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The conservation status of northern goshawks in southeast Alaska is examined through developing an understanding of goshawk ecology in relation to past, present, and potential future habitat conditions in the region under the current Tongass land management plan. Forest ecosystem dynamics are described, and a history of forest and goshawk management in the Tongass National Forest is reviewed. Nearly 900,000 acres of the most productive old-growth temperate rain forest in southeast Alaska (public and private lands) have been harvested during the past 90 years and changed to early seral conifer forests. Goshawk habitat relations are described through a review of the goshawk literature. Significant preliminary findings of a habitat relation study in southeast Alaska include the following: goshawks select productive old-growth forests with > 60 percent of all adult goshawk telemetry relocations occurring in this cover type; nonforest, clearcut, and alpine cover types were least used and were avoided relative to their availability; and the median breeding season minimum convex polygon use areas of adult goshawks was about 10,000 acres. Goshawks predominantly use gentle slopes (70 percent of relocations) at elevations below 800 feet (54-74 percent of relocations); 24 percent of relocations occurred in riparian habitat zones, and nearly 20 percent of all relocations occurred within the beach fringe habitat extending 1,000 feet inland from the ocean shoreline. Goshawk nesting habitat is a nonrandom subset of the landscape with a significantly higher proportion of productive old-growth forest within a 600-acre analysis area surrounding known nests. The probability of persistence of goshawks has declined over the past 50 years owing to habitat loss and likely will continue to decline under current management plan regimes; however, the goshawk population likely is not in immediate peril. The predicted consequences of several alternative habitat management approaches are compared. This analysis suggests that long rotation forestry (e.g., 300 years) and uneven-aged silvicultural management may maintain habitat characteristics important to sustaining goshawk populations well distributed across the region. Although habitat reserves are not considered an essential component of a forest-wide goshawk conservation strategy, reserves, in combination with extended rotations, may be important where the intensity of past management actions has precluded the opportunity to attain a desired combination of forest age classes achieveable under long rotations. Revision efforts for the TLMP resumed in fall 1994 with a focus on five major land management issues considered to be inadequately addressed in the existing TLMP: wildlife viability, fish and riparian habitat, caves and karst, alternatives to clearcutting, and socioeconomic considerations. Goshawk conservation is an important component within the wildlife viability issue.Concern for goshawk population viability in southeast Alaska evolved during the past decade and culminated with th...

We summarized the scientific information available for the Alexander Archipelago wolf (Canis lupus ligoni) in the Tongass National Forest of southeast Alaska. Information concerning the morphology, distribution, taxonomy, genetics, and ecology of wolves are presented. Three issues for the conservation of wolves in southeast Alaska are discussed: loss of long-term carrying capacity for deer due primarily to extensive timber harvesting, increased mortality of wolves associated with improved human access from roads, and continued high levels of harvest of wolves by humans.Continued timber harvesting at current levels and by current methods will likely have adverse consequences for some segments of the wolf population. Although some short-term regulatory changes and the management of road access may need to be considered to keep wolf harvest at a sustainable level, the most important consideration is to maintain long-term carrying capacity for deer, the principal prey for most of the wolf population. A series of old-growth forest reserves may provide an effective strategy to increase the likelihood that wolves will persist where extensive timber harvesting has occurred, or is planned.Keywords: Alexander Archipelago wolf, Canis lupus ligoni, effects of logging on wildlife, population dynamics of wolves, predator-prey dynamics, roads and wolf mortality, Tongass National Forest, southeast Alaska. SummaryThe Alexander Archipelago wolf (Canis lupus ligoni) occupies most of southeast Alaska from Yakutat Bay to Dixon Entrance except for Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof Islands. Based on common cranial characteristics, the Alexander Archipelago wolf was considered by early taxonomists to be a distinct subspecies. Recent taxonomic work suggests that these wolves may have originated from a larger subspecific group (C. l. nubilus) that at one time inhabited most of the contiguous Western United States. Wolves probably entered southeast Alaska sometime after the Wisconsin glaciation, following the northward expansion of black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) along the coast. The hypothesis of a southern origin is supported by recent genetic research showing that wolves in southeast Alaska share a common allele not found in a sample of wolves from interior Alaska or the Yukon. The population is relatively isolated from other wolf populations by water and mountain barriers.A study of the ecology of wolves in southeast Alaska was conducted on Prince of Wales and Kosciusko Islands from 1992 to 1995. Average home-range size of radio-telemetered wolves was 280 square kilometers (109 mi 2 ), with 75 percent of the radio locations for each pack within "core areas" averaging 124 square kilometers (48 mi 2 ). Pack sizes ranged from 2 to 12, with 7 to 9 typical in early autumn. Annual rates of dispersal averaged 39 percent; 71 percent of dispersers were adults ≥2 years old. Dispersal distances were relatively short (13 to 182 kilometers [5 to 71 mi]) presumably due to inter-island water barriers. Wolf movements were more restricted duri...

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