Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The business meeting was called to order at 8:35 a.m. November 8, 2006 by John Eisemann, WERA-95 Chair. Minutes from the 2005 WCC-95 meeting were unanimously accepted as written. Budget Report: The budget report was postponed pending the arrival of John O'Brien. The budget report was prepared and submitted by John O'Brien following the conclusion of the meeting when all expenses had been accrued and totaled. Twenty-five scientists, students and private business representatives attended the meeting. The meeting registration fees were $20 for students as decided at the 2004 meeting. The fee for all other attendees was set at $30. The budget report follows: Balance from the 2005 meeting was $220.80; income from the 2006 meeting* was $740.00; reimbursement from the VPC** was $105.16; and Circus Circus Hotel expenses for the 2006 meeting*** were $530.42. The balance from the 2006 meeting was $535.54. * Twenty-four wildlife professionals and one student attended the meeting. The total income from registration fees was $740. ** The Vertebrate Pest Council met in the Circus Circus meeting room during the morning of November 7 and subsequently reimbursed the WERA-95 $105.16 for the use of the room. *** The WERA-95 meeting began at 1:00 p.m. on November 7. John OBrien reserved the meeting room at Circus Circus for three days: Tuesday, November 7, 2006; Wednesday, November 8, 2006; and Thursday, November 9, 2006. This year the meeting was shortened by one half day. Therefore the meeting room was not needed on November 9, 2006. The hotel adjusted the bill accordingly, and also waived the meeting room charge. Thus the expenses for this meeting were substantially less than usual. Officer Elections: Scott Beckerman was unable to fill his elected tenure as a WERA-95 officer because of a new duty assignment. Therefore, two positions were open for election including Vice-Chair and Secretary. Duane Schnable was nominated by Ray Sterner for the office of Vice-Chair. The motion was seconded by Mark Tobin. Duane was unanimously elected by verbal vote. Mark Tobin nominated himself to serve as Secretary. John Eisemann seconded the nomination, and Bob Timm moved to close the nominations. Mark was also unanimously elected by verbal vote. Generation of Additional Participation: John Eisemann opened a discussion on how to generate more participation in the WERA-95. This issue has been a recurring concern for the committee. This year's meeting did benefit from increased industry participation by pesticide product registrants. Other wildlife damage management industry sectors represented were distributors of nonlethal products, and wildlife control operators. Student participation was down this year. Administrative changes at the Berryman Institute (regular participants) disrupted usual communication routes. Consequently, none of their staff or students attended. One student was present form Colorado State University. Initially the discussion centered on the purpose of WERA-95 and the contributions various participants make toward that end. WERA-95 serves as an important networking mechanism to facilitate appropriate research in wildlife damage management. The focus has traditionally been on rodent management. While rodents remain a focal point, the committee has also addressed broader wildlife management issues. Industry representation and collaboration is important to assist in developing appropriate research activities and possibly leverage funds. Students are the future practitioners in the field and provide insight into new research and trends. They benefit by networking with other wildlife damage management professionals, and are provided an opportunity to present their research. Several suggestions to increase attendance were presented. 1) Renewing the relationship with the Berryman Institute to encourage student and faculty participation. 2) Identify emerging or "hot button" issues to address at the annual meeting. This may provide incentive to interested persons to participate in the meeting. 3) Continue to invite participants from the Vertebrate Pest Conference, as well as Agricultural Experiment Stations. Topic for WERA-95, 2007 Annual Meeting: Following on the discussion of increasing participation at WERA-95, it was decided that a timely topic for the next meeting is "Emerging State and Federal Regulatory Issues Impacting Wildlife Damage Management." A specific issue of concern is the interaction of US Fish and Wildlife Service with USDA Wildlife Services. Also suggested as a discussion topic, was how best to facilitate the movement of products into the market place within the existing regulatory mechanisms. Recent meetings have not been planned around the themes selected during the preceding annual meeting. A proposal was presented to focus presentations and discussion around a theme during a portion of the meeting, rather than trying to focus on the theme for the entire meeting. Another suggestion was to invite specific speakers (i.e. EPA or FWS) to present abstracts. WERA-95 2007 Annual Meeting Date and Location: The date and location for the 2007 WERA-95 annual meeting were selected. The dates are November 6-8, 2007 and the meeting will be held at the Circus Circus Hotel in Reno, Nevada. The meeting will start at 1:00 p.m. on November 6, 2007 and end at 12:00 p.m. on November 8, 2007. Announcements: Bruce Menzel has retired from CSREES where he was the Fish and Wildlife National Program Leader. Bruce has been an active and valued participant in WERA-95 during his tenure. The committee agreed to submit a letter to CSREES to encourage that his vacated position be filled as soon as possible. The meeting minutes and most up to date mailing list of WERA-95 attendees for this and recent years will be posted on the "Collaborative Tools" website at http://collaborate.ucanr.org. New attendees will be added to the WERA-95 group. Current members of the group were asked to update their e-mail address and other information on the website. Review of last year's action items: 1) Update the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management website to include current WERA-95 information. This website has been updated. This is an ongoing process that requires continual maintenance to keep the information current. 2) Formation of a symposium committee (John Eisemann, Kathy Fagerstone, Dale Nolte, Terry Salmon and Robert Timm) to plan a symposium/workshop on secondary hazards of vertebrate pesticides. The committee made a decision to coordinate a symposium on secondary hazards of vertebrate pesticides with the "Wildlife Damage Management Conference" on April 9-12, 2007 in Corpus Christi, TX. The symposium will attract participants also likely to attend the conference. This approach is logistically efficient and cost effective for both participants and sponsors. ACTION ITEMS FOR FY07: 1) The secondary hazards of vertebrate pesticides symposium planning committee will approach Art Smith regarding the addition of a symposium to the meeting schedule of the Wildlife Damage Management Conference to be held April 9-12, 2007 in Corpus Christi, TX. 2) The committee agreed to submit a letter to encourage that Bruce Menzel's vacated position be filled as soon as possible.

The WERA-95 meeting continues to provide an effective and unique tool for information sharing among cooperative extension specialists and agents, university researchers, Federal and State government researches and operational biologists, industry representatives, students, and others in the field of wildlife damage management. In keeping with the typical meeting format, there was an emphasis in discussion time and somewhat less focus on formal presentations. This provides more time to develop potential collaboration and/or coordinate assistance on current issues facing participants. The annual meeting is an important means to familiarize wildlife management students with a variety of wildlife damage issues, provide them the opportunity to network with other professionals working in the field, and to promote the field which has an increasing need for qualified specialists to address increasing wildlife conflicts. During the business meeting there was further discussion on ways to increase participation in the committee by established professionals, while maintaining the current format which is conducive to group interaction. The WERA-95 Committee will continue its practice to reach out to college and university students in other western states, agricultural experiment stations involved in wildlife damage research, industry representatives. Last year, the committee agreed to cooperate in planning a symposium/workshop on the secondary hazard of rodenticides to nontarget species. The event was tentatively planned for early 2007. In lieu of a separate symposium, the committee made a decision to coordinate a symposium on mitigating nontarget hazards (including secondary hazards) of vertebrate pesticides with the "Wildlife Damage Management Conference" on April 9-12, 2007 in Corpus Christi, TX. The symposium will attract participants also likely to attend the conference. The topic remains timely as EPA has reviewed potential risks of rodenticides, and published their proposed mitigation measures for public comment on January 17, 2007. This ongoing regulatory process will continue to have impacts for managing rodents in agriculture and forestry, on public lands, and in potential disease outbreaks. The planners of the Wildlife Damage Management Conference have been approached regarding the potential to host the symposium. As of this date, the symposium proposal has been accepted, and the schedule of invited speakers has been finalized. The symposium/workshop will focus on the risk mitigation measures, identify research needs, risk assessment techniques, and address issues related to regulation of rodenticides. Formal updates or project reports were provided by participants on twelve topics at the meeting. In addition, each participant was given an opportunity to provide a brief summary of their current research or outreach activities, and solicited help or discussion from meeting participants. Participant response to this format remains very positive because it fosters collaborative efforts for rodenticide research, and will be continued at the next meeting.

No publications were produced from the WERA-095 during the past year.