Environment DEC
From the March 2005 issue
DEC Staff Share Award with Cornell University for Training Manual
This award-winning manual
helps professionals solve
nuisance wildlife problems
The New York Chapter of The Wildlife Society recently presented their "Outstanding Professional Award" to the team of biologists, technicians and educators who developed New York State's Best Practices for Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators: A Training Manual. The Wildlife Society is an international, non-profit, scientific and educational association dedicated to excellence in wildlife stewardship through science and education.
Participating DEC Staff
Along with Cornell University, DEC team members who designed the manual included the following staff from the Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources:
- Gordon Batcheller, Small Game Unit Leader, Albany
- Lou Berchielli, Wildlife Damage Management Unit Leader, Albany
- Steve Heerkens, Wildlife Biologist, Region 6
- Mark Kandel, Wildlife Manager, Region 9
- Ron Newell, Principal Wildlife Technician, Region 8
- Mike Putnam, Wildlife Biologist, Region 1
- Scott Smith, Wildlife Biologist, Region 3
The Manual
The 281-page manual is a self-taught, step-by-step guide for solving nuisance wildlife problems. Nearly 100 professionals from across the country reviewed it, including wildlife biologists, university extension wildlife professionals, trappers, veterinarians, animal welfare and animal rights organizations, wildlife rehabilitators and wildlife control operators.
Test Results Before and After
Almost 200 volunteers from across the state, including 83 experienced nuisance wildlife control operators helped test or validate the manual. They first took a detailed 100- question preliminary test without any preparation. Then they received the manual and were allowed to study it for two weeks. Finally, they took another test, which included the same questions as the first one, but in a different order. Only 39 percent of the volunteers received a passing grade for the first test, but after studying the manual, 88 percent of them passed the second test.
The Best Practices manual is available on the Internet, but requests for hard copies continue to come in from across the country. This manual is serving as a regional model for agency training programs for wildlife control operators throughout the Northeast. In 2004, the manual also won the "Innovative Outreach Award" from the New York Chapter of the Association of Natural Resources Extension Professionals.
