EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021
(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)
8/23/2017 | 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM | State Wildlife Agency Concerns and Challenges in Managing Wild Horse and Burro—Wildlife Conflicts | Salon F
State Wildlife Agency Concerns and Challenges in Managing Wild Horse and Burro—Wildlife Conflicts
Since their introduction to the Southwest, feral burro populations have expanded without limit in size and distribution. Currently, numbers exceed AMLs in most HMAs and will likely expand unchecked into the future. Unregulated growth is a concern as high densities of burros are having, and will continue to have, negative effects on the natural environment, threatening the thriving ecological balance of fragile deserts of the American Southwest. In Arizona alone, the BLM estimated a burro population of 5,317 in 2016, far exceeding the maximum AML for Arizona of 1,676 for burros and horses combined. Recent surveys in Arizona documented high burro affinity for riparian areas, which house some of the state’s most imperiled communities and provide important habitat for several threatened and endangered species. The ability for state wildlife agencies to manage for desired wildlife habitat conditions, and hence wildlife populations, is compromised due to the growing impacts of burros on wildlife habitats. Impacts to aquatic and riparian habitats further pose an impediment to imperiled wildlife recovery. Efforts to implement a partnership approach to burro population management through capture and adoptions on the Arizona landscape have been largely unsuccessful. Feral equid population expansions have reached unacceptable levels from both an ecological and public safety standpoint and all efforts including adoptions, contraception, or legal actions have not proven to provide acceptable alternatives to manage this exotic species.
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Presenters/Authors
Jim deVos
(), Arizona Game and Fish Department, jdevos@azgfd.gov;
Jim is an Arizona resident with roots that go back three generations. His family settled in northern Arizona and were rangeland producers before moving the Globe area where Jim was born. Jim has an educational background in both wildlife and fisheries science from Arizona State University.At graduation Jim began his career in wildlife management when he was hired by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Over his 30+ year career with the Department, Jim served as a wildlife biologist working on deer, bears and Javelina, spent several years as a game ranger in the Yuma area, and served for 20 years as the Wildlife Research Branch Chief. Jim retired in 2006 from state service and started his work as a biological consultant where he worked with many of the wildlife conservation groups. Jim provided dedicated wildlife conservationists with the biological expertise to more successfully work with state and federal agencies to further our organization’s mission. In 2013, he returned to the Arizona Game and Fish Department as the Assistant Director of Wildlife Management. His experience in the private sector coupled with the decades he has spent in agency life has been invaluable in strengthening relationships between the sportsmen’s groups and the Department. Jim has provided a positive working relationship between the Department and citizen conservationists at a level seldom seen in decades.
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