2005 Education & Outreach Newsletter

Natural Resource Education Messages

DFG management objectives	Why resource management matters
Responsible Recreation Safe Human/Wildlife Interaction Conservation and Protection of Wildlife and Habitat	Valuing Our Natural Heritage The Importance of Biodiversity

Responsible Recreation

DFG Objectives

• Promote fishing, hunting, and wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities to connect Californians to the most diverse natural resource heritage in the nation.
• Provide sustainable opportunities for hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing and other recreational uses of habitat as part of managing for viable, healthy populations.
• DFG wildlife areas, ecological reserves, and marine protected areas offer opportunities for different kinds of wildlife-dependent recreation.

Citizen Participation

• A variety of conservation and recreation groups continue to play an important role in ensuring the protection of habitats and associated recreational opportunities.
• Compliance with fish and wildlife laws is an essential component of natural resource management.

Safe Human / Wildlife Interaction

DFG objectives

• Promote co-existence with California’s wildlife. This includes expanding awareness about responsible behaviors for the safety of the public and health of wildlife.
• Educate the public about use of fish and wildlife management strategies that recognize all species (including humans) live interdependently.

Citizen Participation

• People are part of nature. What we do in our cities, towns, and rural areas affects wildlife habitats no matter where we live and work.
• Citizens need to know about what to do and what not to do to co-exist with California wildlife. This requires an understanding of wildlife behaviors including the need for movement and migration patterns.

Conservation and Protection of Wildlife and Habitat

DFG objectives:

• Maintain native fish, wildlife, plant species and natural communities through a broad range of activities such as: scientific monitoring of native and introduced species; enforcement of laws regarding the taking of wildlife; management of lands and facilities; technical assistance on resource management to landowners; review of streambed alteration and timber harvest plans; and rapid response to oil spills.
• Conserve critical habitat areas to safeguard terrestrial, fresh water aquatic and marine ecosystems. This includes protection of wildlife corridors connecting areas of viable habitat and critical for providing access to food, water, shelter.
• Maintain ecological reserves and marine protected areas intended to conserve unique, fragile habitats and which can function to protect and restore rare and threatened native species.

Citizen Participation:

• Californians only protect fish and wildlife resources they know about and value.
• Education of a citizenry to the mission of DFG and the breadth of its work is an important means to gain the public support needed to achieve many objectives.
• Individual personal actions in partnership with local community and combined agency efforts are critical to the long-term maintenance and survival of wildlife and the habitats upon which they depend.
• The needs of a growing human population can be balanced with those of wildlife. Use of the land, waterways, and living resources should be planned and implemented to minimize the impact on wildlife and ensure long-term sustainability of habitat.

Why resource management matters:
Valuing Our Natural Heritage

• California’s wildlife and habitat represent critical resources maintained in public trust for future generations.
• People and wildlife share a common need for clean water, clean air, and a habitable place to live.
• Each of us shares the responsibility to conserve and protect California’s natural heritage.
• Public and private partnership effort to sustain natural resource viability within the matrix of California landscapes invites the growth of a stewardship ethic. The balance of ecological, economic, recreational, and aesthetic values to be gained is a long-term benefit to our quality of life.

Why resource management matters:
The Importance of Biodiversity

• Biodiversity is a measure of the biological richness of an area. California is one of the top ‘hotspots’ for biodiversity in the world (ref. DFG Biodiversity Atlas). [Numerous areas in California are considered biologically irreplaceable (significant for conservation of biodiversity) having relatively high concentrations of rare species found nowhere else.]
  • For a regional landscape or entire state:
    biodiversity is the diversity of species, habitats, and vegetation types.
  • For a habitat or vegetation type:
    biodiversity is the diversity of life forms within it.
  • For a species:
    biodiversity is the genetic variation within a population or among populations.
• Living organisms, including humans, survive interdependently in the “web of life”. High biodiversity, or a complex web, is generally considered more stable because it is more adaptable to change.
• Biodiversity is being lost due to destruction of habitat by an expanding range of human activities and competition from introduced species.
• Maintaining a rich biodiversity is important on many different levels. In California, biodiversity is an incentive for job growth and greater economic prosperity. California’s living resources have much future potential including value in the fields of medicine, energy, tourism, and others.

Appendix
The following are some examples of how these messages could be applied:

Responsible Recreation

Practice responsible outdoor recreation.

• Conserve our wild heritage now, and enjoy it always.
• Take no more than what you can use in a reasonably short period of time, but never more than your limit when fishing or hunting. You don’t always have to take your limit.

Safe Human / Wildlife Interaction

Wild animals are naturally wary of people. Let’s keep it that way.

• Humans can unintentionally attract wildlife and change them to become dependent on humans.
• It’s humans that can change their actions. Educate others to wildlife awareness.

Conservation and Protection of Wildlife and Habitat

We All Live in a Watershed
   And California’s native fish & wildlife are part of our community

Yet, did you know…
   The #1 threat to California fish, plants, and wildlife is loss of their habitats

Natural areas can become fragmented and unable
   to support healthy native plant and animal populations

~ Human needs CAN be balanced with those of wildlife ~

• Wildlife corridors are critical for providing access to food, water, shelter, and play an important role in wildlife migration.
• Maintaining protected and linked networks of terrestrial and aquatic habitat with clean air and clean water is essential to building sustainable communities for wildlife and people.

Find out about local opportunities to enhance and restore habitat…
  …because California’s fish and wildlife are depending on you.

Valuing Our Natural Heritage

Your Home...is Bigger Than you Think…

• Most Californians share a desire to protect the environment. And their attitudes affect what they do: such as, avoiding the use of toxic products where possible and making certain that soaps, paints, and oil don’t wash into street gutters and storm drains.
• Keep creeks and other wild habitats clean and healthy places for fish, wildlife, and people.
• We hold in “public trust” California’s natural heritage of fish and wildlife.

The Importance of Biodiversity

When the rich web of life is cut back, we are all poorer for it.

• California is one of the top ‘hotspots’ of biodiversity identified worldwide…but that diversity is being lost.
• Do your part to protect wildlife habitat and prevent the spread of invasive and non-native species that threaten California’s natural heritage.
• Maintenance of California’s rich biological diversity requires careful land use planning so that plants, fish, and wildlife resources may be sustained for future generations.