Habitat Management

Habitat management and protection must be based on basic scientific principals of conservation biology and wildlife management. At the same time there is an art to a successful management scheme: creating a permanent place for the target species, balancing interests of a variety of users, while preserving a space that is pleasing to the eye and inspires residents to protect. Management plans must have clear goals and objectives and an adaptive management protocol that will insure that what is expected actually comes to fruition.

In my 30 years of working on wildlife I have done management plans on public and private land for many species. I began my career creating and executing management plans for deer, quail and turkey, sometimes alligators. More recently I created management plans for migratory songbirds, bald eagles, shorebirds on the Delaware Bay and many other species.

My experience forged an approach that I use to this day. In Georgia in the early 1980’s I developed a management plan for turkeys on a 12,000 acre public land. Being fresh out of college I relied on a team of experienced quail and turkey biologists to determined the best practices for turkey management, primarily created open spaces in an otherwise industrial managed forest for hens to breed and young to feed. At that time poaching was still a big problem in GA and access would be crucial to protection. We choose to restrict access so only the hardiest of hunters could access the interior portions. Even the opening had blind entrances to minimize the impact of unintentional disturbances. Although the focus of my later career was non-game species, I have stuck to this general approach : start the best available science, include the interests of the users and unfold a management scheme that is both pleasing and functional.

Over the years I have grown to understand that management plans must do more. They should always be developed with a clear objective that is thoroughly vetted with all the major groups or individuals that have a stake in the plan. Finally there must be an adaptive management system in place that will insure success is maintained.

(Read More: Adaptive Management)

(Read More (cont.): Adaptive Management)

The management of individual properties is certainly the most satisfying but lately I have become intrigue with larger scale efforts that those complex offer much more to the general public. These plans, known as Habitat Conservation Plans are another part of my work covered in “Habitat Conservation Plans“.