ABSTRACT
Monitoring the antler size of white-tailed deer killed on a property leased for hunting, crop loss from Canada goose foraging, or monitoring tree growth on a timber industry landholding all represent examples of specific resources that the owner or manager may wish to manage for economic gain. Economic value commonly drives monitoring programs on a variety of scales. The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory
and Analysis program is a good example of a well-structured national monitoring program that was initiated to assess the timber value, primarily economic, on nonfederal lands in the United States (Sheffield et al. 1985). Over time, however, the program evolved into a multiresource monitoring program, and has since been used to assess other natural resource values on non-federal forest lands (McComb et al. 1986). Similarly, but on a local scale, farmers may monitor the effects of birds on corn seed depredation, or deer on soybean production. Communities in Africa are directly involved in monitoring programs to assess the potential for crop damage and then work with authorities to find ways of minimizing the adverse effects of having African elephants in their fields (Songorwa 1999).
