A case for unification: RTF presents at Wildlife Society conference

/ Our Blog, Staff Blog

Photo taken at the Onaqui Mountain Herd Management Area (Utah) by Meg Frederick

Return to Freedom’s biologist, Celeste Carlisle, recently presented at The Wildlife Society’s Western Regional Meeting, a gathering of hundreds of wildlife biologists and conservationists, in Rohnert Park, Calif.

Carlisle presented about engagement in wild horse and burro issues by an increasing diversity of organizations during a session on Adaptive Management. The session also included talks about wildlife crossing structures, puma conservation and forming a nonprofit for the threatened Mohave Ground Squirrel.

Wildlife conservation groups have generally avoided saying much about wild horses and burros because of the noise that comes from doing so: an organization may alienate some supporters, or it may be confusing to know exactly how to position an organization between or alongside any of the seemingly competing arguments.

Meanwhile, wildlife biologists have expressed concern about populations of wild horses or burros in areas that contain threatened or endangered species, and this has caused heartburn for wild horse advocates.

RTF has long been a proponent of the use of proven, safe and humane fertility control to slow (not stop) herd growth, reducing the size and frequency of government wild horses and burro removals, and more holistic public land management.

Population and economic modeling have shown that if fertility control is used correctly and robustly, it can replace capture-and-removal as the federal government’s primary management tool and save taxpayer dollars over the long run.

Carlisle’s presentation focused on why unified messaging matters. In survey after survey, and as research is enhanced and expanded upon, fertility control as a portion of wild horse and burro management is a unifier. Most organizations, even ones that had not been supportive in the past, are supportive of fertility control now.

If stakeholder organizations concerned about wildlife, land health, wild horses and burros, and the myriad other uses of our public lands separately lobby for their own specific interest, to the exclusion of any competing group, round and round we will go. If instead we can unify behind the messaging of “steadily increase fertility control,” we may all find ourselves, and our positions, in better shape.

Congressional appropriators have in recent years begun showing support for fertility control implementation. RTF  continues to strongly advocate for them to  press the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service on using fertility control immediately, rather than continuing to attempt to reach population targets via removals before using fertility control.

The beautiful thing about such conferences is not just wielding your research or ideas, but gleaning inspiration from others. At The Wildlife Society meeting, something that wild horse and burro research is not typically a part of, Carlisle learned about or experienced:

  • Excellent examples of collaboration
  • Broadening the styles of stakeholders we reach out to
  • Scientific project advances, like statistical analysis of camera trapping data
  • Finding partners
  • Healthy discussions
  • Educating about the complexity of our issue and learning what others have done in situations that might be similar, and that they have utilized approaches we’ve never considered before