Winter Habitat Use by Wolves, <em>Canis lupus</em>, in Relation to Forest Harvesting in West-central Alberta

Abstract

Forested landscapes in west-central Alberta are facing increased pressures from forest harvesting and other land-use activities, which may alter the movements and distribution of Wolves and ungulates. Information on habitat use by Wolves in logged forests is scarce, potentially limiting effective land-use planning in the boreal forest. Nine Wolves, from four Wolf packs, were fitted with GPS radiocollars in the Rocky Mountain foothills, near Grande Cache, Alberta (2000-2001). We found Wolves did not use the landscape randomly, but rather exhibited a significant preference for non-forested natural habitats (shrubs, water), relative to their availability. Within forest habitats, Wolves used cutblocks proportionately more than unharvested forest and non-forested anthropogenic habitats (pipelines, clearings); however, selection of forest cutblocks was not statistically significant. We found no evidence that Wolves preferred or avoided forest cutblock edges. Wolf pack territories contained various levels of timber harvesting, but most areas were still in the early stages of harvest. Nevertheless, these areas have been allocated for large-scale harvesting. Understanding the potential responses of Wolves to rapidly changing landscape mosaics poses a significant challenge to researchers and managers, but such information is important to informing future land-management and conservation strategies for boreal forest Wolf-prey systems.

Pack Size of Wolves, <em>Canis lupus</em>, on Caribou, <em>Rangifer tarandus</em>, Winter Ranges in Westcentral Alberta

“…Forest harvesting can increase human access and change the amount and spatial distribution of habitats for Wolves and their prey. Wolf packs in our study area had a seven-fold difference in the amount of forest harvested within their territories (Kuzyk et al 2004). The Cutbank pack (n = 7-8) had 36% of the forest in their territory harvested whereas the Lynx Creek (n = 12-18) pack had 7% harvested.…”

“…Landscapes in westcentral Alberta are facing increased pressures from forest harvesting and the energy sector (oil and gas). Forest harvesting may alter the movements and distribution of Wolves (Kuzyk et al 2004) and ungulates (Smith et al 2000), and in combination with linear corridors (roads, seismic lines) from oil and gas activities, can enhance human access to once remote areas and possibly increase human-caused Wolf mortality from shooting and trapping. Enhanced predation by Wolves, facilitated by landscape change such as increased travel efficiency on linear corridors (James and Stuart -Smith 2000) and associated increases in alternate prey populations (James et al 2004), is thought to be the primary factor for Caribou declines in Alberta (Edmonds 1988;McLoughlin et al 2003 …”

Travel Rates of Wolves, <em>Canis lupus</em>, in Relation to Ungulate Kill Sites in Westcentral Alberta

“…The extensive, recent logging in the area (Smith et al 2000) could favour deer numbers, and thereby influence predation risk to Caribou. Wolves in this study area were found to use forest cutblocks proportionately more than unharvested forests, which may be a response to increased number of deer and other ungulates that are attracted to the young vegetation in the cutblocks (Kuzyk et al 2004). A greater understanding of the role of deer in this Wolf-prey system is required, as most of the forest in westcentral Alberta has been allocated for timber harvest.…”

“…It is hypothesized that Woodland Caribou spatially separate themselves from Moose to avoid predation by Wolves (Bergerud and Elliot 1986;Seip 1992). Wolves may alter their use of habitats in response to industrial development such as forest harvesting (Kuzyk et al 2004) and human infrastructure such as roads and trails can enhance Wolf movements (Formozov 1946;Thurber et al 1994;Ciucci et al 2003). James (1999) reported that Wolves in winter travelled 2.8 times faster on a linear corridor than in the forest.…”

Interactions of wolves, mountain caribou and an increased moose-hunting quota --- Primary-prey management as an approach to caribou recovery.

“…In advance of developing RSF models for wolves, we assembled Geographic Information Systems (GIS) layers of landscape characteristics ( Table 2.1) that we hypothesized would influence wolf selection based on previous wolf-selection studies (Arjo and Pletscher 2004, Kuzyk et al 2004, Oakleaf et al 2006, Milakovic et al 2011. We classified the landscape into vegetation classes using multispectral images from SPOT 4/5 satellites (available at www.geobase.ca).…”