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Private Work with Wildlife and People in the United States

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/100292
This digital collection includes presentations given at the 8th International Wildlife Ranching Symposium held in 2014 for the symposium theme: Private Work with Wildlife and People in the United States.

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    A legacy of ranching and conservation
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Davis, Russell, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    Russell 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.
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    An overview of private lands programs, past and present
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Morgan, Ken, speaker; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, publisher
    Since 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.
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    Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Hughes, John, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    Despite 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.
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    Building connections to wild places with remote viewing technologies
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Ramsey, Alan, speaker; Stone, Kate, speaker; Ramsey, Phil, speaker; Larkin, Beau, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    Remote viewing technologies allow new ways to maintain connections between people and wild places. In this presentation we will discuss a suite of technologies that enable viewers to learn about conservation efforts and research underway at MPG Ranch, near Florence, Montana. MPG Ranch is a conservation philanthropy devoted to improving restoration practice and developing ecological knowledge. Web interfaces, live view cameras, and motion sensing cameras are used to share the information we learn and gain insights into the habits of wildlife.
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    Colorado habitat exchange
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Fankhauser, Terry, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    The Colorado Habitat Exchange gives ranchers a new return on investment for stewarding wildlife and land resources. To address the issue of moving toward energy security without doing irreparable damage to wildlife and the landscapes on which they depend, the Colorado Habitat Exchange will create the incentives needed for all parties to act now and avoid the need to list wildlife species. The program enables those who impact habitat to create financial opportunities for those who can provide or improve habitat. The Colorado Habitat Exchange establishes a structured, transparent infrastructure for those types of habitat exchanges to work. The objectives are to provide a standardized set of tools and protocols to quantify habitat and species benefits from restoration activities provide a registry that tracks benefits and reports on progress towards achieving permit requirements and conservation goals, establish a trading platform for credits and to provide regulatory assurances for participating private landowners and development interests.
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    Habitat partnership program: "Local solutions to local problems"
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Tucker, Pat, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    The 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.
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    Managing the public's wildlife on private lands: a landowner's perspective
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Simons, Greg, speaker; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    History of wildlife in the United States is one that witnessed remarkable recovery of many species of wildlife during the 20st century, after a major collapse during the preceding century. The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation articulates principles that reflect the basis for recovery and continued success of wildlife in the U.S., with wildlife as a public trust resource often being described as the foundation tenet of this conservation model. Public ownership of wildlife has roots which perhaps date back to ancient English and Roman common law, with such ownership premises in the U.S. dating back to 1842 where Martin v. Waddell affirmed this ownership. When considering that over 60% of land in this country is privately owned, there is potential for what some may consider a conflict in the relationship of managing and conserving the publicly owned wildlife that is found on private land. It must also be recognized that in many areas of most states, private lands stewardship is the driver of ensuring sustainable wildlife habitats on those lands. It is the author's opinion, based on observation, that incentivizing private landowners as caretakers of wildlife, should be part of this relationship equation. One component of such incentivizing should be encouraging wildlife markets, while also protecting ownership principles of public trust. Further, relationship building between private landowners and natural resource agencies is crucial in maintaining conservation success in private lands regions, and part of such relationship building is providing landowners with a regulatory framework that is friendly toward the needs and goals of those landowners, while also maintaining balance that encourages wise use of the resource.
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    No good deed goes unpunished: removing barriers to wildlife conservation on private lands
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Danvir, Rick, speaker; Allison, Lesli, moderator; Taggart, Craig, moderator; Danvir, Rick, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    Contrary to common perception, many private landowners across the West have a strong conservation ethic and an interest in helping to advance species recovery, including threatened and endangered species. Conservation efforts by private landowners are essential to the management, restoration and preservation of key wildlife movement corridors and habitats across the West. Unfortunately, many landowners fail to realize their desired conservation and economic goals. On occasion, their efforts can best be summed up as "No good deed goes unpunished." State and local agricultural tax policies, inflexible public-lands grazing policies on comingled private-public grazing allotments, inflexible and incompatible forest management practices on public-private land interfaces, lawsuits and appeals from environmental groups, and liability concerns from neighboring landowners are a few of the challenges impeding landowner participation and success in wildlife management and species recovery efforts. Case studies from private ranches in the western U.S. provide examples where county, state and federal policies and perceptions (water, tax, planning and endangered species policies) at times stifle creativity and hinder landowner-initiated efforts to improve management of livestock, rangelands, forests, wildlife and habitat. By reviewing these case studies, we hope to highlight how some policies (such as water laws, grazing and logging-tax requirements) act as barriers or disincentives to voluntary landowner conservation. Our goal is develop policies that facilitate, incentivize and reward voluntary conservation by landowners.
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    Partners for fish and wildlife program
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Noonan, Bill, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    The Partners program, since the mid-1980's, has been developing and maintaining positive working relationships with landowners to benefit fish and wildlife resources. Such activities have resulted in tremendous on-the-ground habitat restoration and enhancement accomplishments that contribute to the Service's federal trust resource mission and instill in our partners an even greater appreciation for fish, wildlife and the habitats upon which they depend. All of this is being accomplished in a voluntary manner. The program provides both technical and financial assistance to private landowners to achieve on-the-ground habitat restoration projects.
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    Private, wild working lands: important settings for conserving imperiled species
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Phillips, Mike, speaker; Allison, Lesli, moderator; Taggart, Craig, moderator; Danvir, Rick, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    Over 60% of the United States is held in private ownership. These holdings include some of the country's most productive lands and are often managed as working landscapes. Notably, the security of over 80% of the nation's imperiled species depends wholly or in part on private land. Private landowners have, however, been somewhat reluctant to support efforts on behalf of imperiled species based on myriad concerns, especially perceived regulatory restrictions related to the Endangered Species Act. In 1997 the Turner Endangered Species Fund and Turner Biodiversity Divisions were launched to conserve nature by ensuring the persistence of imperiled species and their habitats with an emphasis on private working lands owned by R. E. Turner. Since inception the Fund and the Divisions have been involved in a number of successful conservation efforts, including controversial reintroduction projects that aimed to restore viable populations of imperiled plants, birds, fishes, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. We are currently developing a conservation effort on behalf of a critically imperiled invertebrate. The organizations now stand as the most important private efforts in the world to arrest the extinction crisis. Our work has generated easily understood outcomes that stand as irrefutable evidence that private working landscapes can be used to advance the prospects of rare and vanishing species.
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    Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory: stewardship, education, science
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Gallagher, Seth, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    Originating in 1999 as Prairie Partners, the program was to address declining bird trends on a landscape used for agricultural production. Private landowners own or manage a considerable percentage of this land. Their involvement in conservation efforts is essential to the future of grassland and sagebrush birds. The mission of the program is to coordinate voluntary, cooperative partnerships with landowners to address the management of declining bird species and other resource conservation issues. In 2003 Stewardship began working with landowners and resource agencies to implement on-the-ground habitat projects. These projects include stream-bank restoration, shallow water restoration, woody-invasive species control, prescribed burning, restoration of native vegetation, fence marking and rotational grazing.
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    Role of ecosystem services in private lands conservation: an investor's perspective
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Anderson, Terry, speaker; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    The concept of ecosystem services has evolved from society's earliest basic needs of obtaining food and shelter to today's complex ecological paradigms that include social, cultural, and economic and conservation objectives. While scientists and environmentalists have discussed ecosystem services implicitly for decades, the current nomenclature began to refine significantly in the1990s and 2000s. Correspondingly, during this same period, the idea of private sector/investment driven/conservation finance began to take form in an arena long dominated by public finance and philanthropy. Thus, the opportunity of the day: How do we better define effective formulas that match ecological opportunity with available private capital? Refining, or in many cases, developing the value chain between the worlds of conservation and financial investment is a major part of the solution. Financial advisors and investors must become as comfortable evaluating ecosystem services, like aquifer recharge and water quality credits, as with evaluating commodity pricing for minerals or agricultural products. Equally, the conservation world will improve its track record greatly by learning to conduct rigorous project diligence and selection processes similar to those applied in more traditional investment contexts. While, significant progress has occurred, particularly in the more advanced markets of wetland, stream or species banking, there remains the challenge of effectively leveraging these early gains into the numerous larger, yet less developed, ecosystem markets.
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    The Great Movement
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Allison, Lesli, speaker; Allison, Lesli, moderator; Taggart, Craig, moderator; Danvir, Rick, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    Major transformations in land ownership and management have been underway in the Western United States for several decades with enormous implications for wildlife, conservation and working lands. The Western Landowners Alliance, representing the experience and voice of conservation-oriented landowners and managers, has emerged to address both the resulting opportunities and challenges at a west-wide scale. Deeply embedded in their communities, landowners constitute a major social, economic and political influence. They also manage the West's most biologically diverse lands. Working together through organizations like the Western Landowners Alliance, the Chama Peak Land Alliance, the Malpai Borderlands, the Quivira Coalition and the Blackfoot Challenge, among others, landowners are collectively generating a 'culture of conservation'. The era of entrenched warfare between environmental and agricultural organizations is winding to a close, replaced by the rise of what Arizona rancher and Malpai Borderlands founder, Bill McDonald, coined the 'radical center'. This shift represents a significant advance and new opportunities for wildlife conservation but requires new awareness, thinking and communication strategies on the part of environmental organizations, the scientific community, policy makers and funders.
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    Three Rivers Alliance
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Andrews, Don, speaker; Schneider, Troy, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    The Three Rivers Alliance (TRA) was formed on July 9, 2008 as a Colorado non-profit corporation by landowners in the Republican River basin of Colorado. The goal of the organization is to preserve and strengthen the local ecosystems and the agricultural viability of their community. TRA advocates for landowners on the Republican River basin to help them gain access to resources to remove invasive species, replant vegetation, and protect wildlife on riparian and range land areas. In addition, TRA is demonstrating its ability to convene important discussions and to get people to pull together in the same direction on the same issues: to agree on problems and to seek ways to pursue constructive solutions; to find common ground; and to proceed to solve difficult issues facing the Republican River system.
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    Using bird populations to evaluate activities, promote ecological awareness, and prompt action on private lands
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-09) Ramsey, Philip, speaker; Stone, Kate, speaker; Mummey, Dan, speaker; Morgan, Ken, moderator; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
    Private landowners allocate significant resources towards restoration activities, yet have few ways to demonstrate the ecological effectiveness of their actions. As a group, birds are well suited to serve as response variables to management actions due to their abundance, relatively small territories, association with specific vegetative features, and our ability to passively monitor them. The MPG Ranch studies bird populations using a variety of methods, including: point counts, direct observations of target species, fine-scale mapping of bird occurrence, and tracking devices. The information gathered allows us to evaluate the success of restoration projects, including large-scale activities such as landscape conversion and small-scale activities such as building enclosures and shrubby draw enhancement. Our studies also allow us to document basic distribution and life history information on little-known species. We share data with local conservation groups, our state's Natural Heritage Program, and national bird monitoring efforts such as "eBird", "HawkCount", and "Hummingbirds at Home." Though our main goal is to apply data towards our own on-the-ground restoration activities, collaborative and community outreach efforts broaden its application to larger topics, including regional land-use planning efforts and setting management guidelines for species of concern. Our hope is that our research will prompt other private landowners to invest in formal and/or informal bird monitoring efforts on their properties.