Natural Resource Management
Indiana Standards

Coaches teaching about wildlife habitat and preparing youth for the Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Career Development Event can teach many of the Indiana Natural Resource Management standards, especially the following:
G, Students shall develop and exhibit communication skills which are important for natural resource managers
H, Students shall integrate interrelated aspects of the environment in proposing resource management practices.
N, Students shall identify common species of fur-bearing wildlife of Indiana and recommend wildlife management practices.
O, Students shall assess the importance of predators and endangered species, and the roles each plays in the natural community.
P, Students shall analyze the characteristics and management of waterfowl.
Q, Students shall analyze the characteristics and management of Indiana fish.

These standards are described in more detail, below. You can find these standards on-line at: www.doe.state.in.us/standards/

G - Students shall develop and exhibit communication skills which are important for natural resource managers.
1. Examine the need for communication skills in the natural resources professions.
2. Describe the important features of a descriptive, interpretive and persuasive presentation.
3. Exhibit proper introduction techniques.
4. Make an oral presentation appropriate to a given situation.
5. Write a presentation on a natural resource topic.

H - Students shall integrate interrelated aspects of the environment in proposing resource management practices.
1. Define ecology.
2. Define and provide examples of environmental conservation, preservation, exploitation and stewardship.
3. Propose an example of biotic succession.
4. Analyze a basic food chain, including the transfer of energy through the chain.
5. Evaluate an instance where people have altered the local and/or global balance of nature and give positive and negative results.
6. Give an example of how an ecological succession can be altered so it will remain at a secondary stage rather than advancing to the climax stage, and how this action affects production.
7. Identify agencies at the county, state and federal levels with environmental management responsibilities.

N - Students shall identify common species of fur-bearing wildlife of Indiana and recommend wildlife management practices.
1. Identify on sight fur-bearing animals indigenous to Indiana and describe their life cycles.
2. Define wildlife management, habitat, native wildlife, exotic species, and migration.
3. Examine the impact of agriculture on wildlife populations, recommend methods to improve wildlife habitat and recognize the concepts of “edge”, “biodiversity”, “habitat”, “food chain”, and “niche”.
4. Define the term population curve and demonstrate how reproduction and morality affect the curve.
5. Evaluate hunting and fishing regulations including the scientific basis for such restrictions.

O - Students shall assess the importance of predators and endangered species, and the roles each plays in the natural community.
1. Define endangered species, predators and threatened species and list examples of each.
2. Examine possible causes of extinction.
3. Analyze management strategies that have repopulated endangered and threatened species.

P - Students shall analyze the characteristics and management of waterfowl.
1. Define drake, duck, hen, gander, goose, gosling, dabbling (puddle) duck, and diving duck.
2. Describe the characteristics of waterfowl, including family name, habitat, characteristics of the young and life cycle.
3. Diagnose the purposes of waterfowl management and evaluate techniques used in such management.
4. Define waterfowl migration and list the major flyways in North America.
5. Be able to identify on sight species of waterfowl that migrate through Indiana and species that winter in Indiana.

Q Students shall analyze the characteristics and management of Indiana fish.
1. Classify fish according to their place in the food chain, including plant eaters, plankton feeders, insect eaters, omnivores and predators.
2. Illustrate the physical characteristics used to identify fish species.
3. Explain the proper role of stocking in managing fishery resources and identify fish species propagated in Indiana hatcheries.
4. Identify the habitat requirements and life cycles of representative warmwater and coldwater fishes, and hypothesize how fish habitat may be altered.
5. Evaluate the economic and recreational values of Indiana’s fishery resources.
6. Illustrate the management practices used to raise fish in ponds or hatcheries.