Further North wrote on Mar 14th, 2022 at 4:03pm:PhilA wrote on Mar 14th, 2022 at 1:26pm:The numerous federal agencies that monitor and manage invasive species define them rather succinctly:
"An 'invasive species' is a species that is:
1. non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration and,
2. whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health."
Phil
Thanks.
So...given that there were no turkeys in the state in the 70s and 80s...I could call them "invasive", sort of, and to fit the 2nd part, the "and", turkey hunting is definitely a harm to human health: Turkey hunters sit in blinds and wait, grouse and woodcock hunters walk their fannies off and are in much better shape.
...that last bit's tongue firmly in cheek, if that's not clear.
There were turkeys in the state in the '70s, but their range was very limited since they were doing a grouse for turkeys swap with Missouri and the first successful transplants were around 1976. By the '80s they expanded enough that there was a hunting season, my cousin used to hunt south of La Crosse in the late 1980s. However, to your larger point, historically turkey range was along the Mississippi and WI River corridors and birds that we're seeing up north are clearly non-native and invasive -- whether they're displacing other species or disrupting native habitat, that's up for debate.
Quote:Pheasants are clearly invasive, and non-native. I wonder if if anyone has ever done a study on their impact; what they displaced...
From my perspective, pheasants are a bird of a different feather (sorry for the pun) -- while they're clearly non-native, they're a niche species that took advantage of the plow that prairie grouse couldn't survive. From what I've seen in southern IA and Nebraska, they seem to co-exist with native bobwhite since they use different habitat for the most part. So I don't think pheasants have displaced any native species that I'm aware of and have simply taken advantage of an unoccupied niche created by the expansion of agriculture. Similar to brown trout thriving in streams too degraded for native brook trout (which can't be said in all cases where habitat is ideal for both
fontinalis and
trutta, however).
Edit: Wisconsin's first turkey season was 1983 and first fall hunt was 1989.