Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences
Date of this Version
October 1997
Abstract
It is an honor to keynote this conference as we think about our profession in the next century. Jim asked me to predict what the future of wildlife damage management might look like in the year 2020. I explained to him that I have not been actively engaged in doing wildlife damage work for almost 9 years and I had been in an administrative role. Jim knew that I am going back to a faculty position in the next several months. He thought it was great for a person coming out of retirement to predict the future. Since I left my active work with ADC in 1989, many things have changed in our profession and it looks as if there will be many new concepts and tools on the horizon. However, to look to the future and speculate on what could be or might be is a daunting challenge. I knew I needed help! I immediately went to the administrator's practical guide for long range strategic planning concepts. I consulted the all knowing Swami, the great Carnac, and that never fail tool—the Ouija Board. I also consulted private practitioners, researchers, and biologists and asked them to star gaze with me. This talk is a mixture of all of the above—part fact, fantasy, fiction and fatalism.
Comments
Published in Proceedings of the Eighth Eastern Wildlife Damage Management Conference, Roanoke, Virginia, October 16–19, 1997, edited by James A. Parkhurst. Copyright © 1997 by the authors.