Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences
Date of this Version
February 1991
Abstract
Strategies for managing wildlife damage may be divided into 3 broad categories: direct manipulation of populations, manipulation of behavioral or ecological traits of pest species, and manipulation of environmental features. For each of these categories, I review the importance of ecological considerations in determining the effectiveness of management strategies. Proper incorporation of ecological information is important to the success of management strategies in all 3 categories. I predict that future demands will increase for ecologically-based strategies that require minimal intervention, and for integration of management strategies that simultaneously address problems posed by both vertebrate and invertebrate pests. Several recent ecologically-based techniques are discussed, and pioneering efforts at comprehensive programs of integrated pest management are identified. Successful management of wildlife damage requires balancing ecological, sociological, and economic concerns. Attaining this balance in the future ultimately may depend upon our ability to develop new strategies of managing damage and to foster among the public an increased understanding of ecological processes pertaining to damage and its management.