Winter Habitat Use by Wolves, Canis lupus, in Relation to Forest Harvesting in West-central Alberta

Forested landscapes in west-central Alberta are facing increased pressures from forest harvesting and other land-use activities, which may alter the movements and distribution of Wolves and ungulates. Information on habitat use by Wolves in logged forests is scarce, potentially limiting effective land-use planning in the boreal forest. Nine Wolves, from four Wolf packs, were fitted with GPS radiocollars in the Rocky Mountain foothills, near Grande Cache, Alberta (2000-2001). We found Wolves did not use the landscape randomly, but rather exhibited a significant preference for non-forested natural habitats (shrubs, water), relative to their availability. Within forest habitats, Wolves used cutblocks proportionately more than unharvested forest and non-forested anthropogenic habitats (pipelines, clearings); however, selection of forest cutblocks was not statistically significant. We found no evidence that Wolves preferred or avoided forest cutblock edges. Wolf pack territories contained various levels of timber harvesting, but most areas were still in the early stages of harvest. Nevertheless, these areas have been allocated for large-scale harvesting. Understanding the potential responses of Wolves to rapidly changing landscape mosaics poses a significant challenge to researchers and managers, but such information is important to informing future land-management and conservation strategies for boreal forest Wolf-prey systems

Travel Rates of Wolves, Canis lupus, in Relation to Ungulate Kill Sites in Westcentral Alberta

Recent advancements in Global Positioning Systems (GPS) radiocollar technology permit analysis of fine-scale animal movements. We used concurrent aerial and GPS monitoring to determine winter travel rates of Wolves (Canis lupus) in relation to ungulate kill sites in managed forest landscapes in westcentral Alberta. Wolves preyed predominately on Moose (Alces alces) and travelled 4.2 times less when near ungulate kill sites than when away from them. As Wolves are thought to be an important factor in Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) declines, information is needed to assess predation risk to Caribou from Wolves under a variety of landscape conditions. If Wolves have restricted movements near Moose kill sites, this may lead to decreased encounter rates with Caribou in systems where Moose are abundant. Deer (Odocoileus spp.) are probably an important component of this Wolf-prey system but little is currently known about this relationship. Projecting long-term implications of ongoing development activities requires a more detailed understanding of the responses of all species to landscape change

Pack Size of Wolves, Canis lupus, on Caribou, Rangifer tarandus, Winter Ranges in Westcentral Alberta

We studied pack size of Wolves (Canis lupus) on Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) winter ranges in westcentral Alberta. These Caribou winter ranges are experiencing increasing pressure from resource extraction industries (forestry, energy sector) and concerns have been raised regarding increased Wolf predation pressure on Caribou in conjunction with landscape change. Thirty-one Wolves, from eight Wolf packs, were fitted with radiocollars on two Caribou winter ranges in the Rocky Mountain foothills, near Grande Cache, Alberta (2000-2001). There was a mean of 8.2 Wolves/pack and between 30 and 39 Wolves on each of the RedRock/Prairie Creek and Little Smoky Caribou ranges. The average pack size of Wolves in this region does not appear to have increased over that recorded historically, but the range (5-18) in the number of Wolves per pack varied considerably over our study area. Wolves preyed predominately on Moose (Alces alces), averaging one Moose kill every three to five days. There was some indication that pack size was related to prey size, with the smallest pack preying on Deer (Odocoileus spp.). It was clear that Caribou could not be the primary prey for Wolves, due to their low numbers, and relative to the pack size and Wolf kills we observed

Protected Areas and Sustainable Forest Management: What Are We Talking About?

Recent research investigating the relationship between protected areas and sustainable forest management has revealed the need for clarity of language if cooperation is to move forward. Here, we develop a parallel framework to compare the concepts of protected areas and sustainable forest management. We address the challenge inherent in the concept of protected areas as places and sustainable forest management as a process or paradigm. Our framework outlines dominant values, management paradigms, and terms for the places managed under each paradigm

Wildlife, Forests, and Forestry: Principles of Managing Forests for Biological Diversity

This book offers a broad geographic scope and conceptual focus that establishes general principles and guidelines for forest and wildlife management. Balanced in approach, it discusses both the macro and micro approaches to forest management and addresses how to implement and fund various plans.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/fac_monographs/1035/thumbnail.jp

Appendix A. A list of boreal bird species used in the analysis, organized by habitat affinity.

A list of boreal bird species used in the analysis, organized by habitat affinity

Boreal songbirds and variable retention management: a fifteen-year perspective on avian conservation and forestry

Partial retention harvest (PRH) has received attention as an alternative to clear-cutting yet most studies of its effects on boreal songbirds have been conducted shortly after harvest. We assessed responses of songbird assemblages to PRH over a 15-year post-harvest period at the EMEND experiment in the mixedwood forest of Alberta, Canada. Four partial retention levels (10, 20, 50 and 75% of stems) were applied in a series of ten-hectare “compartments” during winter 1998/99 with matching clear-cuts and unharvested control compartments in each of three replicates in four common mixedwood cover-types. Songbirds were surveyed using the point count method in 1998 (pre-harvest) and after harvest in 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2012, and 2013. Partial retention harvests that left ≥20% of merchantable stems mitigated changes to songbird assemblages away from, and accelerated recovery toward, the unharvested benchmark. However, assemblages of 14- to 15-year-old controls differed from those observed prior to harvest, notably in composition of old-forest associated species, suggesting effects of experiment-scale processes and/or regional trends not attributable to forestry activities. Although retention levels ≥20% appear to better conserve old-forest birds than clear-cutting in the short term, long-term trade-offs with increasing harvest footprint to compensate for unharvested merchantable volume should be investigated.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Regional habitat needs of a nationally listed species, Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis), in Alberta, Canada

Understanding factors that affect the distribution and abundance of species is critical to developing effective management plans for conservation. Our goal was to quantify the distribution and abundance of Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis), a threatened old-forest associate in Alberta, Canada. The Canada Warbler has declined across its range, including in Alberta where habitat loss and alteration from urban expansion, forestry, and energy development are changing the forest landscape. We used 110,427 point count survey visits from 32,287 unique survey stations to model local-level (150-m radius circular buffers) and stand-level (564-m radius circular buffers) habitat associations of the Canada Warbler. We found that habitat supporting higher densities of Canada Warblers was locally concentrated yet broadly distributed across Alberta's boreal forest region. Canada Warblers were most commonly associated with older deciduous forest at the local scale, particularly near small, incised streams, and greater amounts of deciduous forest at the stand scale. Predicted density was lower in other forest types and younger age classes measured at the local scale. There was little evidence that local-scale fragmentation (i.e., edges created by linear features) influenced Canada Warbler abundance. However, current forestry practices in the province likely will reduce the availability of Canada Warbler habitat over time by cutting old deciduous forest stands. Our results suggest that conservation efforts aimed at Canada Warbler focus on retaining large stands of old deciduous forest, specifically stands adjacent to streams, by increasing the width of deciduous retention buffers along streams during harvest and increasing the size and number of old forest residual patches in harvested stands

Conservation planning for boreal birds in a changing climate: a framework for action

The boreal forests of North America support billions of birds of over 300 species. The region remains mostly intact but is expected to undergo major changes over the next century due to anthropogenic climate change. This warming, and resulting changes in moisture regimes, are altering vegetation and disturbance dynamics, and will likely result in expansion of grasslands and deciduous forests, strongly challenging bird species to keep pace. We present a vulnerability-adaptation framework to guide bird conservation based on species' individual vulnerability and exposure to climate change. For sensitive species with declining populations, conservation should focus on management of current threats and species recovery in situ to improve adaptive capacity and facilitate future shifts in distribution. Sensitive species with high exposure to climate change may warrant more extensive intervention, such as habitat manipulation or even translocation. For species with lower sensitivity and stable populations, but high climate change exposure, long-term investments in protecting refugia and "stepping stones" will be most effective. In general, across all species, land-based approaches that "conserve nature's stage" by promoting geophysical diversity and habitat connectivity, maintaining natural disturbance dynamics, and facilitating broad shifts in bird distribution may prove most effective in maintaining species diversity. Implementation of this framework will require large-scale, interagency coordination on recovery plans, as well as adaptive forest management, designation of critical habitat, and land protection. Challenges include data gaps, uncertainty about future conditions, coordination of conservation actions during the nonbreeding periods, and the region's vast scale. However, given the region's continental importance, successful implementation of this framework could benefit birds throughout the western hemisphere

Strategies for identifying priority areas for songbird conservation in Canada's boreal forest

Canada's boreal forest region is among the most extensive and largely intact ecosystems on earth, but has experienced rapid industrial development in the last half-century. Calls for urgent conservation action have been prompted by the increasing pace of development and declines in biodiversity, including songbirds. To assist conservation decision making, we introduce a framework to facilitate selection of the highest priority areas for a given conservation objective. We varied six key decision points representing possible constraints or a priori conservation factors: (1) prioritization metric (species representation vs. diversity), (2) geographic stratification, (3) degree of anthropogenic disturbance, (4) species' conservation status, (5) species' ecological association, and (6) climate-change and uncertainty discounting. Using the Zonation conservation planning tool, we evaluated landbird conservation priorities across 128 scenarios for 63 passerine species based on current and projected future density predictions. We compared Zonation land rankings across scenarios with respect to consistency, efficiency (additive and proportional conservation value per unit area), and the relative contributions of each of the six factors of interest. We found large differences between solutions depending on constraints and conservation objectives, and relatively low conservation efficiency overall, with the largest gains in overall conservation value observed in areas ranging from 0.31-0.56 of the study region. This reflects the large range of conservation opportunities still present in the Canadian boreal region, and the widely dispersed nature of landbird distributions, which results in high substitutability among similar areas. However, we did find increasing consistency among solutions as multiple constraints were considered. In particular, stratifying solutions geographically resulted in more consistent priorities, although at the expense of efficiency. Other constraints, including climate change, disturbance- and uncertainty-discounting, and the selection and weighting of species, helped to further focus priorities. Although no single scenario can be viewed as prescriptive, we provide a roadmap for prioritizing boreal songbird conservation efforts across multiple conservation objectives