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Forest Stand Management and Implications for Elk Selection in Jasper National Park, Alberta

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Forest Stand Management and Implications for Elk Selection in Jasper National Park, Alberta University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2014-09-04 Forest stand management and implications for elk selection in Jasper National Park, Alberta Arnison, Colleen Arnison, C. (2014). Forest stand management and implications for elk selection in Jasper National Park, Alberta (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26212 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1725 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Forest stand management and implications for elk selection in Jasper National Park, Alberta by Colleen Claire Arnison A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN FACULTY OF ENVIRONMETNAL DESIGN CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2014 © Colleen Claire Arnison 2014 ABSTRACT Seasonal resource selection patterns of elk in Jasper National Park, Alberta revealed elk select for areas that would be enhanced by natural or anthropogenic disturbance as they prefer herbaceous, shrub, and open conifer habitat types as well as burn sites. The FireSmart- ForestWise Community program was designed to mimic natural disturbance, such as fire, and consisted of timber removal to protect the community of Jasper from wildfires and improve ecological conditions for wildlife. Following timber removal, forage availability and cover for ungulates increased including grass and forb biomass, cover and diversity along with shrub cover. This thesis demonstrates that changes in human alterations to the landscape can benefit herbivores. If Parks Canada mandate continues to focus on maintaining and enhancing ecological integrity, programs such as this should be encouraged and continued. Key Words: Elk (Cervus elaphus), Forest Stand Management, Habitat Modification, National Park, Resource Selection Functions, Plant Community Diversity, Generalized Linear Mixed Models ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the numerous faculty members, my professional colleagues, friends, and family members who provided guidance and encouragement throughout my process of discovering and exploring my thesis topic. This thesis would not have been possible without the support and guidance of my supervisor, Dr. Marco Musiani. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Paul Galpern and Dr. Kathreen Ruckstuhl for their contribution and support. Thank you for the help of my colleagues and friends at Jasper National Park, in particular to Dr. John Whilmhust, Mark Bradley, Layla Neufeld, and Saakje Hazenberg; for all the scientific guidance, support, inspiration and many enjoyable moments playing music. Thanks are also due to the many Parks Canada specialists, local naturalists, and citizens of Jasper who offered information, constructive comments, and idea. As well, to Alan Westhaver and everyone involved in developing, implementing and collecting baseline data for the FireSmart-ForestWise monitoring program. The basis of this thesis refers directly to your hard work. Thanks to Jesse Whittington for providing the script to validate my models and Dr. Paul Galpern and Dr. Pablo Pina for all the tedious help and advice creating and debugging my scripts. Thank you to Mike Alexander of the Government of Alberta Range Resource Management Department in Pincher Creek, Alberta for providing grazing exclusion cages. My field work could not have been completed without the help of my field volunteers including the 2012 Jasper National Park summer students, as well as Leanne Arnison and Maria Fe Saraiva. Thank you to all of my friends: your support, encouragement, insights, hugs and laughs have made this experience enjoyable. Especially my fellow EVDSers (Cheryl Clieff, Mary Benjamin, Kathleen Pilfold and Cynthia Nemeth) and my lab mates (Joe Kermish-Wells, Christa Dubesky, Crysoula Gubili, Tyler Jessen, and Dr. Byron Weckworth). iii Finally and most importantly, I would like to thank my family, Mom, Dad and Leanne, for their unwavering support and love. Their confidence in me never wavered, even when mine did. I could not have done this without your help. And finally to Matt, whose love and support helped me through this process every day. There are no words big enough to express what your support has meant to me. iv Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... III TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. V LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... IX CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 6 1.3 THESIS STRUCTURE AND CONTENT ................................................................................................. 7 1.4 THESIS SIGNIFICANCE .................................................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 2: ELK RESOURCE SELECTION IN JASPER NATIONAL PARK ........................................ 9 2.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.1 Known patterns of elk habitat selection ........................................................................ 9 Elk response to vegetation .................................................................................................... 10 Elk response to predation ..................................................................................................... 11 Elk response to anthropogenic features ............................................................................... 12 Elk response to terrain conditions ......................................................................................... 13 Elk response to fire and stand management ........................................................................ 13 2.1.2 Resource selection function ......................................................................................... 14 2.2 METHODS ............................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.1 Study Area .................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.2 Capture, collaring and data collection ......................................................................... 20 2.2.3 Data layer consolidation .............................................................................................. 22 2.2.4 Model development and comparison .......................................................................... 27 2.3 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................. 30 2.3.1 Elk ranges in summer and winter ................................................................................ 30 2.3.2 Elk resource selection function model building and result .......................................... 32 2.4 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................ 38 Land Cover ............................................................................................................................. 39 Other natural features .......................................................................................................... 40 Wolf Predation ...................................................................................................................... 40 FireSmart forest stand management and burn areas .......................................................... 41 Anthropogenic features ........................................................................................................ 41 Model validation ................................................................................................................... 42 2.5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 43 CHAPTER 3: VEGETATION AND UNGULATE RESPONSE TO FIRESMART TREATMENTS IN JASPER NATIONAL PARK .................................................................................................................. 46 3.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 46 3.1.1 Fire history in Canada and Jasper National Park ........................................................
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