Fish & Wildlife Today: Spring 1997: Wildlife's Forest, Farmland, and Wetland Legwork COPY

DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife - Spring 1997

Wildlife's forest, farmland, and wetland legwork

Scientists' insights into wildlife remain critical to management decisions

The roles of wildlife research and its close counterpart, populations monitoring, are often misunderstood by some hunters who urge the DNR to spend more time and money on "projects we can see." Yet the DNR's populations and research work is as valuable to the health of Minnesota's wildlife as restored wetlands and newly acquired wildlife management areas.

"Most hunters know that habitat is the key to the survival of any species," says Blair Joselyn, head of the DNR Wildlife Populations and Research Unit. "But many are unaware that knowledge of populations and what affects populations is the key to successful wildlife management."

How many permits?
Population modeling based on information from ongoing surveys determines how much hunting and trapping recreation the DNR can provide?while still protecting wildlife populations. Mark Lenarz, Forest Wildlife Populations and Research Group leader at Grand Rapids, provides as an example the ongoing deer population surveys, which give wildlife managers the precise information they need to allow the most antlerless permits possible.

"Without that data, managers couldn't issue as many permits because they would not know how hunting was affecting deer populations," Lenarz says. In other words, the more the DNR knows about deer populations and the effects of hunting on deer numbers, the less conservative it needs to be with its regulations.

Another example is Minnesota research into the wildlife benefits of the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that helped build a case for beefing up wildlife provisions in the 1995 federal Farm Bill.

Research also protects hunting from threats by anti-hunters, who can limit hunting and trapping methods when wildlife agencies lack information about the effects of seasons on wildlife populations. For example, animals rights groups in Minnesota and other states have attempted to restrict the hunting of black bears. By continuing to monitor black bear populations, the DNR can prove that hunting does not harm this species.

Wildlife research and population monitoring are also important because the DNR has a responsibility?as steward of Minnesota's wildlife resources?to gather basic information about where the animals are, how many exist, and how populations change over time.

Daunting task
Individual hunters can know much about wildlife. But often that knowledge is a snapshot of a particular area at a particular time. The DNR needs to know about dozens of wildlife species throughout the year, throughout the state. To get a fix on that daunting task, wildlife scientists have developed?and continue to revise techniques to improve the accuracy of?a wide range of wildlife population surveys including:

• aerial moose survey
• scent post furbearer survey
• beaver lodge survey
• deer fetus survey
• deer registration survey
• August roadside wildlife counts (pheasants, gray partridge, cottontails, jack-rabbits, mourning doves, deer)
• wild turkey survey.

In addition, research scientists work on public opinion and input surveys to determine the extent of wildlife depredation to landowners and the kinds of hunting opportunities that hunters want. After gathering data from these and other surveys, and then interpreting the data, research scientists provide wildlife managers with the necessary information to meet the needs of hunters and others who have a strong interest in Minnesota's wildlife populations.

In the case of deer, research scientists determine reproduction by examining hundreds of does each spring. They figure out the age and sex composition of the deer harvest at deer registration stations in the fall. Combined with the registered deer harvest, this information becomes a population model. Using computer programs, the researchers then simulate what would happen to the state's deer populations if different numbers of deer were removed.

"We look at the age and sex structure of the herds and see how various possible harvest scenarios would play out," explains Lenarz. Wildlife managers use this information to set deer harvest goals as they consider deer depredation complaints by landowners, reports of deer collisions, and demands of local hunters

Similar modeling of bear, moose, and furbearer populations determines harvest allocation for these species.

Three stations
Almost all DNR wildlife staff members take part in various wildlife population surveys. But the survey design and analysis, and the interpretation of the results, are centered in three field offices.

Based in Madelia, the Farmlands Wildlife Populations and Research Group does research and populations studies on pheasants, gray partridge, wild turkeys, and deer in southern, western, and central Minnesota. Among several current field projects is one that measures the response of pheasants and other ground-nesting birds to the habitat created by CRP and the Reinvest in Minnesota Program.

Another study is following radio-marked whitetails to better understand urban deer population dynamics. The information is part of ongoing research into appropriate management of deer in urban areas.

The Forest Wildlife Populations and Research Group, based in Grand Rapids, provides information for managing black bears, forest deer, ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, and forest furbearers. It was population trend analysis by these scientists that first discovered the 10-year cycle of ruffed grouse. This led to the elimination of grouse season closures that were deemed unnecessary.

Among the major studies at the Grand Rapids office are one on bear ecology and another on deer wintering habitats (see "Whitetails weather winter's worst").

In Bemidji, the Wetland Wildlife Populations and Research Group conducts waterfowl breeding population surveys, monitors fall migration and wintering populations, and conducts studies on ducks and geese. The scientists work closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Mississippi Flyway Council to establish waterfowl hunting regulations each year.

One study at the Bemidji station is looking at the effectiveness of mallard nest structures. At first blush, the use of these structures seems obviously beneficial to ducks. But it's not that simple, says Todd Eberhardt, who heads this research station.

"We're looking at how the baskets compete with other cover types, how many baskets are optimal, and in which situations they work best," he says. Such information is crucial for waterfowl managers trying to squeeze the most benefits to waterfowl from limited budgets.

"Everything the research groups do is geared toward answering important questions that wildlife managers and hunters need to know," says Eberhardt. "We're out here to provide the information tools that help people make the right decisions for the resource."