Elk conflict with beef and dairy producers poses wildlife management challenges in northern California
Large terrestrial wildlife negatively impacts agricultural livelihoods on all continents except Antarctica. There is growing recognition of the need to reconcile these impacts to achieve socially and ecologically sustainable wildlife conservation agendas. Elk populations in northern California are e...
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Resilience Alliance
2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12283-260123 https://doaj.org/article/1ef852862b1e48b3831b7caaef1e9622 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1ef852862b1e48b3831b7caaef1e9622 2023-05-15T13:45:46+02:00 Elk conflict with beef and dairy producers poses wildlife management challenges in northern California Adam R. Hanbury-Brown Jeffery W. Stackhouse Luke T. Macaulay 2021-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12283-260123 https://doaj.org/article/1ef852862b1e48b3831b7caaef1e9622 EN eng Resilience Alliance https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol26/iss1/art23/ https://doaj.org/toc/1708-3087 1708-3087 doi:10.5751/ES-12283-260123 https://doaj.org/article/1ef852862b1e48b3831b7caaef1e9622 Ecology and Society, Vol 26, Iss 1, p 23 (2021) elk conflict hunting northern california pasture depredation private land rangeland wildlife conflict wildlife management Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12283-260123 2022-12-31T08:07:28Z Large terrestrial wildlife negatively impacts agricultural livelihoods on all continents except Antarctica. There is growing recognition of the need to reconcile these impacts to achieve socially and ecologically sustainable wildlife conservation agendas. Elk populations in northern California are estimated to have doubled in the past 35 years, marking a conservation success, but also increasing forage loss and damage to infrastructure on private land. Wildlife managers are pursuing the goal of increasing elk numbers on public lands, but elk are preferentially utilizing private pasture and rangeland, driving conflict with beef and dairy producers. We conducted 17 semistructured interviews with private landowners, primarily beef and dairy producers, in northern California to understand their experiences and reactions to elk conflict and state wildlife management. Landowners report that elk density on private rangeland has steadily increased in recent years and poses a threat to their businesses due to loss of forage, damage to fences, and the corresponding liability risk posed by breached fences and errant cattle. The absence of crop and forage loss compensation, difficulty obtaining depredation permits, and low harvest quotas for recreational hunting limit landowner mitigation options and foster resentment toward the state wildlife agency. Most landowners believe that current elk management policies, including restricted hunting opportunities, do not adequately address elk conflict, creating novel challenges for wildlife officials tasked with reconciling elk restoration goals with a variety of stakeholders experiencing economic losses and threats to rural livelihoods. We discuss these issues in the context of common wildlife management challenges, such as building social capital, defining tolerable impacts, and building institutional capacity for alternative solutions within rigid regulatory frameworks. We draw upon environmental economics and common-pool resource theory to suggest that a rethinking of elk ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Ecology and Society 26 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
elk conflict hunting northern california pasture depredation private land rangeland wildlife conflict wildlife management Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
elk conflict hunting northern california pasture depredation private land rangeland wildlife conflict wildlife management Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 Adam R. Hanbury-Brown Jeffery W. Stackhouse Luke T. Macaulay Elk conflict with beef and dairy producers poses wildlife management challenges in northern California |
topic_facet |
elk conflict hunting northern california pasture depredation private land rangeland wildlife conflict wildlife management Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Large terrestrial wildlife negatively impacts agricultural livelihoods on all continents except Antarctica. There is growing recognition of the need to reconcile these impacts to achieve socially and ecologically sustainable wildlife conservation agendas. Elk populations in northern California are estimated to have doubled in the past 35 years, marking a conservation success, but also increasing forage loss and damage to infrastructure on private land. Wildlife managers are pursuing the goal of increasing elk numbers on public lands, but elk are preferentially utilizing private pasture and rangeland, driving conflict with beef and dairy producers. We conducted 17 semistructured interviews with private landowners, primarily beef and dairy producers, in northern California to understand their experiences and reactions to elk conflict and state wildlife management. Landowners report that elk density on private rangeland has steadily increased in recent years and poses a threat to their businesses due to loss of forage, damage to fences, and the corresponding liability risk posed by breached fences and errant cattle. The absence of crop and forage loss compensation, difficulty obtaining depredation permits, and low harvest quotas for recreational hunting limit landowner mitigation options and foster resentment toward the state wildlife agency. Most landowners believe that current elk management policies, including restricted hunting opportunities, do not adequately address elk conflict, creating novel challenges for wildlife officials tasked with reconciling elk restoration goals with a variety of stakeholders experiencing economic losses and threats to rural livelihoods. We discuss these issues in the context of common wildlife management challenges, such as building social capital, defining tolerable impacts, and building institutional capacity for alternative solutions within rigid regulatory frameworks. We draw upon environmental economics and common-pool resource theory to suggest that a rethinking of elk ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Adam R. Hanbury-Brown Jeffery W. Stackhouse Luke T. Macaulay |
author_facet |
Adam R. Hanbury-Brown Jeffery W. Stackhouse Luke T. Macaulay |
author_sort |
Adam R. Hanbury-Brown |
title |
Elk conflict with beef and dairy producers poses wildlife management challenges in northern California |
title_short |
Elk conflict with beef and dairy producers poses wildlife management challenges in northern California |
title_full |
Elk conflict with beef and dairy producers poses wildlife management challenges in northern California |
title_fullStr |
Elk conflict with beef and dairy producers poses wildlife management challenges in northern California |
title_full_unstemmed |
Elk conflict with beef and dairy producers poses wildlife management challenges in northern California |
title_sort |
elk conflict with beef and dairy producers poses wildlife management challenges in northern california |
publisher |
Resilience Alliance |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12283-260123 https://doaj.org/article/1ef852862b1e48b3831b7caaef1e9622 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_source |
Ecology and Society, Vol 26, Iss 1, p 23 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol26/iss1/art23/ https://doaj.org/toc/1708-3087 1708-3087 doi:10.5751/ES-12283-260123 https://doaj.org/article/1ef852862b1e48b3831b7caaef1e9622 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12283-260123 |
container_title |
Ecology and Society |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766230672507142144 |