Modern Wild Faunal Resource System Management
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I started my Ph.D. program seeking to elaborate further Leopold's concept of wilderness as "...base datum of normalcy.". I found various ways to begin those studies, then found the extreme difficulties that left me (and I hope future students with related ideas) with important questions. I was caught up by wilderness advocates who listed scientific research as one major reason for wilderness preservation.
I continue to seek to do such studies but I know that there are very few of them other that area descriptions (which many people do not call "research.").
In Idaho I helped secure the wilderness research center there with Dr. Paul DalkelimitedI realized the risks of entering and leaving the site as well as the dangers of study in remote areas with likited communications and little chance of rescue in the event of an extreme emergency. All wildlife studies have risks (few ever discussed) but those of wilderness area and wildlife studies are exceptional.
In addition to high risks, there are hight financial costs. The returns per unit cost are high. Costs are always relative, so the returns must be very high, even though the costs, compared to laboratory equipment and years of lab technicians salaries) are also very high. Horseback travel, air flights, temporary work stations, communications, and year-around base camp maintenance etc. are costs rarely seen by neophytes. The findings may seem high relative to low costs of binoculars and telescopes, but the other costs add like the ticking cab meter. There are few dollar sources for such studies and not enough to sustain studies over a long enough period to produce significant results ... even if well planned and a breakthrough in formulated objectives.
The key question is what would I do with it if the answer if I had a good one? This is one example of "starting at the end."
It is very important to distinguish between descriptive work and hypothesis testing.
In wilderness work, no "treatment " is allowed, ,making conventional studies difficult to formulate. Where the ecoectomydiscoverede a useful scientific ploy, removals in wilderness are not allowed, thus the role of the removed animal cannot be deicovered (as in thyroid removal experiments that advanced science.
Normalcy will have to be discussed and defined very precisely. Whetheranthropomorphicc effects will be tolerated remains a question. The extent and whether pre-settlement (in the US) will have to be addressed. It now seems that all areas now have human effects, however slight and they range from wildfire to contamination from nuclear war.
Wildlife in Parks
Federal and state parks are special places, often said to be dedicated to science.
Wildlifestudiess on parks are as difficult as suggested above although access for many park areas is easier.
Questions arise such as:
See the Rich Hole Wild Area folder.
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Last revision January 17, 2006.