Released July 20, 2007

Bambi nips off a new spruce seedling, Ricky Raccoon ravages a stand of sweet corn and a rascally rabbit munches on prized hosta leaves. Cartoon fans young and old delight in such animal shenanigans on the screen but adults often view wildlife as unwelcome pests in their own backyard.

Wildlife damage means costly repairs and lost revenue to property owners across the United States. Although nearly half the U.S. population participates in wildlife activities (hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, feeding or landscaping), few people understand the natural habitat needs of wildlife or how to control wildlife damage.

But, thanks to some dedicated Extension wildlife specialists, 4-H programs and partner organizations, today’s youth are being prepared to live in harmony with wildlife and older family members can learn right along with the youngsters.

Wildlife damage management seeks to maintain balance between human and wildlife concerns. Imbalance can occur when the presence of too many of a particular species creates negative economic impacts or health and safety concerns for humans. But maintaining balance also means protecting the health and diversity of wildlife populations throughout the country. Americans spend billions of dollars annually on wildlife-related recreational activities, so the continued presence of wildlife is vital not only to the environment, but to the U.S. economy.

As more undeveloped land is turned into cropland or used for residential, industrial and business purposes, the potential for more human/wildlife conflict increases. Minimizing such conflict while maintaining wildlife diversity is a complex task requiring that citizens understand what brings an animal into a house, a backyard or a city park. That means understanding wildlife habitat.

The 4-H Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program (WHEP) reaches thousands of youth each year. WHEP started in 1978 when Tennessee Extension began a statewide wildlife habitat judging program for 4-H youth. During the next decade the program grew into a regional contest and by 1989 the program went nationwide, taking its official name (WHEP) in 1990. (See http://www.whep.org.)

WHEP now is in more than 30 states and involves thousands of youth ages 8 to 19, who learn valuable lessons about wildlife management and conservation as well as leadership, teambuilding, citizenship and communication. The program fosters relationships between professionals (wildlife and fisheries biologists) and participants (volunteers, parents, youth, teachers, farmers and ranchers). Participants report improving thousands of acres of wildlife habitat on private lands and some youth have entered careers in natural resources.

This year Utah will host the National WHEP Contest July 25-29, 2007 in Cedar City. The contest includes five activities-- identifying common wildlife foods, interpreting wildlife habitat from aerial photographs, prescribing wildlife management practices, developing a rural wildlife management plan and developing an urban wildlife management plan. Contestants give oral reasons to a panel of judges for some of their decisions. (See http://www.whep.org/NatContest/Contest07/2007.htm)

Examples of previous contest work demonstrate young people's knowledge and creativity in solving both rural and urban wildlife habitat issues. (See Wildlife Management Plan at http://www.whep.org/NatContest/nat_guidelines.htm.)

The WHEP program can vary from state to state, but the basic learning remains the same. (See example state sites for Mississippi, Utah and Wisconsin at http://msucares.com/wildfish/education/whep/index.html, http://www.utah4h.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=54, and http://4h.uwex.edu/events/2007WisconsinContest.cfm.)

4-H youth have access to an abundance of resource materials as they study issues within wildlife habitat management. Pennsylvania makes its WHEP project manual available online (See http://downloads.cas.psu.edu/4h/PAHabBook07.pdf and other resource brochures at http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/PubSubject.asp?varSubject=Wildlife.)

North Carolina makes wildlife damage control resources available at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/wild/wildlife/wdc/. Also see 4-H project manuals Urban Wildlife: Our Animal Neighbors at http://www.nc4h.org/teachers/enrichment/wildlife/13-15-urbwild.pdf , Sharing Space with Wildlife at http://www.nc4h.org/teachers/enrichment/wildlife/13-15-sharing.pdf), and in-depth information on wildlife species, forest management, tree insects and diseases at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/forestry/4hprogramming.htm.

Also see information from Cornell Cooperative Extension at http://wildlifecontrol.info/ccewdmp/; Maryland Cooperative Extension at http://www.agnr.umd.edu/MCE/Publications/topics/forwildmgmt.html and http://www.naturalresources.umd.edu/Wildlife_Damage.cfm; and Virginia Cooperative Extension at http://www.ext.vt.edu/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Docs.woa/wa/getcat?cat=ir-for-wi.

(Next in the series: Other 4-H Wildlife Programs for Kids)

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Written for eXtension. eXtension is an educational partnership of more than 70 land grant universities helping Americans improve their lives with access to timely, objective, research-based information and educational opportunities. eXtension’s interactive Web resource, http://www.extension.org, is customized with links to local Cooperative Extension Web sites. Land-grant universities were founded on the ideals that higher education should be accessible to all, that the university should teach liberal and practical subjects, and share the university’s knowledge with people throughout their states.

Contacts: Carol Ouverson, (515) 294-9640, couverso@iastate.edu