scholarly journals Decision-support model to explore the feasibility of using translocation to restore a woodland caribou population in Pukaskwa National Park, Canada

Rangifer ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily K. Gonzales ◽  
Patrick Nantel ◽  
Arthur R. Rodgers ◽  
Martha L. Allen ◽  
Christine C. Drake
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Bayesian Belief Networks ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Decision Support Model ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
Structured Decision Making ◽  
Good Physical Condition ◽  
Pukaskwa National Park

The distribution and abundance of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) have declined dramatically in the past century. Without intervention the most southern population of caribou in eastern North America is expected to disappear within 20 years. Although translocations have reintroduced and reinforced some populations, approximately half of caribou translocation efforts fail. Translocations are resource intensive and risky, and multiple interrelated factors must be considered to assess their potential for success. Structured decision-making tools, such as Bayesian belief networks, provide objective methods to assess different wildlife management scenarios by identifying the key components and relationships in an ecosystem. They can also catalyze dialogue with stakeholders and provide a record of the complex thought processes used in reaching a decision. We developed a Bayesian belief network for a proposed translocation of woodland caribou into a national park on the northeastern coast of Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada. We tested scenarios with favourable (e.g., good physical condition of adult caribou) and unfavourable (e.g., high predator densities) conditions with low, medium, and high numbers of translocated caribou. Under the current conditions at Pukaskwa National Park, augmenting the caribou population is unlikely to recover the species unless wolf densities remain low (<5.5/1000 km2) or if more than 300 animals could be translocated.

scholarly journals A Bayesian approach to evaluating habitat for woodland caribou in north-central British Columbia

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (12) ◽  
pp. 3117-3133 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Scott McNay ◽  
Bruce G Marcot ◽  
Viktor Brumovsky ◽  
Rick Ellis
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Bayesian Belief Networks ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
North Central ◽  
Ecological Understanding ◽  
Effective Conservation

Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin)) populations are in decline throughout much of their range. With increasingly rapid industrial, recreational, residential, and agricultural development of caribou habitat, tools are required to make clear, knowledgeable, and explainable management decisions to support effective conservation of caribou and their range. We developed a series of Bayesian belief networks to evaluate conservation policy scenarios applied to caribou seasonal range recovery areas. We demonstrate the utility of the networks to articulate ecological understanding among stakeholders, to clarify and explicitly depict threats to seasonal range. We also show how simulated forecasts of spatially explicit seasonal range can be compared with landscape potential with range under assumed conditions of natural disturbance. These tools have provided opportunities to operationally define and measure conditions for recovery of caribou in north-central British Columbia.

Losing the predator—prey space race leads to extirpation of woodland caribou from Pukaskwa National Park

Ecoscience ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 374-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur T. Bergerud ◽  
Brian E. Mclaren ◽  
Ludvik Krysl ◽  
Keith Wade ◽  
William Wyett
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Space Race ◽  
Pukaskwa National Park

scholarly journals Climate and management interact to explain the decline of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Jasper National Park

Rangifer ◽  
2012 ◽  
pp. 183-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bradley ◽  
Lalenia Neufeld
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Wildlife Management ◽  
National Park ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Jasper National Park ◽  
Human Use

Woodland caribou in the southern portion of Jasper National Park have declined from an estimated 435 in the mid 1970s to a population estimate of 87 in the fall of 2009. We examined the available historical information to determine why caribou have declined. We compared three main hypotheses for caribou decline in JNP: human disturbance, climate change, and wildlife management. We used historical human use statistics, climate data, and animal abundance information to weigh the evidence for these competing hypotheses over two time scales. Caribou decline could not be attributed to changes in climate over the long-term, or an increase in human use (our proxy for disturbance). Caribou decline was attributed to a combination of climate and wildlife management. Recovery of caribou in Jasper National Park will likely be contingent on managing the interaction between the predator/prey dynamic and climate change.

scholarly journals Conserving woodland caribou habitat while maintaining timber yield: a graph theory approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 914-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan L.W. Ruppert ◽  
Marie-Josée Fortin ◽  
Eldon A. Gunn ◽  
David L. Martell
Keyword(s):  
Graph Theory ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Timber Harvesting ◽  
Optimization Approach ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Heuristic Procedure ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Old Growth Forest

The fragmentation and loss of old-growth forest has led to the decline of many forest-dwelling species that depend on old-growth forest as habitat. Emblematic of this issue in many areas of the managed boreal forest in Canada is the threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)). We develop a methodology to help determine when and how timber can be harvested to best satisfy both industrial timber supply and woodland caribou habitat requirements. To start, we use least-cost paths based on graph theory to determine the configuration of woodland caribou preferred habitat patches. We then developed a heuristic procedure to schedule timber harvesting based on a trade-off between merchantable wood volume and the remaining amount of habitat and its connectivity during a planning cycle. Our heuristic can attain 84% of the potential woodland caribou habitat that would be available in the absence of harvesting at the end of a 100 year planning horizon. Interestingly, this is more than that which is attained by the current plan (50%) and a harvesting plan that targets high volume stands (32%). Our results indicate that our heuristic procedure (i.e., an ecologically tuned optimization approach) may better direct industrial activities to improve old-growth habitat while maintaining specified timber production levels.

If You Build It, Will They Come? Caribou Habitat Restoration for Pipeline Projects

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Coupal ◽  
Paula Bentham
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Management ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Landscape Fragmentation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
Recovery Strategy ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Northeastern Alberta

The federal Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal Population in Canada, identifies coordinated actions to reclaim woodland caribou habitat as a key step to meeting current and future caribou population objectives. Actions include restoring industrial landscape features such as roads, seismic lines, pipelines, cut-lines, and cleared areas in an effort to reduce landscape fragmentation and the changes in caribou population dynamics associated with changing predator-prey dynamics in highly fragmented landscapes. Reliance on habitat restoration as a recovery action within the federal Recovery Strategy is high, identifying 65% undisturbed habitat in a caribou range as the threshold to providing a 60% chance that a local population will be self-sustaining. In alignment with the federal Recovery Strategy, Alberta’s Provincial Woodland Caribou Policy identifies habitat restoration as a critical component of long-term caribou habitat management. Habitat restoration initiatives of Alberta’s historical industrial footprint within caribou ranges began in 2001 and have largely focused on linear corridors, including pipelines. Initiatives include revegetation treatments, access control programs and studies, and restricting the growth of plant species that are favourable to moose and deer, the primary prey for wolves. Habitat restoration for pipelines also includes pre-construction planning to reduce disturbance and create line-of-sight breaks, and construction techniques that promote natural vegetation recovery. Lessons learned from habitat restoration programs implemented on pipeline projects in northeastern Alberta will be shared as an opportunity to improve common understanding of restoration techniques, the barriers to implementation, and potential outcomes.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Fire Regimes and Stand Dynamics in Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) Communities in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 123-128
Author(s):  
William Romme ◽  
James Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Grizzly Bear ◽  
Pinus Albicaulis ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
Greater Yellowstone

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a keystone species of upper subalpine ecosystems (Tomback et al. 2001), and is especially important in the high-elevation ecosystems of the northern Rocky Mountains (Arno and Hoff 1989). Its seeds are an essential food source for the endangered grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), particularly in the autumn, prior to winter denning (Mattson and Jonkel 1990, Mattson and Reinhart 1990, Mattson et al. 1992). In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), biologists have concluded that the fate of grizzlies is intrinsically linked to the health of the whitebark pine communities found in and around Yellowstone National Park (YNP) (Mattson and Merrill 2002). Over the past century, however, whitebark pine has severely declined throughout much of its range as a result of an introduced fungus, white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) (Hoff and Hagle 1990, Smith and Hoffman 2000, McDonald and Hoff 2001), native pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) infestations (Bartos and Gibson 1990, Kendall and Keane 2001), and, perhaps in some locations, successional replacement related to fire exclusion and fire suppression (Amo 2001). The most common historical whitebark pine ftre regimes are "stand-replacement", and "mixed­ severity" regimes (Morgan et al. 1994, Arno 2000, Arno and Allison-Bunnell2002). In the GYE, mixed-severity ftre regimes have been documented in whitebark pine forests in the Shoshone National forest NW of Cody, WY (Morgan and Bunting 1990), and in NE Yellowstone National Park (Barrett 1994). In Western Montana and Idaho, mixed fire regimes have been documented in whitebark pine communities in the Bob Marshall Wilderness (Keane et al. 1994), Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness (Brown et al. 1994), and the West Bighole Range (Murray et al.1998). Mattson and Reinhart (1990) found a stand­replacing fire regime on the Mount Washburn Massif, within Yellowstone National Park.

scholarly journals Putting the environmental impact assessment process into practice for woodland caribou in the Alberta Oil Sands Region

Rangifer ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Paula R. Bentham
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Woodland Caribou ◽  
The Government ◽  
Current Operating ◽  
Impact Predictions

Since 1985, woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) have been designated as a threatened species in Alberta. Populations studied since the 1970s have been stable or declining, with no population increases documented. Resource expansion into previously undeveloped areas and associated increases in access have been implicated as possible causes for the declines. To facilitate development on caribou ranges, while ensuring the integrity and supply of caribou habitat, standing committees have been formed. The primary role of the committees is to act as advisory bodies to the government and to search for effective and efficient industrial operating guidelines. Recent research has been conducted on the responses of woodland caribou ecotypes to increased human and predator access. Based on this research, operating guidelines have been refined and implemented through Caribou Protection Plans. I discuss how the current operating guidelines are put into practice and linked to the Environmental Assessment process within the Oil Sands Region of Alberta. In particular, I discuss the origination of impact predictions, specific mitigation measures to reduce impacts and monitoring.

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