Posted on 04/28/2011 1:12:41 PM PDT by decimon
Conservationists should consult prehistoric record to help make best decisions for animals and environment
According to prehistoric records, elk roamed the northwestern part of Missouri until 1865. Now, the Missouri Department of Conservation is planning to reintroduce elk, but this time in the southeast part of the state. While a University of Missouri anthropologist believes the reintroduction is good for elk, tourism and the economy, he said the effort may have unintended negative consequences that are difficult to predict.
R. Lee Lyman, the chair of Anthropology in the College of Arts and Science, has studied the history of mammals, conservation biology and wildlife management for nearly 40 years. He said a 2002 MU study completed by a graduate student proved that most prehistoric elk remains found in Missouri were in the field plains of the northwestern area of the state, not the southeast reintroduction location.
"If we are looking for the best place for elk survival, we should consider why elk were not in the southeastern part of the state in prehistoric times," Lyman said. "If they weren't there previously, why would they survive there now? The Mississippi flood plain -where they are being reintroduced is not the best habitat, because elk didn't live there for some reason, such as the wrong kind of food or bad terrain."
A coordinated effort to control a species is always controversial, Lyman said, because it involves many different factors, including politics, economics, tourism and biology. Lyman believes mistakes can be avoided if the prehistoric record is considered.
In his most recent study, Lyman found that the North American elk in the mountains of eastern Washington State were native to those mountains even though popular mythology, and early science, indicated that humans had driven the elk there from adjacent lowlands. The results were published in the March edition of the journal Environmental Management.
There are plenty of examples where wild animal control has not been advantageous to the environment. For example, in Missouri, river otters that were reintroduced are now dominating ponds and overtaking ecosystems. In Montana and Idaho, ranchers and farmers have successfully fought to get wolves reintroduced to the Yellowstone ecosystem in the early 1990s removed from the endangered list, so that farmers can kill the wolves, which jeopardize livestock.
"The issues in these situations relate to time and the ecological cascade that happens when you change one variable," Lyman said. "A hundred years is nothing when compared to the 12,000 years elk have been in America. So what is going to happen when elk roam the Ozarks? If we think that 500-pound elk are going to stay in one area that is pretty naïve. No matter how much data scientists collect and use to make predictions, we're still talking about wild animals. The truth is no one really knows."
Lyman points to Missouri's whitetail deer as an example of animals thriving in the dense Missouri forests.
"The scrawny whitetail deer in our cities and dead along our highways are proof that there can be too much of a good thing," Lyman said.
Dab of history ping.
Any part of the state is the wrong part. Hell why stop with Elk? Let’s get hippos and elephants in the state too so when a car hits them at 65mph the damage will be oh so much more spectacular!
I wish the elk in Michigan would spread in my direction but they seem to like it up north.
Maybe downtown St. Louis?
Shouldn’t the state be MO instead of MU?
University of Missouri.
The elk will be in the NW two hours after the New Madrid Fault shifts...I’ll be there in twenty three minutes.
The MO Conservation Department is really good, the envy of other states. They know what they are doing.
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I don't know if they would "survive" there now or not but I do know that the land is not the same as it was in "pre historic" times. It's not even the same as it was pre 1811-1812.
It's not even the same as it was pre 1900:
Before a series of large levees were constructed by the federal government to harness the Mississippi River, its flood waters regularly spilled across much of southeast Missouri. The Missouri Bootheel once was a natural basin to catch all of this water, a swamp unsuitable for any kind of habitation.
Soon after the beginning of the 20th century a group of visionaries saw the potential benefits of converting the swamps into an area that would be suitable for habitation. They knew if they drained the swamp the soil beneath the water would be some of the richest soil in the nation for farming.
There had been talk around 1900 about draining the land. Finally, in January 1905 a meeting was called in Cape Giradeau, Missouri to discuss how the project could be completed. At this meeting the ground work was laid for undertaking what soon would become the largest drainage project in the United States. The Little River Drainage District was created. A plan for construction of an elaborate network of drainage ditches, canals, and levees was devised and eventually carried out.
Drainage of the region opened up land for settlements and agricultural and industrial use. Before the land was drained, less than 10% of it was clear of water; now, approximately 96% is clear and water free year around.
http://gideon.k12.mo.us/town/river3.htm
The town where I was born (Morehouse, Missouri, New Madrid County) was swamp prior to the Little River Drainage District, now the entire area is among the richest farm land anywhere.
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