Community-Based Workshops to Involve Rural Communities in Wildlife Management Case Study: Bighorn Sheep in Baja California, Mexico

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Sustainable wildlife management is achieved when planning is based on a thorough knowledge of the species to be harvested. The objective of this research was to generate such knowledge in two rural communities in Mexico through a collaborative process that integrates formal and traditional knowledge about bighorn sheep management. A program of community workshops was implemented in which the communities discussed their interest in bighorn sheep, trained villagers in their management, described their habitat, and planned their monitoring. During the workshops, the communities identified their primary interest in the species as economic, identified the main factors threatening its conservation, created a detailed map of its habitat, and designed the strategy they would use to monitor its population. The workshop program proposed in this paper aims to train rural communities, generate relevant information for the management of wild species, and lay the foundation for a long-term conservation project. ABSTRACT: The description of natural history, and information on the factors threatening conservation, the distribution area, and the status of species population are necessary for proper wildlife management. The objective of this research was to generate such information in two rural communities and to engage residents in bighorn sheep management through a program of three workshops. The first one covered training regarding natural history and management of the species. The second one consisted in the description of the habitat of the species through a dynamic of participatory mapping. The third, include a design of a one strategy to monitor the bighorn sheep population. The workshops were attended by 37 people from the two rural communities. The results suggest the economic element was the main interest of the inhabitants regarding the bighorn sheep. Eleven risk factors were identified to the bighorn sheep in the study sites, a participatory map with relevant information for the management of the species on each community was developed, and a monitoring strategy of the bighorn sheep population was prepared. The workshop program proposed in this research is a tool that can be applied in rural communities to lay the groundwork for a long-term management project of wildlife species.