Rural System's

Modern Wild Faunal Resource System Management

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Introduction to the Course

A Syllabus and the following course description for Modern Wildlife Resource System Management, and a supplemental Introduction, are available. Additional start-up notes may be useful. Some students find "starting at the end" useful. Two units may be helpful, one a review, one a list of fundamentals.

General Objectives

The objective of the instructors of this course is to cause significant behavioral change in class participants so that they (1) more skillfully and rationally practice a systems approach to managing wild faunal resource systems, and (2) begin to solve more creatively and accurately realistic wildland resource problems. A secondary objective is to cause the participants to evaluate a particular professional, technical, and ethical approach to modern, sophisticated, comprehensive resource management.

I've tried for years to get very big topics stated truthfully in very small packages. Ecological and natural resource topics are always very big. Modern Wild Faunal Resource Systems Management is a very big topic and developing a course for people with very big interests and expectations is daunting. I am trying to present how to manage wild animal population systems as a modern natural resource. . These populations are seen as renewable and that are best managed as systems (as described by general systems theory). The course outlines the major concepts of "wildlife" resource management with modern alternatives and options ("cross-currents"). Forest and field resources are used as major examples. I have little expertise in waterfowl or fisheries work. The course topics include analyzing and developing relevant theory, wild fauna-related enterprises, computer map applications and modeling, strategic studies, a total-system paradigm, vertebrate pest damage management, ranging as an ecotourism alternative, and a dynamic land-use planning system. Advanced methods and approaches to wildlife resource management are presented, including analysis and design of managerial system.

This is exclusively a "distance-learning course" with extensive text supplied by me. Purchase of one CD, a group of essays by me called Peculiar Manor is needed for a few assignments. Students use interactive options within the course. These are links, revealed statements with images, JavaScript items, and email. There are email-managed assignments, self-administered quizzes, and a monitored final exam.

I operate on the basis of a particular definition of "wildlife management" and suggest a difference. Since there are extreme differences in what some people know about the field, in loyalties and past experiences, it seems important to state that this is not a comparative course. In the time and resources available, the course seeks to state and clarify a coherent system of resource management. I request tentative acceptance and diligent effort to see the whole paradigm, then personal evaluation ... and personal decisions about a personal paradigm for action.

There are no firm prerequisites but I cannot imagine anyone doing well in the course (getting a high grade), gaining information efficiently, or not skipping important building blocks, without first having taken courses in: forestry, biology, statistics, ecology, or environmental science and having practical natural resource experience or other equivalent education. In essence: If you can pass the final exam, then I care little what course work or experiences you have had previously. (I do know that past experiences will help you stay motivated in learning, and will help you to clarify and remember topics encountered in the course.) I care mightily about what behaviors you have at the end of the course and how the course has produced desired changes. Students have variously commented "too difficult" and "too easy" in the same year. I'll not use past grades, litigation, GREs, salary, years of experience or age, or other criteria in grading. Study; ask questions as needed; take time to think about the topics; actively take notes for yourself; re-read materials; pass the final exam. That's all.

There are few things in active wildlife resource management that follow clear patterns or hierarchies. Importance of factors change with seasons; dominance of topics changes with research results; the roles of people change with their education,creativity, risk-taking ...and their acceptance by their boss. The hypertext is perfect for the complexities of the resource management world but people still want and seem to need a two-dimensional list of "what do we need to know?" Studies suggest that most students learn best when they have a course outline. Superior students will overcome the effects of the simplification provided by an outline, but we need to get a firm grounding and then we can deal with the peculiar relations, the contradictions, the topics held ... unanswered and unresolved.

All managers of public lands, whether foresters, range managers, fisheries scientists, urban planners, or outdoor recreation specialists, increasingly deal with the problems of the influence of their decisions or actions on the wildlife resource. Preventing economic loss to forests or farms, preventing species extinction, increasing game, and maintaining ecological balances are goals sought by land managers, public and private. A breadth of natural-resource awareness and expertise is considered to be desirable by employers and educators. An ability for other resource managers to communicate effectively with wildlife management experts is considered essential. A wildlife management principles course can provide the overview of the field for wildlife majors and others, as well as an introduction to the language, tenets, assumptions, and methods for studying, manipulating, and administering the wildlife resource.

The materials in this course are presented partially to encourage a continual analysis of the needs in the introductory or early courses within the university within the field of wildlife management. It is for study as well as dealing with ideas.An analysis and communication between instructors, students, and practitioners is now made feasible by the internet.

Wildlife no longer has singular meaning and management means little or many things to most people. Conservation Biology, a phrase in search of a definition, is narrow in scope. Concepts of game management and wildlife management of the 1930's have been powerful but many have been revised, replaced, or recently usurped by Conservation Biology, Landscape Ecology, and Environmental Economics. An alternative is needed. The proposed alternative is simply modern wild faunal resource system management. It, however, is without theory or a centralizing concept and within the course we shall attempt to begin to develop such theory.

There is little precedence for determining the appropriate amount of time to spend on "distance-learning" courses such as this one. My tentative estimates are that a minimum of 150 hours of intensive efficient study should be devoted by the average student to the course to master the course content. This time is similar to 30 one-hour lectures and associated study time in current semester-long courses.(I shall welcome comments about the amounts each student actually spent (to aid future students).)

From one perspective, this is a "correspondence course" but it differs significantly because I am continually working on the course content and making it available to you instantly upon its completion. You get fairly immediate feedback to your assignments from me personally...and in some cases my responses are shared with the others in the class. The hyperlinks are new and create an educational medium that has little resemblance to former correspondence courses. I am progressively developing and adding interactive units for you in the course units. There is far more material presented here for you than in any such course. Most people read about four times faster than they listen to presentations. Few people have the library resources made available here. The Internet opens additional doors, barely dreamed. Unfortunately, we cannot meet to discuss things face-to-face or to engage in group discussions. Also, you will not have typical on-campus access to the library for writing and study.

You are encouraged to maintain a complete "notebook" or set of computer files with a table of contents. (Cutting and pasting from the web, then using "find" has been effective for some students.) The notebook should reflect your efforts during the entire course. It should contain supplemental notes, ideas, reading notes, and elaboration on class experiences. All should be organized at the end of the course in a reasonable fashion, rarely in the sequence the material was encountered. It should be easily searched by your own personal procedures on your computer. New approaches are needed for taking notes when using the Internet and for rapidly returning to units later (as when taking an exam). You will one day see the utility of such personal notebooks or resources in your professional life. Few students can master the total material presented in the time we have available together. I want the opportunity for you to press your "learning-forgetfulness curve" back into shape for improved faunal system management. The notebook or files may also be necessary for use on the part of the final exam which will be so-called "open-book."

This course is designed to encourage continuing education. Also, the course attempts to deal with high levels of management for the very intensively managed tract. This may be unrealistic, but it seems easier to fall back from the potential than it is to start at the "truly realistic" in all cases. In such cases the manager must wonder about the direction in which to build and also what techniques to use.

Great reliance must be placed on past courses. Where there are deficiencies, you are expected to regain strength. Working together is beneficial, but you must become self-reliant. You will have access to all of your other classmates for discussions and help. I'll share especially good responses from students with all of you. Your future work will in all probability be very "individual" yet in many agencies teams are increasingly used. Gaining power to move the team is one objective of the course.

I encourage you to help me make the course all that it can possibly be for you. I expect your corrective feedback throughout.

My Email, RHGILES@VT.EDU is open to you. Please leave notes and I shall contact you. Send your assignments to me by email and I shall respond quickly. I'll welcome visits here in Blacksburg, Virginia. Also, call me at home at 540-552-8672 at reasonable times.

I shall make available much material on the Web. (Some units will be named "Gamma" from a previous planned use. Those headings are gradually being revised. They have no special meaning herein.) You are responsible for having read, studied, and mastered the units. Most quizzes and examinations will be based on your ability to use the material, as well as remember its presence and relevance. (Remembering that it does exist and where it is (or how to locate it within an index) will be important under certain stressful conditions).

There is a person at the other end of this thing.

The content and processes of this course are for the future. No one can know the future but some of us must risk making predictions about it and acting on those prediction. Otherwise, all education is historical; all of us become technicians working with old manuals. We must build on the strengths of the past.

Wildlife management is a part of natural resource management or wildland management. No terms are adequate; their meanings have been blurred by years of misuse. Why plants, aquatic life, and terrestrial animals should be separated and not called "wild life" needs to be discussed.

The first textbook on game management was that by Aldo Leopold (1933). There was active wildlife management work published in the U.S. in 1905 and before that. The textbook date is relevant only as a benchmark date.

Wildlife (primarily terrestrial animals (by convention)) is a resource, one among many. By analogy, it is as meaningless to discuss it separately as to discuss the liver of the human body without discussing blood, the cardiovascular system, and the digestive system.

Wildlife management (or preferably faunal system management) in this course means:

making decision and acting to manipulate the structure, dynamics, and relations of wild faunal populations, faunal spaces, and human populations to achieve specific human objectives cost effectively by means of the animal resource.

vs. the alternative for later, rasking

Emphases throughout this course (watch for them):

1. decision making
2. the group of concepts:
   • structure,
   • dynamics,
   • relations
3. wild faunal populations (typically a large-animal emphasis)
4. faunal spaces
5. human populations
6. resources
7. systems
   • The Start (Check out the symbol at the right below. Place your pointer on it. You'll see it later.)
   • Objectives
   • Inputs
   • Processes
   • Feedback
   • Feedforward
   • Context

Study can be improved by actively questioning yourself as you read. Answer for yourself as you progress through the course

1. What courses have you had that are not historical? Is this an historical course or one for the future?
2. When is wildlife management a science?
3. What was the date of the first U.S. textbook in wildlife management? (The nature of and costs of progress since then?)
4. Write precisely the exact definition of wildlife management as it will be used in this course.
5. List the 6 emphases in the course (so that they will be readily recognized when encountered).
6. If wildlife management means "making decisions ..." what does this phrase include? I exclude trivial decisions such as whether to get a drink of water or not. There is wonderful philosophy behind what is a decision and whether they exist.
   • Future states of a system are based on present-day decisions.
   • Decisions can only be made if there are 2 or more alternatives.
   • Decisions should be influenced by measures and estimates of accuracy, precision, confidence level, acceptable accuracy, and the power of the tests.
7. Sample manager's decisions:
   • Which is the best project for bears, project A or B?
   • In what priority should we schedule mowing of wildlife clearings in the forest? (Sort, then state the sequence)
   • Is fertilizer treatment A better than treatment B for growing warm-season grasses for quail? (Look: Which is greater? Do a t-test on the results. If the computed "t" is greater than the table value of "t" then there probably is a real difference.)
   • Is there a real difference in the number of female fawns born due to forage changes? (Do a chi-square test; the "expected" ratio is 100:100.)
   • On which factors should I do more study? (correlation analyses can be useful)
   • Decide among who gets permits for blinds? Be fair. Use a random number generator. Is there a global-warming effect on plant A? (Compare the variances before and after some date of interest. Use the F test.)
   • At what level should I stop irrigating my game bird food plant nursery? At what point should I stop sending brochures? (Use a break-even analysis)
   • How many more bird-watchers index units will I get if I expand the trail system? (Use a simple linear regression procedure; trail lengths on the x-axis.,)
   • How can I maximize the profit from 10 species on my area using forestry, rangeland and pasture management, and planned hunting trips, all over the next 50 years? (Use optimization procedures such as "linear programming.")
   • Should I use a "t"-test ? A chi-square test ? (decide between the two)
8. What is the difference between accuracy and precision? ( "Intelligence" is defined by some as the ability to discriminate between and among ideas)

This is a web unit about alternative wildlife managements. Not really, for that would require intensive comparisons and I see no reason to elaborate on aspects of alternatives that have little or no merit. It is a statement of an alternative, the best that I can formulate after 50 years of working in the field and committing my life-thought to it. Biased, a polemic, or other invective, at least this unit present one position as clearly as possible so that other alternatives may be compared to it.

The alternatives for amoder sophisticated faunal system management which will be brought out within each unit of this work are …

• using a systems approach
• attempting to model and optimize total systems
• using the 5 E's of ecology, economics, esthetics, and enforcement
• using computers to enhance decision making
• using expert system concepts
• developing dynamic planning systems
• exploring enterprise-based work and concepts (diversification, benefits and incentives, competition, risks, value-added, etc.)
• seeking alternative means of knowledge-base building
• developing dynamic geographic (and related) information systems
• doing precise alpha-unit specific work
• using non-linear concepts
• giving attention to simple rules (artificial intelligence)

Evaluations

Quizzes may be used but the assignments usually provide the interactions that we need. They may be used later. Quizzes provide me with valuable insight into how well we are doing together, and some people need and seem to appreciate some sort of pressure. Quizzes help students allocate limited resources (time) among competing demands (work, family, courses, and research).
Star Lights and a few similar "buttons" have also been provided. (Click on the sample Star Light).

Grading is a multidimensional problem and my tendency is to employ the following factors in assigning a final course grade.

The factors employed are:

1. Completion of assignments (weighted, about 40% of the grade)
2. Final exam grade (typically taken during a 2-5 hour period) (about 60%)
3. Prior knowledge and experience of class members
4. University grading scale of 91-100 = A, etc.
5. The student's present or future employer's desire to learn of his or her performance
6. Student's employability as a basis of grades
7. Perceived needs of the wild faunal resource profession
8. Perceived amount of effort spent on each topic.

My objective is to cause behavioral change. My basis for evaluation is my perception of such change. Everyone's perception is limited; instruments and techniques for perceiving any system (in this case, the class) are limited. Your responsibility is to provide evidence of such change through class participation and full articulation of ideas and concepts for questions asked.

The criteria used to evaluate written class performance are:

1. Clearness
2. Conciseness
3. Completeness
4. Correctness
5. Creativity
6. Cooperation and assistance in learning experiences among class members by Email

Since increasing levels of abstraction and theoretical development are desired in the course, the greater our progress, the more difficult will be the evaluation of our progress. It is important to re-emphasize the significance of your responsibility in displaying such progress.

It is difficult to quantify all of the above and there are subtleties in many factors listed. The final course grade is a decision, not taken lightly by your instructor, but with full realization of the above factors and others. Numerical evidence is used, but, in the final analysis, the course grade is an instructor's decision. Failures to complete assignments are not excused; make full arrangement for any missed completion dates for assignments by corresponding as soon as possible.

Continuing past this point is evidence that the student understands and accepts the conditions of grading in the course by the instructor.

I've tried to provide some student orientation to the new characteristics of this course. I shall try to answer questions about the course or syllabus. An outline of the course content with which I intend to deal is included here.

See A Letter to Students

See Student Orientation

What's Wildlife Management?

Assignment 3: Quickly Read: Your Future in Wildlife Management Consider a potential conversation with a 14 year old person; a 41 years old person. Write brief notes. Do not submit a response.

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This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
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Last revision January 16, 2004.