The Wildlife Profession's Duty in Achieving Science‐Based Sustainable Management of Free‐Roaming Equids

Schoenecker, Kathryn A.; King, Sarah R. B.; Messmer, Terry A.

doi:10.1002/jwmg.22091

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Consistent with predictions about horse population growth (Eberhardt et al, 1982;Garrott & Oli, 2013;National Research Council, 2013), horse populations on federally managed lands in the western United States have increased dramatically over the last decade (Garrott, 2018;Schoenecker et al, 2021), and there are now more than 82,000 wild horses and burros on BLM-managed lands (Bureau of Land Management, 2022). Our scenario analyses and simulation tool can provide informative technical support for decision makers and managers who are mandated to achieve and maintain population sizes within AML, but who also want to minimize cost and animal capture, handling, and care requirements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Feral horse ( Equus caballus ) population management exemplifies the challenge of managing a species with strong positive population growth (National Research Council, 2013). Originally native to the Eurasian steppe (Olsen, 2016), E. caballus is a domesticated species that has been introduced by humans to non‐native areas on all continents except Antarctica (Schoenecker et al, 2021). Released horses have created feral populations (Boyce et al, 2021; The Wildlife Society, 2020) that grow rapidly due to high reproductive rates (Ransom et al, 2016) because of a history of domestication (Price, 1984); reproductive rates remain high even when population densities are relatively high (Grange et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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PopEquus: A predictive modeling tool to support management decisions for free‐roaming horse populations

Folt,

Schoenecker,

Ekernas

et al. 2023

Ecosphere

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Feral horse (Equus caballus) population management is a challenging problem around the world because populations often exhibit density‐independent growth, can exert negative ecological effects on ecosystems, and require great cost to be managed. However, strong value‐based connections between people and horses cause contention around management decisions. To help make informed decisions, natural resource managers might benefit from more detailed understanding of how horse management alternatives, including combinations of removals and fertility control methods, could achieve objectives of sustainable, multiple‐use ecosystems while minimizing overall horse handling and fiscal costs. Here, we describe a modeling tool that simulates horse management alternatives and estimates trade‐offs in predicted metrics related to population size, animal handling, and direct costs of management. The model considers six management actions for populations (removals for adoption or long‐term holding; fertility control treatment with three vaccines, intrauterine devices, and mare sterilization), used alone or in combination. We simulated 19 alternative management scenarios at 2‐, 3‐, and 4‐year management return intervals and identified efficiency frontiers among alternatives for trade‐offs between predicted population size and six management metrics. Our analysis identified multiple alternatives that could maintain populations within target population size ranges, but some alternatives (e.g., removal and mare sterilization, removal and GonaCon treatment) performed better at minimizing overall animal handling requirements and management costs. Cost savings increased under alternatives with more effective, longer lasting fertility control techniques over longer management intervals compared with alternatives with less‐effective, shorter lasting fertility control techniques. We built a user‐friendly website application, PopEquus, that decision makers and interested individuals can use to simulate management alternatives and evaluate trade‐offs among management and cost metrics. Our results and website application provide quantitative trade‐off tools for horse population management decisions and can help support value‐based management decisions for wild or feral horse populations and ecosystems at local and regional scales around the world.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PopEquus: A predictive modeling tool to support management decisions for free‐roaming horse populations

Folt,

Schoenecker,

Ekernas

et al. 2023

Ecosphere

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“…The direct impact from grazing and trampling of vegetation and soil further increased soil erosion and reduced plant biomass and litter cover (Eldridge et al 2020). The evidence presented by these studies supports an increased effort to control or remove feral horses, where necessary, to achieve some lower level of environmental impact (TWS 2011, Worboys et al 2018, Driscoll et al 2019b, Schoenecker et al 2021). In contrast, feral horses have been positive and instrumental in the management of vegetation in European conservation reserves (Duncan 1992, Menard et al 2002, Nuñez et al 2016) by maintaining short lawns within a matrix of tall grass areas, which promotes plant and animal diversity, thereby increasing the abundance of food for endangered rabbits, waterfowl and seed-eating bird species (Fleurance et al 2011, Fleurance et al 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Use of density‐impact functions to inform and improve the environmental outcomes of feral horse management

Berman

Pickering²,

Smith

et al. 2023

Wildlife Biology

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The available science often demonstrates the need for feral horse population control but not the degree of control required to achieve environmental conservation objectives. To better manage the influence of feral horses, we must first understand the relationship between feral horse density and environmental impact. We recorded vegetation and soil disturbance, and the sign of potential causes of this impact in two parts of the Australian Alps, the Bogong high plains (BHP) and the Eastern Victorian Alps (EVA). We calculated density‐impact functions to assist managers with determining feral horse density targets for control programmes. Minimal sign of feral horse impact was detected on the BHP, with no impact of feral horses observed along 99% of the length of transects. In contrast, impacts assigned to feral horses were significantly higher in the EVA, where a larger, higher‐density population of feral horses existed. However, greater than 83% of the walked transect length was still undisturbed by feral horses in the EVA. We detected a threshold of horse impact at ~ 250 horse faecal piles per ha. Above this threshold, a slight increase in horse density resulted in a disproportionately large increase in impact. In this context, a relatively small population control effort may substantially reduce direct horse impact. But where horse densities exist below this threshold, considerably more expense and control effort (resulting from the difficulties related to control at low density) is likely to make very little difference to an already low level of direct impact. The combined impacts associated with the sign of deer, feral pigs, fire and humans were large compared to that of feral horses. Management of feral horses to reduce their direct impact is unlikely to be beneficial without complementary management to reduce the effects of these other agents of impact.

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“…Fine‐scale information about seasonal horse use and habitat selection on the landscape could be useful to managers as they make the most judicious use of public lands to support these multiple uses. Horse populations are increasing across the West (Schoenecker et al 2021), so knowing which areas horses select for and use seasonally relative to wildlife and permitted livestock can assist in planning spatially targeted management.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Their societal utility changed after industrialization, and many domestic horses were released or escaped to the wild becoming feral. Today feral horses inhabit public and tribal lands across the United States (Conant et al 2011, Schoenecker et al 2021).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal resource selection and movement ecology of free‐ranging horses in the western United States

2022

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Understanding factors driving resource selection and habitat use of different species is an important component of management and conservation. Feral horses (Equus caballus) are free ranging across various vegetation types in the western United States, yet few studies have quantified their resource selection and seasonal use. We conducted a study to determine effects of vegetation community, distance to water, and topographic variables on seasonal resource selection in 2 feral horse populations in Great Basin sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems of west-central Utah, USA: Conger Herd Management Area (HMA) and Frisco HMA.We deployed global positioning system (GPS) radio-collars on 38 female horses and GPS-transmitters braided and glued into the tail hair of 14 males, collecting locations every 2 hours for 1-4 years between 2016 and 2020. We calculated home range size and core use area of social groups (harems) and bachelor males using autocorrelated kernel density estimators for each biologically defined season (breeding, fall, and winter) per study year. We examined seasonal home range size and overlap of harem groups and bachelor males and compared movement speed of bachelors and harems among seasons. We determined seasonal resource selection in a use-availability framework using resource selection functions. We hypothesized that horses would select for areas of

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The Wildlife Profession's Duty in Achieving Science‐Based Sustainable Management of Free‐Roaming Equids

Cited by 11 publications

References 37 publications

PopEquus: A predictive modeling tool to support management decisions for free‐roaming horse populations

PopEquus: A predictive modeling tool to support management decisions for free‐roaming horse populations

Use of density‐impact functions to inform and improve the environmental outcomes of feral horse management

Seasonal resource selection and movement ecology of free‐ranging horses in the western United States

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