Protection of Other Natural Resources 



Predator damage management by WS extends 

 beyond livestock protection and protection of 

 T&E species. In Montana, Texas, Arizona, 

 Idaho, Oregon, and Utah, State agencies and 

 private game ranches are looking for help from 

 WS to revive declining deer herds. In Utah, 

 WS reduced coyote numbers in critical mule 

 deer fawning areas for the second year in a 

 row, and the herds in three of the areas have 

 rebounded significantly to surpass State 

 management plan objectives. Managing deer 

 predation in Western States is expected to 

 become a higher priority issue in the near 

 future. 



WS continued a project initiated in 1998 with 

 the New York Department of Conservation and 

 the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife 

 Research Unit at Cornell University to 

 investigate nonlethal technigues for reducing 

 stopover time of migrating cormorants on 

 Oneida Lake in central New York, where these 

 birds have been affecting the local fishery. 

 This year, project efforts resulted in lowering 

 migrating cormorant populations on the lake 

 by up to 97 percent and reducing fish 

 consumption by about 30 percent. 



A cooperative program for managing nutria 

 damage to coastal marshes along the eastern 

 shore of Maryland was authorized and planned 

 by WS, the Maryland Department of Natural 

 Resources, the FWS, and the University of 

 Maryland Cooperative Fish and Wildlife 

 Research Unit. The 3-year pilot nutria 

 damage-management program, to be 

 conducted on the Blackwater National Wildlife 

 Refuge in Maryland, is scheduled to begin in 

 FY 2000, pending the allocation of Federal, 

 State, and private funding. 



