Benefits and Costs Associated with Wildlife Services Activities in California

Abstract

This paper presents a general summary of an economic assessment of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Wildlife Services (WS) Program in California (CA). Detailed analyses quantified WS economic benefits to each of the 38 counties that contributed cooperative funds in 2004, with an aggregate report of county results used to form an overall statewide estimate of the Program's value. Four general categories of wildlife damage management activities were: Agriculture, Health and Human Safety, Natural Resources, and Property. Two general methods of determining economic valuation were employed to quantify benefits: replacement-cost method, and damage-avoided method. Results showed that the protection of livestock, particularly sheep, cattle, and goats, from predation was a main activity of WS-CA personnel in each of the cooperating counties. Annual estimated replacement costs for WS-CA operations for Year 1 and Year 2 of the analysis (i.e., approximately equivalent to fiscal years 2003 and 2004, respectively) totaled $6,605,234 and $8,602,590 for the combined counties, respectively. Mean replacement costs for WS operations in the cooperating counties in Year 1 and Year 2 equaled $173,821.95 and $226,373.13, respectively. Given that the counties paid an average $51,798.10 share to WS-CA in 2003, the counties would have incurred averaged net increased expenses of $122,023.85 and $174,575.03 for similar services offered by commercial wildlife damage management companies. Proc. 22 nd Vertebr. Pest Conf. (R. M. Timm and J. M. O'Brien, Eds.) Published at Univ. of Calif., Davis. 2006. Pp. 356-360.

The Marin County Predator Management Program: Will It Save the Sheep Industry?

“…County's "Ranch Improvement/Non-lethal Control and Indemnity Plan"(Shwiff et al 2005(Shwiff et al , 2006 but is known locally as the "Livestock Protection Program." Through this program, qualified ranchers were given funding to assist in implementing non-lethal management methods in an effort to reduce coyote depredation.…”

The Marin County Livestock Protection Program: 15 Years in Review

“…In late 2000, the Marin County Board of Supervisors decided to replace the Wildlife Services program with a county-administered predator management program supervised by the County Agricultural Commissioner's office. This program is described elsewhere as Marin County's "Ranch Improvement/Non-lethal Control and Indemnity Plan" (Shwiff et al 2005(Shwiff et al , 2006 but is known locally as the "Livestock Protection Program" (LPP To participate in the new county-administered predator program, ranchers needed to utilize any combination of four categories of methods to deter predation: 1) new fence construction or improvements to existing fences; 2) guard animals (dogs and llamas); 3) scare devices; and 4) changes in animal husbandry, including shed lambing, use of herders, and other techniques. Initially, for each method, a rancher could receive a cost-share payment of $500 per practice up to a maximum of $2,000 annually.…”