caribou habitat

Content related to: caribou habitat

Advancing Harvest System and Silvicultural Practices for Improved Woodland Caribou and Fibre Outcomes

This 3-year study will evaluate the potential of new forest management practices to benefit both woodland caribou and growth and yield.

Over the course of the project, we will explore stand characteristics of areas woodland caribou use, the likelihood of harvested areas becoming woodland caribou habitat, and how this potentially differs from burned stands.

We will also identify gaps and opportunities in Alberta’s forest policies for regional silviculture treatments with the potential to improve the trajectory of harvested stands to become caribou habitat while still meeting desired fibre volume objectives.

Background

Declines of woodland caribou populations are linked to human-caused landscape changes that convert mature forests to early seral stands, resulting in habitat loss for caribou, abundant forage for primary prey species, and increased predation risk for caribou via apparent competition. Long-term solutions for caribou conservation will require habitat restoration and adaptive management.

Within managed forests, current reforestation strategies as well as future timber harvesting systems and silviculture practices could influence the timeline and effectiveness of re-establishing functional caribou habitat. Differences in forest stand characteristics and habitat attributes between natural disturbances and harvest disturbances may also influence availability of current and future woodland caribou habitat.

Objectives

1. Literature review

We will carry out a literature review to assess and summarize previous research investigating caribou response to fire and harvest disturbances, including research from ranges within Alberta and research from ranges in similar landscapes elsewhere in Canada. We will consider peer-reviewed literature and technical reports. This review will help determine knowledge gaps, to focus research questions on more specific variables of interest, and to refine both field methods and data analysis techniques

2. Stand characteristics of areas with documented use by woodland caribou in Alberta

Using caribou location data and collect field data from harvested areas used by caribou to relate forest stand characteristics within areas of caribou use. We will then develop models specific to herd ranges, providing information for partners in different regions of Alberta with differing ecosite types and local conditions.

3. Comparing similarly aged cutblocks and areas disturbed by fire

We will determine the differences in stand characteristics and vegetation understory between harvested areas and wildfires, and how these differ with the age of the disturbance and across different ecosites and caribou ranges. We will use this to create models specific to ranges, providing useful information for partners in different regions of Alberta with differing ecosite types and local conditions that could be used to inform future harvesting within caribou ranges and to determine when and where harvested areas are most similar to wildfires.

4. Assessment of historical cutblocks for their ability to produce future woodland caribou habitat

We will assess:

  1. How understory and stand characteristics within historical cutblocks differ across natural subregions and ecosites (and as a function of harvest systems, age since disturbance, etc);
  2. Characteristics of cutblocks in areas used by caribou (building on results from analyses of forest stand characteristics);
  3. Characteristics of cutblocks used by predators (black bears, grizzly bears, wolves, and cougars) and alternate prey (deer, moose, and elk);
  4. Whether/which historical cutblocks within caribou ranges contain understory and stand characteristics favourable to caribou and unfavourable to predators and alternate prey;
  5. Fibre volumes and stand structure of cutblocks used by caribou (based on data from FMA holders and our field data, i.e. tree heights and DBH measurements).

5. Integrate the results into an interactive GIS tool

This GIS tool will allow land managers to:

  1. Identify areas that are on a trajectory towards producing future woodland caribou habitat;
  2. Assess how different silviculture practices may change the trajectory of historical and current cutblocks towards producing future woodland caribou habitat;
  3. Assess how silviculture practices identified in ii) may impact fibre volumes now and into the future.

6. Review of Alberta’s forest policies

We will create a summary of current and potential silviculture treatments by region, FMA, ecosite and their value towards current and future caribou habitat.

We will also deliver a map of current and potential silviculture treatments by region, FMA, ecosite and their value towards current and future caribou habitat that could be used for spatial planning by forestry.

Website:
https://friresearch.ca/project/advancing-harvest-system-and-silvicultural-pract…
Organization:
fRI Research

Wildlife Response to Forest Stands Impacted by Mountain Pine Beetle in western Canada

Both the spread of mountain pine beetle and actions taken to slow its spread have wide ranging effects on wildlife, including species at risk such as caribou. The goals of this project is to provide land managers in government and industry with knowledge and tools to evaluate the consequences of mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation and control actions.

Results, including an interactive planning tool, will support proactive planning and policy for areas where MPB do not yet occur, allowing land mangers to mitigate the potential impact of MPB on ecological and economic values.

Website:
https://friresearch.ca/project/wildlife-response-to-forest-stand-impacts-by-mou…
Organization:
fRI Research

Response of Wildlife to Restored Wellsites

Many wellsites have been certified as reclaimed, but their condition varies. This project will assess wildlife use of wellsites to understand how restoration treatments contribute to important species like moose, bears, and deer.

We will install camera traps to monitor wildlife use of treated wellsites and untreated wellsites, using undisturbed forest as a control. This will provide information on the impacts of targeted prescriptions on wildlife use of restored disturbances, and will help to address the question of when disturbances are no longer considered disturbances in the context of caribou recovery.

Background

There has been significant historical and ongoing oil and gas related development within the Redrock Prairie Creek and Narraway caribou ranges in west-central Alberta. Many abandoned and inactive oil and gas wellsites have been certified as reclaimed, while others have been additionally planted with trees by Weyerhaeuser Company Limited, but regeneration rates and restoration status of wellsites are variable.

To inform future wellsite restoration targets within caribou population ranges, we will use camera traps to compare wildlife use (moose, deer, elk, predators, and caribou) of restored wellsites to wildlife use of unrestored (but inactive) wellsites and undisturbed forest within the same region. We will collect data for one year followed by one year of analysis to provide the first detailed assessment of wildlife response to wellsite restoration in Alberta.

Information from this portion of the project may be used to determine when and what treatments might be required to “turn disturbances off” from a federal caribou disturbance threshold perspective, and will provide essential information on the interactions between restoration treatments, wellsites, and other culturally and economically important wildlife species (i.e., moose, bears, deer).

Objectives

We will install camera traps to monitor wildlife use of treated wellsites vs. untreated wellsites, using undisturbed forest as a control. Analysis of camera data will provide information on the impacts of targeted prescriptions on wildlife use of restored disturbances, and will help to address the question of when disturbances are no longer considered disturbances in the context of caribou recovery.

Methods

In the fall of 2022, we will install camera traps at:

  • 60 certified reclaimed wellsites
  • 30 sites in undisturbed forest (within the same natural subregion and ecosite type as the wellsite cameras)
  • 15 inactive but untreated well sites in the same ecosites and same area (control well sites)

Cameras will remain on site for one year but will be checked ~6 months after deployment. Each camera will be programmed to take 3 photographs when triggered, as well as hourly photos for snowdepth measurements and detection of wildlife at distances outside the motion sensor range.

We will use generalized linear models (i.e., resource selection functions) to investigate primary prey (deer, moose, and elk), predator (wolves, bears, and cougars), and caribou use of well sites, comparing between restoration treatments and undisturbed forest. Our models will include wellsite status (regenerated, not regenerated, not treated), understory vegetation, forage, and tree regeneration status (field survey data), snow depth, ecosite and AVI forestry data, and landscape-level characteristics (e.g., density of different disturbances surrounding the well site, percent conifer, terrain).

Outcomes and Deliverables

We will produce a technical report including a summary of wildlife use of wellsites relative to treatment type, and detailed statistical analysis linking wildlife use of wellsites to characteristics of wellsites (e.g., vegetation data collected during ground validation, treatment type, ecosite) and characteristics of the landscape surrounding wellsites (e.g., forest type, density of other disturbances), with the goal of submitting our results in a peer-reviewed publication.

Website:
https://friresearch.ca/project/response-of-wildlife-to-restored-wellsites
Organization:
fRI Research