Application of a systems approach for management of chronic wasting disease
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center, Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Ventana Systems, Inc., and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WIDNR) are applying a systems approach to map and model the complex relationships among ecological, epidemiological, social, and political processes affecting CWD. Through a participatory modeling process, we gathered subject matter expertise on CWD epidemiology, social science, and deer and forest health and integrated it with empirical data collected by the WIDNR on processes influencing CWD dynamics and management.
What is the issue
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurological disease caused by a misfolded protein, or prion, and is found in cervids (e.g., deer, elk, moose). It represents a serious threat to cervid populations and is one of the most critical issues in the sustainable management of wild and captive ungulates in North America. However, historic and current CWD intervention efforts have often been hampered by social, economic, and political complexities that are interconnected with the biological and ecological components of the disease.
What's at stake
Issues associated with CWD can affect many groups, including state agencies, Tribal governments, hunters, biologists, rehabilitators, farmers, and private landowners. These groups benefit from having healthy cervid populations and can play a role in managing CWD. For example, targeted hunter harvest can be a highly effective method for limiting cervid populations and reducing CWD transmission and relies on the role of hunters as valuable partners in state and Tribal conservation efforts.
Hunting is an economic engine for the U.S., particularly for rural and Tribal communities, and the responsible management of cervid populations directly supports 45.2 billion dollars spent by hunters annually. The conservation and management of game species like wild cervids contributes substantially to the 394.8 billion dollars spent on wildlife-related recreation.
What is our approach
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), USGS Montana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Ventana Systems, Inc., WDNR, and MDC are applying a systems approach to map and model the complex relationships among ecological, epidemiological, social, and political processes affecting CWD, and to apply it to predict the outcomes of different management strategies intended to ensure healthy cervid populations in the long term.
Through a participatory modeling process, the NWHC team gathered subject matter expertise on CWD epidemiology, social science, and deer and forest health and integrated it with empirical data collected by the WDNR and MDC on processes influencing CWD dynamics and management.
We continue to enhance segments of the model that partners have identified as most critical to informing their management strategies, including human dimensions, ecosystem consequences, and genetics components.
What are the benefits
Healthy cervid populations provide a variety of direct and indirect benefits for the American people. Cervid hunting and tourism support and strengthen local economies and provide a source of food security, particularly across many rural and Tribal communities. Limiting cervid populations also serves to limit risks to human health and property, including tick-borne illness, vehicular collisions, agricultural grazing, and the spread of invasive species. The systems model developed by NWHC and partners helps decision-makers predict outcomes under various management scenarios by illuminating the ways in which different parts of the CWD system interact, supporting informed decision-making and providing opportunities for creative solutions that increase the impact and effectiveness of management strategies.
Recent Accomplishments
We have completed development of the initial model with WDNR, which has served as a decision support tool for cervid management and for controlling the long-term spread and prevalence of CWD. The process of developing the model and its technical details have undergone peer review by subject matter experts and have been published in the professional journal Ecological Modelling. This work has led to substantial insights into the time lags associated with disease prevalence, the influences of human dimensions such as hunter harvest on the system, and the role of direct transmission of prions versus indirect environmental routes in the disease’s dynamics.
To make our model more accessible, we have developed a prototype management flight simulator (Figure 2) that allows natural resource managers and stakeholders to visualize, in real time, the short- and long-term impacts of management decisions on deer population dynamics, disease processes, and stakeholders’ response to management to inform ecological, epidemiological, and social objectives.
We have since begun to work with MDC and partners in other state agencies to extend the model into new directions to respond to urgent management problems.
Next steps
With our partners, NWHC scientists are working to create a refined, user-friendly modeling interface that can be used by managers without specialized modeling experience in decision-making contexts, so that the model can directly inform the process of developing strategies and weighing trade-offs for managing cervid populations and CWD.
As we continue to engage with additional management partners, we are focused on incorporating additional social, economic, political, genetic, and forest health dynamics into the model to represent unique management needs and complexities. We are also engaging in opportunities that build on relationships within regional associations of fish and wildlife agencies to apply the systems model on a region-wide basis and support the coordinated management of cervids and CWD across state lines. Many of the issues shared across neighboring states, including the need to manage complex multi-species systems and to evaluate the long-term population effects of management strategies such as targeted removal, can be addressed using extensions of the systems model that we have developed together with our partners.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Assessing the Ability of Incineration to Inactivate CWD Prions from Carcasses
Advancing the Use of RT-QuIC for Applications in CWD Management
Expanding Distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease
Chronic Wasting Disease
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center, Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Ventana Systems, Inc., and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WIDNR) are applying a systems approach to map and model the complex relationships among ecological, epidemiological, social, and political processes affecting CWD. Through a participatory modeling process, we gathered subject matter expertise on CWD epidemiology, social science, and deer and forest health and integrated it with empirical data collected by the WIDNR on processes influencing CWD dynamics and management.
What is the issue
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurological disease caused by a misfolded protein, or prion, and is found in cervids (e.g., deer, elk, moose). It represents a serious threat to cervid populations and is one of the most critical issues in the sustainable management of wild and captive ungulates in North America. However, historic and current CWD intervention efforts have often been hampered by social, economic, and political complexities that are interconnected with the biological and ecological components of the disease.
What's at stake
Issues associated with CWD can affect many groups, including state agencies, Tribal governments, hunters, biologists, rehabilitators, farmers, and private landowners. These groups benefit from having healthy cervid populations and can play a role in managing CWD. For example, targeted hunter harvest can be a highly effective method for limiting cervid populations and reducing CWD transmission and relies on the role of hunters as valuable partners in state and Tribal conservation efforts.
Hunting is an economic engine for the U.S., particularly for rural and Tribal communities, and the responsible management of cervid populations directly supports 45.2 billion dollars spent by hunters annually. The conservation and management of game species like wild cervids contributes substantially to the 394.8 billion dollars spent on wildlife-related recreation.
What is our approach
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), USGS Montana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Ventana Systems, Inc., WDNR, and MDC are applying a systems approach to map and model the complex relationships among ecological, epidemiological, social, and political processes affecting CWD, and to apply it to predict the outcomes of different management strategies intended to ensure healthy cervid populations in the long term.
Through a participatory modeling process, the NWHC team gathered subject matter expertise on CWD epidemiology, social science, and deer and forest health and integrated it with empirical data collected by the WDNR and MDC on processes influencing CWD dynamics and management.
We continue to enhance segments of the model that partners have identified as most critical to informing their management strategies, including human dimensions, ecosystem consequences, and genetics components.
What are the benefits
Healthy cervid populations provide a variety of direct and indirect benefits for the American people. Cervid hunting and tourism support and strengthen local economies and provide a source of food security, particularly across many rural and Tribal communities. Limiting cervid populations also serves to limit risks to human health and property, including tick-borne illness, vehicular collisions, agricultural grazing, and the spread of invasive species. The systems model developed by NWHC and partners helps decision-makers predict outcomes under various management scenarios by illuminating the ways in which different parts of the CWD system interact, supporting informed decision-making and providing opportunities for creative solutions that increase the impact and effectiveness of management strategies.
Recent Accomplishments
We have completed development of the initial model with WDNR, which has served as a decision support tool for cervid management and for controlling the long-term spread and prevalence of CWD. The process of developing the model and its technical details have undergone peer review by subject matter experts and have been published in the professional journal Ecological Modelling. This work has led to substantial insights into the time lags associated with disease prevalence, the influences of human dimensions such as hunter harvest on the system, and the role of direct transmission of prions versus indirect environmental routes in the disease’s dynamics.
To make our model more accessible, we have developed a prototype management flight simulator (Figure 2) that allows natural resource managers and stakeholders to visualize, in real time, the short- and long-term impacts of management decisions on deer population dynamics, disease processes, and stakeholders’ response to management to inform ecological, epidemiological, and social objectives.
We have since begun to work with MDC and partners in other state agencies to extend the model into new directions to respond to urgent management problems.
Next steps
With our partners, NWHC scientists are working to create a refined, user-friendly modeling interface that can be used by managers without specialized modeling experience in decision-making contexts, so that the model can directly inform the process of developing strategies and weighing trade-offs for managing cervid populations and CWD.
As we continue to engage with additional management partners, we are focused on incorporating additional social, economic, political, genetic, and forest health dynamics into the model to represent unique management needs and complexities. We are also engaging in opportunities that build on relationships within regional associations of fish and wildlife agencies to apply the systems model on a region-wide basis and support the coordinated management of cervids and CWD across state lines. Many of the issues shared across neighboring states, including the need to manage complex multi-species systems and to evaluate the long-term population effects of management strategies such as targeted removal, can be addressed using extensions of the systems model that we have developed together with our partners.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Assessing the Ability of Incineration to Inactivate CWD Prions from Carcasses
Advancing the Use of RT-QuIC for Applications in CWD Management
Expanding Distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease