8th International Wildlife Ranching Symposium
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The 8th International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, Congress for Wildlife and Livelihoods on Private and Communal Lands: Livestock, Tourism, and Spirit, was held on September 7-12, 2014 in Estes Park, Colorado to encourage actions toward issues and opportunities involving private lands, their owners/operators, and cooperating public and private agencies, organizations, and businesses. These digital collections include plenary presentations, topical presentations on the nine symposium themes, Jed's Corner (attendee interviews with puppet Jedediah Johnston), a Blue Valley Ranch field trip video, the congress summary, and the final program and abstracts.
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Item Open Access A new era of harvest on private lands in the USA: when should we manage pheasants like fish?(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Powell, Larkin, speaker; van Hoven, Wouter, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerHunters on public and private lands in the USA are regulated by harvest and possession limits. Wildlife managers rarely design spatially-explicit regulations or quotas for individual properties. Two policies on private lands could affect local harvest dynamics: fee hunting and guided hunting on private lands, and payments by states to private landowners to obtain Open Access rights for public use. These could result in higher levels of harvest on specific parcels of privately owned land, suggesting the need for new methods to prevent over-harvest. A third dynamic may have synergistic effects: fragmentation of private forests, wetlands, and grasslands has increased to the point that dispersal of game animals could be affected. I used spatial simulations to show how animals such as northern bobwhite, deer, and ring-necked pheasants can be legally over-harvested when multiple parties hunt the same parcel of land. During scenarios based on observed rates of use on Open Access-type lands in Nebraska, male pheasants were not predicted to survive the hunting season, and over 85% of female pheasants were illegally harvested when error rates were 1% per hunting party. Spatial modeling suggests that the level of fragmentation in eastern Nebraska does not allow the dispersal of pheasants to repopulate depleted areas. Shorter hunting seasons and state-supported monitoring should be implemented on Open Access lands that have high use potential. Also, landowners who engage in fee hunting should have their lands monitored to establish suggested harvest levels or quotas to protect the public resource.Item Open Access Habitat partnership program: "Local solutions to local problems"(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Tucker, Pat, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerThe Habitat Partnership Program, since the early 1990's has been utilizing local committees to reduce wildlife conflicts, particularly those associated with forage and fences to assist the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) in meeting game management goals. The program develops partnerships between landowners, land managers, sportsmen, the public and CPW. Local committees are made up from local representatives from the livestock and crop producer community, a sportsman representative, an employee from each of the following agencies; U.S Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and other local specialists. HPP is authorized by the Colorado State Legislature and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.Item Open Access Human and wildlife conflicts(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Clark, Larry, speaker; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerThe National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) is the research arm of the USDA's Wildlife Services program. The NWRC is charged with developing methods to resolve conflicts between humans and wildlife, spanning the areas of agriculture and natural resource protection, invasive species, wildlife disease, and product development. The broad scope of the NWRC missions illustrates the various levels wildlife interact with human activities, both positively and negatively. It is when the latter occurs that the NWRC becomes engaged to develop methods in a socially sensitive and responsible way to resolve those conflicts. NWRC scientists address issues in a multidisciplinary manner ranging from molecular and analytical chemical disciplines to ecological and wildlife management approaches. Regardless of the scientific approach, NWRC also address risks and solutions to problems within the social and economic context of management, public policy, and various public-private perspectives. Examples illustrating the range and integration of approaches will be discussed.Item Open Access Conservation policy needs for privately owned grasslands(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Manes, Robert, speaker; Riley, Terry, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, publisherThe concept of affecting conservation at large scales is relatively simple: If strategies can be applied across traditional boundaries, then fragmenting effects of development and land management can be ameliorated for species that rely on large and intact habitats. The challenge, however, is that landscapes have multiple ownerships and land uses, and conservation entities often are insular. Individual organizations and agencies often lack resources, expertise, authority, and relationships essential to success. Agencies, non-government organizations, and landowners may exist in the same geographies without developing cooperative relationships necessary for large-scale conservation. Three case studies illustrate how this can be overcome. Common success factors include strong partnerships between government, non-government organizations, and landowners; and building broad recognition of the projects' merit. The case studies examined here include Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, Fortin Chacabuco Ranch near the Argentina-Chile border, and eastern Kansas' Flint Hills. In each case, the need for large-scale conservation is illuminated by one or more wide-ranging non-migratory species, and by a still-intact ecosystem that is significantly diminished across its former geographic expression. Also, in each case, conservation success resulted from either purposeful, or initially chance, cooperation between government agencies, NGOs, funders, and private landowners. This cooperation precipitated support for the projects, but also understanding among diverse and sometimes opposing interests. The purpose of this presentation is to strengthen the conservation community's ability to strategically and purposefully form and deploy the alliances necessary to achieve lasting large-scale conservation.Item Open Access Introductions to congress and important issues(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Benson, Delwin E., speaker; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerDr. Benson addresses the Congress participants asking them the consider the "spirit of things" (i.e. the spirit of wanting to recognize the values of private sector, communal sector, and the problems that happen with those lands and their solutions) in regards to nature conservation and wildlife management as part of their livelihoods. Dr. Benson provides a brief description of the plenary sessions to be held during the Congress.Item Open Access An overview of private lands programs, past and present(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Morgan, Ken, speaker; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, publisherSince the inception of the Colorado Division of Wildlife over 100 years ago (now Colorado Parks and Wildlife), wildlife managers have depended on developing and maintaining working relationships with private landowners to assist with the management of the state's wildlife resources. Over the past 50 years, there has been an exponential increase in population in the state, which has created more demand on the resources, Additionally, Congress has created more regulations through various legislative initiatives i.e. the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, etc. These factors have hampered the ability of state wildlife managers to work cooperatively with private landowners. In many cases these issues became very contentious. It was evident that programmatic approaches to working with private landowners needed to be addressed and changed. This session will give a brief overview of some of the more successful initiatives as well as serving as a basis of the presentations which will follow.Item Open Access Evaluating wetland condition in urban Denver(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Smith, Gabrielle, speaker; Kuhn, Bernadette, speaker; Smith, Pam, speaker; Sueltenfuss, Jeremy, speaker; Anderson, David, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerDenver's urban wetlands are poorly mapped, understudied as critical wildlife habitat, and perpetually subject to frequent anthropogenic disturbance. As Denver County continues to lead the state in population growth, current information on the location and status of these wetlands is needed for city planners, land managers, and the public to prioritize conservation and restoration efforts. Our team conducted field-based wetland assessments at 27 sites within Denver County, as well 4 several locations in Denver's Mountain Parks. We used NatureServe's Environmental Integrity Assessment framework, a multi-metric index based on four major scoring categories: landscape context, biotic condition, hydrologic condition, and physiochemical condition. In addition, we used 2010 color infrared imagery to create an updated National Wetland Inventory GIS layer of wetlands in Denver County. NWI maps have not been updated for the County since 1985. We used our results to create a list of prioritized wetlands for conservation and restoration. Despite the poor ecological condition of most sites, our team identified urban wetlands with high plant diversity, rare plant species, and even a rare amphibian occurrence. Our results suggest that although the majority of these wetlands are highly disturbed, they provide critical refuges for wildlife and plant diversity in an otherwise developed landscape.Item Open Access Climate change vulnerability and adpatation strategies for natural communities: pioloting methods in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Comer, Patrick, speaker; Morisette, Jeffrey, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerLand managers need a better understanding of factors that contribute to climate change (CC) vulnerability of the natural resources they manage in order to formulate adaptation strategies. They also need more opportunities to collaborate with neighboring managers and stakeholders to develop common adaptation strategies. Analysis of natural communities shared across land ownerships provides one mechanism for this collaboration. NatureServe worked with public and private partners in the U.S. and Mexico to conduct CC vulnerability assessments of major upland and aquatic community types in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts. This project piloted a new Habitat Climate Change Vulnerability Index (HCCVI), drawing on data from other research efforts. The HCCVI aims to implement a series of measures addressing climate change exposure and ecological resilience for each community type for its distribution within a given ecoregion. The combined relative scores for exposure and resilience determine the categorical estimate of climate change vulnerability by the year 2060 (i.e., 50 years into the future) for a community type. While the overall index score should be useful for regional and national priority-setting and reporting, the results of these individual analyses also provide insight for local managers for climate change adaptation. In this pilot effort, field specialists were gathered in a workshop setting to refine the assessments, clarify their thinking on CC scenarios and stressors, and document potential strategies along a continuum from immediate 'no regrets' actions to 'anticipated' or 'wait and watch' actions to monitor. By focusing on major natural community types, pragmatic strategies were identified.Item Open Access Increasing scale and effectiveness of private land conservation(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Pague, Chris, speaker; Sanderson, John, speaker; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerThe importance of private lands for conservation is increasingly apparent. Private landowners and wildlife managers face many challenges as they work to maintain the ecological, economic and social integrity of these lands. For many years The Nature Conservancy conserved private lands by purchasing them and then establishing nature preserves or transferring lands to public agencies. During the past two decades, conservation easements have become firmly established as the transactional tool of choice for conserving private lands. These tools for land protection remain valuable, yet they are insufficient, in part because the cost of buying land or easements far outstrips the availability of funding sources. There is substantial need and opportunity to develop financial and management tools and techniques that advance agricultural, economic, and conservation outcomes on private lands at a scale that effectively conserves whole landscapes and the species they contain. The Nature Conservancy is investing in several novel approaches, including multi-part transactions that incorporate much greater acreages than traditional transactions, enhancing both economic opportunity and conservation outcomes; increasingly sophisticated conservation easements that foster negotiations with energy developers; market-based sustainable grazing agreements between agricultural producers and buyers; and community-based land management programs that enhance both conservation and economic returns. Working in collaboration with private landowners, state and federal agencies, and academic researchers, we are analyzing vulnerabilities of private lands and demonstrating adaptation strategies that may increase resilience of socio-ecological systems including private lands.Item Open Access Is intensive breeding of color variations in game achieving triple bottom line profits for all?(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Nel, Lizanne, speaker; Dry, Gert, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerPrivate landowners in South Africa have, for decades, derived sustainable income from the use of indigenous biodiversity through ecotourism and hunting. These benefits provide incentives to conserve biodiversity and private landowners "protect" more than double the area of proclaimed protected areas and they contribute substantially to achievement of national conservation targets. Recent trends in wildlife ranching however include selective breeding of indigenous game species to produce extraordinary trophy animals based on either unusual colour variations or trophy quality. These animals are sold either as breeding stock or directly for trophy hunting. Breeding is generally done in intensive or semi-extensive environments to faciltate selective breeding and to reduce production risks. Financial returns on certain atypical wildlife species have been exceptionally high and they run the risk of becoming a financial commodity. Conservation agencies and certain groups within the wildlife industry have raised concerns about the potential negative impacts that this commercialisation of wildlife can have on biodiversity integrity and associated industries. Another view is however that these activities contribute to the development of a sustainable green economy. Mainstream sustainable development thinking dictates that activities only have a long-term value to humanity if their benefits continuously outweigh the social and environmental costs of generating that value. This paper discusses intensive and selective breeding of indigenous wildlife, in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability to guide our thinking in a complex, multi-disciplinary reality in order to determine the benefits and/or risks to current and future generations as wildlife is a common heritage of the people of South Africa.Item Open Access Game ranching in South Africa: biodiversity conservation or agriculture?(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Reilly, Brian, speaker; van Hoven, Wouter, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerSouth Africa is unique in having created an extensive game ranching industry across a wide range of indigenous ungulates to pachyderms and even large predators. From small beginnings by a handful of private landowners and forward thinking conservationists this industry now encompasses approximately 17% of the countries land surface area and herds may number as many as 20 million ungulates. The industry has an annual turnover exceeding a billion USD and is a significant contributor to the burgeoning green economy that includes ecotourism, hunting and many allied industries such as fencing, infrastructure and equipment as well as a host of consultants and practitioners from veterinarians, translocators, ecologists and other professionals. The industry has contributed significantly to the conservation of a number of species such as white rhino, black wildebeest, sable and roan antelope and a number of meta-populations are now biased towards private land more than in official protected areas. The industry has now reached a crossroads in terms of its divergence into more specialized intensive breeding of species for specific traits such as trophy size and colour variation and a departure in many instances from the official conservation objectives of the country. This paper will discuss the current status and position of the industry in relation to the official conservation stance and unbundle the contributory factors to the threatening conflict between the conservation fraternity and game ranching industry. The paper will further propose potential ways forward in dealing with this unique state of affairs in South Africa considering that communal lands and many commercial farmers consider wildlife a viable option for the future.Item Open Access WPS's approach to Sumatran Rhino conservation in Indonesia(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Schmidt, Eric, speaker; van Hoven, Wouter, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerWildlife Protection Solutions (WPS) is an international non-profit group dedicated to the conservation of endangered species. Our current focus is on the five species of rhinos, with a special emphasis on creating habitat and breeding programs that will allow rhino populations to grow faster than they are being poached. We relocate rhinos and then combine proven field methods with the latest remote sensing and drone technologies to protect endangered species.Item Open Access Biodiversity conservation on private and communal lands(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Sueltenfuss, Jeremy, speaker; Anderson, David, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerHow are we doing in conserving Colorado's Biodiversity? How much of it is left? Are there landscapes in Colorado where we still have the basic fabric intact to conserve entire systems? Are there hotspots where actions are more urgent than others? Are there species and places that we've successfully conserved through our actions? What role might private lands play in the big picture for conserving Colorado's biodiversity, now and in the future? What strategies are most likely to be effective given what remains? These are some of the many big questions that The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) have worked to answer collaboratively. Our efforts, which culminated in the publication of the State of Colorado's Biodiversity, began as a way to support TNC's Measures of Success Program, but we soon realized that answering these questions would benefit leaders, managers, decision makers, as well as the general public and the private landowners in whose hands so much of our sustainable future rests. With an emphasis on private lands, we will share the results of this work, examine how it is being implemented broadly to support conservation statewide, and how it is serving as a model for other such efforts.Item Open Access Supporting landscape-scale planning with decision support toolkits(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Crist, Patrick, speaker; Anderson, David, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerConservation decisions often come down to actions by individual private landowners, whether it be acquisition of easements, land or development rights; outreach and education, assistance with restoration, etc. To target the locations that will offer the most conservation benefit, it is useful to put decisions into a larger landscape context. A broader context can help identify areas that can conserve the most valuable areas with least conflicts and perhaps lower cost; in other words, a larger context provides more options. However, there is often a disconnect between conservation plans developed at broad scales of landscapes or ecoregions and implementation that must happen at the site scale. This disconnect can happen for many reasons, one being that broad-scale plans are often developed using coarser data or planning units that may not be informative to site-level decision making. This presentation will illustrate with real-world examples the application of decision support toolkits that are able to support both landscape-scale assessment and prioritization, and site-level decision making. This is accomplished through the use of a framework planning tool, NatureServe Vista that, unlike many conservation tools, retains data in its source resolution. Vista can facilitate cumulative effects assessment and landscape prioritization; then be used to explore, assess, and plan actions for individual sites. In this presentation we will illustrate the multi-scale application for both coastal and inland areas.Item Open Access Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Hughes, John, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerDespite a successful captive propagation and reintroduction program, the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) remains one the most endangered mammals in North America due to widespread lethal control of prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.), diseases such as sylvatic plague and canine distemper, and conversion of rangeland to row crop agriculture. Black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced at 22 separate sites throughout the Great Plains and Intermountain West, primarily on public lands. Private rangelands throughout the Great Plains, the historic core of black-footed ferret range, represent a unique opportunity to recover the species, provided that regulatory concerns, financial incentives, disease management, and prairie dog management issues can be addressed to the satisfaction of private landowners, agricultural producer groups, and local governments. We provide an update on the implementation of the Black-footed Ferret Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement in the Great Plains, its potential future use, and an update on ongoing challenges to black-footed ferret recovery rangewide.Item Open Access Critical ecosystem profile for the tropical Andes - engaging civil society to conserve a biodiversity hotspot(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Comer, Patrick, speaker; Anderson, David, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerThe Tropical Andes is among the top of the list of worldwide hotspots for endemic species. This region also supports exceptional cultural diversity and large populations of indigenous peoples. Home to some of the earliest recorded human civilizations, the Andes are also where numerous crops, including potatoes, beans, quinoa, amaranth, tobacco, and coca were first domesticated. Indigenous populations today play important roles in economic activities, politics, and land use and stewardship, and therefore can be important allies in biodiversity conservation. This biodiversity hotspot is identified as one of the most severely threatened areas in the tropics. The numerous threats to the tropical Andes' biodiversity have been compounded in recent years by the manifold impacts of climate change. A Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) aims to ensure that civil society is engaged in efforts to conserve biodiversity in the hotspots, and to this end, CEPF provides civil society with an agile and flexible funding mechanism complementing funding currently available to government agencies. In 2013, CEPF began exploring an investment program in the Tropical Andes Hotspot, extending from Venezuela to northern Argentina. NatureServe led a team to delineate Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) areas in most critical need of protection to limit species extinction. Regional threats analyses and workshops were conducted, documenting strategies for civil society to pursue around each KBA. CEPF promotes working alliances among community-based organizations (CBOs), nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), government, academic institutions and the private sector, combining unique capacities and eliminating duplicative efforts for a comprehensive approach to conservation.Item Open Access Opportunities and challenges to energy development on a ranch in western Colorado - developing a model for conservation and mixed use(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Stewart, Scott, speaker; Belinda, Steve, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerThe High Lonesome Ranch (HLR) is a privately owned ranch of 38,000 deed acres and an additional 205,000 acres of leased public land in western Colorado. In 2011 the HLR and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) entered into an agreement to work together towards a model approach to how energy development can be planned and implemented at landscape level to achieve a better balance between energy and other values. Though the implementation of the TRCP's 'FACTS for Fish and Wildlife' recommendations and working with stakeholders under a process that identifies and plans for current and future needs for everyone, we believe that the conflict that exists in many other areas can be reduced or eliminated. Plans are developed and implemented for landscapes not projects or individual wells and through mitigation (Avoidance, minimization and compensation) a 'net conservation benefit' can be achieved while producing energy resources. HLR is also employing the use of conservation tools through federal and state agencies for the management of focal species (sage grouse, mule deer) and be the first ranch in Colorado to have a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances for greater sage grouse that addresses all threats to the species. HLR believes it is their responsibility to manage energy and wildlife to benefit all current and future needs with a proactive approach that prevents conflict on the entire 400 square mile landscape.Item Open Access What makes a hunting experience memorable?(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Saayman, Melville, speaker; van der Merwe, Peet, speaker; van Hoven, Wouter, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerGrowth in the number of game farms and hunting lodges (operators) in Southern Africa has created fierce competition amongst these hunting operations. In order to remain competitive it is important to determine what hunters regard as important in order to have a memorable experience. The literature review revealed that different markets (hunters) have different expectations and needs and for that reason the purpose of this paper is to determine the aspects that contribute to a memorable experience of foreign (trophy) hunters who hunted in South Africa in 2013. In addition the paper will also determine which socio demographic and behavioural variables influence memorability. This was achieved by conducting a structured questionnaire survey and the results are of high importance to hunting operators and product developers alike. It is also the first time that such a study is conducted amongst South African international hunters.Item Open Access SYSMAS: a handy software to manage by SMS & Web interface notifications on HWC & other wildlife events…(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Le Bel, Sébastien, speaker; Chavernac, David, speaker; Breck, Stewart, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerHuman-wildlife conflicts have drastically increased around conservation areas in Africa in recent decades, thus undermining the peaceful cohabitation of wildlife populations and rural human settlements. Mitigation packages include various reporting forms, which are often ineffective since the information conveyed is generally scattered and useless. The booming mobile phone sector and the popular use of text messages (SMS) have provided an opportunity to assess the impact of real-time communication systems in human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies. After preliminary tests conducted in Mozambique and Zimbabwe with FrontlineSMS, we improved the recording and transfer of raw information generated at field level with the development of an integrated system called SYSMAS. Apart from improving the quality of wildlife based information, SYSMAS was developed as a handy management tool informing in real time decision makers and easy to upload even without specific computer skills. This paper details how easy any human-wildlife conflict incident or wildlife event can be translated into a set of explanatory variables and captured on mobile phones with ad-hoc SMS models. According to local communication facilities, real-time sharing of the information could be achieved directly through a Web interface or via SMS; this last been more handy in remote African farmland. Once adopted, such a human-wildlife conflict early warning system could be deployed at low cost. The same approach could be promoted for the establishment of reporting systems on wildlife disease outbreaks.Item Open Access A legacy of ranching and conservation(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Davis, Russell, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producerRussell Davis, a rancher, has been at the forefront of private lands wildlife conservation for the past 12 years, beginning with his involvement in mountain plover research and continuing with short grass prairie conservation. His family was awarded the Landowner of the Year Award from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Sand County Foundation Leopold Stewardship Award. Russell will be discussing his involvement with Colorado programs and his involvement with Partners for Conservation. Partners for Conservation is a private landowner organization which communicates and collaborates on conservation partnerships for working landscapes to benefit present and future generations. To date, the organization has 90 partners, representing 18 states and has hosted six Annual Private Lands/Partners Day conferences bringing together landowners and agency partners.