Wildlife Management

Devin Corey

Introduction

Wildlife management can be defined as the manipulation of wildlife populations and habitat to achieve a goal (Sargent and Carter, 1999).  Aldo Leopold defined game management as the art of making land produce sustained annual crops of wild game for recreational use.  Today state legislatures determine what animals are considered "game" within the state.  Wildlife does not have a universal meaning and its definition generally depends on the user.  Some definitions are listed below.  In general the wildlife profession defines wildlife as free-living plants and animals of major significance to humans.  The habitats that support these plants and animals are equally important because a species and its habitat are interlocked and cannot be properly considered properly.  Since wildlife belongs to the public, humans also have to be considered (Krausman, 2002).  The goal of wildlife management is generally to increase populations, but may also include decreasing or simply sustaining current populations.  Often management aims at balancing the benefits for both wildlife and humans in terms of habitat and land use.  It is also important to note that the manipulation of populations and habitat by wildlife managers also includes natural changes that occur over long periods of time.  Improving habitat is a common manipulation to improve a species population.  To do this managers must not only understand what the animal needs to live, but also how changing the habitat to benefit one species might effect others using the same habitat (Sargent and Carter, 1999).

Figure 2. New Haven River, VT (USDA Forest Service, 2004)

Wildlife Definitions

Definition presented by congress (1973):  "The term fish or wildlife means any member of the animal kingdom, including without limitation any mammal, fish, bird (including any migratory, non-migratory, or endangered bird for which protection is also afforded by treaty or international agreement), amphibian, reptile, mollusk, crustacean, arthropod or other invertebrate, and includes any part, product, egg, or off-spring thereof, or the dead body parts or parts thereof (Krausman, 2002)."

The Wildlife Society defines wildlife as "free-living animals of major significance to man (Krausman, 2002)."

The Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources defines wildlife as "any living creature, wild by nature, endowed with sensation and power of voluntary motion and including mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, which spend a majority of their life cycle on land (Maryland DNR, 2005)."

The Natural Resources Defense Council defines wildlife as "animals living in the wilderness without human intervention (NRDC, 2006)."