Controlling Wildlife

Damage on Public

Lands

The Federal Government’s Wildlife Services (WS)

program works to alleviate wildlife damage to agricultural, urban, and natural resources and threats to

public health and safety. The WS program also protects endangered and threatened species from

wildlife depredation. WS is part of the Animal and

Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), an agency

of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Public Lands Management

Most WS work is conducted on private lands, but

WS also manages wildlife damage problems on public lands, particularly those under the responsibility of

USDA’s Forest Service and the U.S. Department of

the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Land Management.

Control work is also conducted on lands managed by

DOI’s Fish and Wildlife Service; the Departments of

Defense and Energy; Native American tribal lands;

and parklands managed by local, State, or Federal

agencies. WS works on public lands only when

authorized or requested to do so by the responsible

land management agency and only as authorized in

written agreements containing specific guidelines.

These guidelines ensure that control efforts pose no

significant risks to the environment, overall wildlife

populations, or public safety.

WS currently helps resolve wildlife damage problems on a small portion of the Federally managed

lands in the United States. Handling these problems

often requires no more than a few hours’ work in a

particular area during the course of an entire year.

WS’ Work on Public Lands

Land management agencies authorize or request

WS assistance for several different reasons.

Predation by wildlife on domestic livestock permitted

to graze on public lands is a problem. The coyote is

the species primarily responsible, but mountain lions

and black bears also cause damage. Rodent populations damage rangelands and forests.

WS is often asked to remove wildlife that pose a

threat to public safety. For example, in Wisconsin

WS frequently relocates black bears away from public campgrounds. DOI’s National Park Service

requested that WS reduce prairie dog numbers at the

Blue Mesa Reservoir in Colorado to prevent the

spread of bubonic plague.

Managers of public lands also request WS assistance for the protection of endangered or threatened

wildlife species. In California, WS employees protect

the endangered California least tern and the lightfooted clapper rail from fox predation. In Louisiana,

WS efforts help protect an endangered mussel, the

Louisiana pearlshell, by controlling beavers that are

damaging critical habitat. Similar control efforts on

public lands have been conducted to protect other

endangered species, such as the roseate tern, the

Aleutian Canada goose, and the Attwater’s greater

prairie chicken.

Factsheet

Wildlife Services December 2001

APHIS

California least tern

Coyote
Additional Information

You may obtain further information about the services of WS from any State APHIS, WS office. For the

address and telephone number in your area, call the

WS Operational Support Staff at (301) 734–7921.

You can also visit the WS Web site at

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ws.

United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination

in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national

origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to

all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative

means for communication of program information (Braille, large

print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of

Civil Rights, Room 326–W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250–9410 or call (202) 720–5964

(voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and

employer.