Control of \u3ci\u3e Microtus\u3c/i\u3e in Two Damage Situations

In Canada the potential exists of over a million dollars girdling damage loss per year caused by small mammals to fruit trees in each of the four major orchard areas of British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Such annual losses continue to occur despite the existence of methods developed which could largely eliminate a large percentage of such losses at a fraction of the costs currently being spent on attempts to control small mammal populations (primarily meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) in orchard situations. In this paper I propose to outline briefly the developmental studies conducted by the Canadian Wildlife Service in research involving harmful small mammal populations on a hardwood plantation in southern Ontario and on a similar reclamation and afforestation program being conducted in the tar sands area of northeastern Alberta. I propose that the techniques developed in these studies hold considerable potential should they be applied to orchard damage situations such as those with which this symposium is concerned