The Canadian Arctic provides important habitat for millions of marine birds. Some key habitat sites for these have already been protected, but many others lack official protected status and remain vulnerable to various anthropogenic threats. The authors worked with the community of Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut, to create two new National Wildlife Areas that protect the colonies, and the nearby marine area, of approximately 500,000 birds during the breeding season. The process has taken two decades to complete, in part due to misunderstanding and mistrust of government on the part of aboriginal residents. In this paper the path that led to the creation of these sites is traced. This has included the approach adopted to collaborating with the local community, incorporating aboriginal (local) ecological knowledge, conducting scientific surveys while building local capacity for further scientific investigation, and finding a solution that addressed the disparate interests of the various stakeholders in this process.
ABSTRACT. We used ground surveys to identify breeding habitat for Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) in the outer Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, and to test the value of high-resolution IKONOS imagery for mapping additional breeding habitat in the Delta. During ground surveys, we found Whimbrel nests (n = 28) in extensive areas of wet-sedge low-centered polygon (LCP) habitat on two islands in the Delta (Taglu and Fish islands) in 2006 and 2007. Supervised classification using spectral analysis of IKONOS imagery successfully identified additional areas of wet-sedge habitat in the region. However, ground surveys to test this classification found that many areas of wet-sedge habitat had dense shrubs, no standing water, and/or lacked polygon structure and did not support breeding Whimbrel. Visual examination of the IKONOS imagery was necessary to determine which areas exhibited LCP structure. Much lower densities of nesting Whimbrel were also found in upland habitats near wetlands. We used habitat maps developed from a combination of methods, to perform scenario analyses to estimate the potential effects of the Mackenzie Gas Project on Whimbrel habitat. Assuming effective complete habitat loss within 20 m, 50 m, or 250 m of any infrastructure or pipeline, the currently proposed pipeline development would result in loss of 8%, 12%, or 30% of existing Whimbrel habitat. If subsidence were to occur, most Whimbrel habitat could become unsuitable. If the facility is developed, follow-up surveys will be required to test these models.RÉSUMÉ. Nous avons effectué des relevés au sol afin de déterminer l'habitat de nidification du Courlis corlieu (Numenius phaeopus) dans la partie externe du delta du Mackenzie, Territoires du Nord-Ouest, et d'évaluer l'utilité des images IKONOS à haute résolution pour cartographier d'autres milieux de nidification dans le delta. Au cours des relevés au sol, nous avons trouvé des nids de courlis (n = 28) dans de vastes milieux de polygones à centre concave et à carex sur deux îles (Taglu et Fish) du delta en 2006 et 2007. La classification dirigée à partir de l'analyse spectrale des images IKONOS a permis d'identifier, avec succès, d'autres cariçaies dans la région. Toutefois, les relevés au sol effectués dans le but de valider cette classification ont permis de constater que de nombreuses cariçaies comportaient des zones denses d'arbustes, ne présentaient pas de mares ni de structures polygonales et n'hébergeaient pas de courlis nicheurs. Il a été nécessaire de faire un examen visuel des images IKONOS pour déterminer quels endroits présentaient des structures polygonales. Des densités beaucoup plus faibles de courlis ont également été trouvées dans les hautes-terres adjacentes aux milieux humides. Nous avons utilisé des cartes d'habitat conçues à partir d'une combinaison de méthodes afin d'analyser des scénarios destinés à estimer les effets potentiels du projet de gazoduc du Mackenzie sur l'habitat du courlis. Si on suppose que l'habitat est entièrement détruit dans les 20, 50 ou 250 m de t...
No abstract
. 2010 Aerial surveys do not reliably survey boreal-nesting shorebirds. Canadian Field-Naturalist 124(2): 145-150.Aerial surveys have been used as a method for surveying boreal-nesting shorebirds, which breed in difficult-to-access terrain; however, the fraction of breeding birds observed from the air is unknown. We investigated rates of detection by conducting simultaneous air and ground surveys for shorebirds at three sites in the boreal forest of the Northwest Territories, Canada, in 2007. Helicopter surveys included both pond-based surveys where the helicopter flew around the perimeter of each wetland and transect-based surveys where observers recorded birds seen on line transects. Ground surveys involved intensive observation, territory mapping and nest searching in 5 km 2 of plots over a period of 5-6 weeks. Shorebird densities observed from the helicopter were highest near large bodies of water. No shorebirds were observed over closed forest despite breeding densities on ground surveys being highest in closed forest. Detection rates were very low, varied among species and aerial survey types, and were inconsistent over time. Ground-based observations showed that the shorebirds often did not flush in response to the helicopter passing overhead. Owing to poor rates of detection, we conclude that helicopter surveys are not an appropriate method for surveying breeding shorebirds in boreal habitats, but may have some utility for monitoring birds' use of stop-over locations.
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