Case Studies in Wildlife Conservation and Management

Purpose: To thoroughly discuss and learn the policy dynamics of national and state wildlife conservation through studies of specific wildlife conservation conflicts. The course will examine the intricacies and application to wildlife conservation of various federal laws and regulations including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Case studies detail policy issues involving the killing of migratory birds at communication towers, by longline fishing hooks, by pesticides, power lines, and by oil spills. The issue of wind energy and avian and bat mortality at turbines will be examined as will feral cats and impacts on birds and other wildlife. The deliberate and legally permissible take of fish-eating waterbirds will be discussed, as will the controversial control of exotic Mute Swans. Fishery management issues and management structures in law and regulations also will be examined, including the regulation of the harvest rockfish (Morone saxatilis) and oysters and of horseshoe crabs and the impact on shorebirds and other wildlife.

Guest lecturers are scheduled to discuss specific issues and include: Dr. John Grandy, The Humane Society of the U.S., and Jonathan McKnight, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, to present opposing views on the lethal control of Mute Swans in Chesapeake Bay; Dr. Kelly Brock, Navy Shrike recovery Co-ordinator, will discuss the extraordinary efforts by the U.S. Navy to save an endangered bird whose numbers had been reduced to less than 15 in the wild, the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike; Doug Forsell, U.S. FWS, will discuss gill nets used in fishing and their trapping diving ducks and seabirds; Bill Goldsborough, Fisheries Biologist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, will discuss menhaden management and the linkage to other species and other fisheries issues; and Dr. William McShea, Smithsonian Conservation & Research Center, Front Royal, VA, will discuss the impacts of high populations of white-tailed deer on other wildlife and the ecosystem.

Outline of Weekly Discussions:

I. Monday, January 30.

Chapter One: Introduction to Wildlife Management Policies, Laws, and Regulations.

A. Wildlife Management Principles, Discussion of Responsibilities and Missions of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

B. Federal Wildlife Management Laws.

Endangered Species Act of 1973, National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

C. Case Study in Wildlife Management and Application of MBTA and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act-The Moon Lake Case: Federal Prosecution of Electric Co-operative For Take of Eagles and other Raptors by Accidental Electrocution on Power Lines.

II. Monday, February 6.

Chapter Two: Conflicts in Invasive Species Management.

A. Mute Swan Control and Conflicts.

1. Panel Discussion: Dr. John Grandy, HSUS, and Jonathan McKnight, Maryland DNR: Is Lethal Control Necessary?.

2. Background and Conflicts in Mute Swan Management and the Impacts of the federal case of Hill v. Norton, 275 F.3d 98 (D.C. Circuit 2001).

3. MD Mute Swan Task Force Report and DNR Management Plan, Mute Swan Symposium Papers, Federal Policies, and NEPA Compliance Issues. The case of The Fund for Animals v. Norton, Civil Action No. ECF 03-1710 (U.S. District Court for DC 2003).

4. Federal Legislation Amending the MBTA to Exclude Nonnative Bird Species.

B. Nutria Control and Eradication.

III. Monday, February 13.

Chapter Three: Wind Energy and Birds and Bats.

A. Introduction to Wildlife/Wind Energy Issues with Power Point Presentation.

B. Impacts to Birds and Bats, GAO Report on Wind Power and Wildlife (2005) and Data on Wind Energy Environmental Benefits.

C. Federal State, and Conservation Group Wind Energy Policies and Federal and State Laws on Wind Energy.

D. Applying Sound Science and Wildlife Management Principles to Wind Energy

IV. Monday, February 20.

Chapter Four: Introduction to the ESA and Its Application: Case Study of the San Clemente Island Loggerhead Shrike.

A. Presentation on Shrike Recovery by Navy’s Shrike Co-ordinator, Dr. Kelly Brock.

B. Actions by Conservation Groups under the ESA, the Nay Response, and the ESA Biological Opinion of the U.S. FWS.

C. Recovery of Critically Endangered San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike and Navy’s Use of San Clemente Island as a Naval Weapons Bombardment Area.

D. Efforts to Control Invasive San Clemente Island Predators.

E. Feral Cats-Policies, Laws, and Impacts on ESA-listed Species.

V. Monday, February 27.

Chapter Five: Seabird Mortality in Fisheries--Application of ESA, NEPA, and MBTA.

A. The Problem of Longline Fisheries and Seabird Mortality–Background and Data.

B. Wildlife and Fisheries Management Conflicts and Measures to Prevent Seabird Bycatch–Case Studies in Alaska and Hawaii Longline Fisheries.

C. International Treaties, Conventions, and Protocols on Longline Seabird Bycatch.

D. Trawl Fisheries and Seabirds.

E. Guest lecturer: Doug Forsell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Coastal Gill Net Fisheries Bycatch of Diving Ducks and Seabirds.

VI. Monday, March 6.

Chapter Six: Communication Towers and Avian Mortality.

A. Comprehensive Power Point Presentation on Bird Kills at Towers.

B. Issues Related to the Data, Science, and Management of Bird Kills at Towers.

C. Application of NEPA, ESA, MBTA, and FCC Laws and Policies to Millions of Bird Fatalities at Towers Annually.

D. Litigation and Administrative Appeals Against the FCC, Including the Case of ESA-listed Newell’s Shearwater and Hawaiian Petrels and Towers.

E. Solutions.

VII. Monday, March 13.

Chapter Seven: Pesticide Regulation and Wildlife.

A. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and Its Application.

B. Monocrotophos and the Deaths of Thousands of Swainson’s Hawks.

C. Fenthion and the Killing of ESA-listed Piping Plovers and other Birds.

C. Brodifacoum (D-Con) and the Poisoning of Humans and Wildlife.

D. Carbofuran and the Poisoning of Bald Eagles and other Birds.

VIII. Monday, March 27.

Chapter Eight: Conflicts in Fisheries Management and Fish-eating Waterbirds.

A. Caspian Terns and Salmon Conflicts in the Columbia River (OR/WA) and the Case of. National Audubon Society et al v. Butler, No. C00-615R, (U. S. District Court for the Western District of Washington August 7, 2001).

B. Deliberate Government Killing of Tens of Thousands of Fish-eating Waterbirds--Cormorants, Terns, Herons, Egrets, Gulls, Mergansers, and Others.

C. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Double-crested Cormorant Depredation Orders and the Escalated Take of Cormorants Application of Sound Science.

D. Aquaculture and Wildlife Management.

IX. Monday, April 3.

Chapter Nine: Management of Horseshoe Crabs and the Linkage to Shorebirds, Loggerhead Turtles, and Finfish.

A. Horseshoe Crab Biology, Population Dynamics, and Spawning.

B. The History of Harvest and Regulation.

C. The Importance of Conservation of the Delaware Bay Population to Many other Wildlife Species.

D. Development of Alternative and Synthetic Bait for Use in Conch and Eel Fisheries.

X. Monday, April 10.

Chapter Ten: Dynamics of Fisheries Management.

A. Rockfish (Striped Bass--morone saxatilis) Management: A Success Story.

B. Oyster Management in the Chesapeake Bay and the Linkage to Bay Water Quality..

C. Blue Crab Management in the Chesapeake Bay.

D. Menhaden Management and its Critical linkage in the Food Chain.

E. Guest Lecturer Bill Goldsborough, Fisheries Biologist for the Chesapeake Bay

Foundation, will discuss menhaden management and other fisheries issues.

XI. Monday, April 17.

Chapter Eleven: Conflicts in Management of Over-Abundant and other Species

A. White-tailed Deer.

B. Resident Canada Geese.

C. Vultures.

D. Black Bear Management.

XII. Monday, April 24.

Chapter Twelve: Preventing Extinctions: Restoration of Island Habitat and Removal of Introduced Predators and other Invasive Species.

A. Restoration of 30 Pacific Coast Islands in Mexico and U.S.

B. Case Study of Black Rat Removal from Anacapa island (CA).

C. Lead Paint Poisoning of Laysan Albatrosses--Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

XIII. Monday, May 1.

Discussion: Resolving Conflicts in and the Future of Wildlife Management.

XIV. Monday, May 8.

Presentation of Student Research Papers on Case Studies in Wildlife Management.

A. Presentations by Students.

B. Discussion - Questions and Answers.

XV. Monday, May 15.

Final Exam.

*Attendance at a legislative, administrative, or court hearing on a wildlife related policy issue is required.

“The real problem of game management is not how we should handle [wildlife]...the real problem is one of human management.” Aldo Leopold, the father of wildlife management, (1943).