MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR BIOLOGY 344, WILDLIFE BIOLOGY

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INTRODUCTION

(NOTE:  For your final submission, delete the instructions paragraph at the beginning of each section, such as the one below.  See Requirements for Management Plan for more information regarding requirements, including instructions for the oral presentation.)

This section states the purpose of your report, and lists the goals which you hope to accomplish. You should clearly state which specie or species you are managing for, and why you are managing for this specie(s). You should justify management for the species you select on biological, economic, and political grounds. That is, is it economically and politically feasible to manage for the species in question? Will some special interest group become upset? How will you convince this special interest group of the biological value of your species? Do you have enough money in your budget to carry out your management plan?




LITERATURE REVIEW OF SPECIES LIFE HISTORY

In this section you will present pertinent information regarding the life history of your species (behavior, ecological relationships, nutritional requirements, etc), using references on reserve at the library (see separate handouts) or from other sources. Concentrate your discussion on the factors (decimating and/or welfare) that tend to limit population size for your species, so that you can justify actions recommended in your "Schedule of Management Activities" section (described below).

Throughout the body of your paper (but especially in the Literature Review section) you will be citing references to other scientific articles and books. You must cite a minimum of 20 references from the scientific literature (the online database of articles from the Journal of Wildlife Management is an excellent source of information for this, plus other online databases), There should be as many links as possible to relevant web sites.




LITERATURE REVIEW OF MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

In addition to the above review of life history, a separate section in your management plan will review management techniques for your target species. Do not discuss historical issues, just the types of management techniques that have been used for your target species. In addition to library references, you can use information from lecture, textbooks, and the Internet for the literature review sections of your report. This should be a substantial part of your web page; a common error is fail to put enough information into this section.


DESCRIPTION OF THE MANAGEMENT AREA

The fourth section of your management plan should have this heading. It will include one or more maps along with a written description of the study site (including the surrounding land) as it now exists. You should take color photographs of your area, using a digital camera. You should indicate the size of the site in hectares (use the metric system throughout the paper) . This map and other maps in the report should be labeled "Figure 1", "Figure 2", etc. so that you can refer to them in the body of the text. Look at a current volume of the Journal of Wildlife Management to see the proper method for labeling tables and figures. Make sure you include a fairly detailed description of existing vegetation, soil types, and topography (more than one map will probably be required). Soil types can be found in goverment soil survey books which are available for every county in the U.S.   All illustrations must be included on this web page document, in either .jpg, .gif, or .png format. A plant and animal inventory must be included, and the concept of 'effective habitat size' must be addressed.


STEPS OF THE MANAGEMENT PLAN

The preceding section indicated what the current situation is at Twin Lakes or another area you have chosen. The purpose of this section is to describe and JUSTIFY the specific activities which you will use to modify the management area. You can use a monthly or yearly schedule depending upon the species of interest. Outline the steps that you will take to modify the habitat, and provide a justification for each step in your outline that refers back to the Literature Review of Management Techniques.. Your written narrative should refer the reader to a series of maps (figures) showing the appearance of the area after each major phase of your habitat manipulation process.  See the sample management plans on the Wildlife Biology home page for examples.




BUDGET

For each activity in your schedule, give the estimated cost of this activity. These estimates do not have to be extremely accurate, but I want you to have some idea what your management plan will cost not only in dollars but also in the number of person-hours of labor. Estimate the size of the work crew necessary to carry out each aspect of the plan, and the equipment they will need. If you plan to do any burning, remember that you will need an experienced work crew and safety equipment. At the end of this section, estimate the total cost of your management plan per unit time. For example, how much would it cost if it continued for 5 years? Ten years? (Remember, these estimates do not have to be very accurate. However, many well intentioned management plans have foundered for lack of money. DNR budgets are usually not large!) How often will your proscribed plan have to be repeated in the future? Any time that you set back plant succession, the plants will grow again, and this must be taken into consideration when formulating future plans.





WILDLIFE ECOTOURISM

This section will include a wildlife ecotourism component, using the "Grackle Junction" approach learned in class. How would your plan time in to existing wildlife ecotourism efforts in your area? In addition to a written description, this section should include a phenology chart including "shoulder seasons", appropriate images, and links to web sites (local chamber of commerces, festivals, activities analogous to "River Falls Days", etc.). We will have a lab exercise to give you more information about this section.




SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

This section should tie the rest of the paper together by discussing the potential impact of your management plan on your target species. of interest. In addition, make some rough predictions concerning population sizes in the years to come as a result of your activity.




LITERATURE CITED

This section will list references cited in your report alphabetically by the author's last name. For example:

Owen, M. 2008. Cutting and fertilizing grassland for winter goose management. Journal of Wildlife Management 39:163-167.

(Note that the year of publication is followed by the title, journal name, volume number and pages.)

The format is slightly different for books and monographs. See a recent issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management for examples.

REMINDER: Throughout the body of your paper (but especially in the Literature Review section) you will be citing references to other scientific articles and books. You must cite a minimum of 20 references from the scientific literature (the online database of articles from the Journal of Wildlife Management is an excellent source of information for this, plus other online databases), There should be as many links as possible to relevant web sites.