Board of Wildlife approves 2007 predation plan

The Board of Wildlife commissioners approved the Nevada Department of Wildlife's Fiscal Year 2007 Predation Management Plan at its Sept. 23 meeting. The Plan includes a new project that utilizes $15,000 for emergency control of predator impacts on big and upland game in fire-damaged areas.

"Emergency predation management in remaining pockets of unburned habitat and riparian areas should help the antelope, mule deer, sage grouse, and other wildlife that remain in these fragmented pieces of their former range," said Russ Mason, Game Bureau Chief. "When prey species are forced to concentrate, predators can hunt more efficiently. Targeted predation management will selectively and strategically remove predators in key locations in order to improve survival."

The predation management program was initiated during the 2001 Legislature, and is supported by a $3 surcharge on each tag application in Nevada. Since its inception, the program has brought in an average of $357,000 dollars annually, and all funds are committed to predation management as required in state law.

Since the onset of the program, 19 total projects have been approved by the Commission, the body that authorizes the dispensation of funds within the program. These projects were designed to benefit a multitude of the state's wildlife resources, from waterfowl to bighorn sheep, and to better understand the predator and prey relationships here in Nevada.

The NDOW contracts with the Federal Government agency Wildlife Services to implement predation management activities. For additional information on predator control, or to see a complete copy of the Program Overview or the Fiscal Year 2007 Predation Management Plan, visit NDOW's web site at www.ndow.org