Wild Turkeys Present Study in Wildlife Management

This article was originally published in The Midden – Great Basin National Park: Vol. 15, No. 1, Summer 2015.

Wild turkeys, non-native to the park, make for an interesting management challenge.

NPS Photo

By Bryan Hamilton, Wildlife Biologist

National Parks have a clear and explicit mission to preserve resources unimpaired for future generations. However executing that mission can be more ambiguous. As a case in point, consider the wild turkey, a non-native game bird now well established in the park.

In 2003, one-hundred Merriam’s turkeys were released outside the park by the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW). Their goals were to increase hunting and wildlife viewing opportunities by establishing a harvestable turkey population. The introduction was very successful and the turkeys have multiplied and moved into the park, where hunting is illegal. Last year, turkeys began roosting in trees near the Lehman Caves Visitors Center. Turkey feces created a mess on the lawns and sidewalks.

Park employees were able to haze the birds away and clean up, but the maintenance issue raised concerns about the impact of turkeys on natural resources.

Turkeys are a large, non-native bird. Although omnivorous, turkeys feed primarily on vegetation and insects. Predation on vertebrates rarely occurs. Foraging turkeys disturb soils by scratching, and turkeys could disperse non-native species such as cheatgrass and thistles. Turkeys can also inhibit restoration projects by feeding on young, newly-established vegetation.

Turkeys are preyed on by mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, and hawks. Turkey impacts could cascade to other prey species indirectly via increased predator abundance. Although there is little in the literature to indicate that turkeys will have negative impacts, park specific research on the home ranges, food habits, distribution, survival of turkeys, and impacts of turkeys on natural resources is warranted.

Wild turkeys in Great Basin National Park present a classic resource management dilemma. Wildlife do not respect jurisdictional boundaries, and most parks are simply not large enough to manage intact populations. So to meet the park mission, management is by necessity a cooperative endeavor between parks, neighboring land managers, private land owners, and wildlife management agencies. This is true with many species such as bighorn sheep, Bonneville cutthroat trout, elk, rattlesnakes, bats, mountain lions, and wild turkeys. Park solutions to turkey issues could include targeted hazing, trap and removal, or lethal methods. However without cooperation between other stakeholders and partners and active science-based management, these actions would be short term.

In the age of the Anthropocene, human impacts on park resource will continue to increase. More than ever parks will need to work cooperatively with partners and stakeholders and prioritize resource management actions to meet the NPS mission.