Submitted by Luke Macaulay on
From crop raiding to eating livestock or companion animals, wildlife can be detrimental to rural livelihoods. There are many tools to combat these impacts; financial compensation for damages caused by wildlife is one potential avenue. This research project will focus on exploring programs available to livestock and agricultural producers in North America. We will contact state wildlife management agencies in all 50 states and request information on compensation programs, namely the wildlife species and type of damage covered by available programs, reporting requirements, annual program costs, funding sources, and program monitoring and assessment. We will also request information on programs that provide or cost share damage reduction tools in lieu of or in addition to financial compensation.
The selected undergraduate will lead information-gathering efforts by contacting state wildlife management agencies and requesting information on wildlife damage compensation programs. They will track contacts, manage responses, and collate data in an organized database. The best contact within a state wildlife management agency may not always be obvious, so this may involve a bit of digging to find appropriate contacts, and persistence in collecting responses.
Interest in learning about research and publication processes. • Interest in rangeland ecology, wildlife, policies that impact conservation, land tenure and ownership. • Careful data entry and analysis are of greater importance than speed. Students will gain a working knowledge of data entry and manipulation in Excel, and depending on prior skills and interests, may also use ArcGIS and R for analysis and generating summary statistics. • Ability to pay close attention to detail • Ability to communicate effectively on the phone and via email. Comfort reaching out to agency personnel (cold-calling and cold-emailing) • Ability to organize non-traditional data • Curiosity, creativity, and desire to chase information online, by email, and by phone until it is found