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    Memorandum

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    Marie Wagner proposes to focus her portfolio on improving communication about endangered species management. She is interested in how public perception affects management and how communication can help manage wildlife while informing affected people. Her work with pygmy rabbits, mule deer, and grizzly bears provides relevant experience. Pygmy rabbits require specific habitat conditions for foraging and reproduction, which can conflict with farming and ranching. Effective communication is important for balancing management and stakeholder interests so species can coexist.

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    Memorandum

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    Marie Wagner proposes to focus her portfolio on improving communication about endangered species management. She is interested in how public perception affects management and how communication can help manage wildlife while informing affected people. Her work with pygmy rabbits, mule deer, and grizzly bears provides relevant experience. Pygmy rabbits require specific habitat conditions for foraging and reproduction, which can conflict with farming and ranching. Effective communication is important for balancing management and stakeholder interests so species can coexist.

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    Marie Wagner proposes to focus her portfolio on improving communication about endangered species management. She is interested in how public perception affects management and how communication can help manage wildlife while informing affected people. Her work with pygmy rabbits, mule deer, and grizzly bears provides relevant experience. Pygmy rabbits require specific habitat conditions for foraging and reproduction, which can conflict with farming and ranching. Effective communication is important for balancing management and stakeholder interests so species can coexist.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    43 views3 pages

    Memorandum

    Uploaded by

    api-285230150
    Marie Wagner proposes to focus her portfolio on improving communication about endangered species management. She is interested in how public perception affects management and how communication can help manage wildlife while informing affected people. Her work with pygmy rabbits, mule deer, and grizzly bears provides relevant experience. Pygmy rabbits require specific habitat conditions for foraging and reproduction, which can conflict with farming and ranching. Effective communication is important for balancing management and stakeholder interests so species can coexist.

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    MEMORANDUM

    TO: DR. DIANE CARTER


    FROM: MARIE WAGNER
    SUBJECT: PROPOSAL FOR PORTFOLIO TOPIC
    DATE: 02/03/2015
    I propose to focus my portfolio on the way the public perceives endangered species management
    and how communication about endangered species management can be improved to better
    manage wildlife and inform the people affected by the changes.
    Wildlife management has long been contested by the different stakeholders involved:
    landowners, researchers, wildlife defense groups, hunters, and admirers of the animals. Public
    opinion can change, depending on the political eonvironment and media coverage, so it is
    difficult to pinpoint the ideal course to take when managing wildlife. This topic becomes more
    difficult and controversial when applied to endangered species.
    My interest in this topic stems from my work with pygmy rabbits, mule deer, and grizzly bears.
    Currently, only pygmy rabbits are endangered species; however, mule deer are increasingly
    threatened due to current management practices of cougars, which are primary predators of mule
    deer in the western United States (Clark, Davidson, Johnson, & Anthony, 2014). In addition, I
    have worked with grizzly, so I understand the controversy surrounding large carnivore
    management, which can be applied to endangered carnivores such as the grey wolf.
    The work I am most familiar with is foraging and cover preferences of the Colombia Basin
    pygmy rabbit. The research has shown that to reproduce successfully, they must have access to
    very specific conditions which often directly affect the areas farming and ranching industries
    (Lawes, Anthony, Robinson, Forbes, & Lorton, 2013). The foraging and reproduction habits of
    pygmy rabbits depend on deep soil and a plethora of big sagebrush for cover and food; pygmy
    rabbits do not stray far from their burrow if they can help it (Lawes, Anthony, Robinson, Forbes,
    & Lorton, 2013).
    The public is not always aware of how vital every organism is to its ecosystem. As a result,
    individuals often assume that single species can be managed individually. The most commonly
    used example is the wolves of Yellowstone (Farquhar, 2011). After the wolves were exterminated
    from Yellowstone National Park, guests could see large quantities of elk and deer. However, the
    ecosystem began to slowly deteriorate. Eventually, the trees began dying along the river banks,
    then the beavers and fish disappeared, and the water quality was poor. In 2001, wolves were
    reintroduced to the park. Within just a few years, the beavers and the fish returned, while the deer
    and elk continued to flourish. This is a prime example of how important just one organism is to
    its ecosystem. Without it, there are severe consequences.
    The effect that wildlife management has on the human population is great, especially when
    managing endangered species. Many stakeholders see federal and state interference as going
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    against their right to work and make a living off of the land. The ways in which management
    plans are described and communicated to stakeholders can influence the success of a plan.
    Communication and feedback are vital in finding a balance between undermanaging and overmanaging so that all species involved can co-exist in relative harmony.

    REFERENCES
    Clark, D., Davidson, G., Johnson, B., & Anthony, R. (2014). Cougar kill rates and prey selection
    in a multiple-prey system in northeast Oregon. Journal of Wildlife Management, 78.
    Farquhar, B. (2011, June 21). Wolf Reintroduction Changes Ecosystem. Retrieved 3 February
    2015, from http://www.yellowstonepark.com/2011/06/wolf-reintroduction-changes
    ecosystem/
    Lawes, T., Anthony, R., Robinson, W. D., Forbes, J., & Lorton, G. (2013). Movements and
    settlement site selection of pygmy rabbits after experimental translocation. Journal of
    Wildlife Management, 77.

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