Habitat Modeling: Spatial Landscape Assessment at the Rigden Mine, Colorado

Abstract

Abstract. Reclamation specialists are interested in assessing the landscape potential for many organisms through the use of wildlife habitat models to minimize the impacts of mining operations during the life of the mine. In this study, ten United States Fish and Wildlife Service habitat models (tree squirrels [Sciurus sp.] , were examined in a model validation experiment across ten cover types (76-100% canopy, 51-75% canopy, 26-50% canopy, grassland/urban savanna, exposed substrate, saplings, seedlings, shallow water/mudflats, water deeper than 2', and river) at the Rigden Mine near Fort Collins, Colorado for one year during 1989 through 1990. In addition, a second experiment tested for differences across the ten habitat models during carefully managed progressive mining operations by applying the predictive models for the management years 1975 (pre-mine), 1977, 1979, 1981, 1986, 1996, and 2036 (post-mining). The analysis revealed that the habitat scores significantly (p<0.05) predicted actual observed habitat use, but only explained 32 percent of the variance. There were no significant differences in the habitat quality across the pre-mine, mine operations, and post-mine landscapes. This study suggests that there is still much work to be conducted to refine predictive wildlife habitat models, but that there is great potential for mining operations to minimize the impacts to wildlife during the life of the mine.

The Emergence of Landscape Urbanism: A Chronological Criticism Essay

“…Early attempts to explore planning and design applying these models, occurred in the late 1980s [51,52]. By 2003, Burley, on-site in Colorado, illustrated that, at best, these models may be able to explain only about one-third of the variance in predicting multispecies preferences for environments [53]. The result means that the universal (best) pattern is a set of nonuniversal patterns, and there is still much that can be learned and discovered in the natural world.…”