Class
Article
College
S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources
Faculty Mentor
Michael Conover
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
The first national survey of wildlife damage to U.S. agriculture occurred in 1957 when McDowell and Pillsbury (1959) surveyed state wildlife agencies. Thirty years later, a similar study was conducted by Conover and Decker (1991) to evaluate how perceptions on wildlife damage had changed since 1957 (Conover and Decker 1991). Since 1987, there have been several other studies of wildlife damage to crops, but these studies have been limited in scope to a single wildlife species (Seward et al. 1994; Garshelis et al. 1999; Massei and Genov 2004), a single crop (e.g., Somers and Morris 2002), a single state (e.g., Craven and Heinrich 1995), or region (e.g., Muhly and Musiani 2009). Consequently, a rational, effective allocation of resources to solve wildlife-caused damage problems on a national scale is hampered. To provide a national overview, we surveyed wildlife and agricultural professionals from each state to determine their perceptions of wildlife-caused damage to agricultural crops in their respective states. We wanted to identify which crops and wildlife species were involved, determine the seriousness of the problems, and assess whether differences existed among the various groups of wildlife and agricultural professionals in their perceptions of wildlife damage. Our survey was patterned after the one we used in 1987 (Conover and Decker 1991) and 1957 (McDowell and Pillsbury 1959), allowing us to examine how perceptions of damage by wildlife have changed in the last 30 years and 60 years.
Location
The South Atrium
Start Date
4-12-2018 12:00 PM
End Date
4-12-2018 1:15 PM
Perceptions of Wildlife Damage on Agriculture; Management Implications
The South Atrium
The first national survey of wildlife damage to U.S. agriculture occurred in 1957 when McDowell and Pillsbury (1959) surveyed state wildlife agencies. Thirty years later, a similar study was conducted by Conover and Decker (1991) to evaluate how perceptions on wildlife damage had changed since 1957 (Conover and Decker 1991). Since 1987, there have been several other studies of wildlife damage to crops, but these studies have been limited in scope to a single wildlife species (Seward et al. 1994; Garshelis et al. 1999; Massei and Genov 2004), a single crop (e.g., Somers and Morris 2002), a single state (e.g., Craven and Heinrich 1995), or region (e.g., Muhly and Musiani 2009). Consequently, a rational, effective allocation of resources to solve wildlife-caused damage problems on a national scale is hampered. To provide a national overview, we surveyed wildlife and agricultural professionals from each state to determine their perceptions of wildlife-caused damage to agricultural crops in their respective states. We wanted to identify which crops and wildlife species were involved, determine the seriousness of the problems, and assess whether differences existed among the various groups of wildlife and agricultural professionals in their perceptions of wildlife damage. Our survey was patterned after the one we used in 1987 (Conover and Decker 1991) and 1957 (McDowell and Pillsbury 1959), allowing us to examine how perceptions of damage by wildlife have changed in the last 30 years and 60 years.