Wildlife Management:
Iowa’s Wildlife
Management
and technical skills to
protect, preserve, conserve, limit, enhance, or
extend the value of
wildlife and its habitat.
When European
settlers first arrived in Iowa they found a land teeming with wildlife of all
shapes and sizes. There seemed to be no end to the abundance. However, within
fifty years many animals had been hunted and exploited completely out of Iowa.
In the 1930’s several Iowans, concerned by the declining wildlife populations,
developed conservation and wildlife management plans and practices. The first wildlife
management organization in Iowa was the Iowa Conservation Commission (which
would later become the Iowa Department of Natural Resources). The ICC worked to establish game law, enhance
wildlife habitat, and stock the state with wildlife.
Today Iowa’s
wildlife is managed by several agencies including the Iowa Department of
Natural Resources. The IDNR sets hunting and fishing regulations to regulate
the harvest and protection of Iowa’s wildlife. They also conduct research,
monitor wildlife populations, and manage land for wildlife habitat.
Wildlife are
owned by no one but are held in trust by the government for the benefit of the
present and future generations. This is known as the Public Trust Doctrine.
Iowa’s wildlife are managed for everyone. However, only two percent of Iowa’s land is in
public ownership. This land is in preserves, refuges, public hunting land,
state parks, county parks and other state, and federal land programs. These
lands are protected and managed. A large art of Iowa’s wildlife management plan
is dependent on private land management. Cooperation between land owners and wildlife
managers is essential for Iowa’s wildlife. Programs such as the Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP), Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), among others, are vital
for managing Iowa’s lands for wildlife diversity.
Iowa State
University Extension: Iowa Wildlife Management
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/IAN401.pdf
Iowa
Department of Natural Resources:
Iowa’s
Wildlifehttp://www.iowadnr.gov/Education/IowasWildlife.aspx
Wildlife
Stewardship
http://www.iowadnr.gov/Environment/WildlifeStewardship.aspx
Wildlife
Landowner Assistance
http://www.iowadnr.gov/Environment/LandStewardship/WildlifeLandownerAssistance.aspx
Hunting
http://www.iowadnr.gov/Hunting.aspx
Fishing
http://www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing.aspx