Wildlife Conservation in California

The Wildlife Health Center is currently working on two major California conservation projects for the California Department of Fish and Game: Emerging Issues in Ecosystem and Wildlife Health and the development of the California Wildlife Action Plan.

Resource Assessment Program

Facing the enormous challenge of protecting of the state’s wildlife, including a strategy to coordinate research efforts and prioritize funding of projects based on public benefit, the California Department of Fish and Game asked the Wildlife Health Center to partner with them in developing and administering the Resource Assessment Program (RAP). This program funded projects to improve our understanding and management of wildlife species at risk in 2005 and 2006. These projects investigated the distribution, habitat requirements, dispersal patterns, seasonal movements, population trends, and factors affecting the health and survival of vertebrate wildlife species throughout California. The projects provided objective scientific information to the Department of Fish and Game to inform management and policy.

Lead Intoxication in Condors

The Wildlife Health Center has submitted a report to the California Department of Fish and Game evaluating the scientific literature documenting lead exposure in California condors and sentinel wildlife species.  This report is being used to provide information for the Department to base recommendations to the California Fish and Game Commission.

Our next step is to build a surveillance system for heavy metal exposure in sensitive wildlife species in California. This project will generate a statewide overview of the current status of heavy metal exposure and health effects in wildlife over a three year period.  We will focus on sentinel wildlife species that, because of their feeding ecology, reflect the use of lead ammunition in various hunting activities. We will also look closely at alternate sources of heavy metal contamination that might be impacting condor health.  Geographic distribution of heavy metal exposure in sentinel wildlife will be evaluated and we will look for clusters of exposure within and outside of the condor range both before and after any new hunting regulations. This research effort is funded by the California Department of Fish and Game and seeks to obtain the information needed to minimize anthropogenic activities that impact wildlife health and habitat quality as called for in the 2006 California State Wildlife Action.

California Wildlife Action Plan

The Wildlife Health Center, in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Game, developed the California Wildlife Action Plan, California Wildlife: Conservation Challenges. The Wildlife Action Plan was submitted by the Department of Fish and Game to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on September 15, 2006 for final review and was accepted by USFWS in early 2007.
The Wildlife Action Plan is directed at answering three primary questions:

• What are the species and habitats of greatest conservation need?
• What are the major stressors or problems affecting California’s native wildlife and habitats?
• What are the actions needed to restore and conserve California’s wildlife, thereby reducing the likelihood that more species will approach the condition of threatened or endangered?

The California Wildlife Action Plan is available here.

WHC Contact: David Bunn dabunn@ucdavis.edu