and is located on a server at the University of Nebraska. The ICWDM attempts to consolidate existing and future information on integrated pest management (IPM) in wildlife damage management. Its goal is to increase adoption of IPM practices in wildlife damage management by centralizing resources (Hygnstrom et al., 1998)

Utah State University's Berryman Institute for Wildlife Damage Management is a national organization whose mission is to "help create a world where neither wildlife nor humans have an adverse impact upon each other". The institute promotes development of new damage management techniques, enhances the positive values of wildlife, and provides information about issues and techniques to other professionals and the public. The Institute also assists state and federal agencies, promotes communication among wildlife damage management professionals and seeks to create educational opportunities for future and current professionals.

State game, fish & wildlife agencies (also called, variously, departments of natural resources, or divisions of wildlife) have legal authority over the wildlife resources in their respective states. Prior to 1970 these agencies were primarily concerned with anglers, hunters, and trappers. However, new "non-consumptive"constituencies or interest groups have increasingly demanded a voice in agency decision-making and funding for programs such as "Watchable Wildlife." Additionally, these state agencies are increasingly responsible for protecting wildlife and resources under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Endangered Species Act, and thus find themselves managing damage problems caused by wildlife.

To a lesser extent, other state agencies, such as departments of agriculture, or public health departments, though often functioning more in the regulatory or marketing arenas, find themselves facing wildlife damage management decisions when crops or human health are negatively impacted by wildlife. Other federal agencies such as the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Federal Aviation Administration (bird-aircraft strike hazards) promote various wildlife damage management activities.

Finally, wildlife damage management information can be found scattered throughout a diversity of Web sites including various industry groups (aquaculture, woolgrowers, etc.) negatively impacted by depredating wildlife, private advocacy groups (e.g., the Predator Conservation Alliance, the Fund for Animals) supporting various animal rights and animal welfare causes, species protection groups (e.g., the North American Bluebird Society, the Purple Martin Conservation Association that promote various damage management activities to protect individual species, and the private pest control industry that provides fee-based removal of problem animals or mitigating damage caused by overabundant species. Wildlife damage management information can be found scattered throughout these types of sites.

HYGNSTROM, S. E., SCHMIDT, R. H., CURTIS, P. D., & YARROW, G. K. (1998). Development of an Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management (html.www.ianr.unl/wildlife). Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference 18:420-421