Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Location
Hot Springs, AR
Start Date
6-4-2003 12:00 AM
Description
The first wildlife regulation recorded in North America was a one-cent bounty placed on wolves in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the year 1630. Historically, bounties have been instrumental in the reduction and in some cases, eradication of local populations. While bounties have sometimes been effective in meeting management objectives, programs were often plagued with unfavorable cost/benefit ratios and fraud. As a result, payment for the harvesting of wildlife has been perceived as a poor wildlife management tool and a drain on public coffers. Starting in the fall of 2002, the state of Louisiana is implementing an incentive payment program to revive the moribund trapping industry and reduce over-abundant populations of an invasive rodent, the nutria (Myocastor coypus). The unique combination of natural and cultural history in Louisiana suggests that incentive payments may have a place as a modern wildlife management tool.
Recommended Citation
Baroch, J. (2003). A new application of an old wildlife management tool: The nutria harvest incentive payment program in Louisiana. In Fagerstone, K.A. & Witmer, G.W. (Eds.), The Tenth Wildlife Damage Management Conference (414). Hot Springs, AR: National Wildlife Research Center.
Included in
A New Application of an Old Wildlife Management Tool: The Nutria Harvest Incentive Payment Program in Louisiana
Hot Springs, AR
The first wildlife regulation recorded in North America was a one-cent bounty placed on wolves in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the year 1630. Historically, bounties have been instrumental in the reduction and in some cases, eradication of local populations. While bounties have sometimes been effective in meeting management objectives, programs were often plagued with unfavorable cost/benefit ratios and fraud. As a result, payment for the harvesting of wildlife has been perceived as a poor wildlife management tool and a drain on public coffers. Starting in the fall of 2002, the state of Louisiana is implementing an incentive payment program to revive the moribund trapping industry and reduce over-abundant populations of an invasive rodent, the nutria (Myocastor coypus). The unique combination of natural and cultural history in Louisiana suggests that incentive payments may have a place as a modern wildlife management tool.