. Placing American wildlife management in perspective . Wildlife management. 5HRli4<J(<6 HABITAT , T^(R6«alE^fe \ VV \ YSf' passenger pigeon. But the clearing of the northern hardwood forests for agriculture concentrated the nesting colonies and the activities of the netters. Steller's sea cow was butchered to extinction by Russian seal hunters before the American Revolution. The great auk, which became extinct in 1844, was slaughtered on its nesting grounds by whalers for its eggs, plumage, and oil. All of these animals gathered in dense breeding colonies that made their kil
. Placing American wildlife management in perspective . Wildlife management. 5HRli4<J(<6 HABITAT , T^(R6«alE^fe \ VV \ YSf' passenger pigeon. But the clearing of the northern hardwood forests for agriculture concentrated the nesting colonies and the activities of the netters. Steller's sea cow was butchered to extinction by Russian seal hunters before the American Revolution. The great auk, which became extinct in 1844, was slaughtered on its nesting grounds by whalers for its eggs, plumage, and oil. All of these animals gathered in dense breeding colonies that made their killing easy. All were destroyed by unregulated commercialism long before there was more than rudimentary public sentiment for wildlife conservation. The Badlands bighorn sheep, Merriam's elk, and eastern elk were decimated by meat-seeking settlers, prospectors, and market hunters before 1910. All occupied restricted and vulnerable habitats, and all suffered from competition with livestock and agriculture. State and federal wildlife agencies have introduced closely related subspecies of bighorn and elk to the original range of the first two animals. Most of the range of the eastern elk has been taken over by agriculture, but elk of closely related subspecies have been restored to Virginia and Michigan. Modern sport hunting, as now regulated, has no relationship to the thoughtless commercial exploitation of wildlife of the past. The vast majority of the birds and mammals on the endangered list occupy highly specialized habitats. Some were not abundant even in early times. Kirtland's warbler, a tiny migratory bird that nests only in Michigan, must have jackpines between 5 and 18 feet high to nest successfully. Historically, this habitat was created by naturally occurring forest fires. But foresters in their efforts to develop commercial timber excluded fire 18. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability
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Keywords: ., bhlconsorti, bookcollectionamericana, bookcollectionbiodiversity
