FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] Re: Why kill Double-crested Cormorants???

[JRiverPk@xxxxxxx]

Irene,
       I tried to send you a long e-mail, but got cut off by a cranky 
machine.  I am interested in your thoughts about what we as environmentalists 
should 
do, if anything, about the increase in plant and wildlife populations that 
result from our cleaning up the environment.  As a park manager I must deal 
with 
this issue.  

       There is amoral and ethical quandry.  Our predecessors made things 
dirty. We passed laws that stopped the bad stuff ... and now we are cleaning 
up.  
As a result, wild plants and creatures are coming back, but the environmental 
mix, the balance, isn;t there any more.  

       Are we responsible for helping re-create a rich and varried 
(sustainable) enviornment .... or are we no longer obligated to do anything 
once we stop 
doing bad things.  For example, do we keep our hands off the English Ivy that 
is killing off our large urban trees and making space for fast-growing 
invasives like Ailanthus trees?   And if is is OK to manage invasive wildfowers 
like 
Purple Loosestrife and Garlic Mustard by pulling them up, poisoning, mowing 
and / or re-seeding, is it ever OK to kill or remove wild animals? 

         For instance, what should we do with the increasing population of 
whitetailed deer that are munching their way through suburban shrubs and 
vegetable gardens and inadvertqantly causing horrific automobile accidents that 
result in human death and crippling injuries.  should they ever be "culled"? 
(Of 
course, that means killed.)  Are there acceptable and  unacceptable ways of 
doing this? Similarly, the raccoon population has exploded and with it a rise 
in 
the incidence of rabies and distemper.  The first of these is a truly horrific 
disease for humans to catch.  Should these be culled?  Or should we imposed 
laws on people's behavior and require the purchase of raccoon-proof trash 
containers for all homes, businesses and city parks (that means higher taxes 
for the 
latter effort).

       If it is OK to manage the population of certain plants and animals 
that have a negative impact on the quality and safety of our lives, is it ever 
OK 
to manage the population of creatures that we feel will have a positive 
impact?  How about Eagles, or shad and herring?  We, obviously, are spending 
public 
monies on all these.

       If you are trying to restore depleted populations of shad here (or 
salmon up north,) is it ever appropriate to control their predators? If not, 
why? 
 If so, how?

       Many mangers of natural areas are facing these kinds of questions; 
most of us consider ourselves to be environmentalists.  I would be interested 
in 
your comments ... and those of others in the biriding community.

                Ralph White
                James River Park 


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