CONSERVATION AREA DESIGN for the MUSKWA - KECHIKA MANAGEMENT AREA (MKMA) Volume 1: Final Report Kim Heinemeyer, Rick Tingey, Kristine Ciruna, Tom Lind, Jacob Pollock, Bart Butterfield, Julian Griggs, Pierre Iachetti, Collin Bode, Tom Olenicki, Eric Parkinson, Chuck Rumsey and Dennis Sizemore July 31, 2004 Nature Conservancy of Canada Round River Conservation Studies Dovetail Consulting Inc. CONSERVATION AREA DESIGN for the MUSKWA - KECHIKA MANAGEMENT AREA (MKMA) Volume 1: Final Report Kim Heinemeyer, Rick Tingey, Kristine Ciruna, Tom Lind, Jacob Pollock, Bart Butterfield, Julian Griggs, Pierre Iachetti, Collin Bode, Tom Olenicki, Eric Parkinson, Chuck Rumsey and Dennis Sizemore July 31, 2004 Nature Conservancy of Canada Round River Conservation Studies Dovetail Consulting Inc. CONSERVATION AREA DESIGN for the MUSKWA - KECHIKA MANAGEMENT AREA (MKMA) Authors and their affiliations: Dr. Kimberly Heinemeyer, Research Director, Round River Conservation Studies Rick Tingey, GIS Specialist, Round River Conservation Studies Jacob Pollock, Research Associate, Round River Conservation Studies Dennis Sizemore, Executive Director, Round River Conservation Studies Tom Lind, GIS Analyst, Round River Conservation Studies Dr. Kristine Ciruna, Conservation Programs Coordinator, Nature Conservancy of Canada, BC Region Pierre Iachetti, Conservation Planning Coordinator, Nature Conservancy of Canada, BC Region Bart Butterfield, Independent Consultant Julian Griggs, Principal, Dovetail Consultants Tom Olenicki, GIS Analyst, Craighead Environmental Research Institute Collin Bode, Independent Consultant Dr. Eric Parkinson, Ecosystem Science Specialist, BC Ministry of Water, Air, and Land Protection Chuck Rumsey, Executive Director, Round River Canada Citation: Heinemeyer, K., R. Tingey, , K. Ciruna, T. Lind, J. Pollock, B. Butterfield, J. Griggs, P. Iachetti, C. Bode, T. Olenicki, E. Parkinson, C. Rumsey and D. Sizemore. 2004. Conservation Area Design for the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area. Prepared for the BC Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management. Conservation Area Design for the MKMA Acknowledgements ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The MK CAD project team would like to thank the many individuals who assisted us in preparing this report and its constituent components. In particular, we thank our senior science advisors including Dr.’s Daniel Doak, Lance Craighead, and Barbara Dugelby. We also thank Rod Backmeyer and Graham Suther for their ongoing assistance throughout the project, and in particular, for advising on the development of focal species models. Much of our work was also developed with the help of Dr. Kathy Parker at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). In addition to providing important radio-telemetry data for focal species model validation, Dr. Parker and her students Dave Gustine, Andrew Walker, and Brian Milakovic, served as reviewers for focal species models. Other focal species model reviewers included Dr. Paul Paquet, Wayne McCrory, Ross Peck, Scott McNay, Robert McCann, Pamela Hengeveld, Brad Culling and Diane Culling. Review and commentary for the terrestrial ecological land unit analysis was provided by Dr. Jim Pojar and Dr. Richard Jeo. We also thank Dr. Jeo for his review of our human use analyses. We would also like to thank the staff of the BC Conservation Data Centre, including Marta Donovan, Biological Information Coordinator and Leah Ramsay, Program Zoologist for providing CDC element occurrence data and helping to create the CAD’s fine-filter database. We also thank Insha Kahn of the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM) for his direction regarding delivery of the CAD GIS Toolkit. The freshwater analyses of the MK CAD, including aquatic focal species models, were developed with assistance from MSRM’s Dave Tredger, Art Tautz, Sean Cheeseman, and Vicki Marshall, as well as Ted Down of the Ministry of Water Air and Land Protection (MWALP), and Dave Nicholson of NCC BC. We would like to thank Dave Verbisky and Trek Aerial Surveys for cheerfully accomodating our winter field surveys and scheduling. Jason Holland provided excellent and safe piloting, as well as invaluable assistance in searching for animals. We would also like to thank Wayne Sawchuck, Rod Backmeyer and others for assisting with the aerial surveys by sharing their insights into the region. Throughout the project we have been supported by a number of individuals in Fort St. John including Claudia Howers and Karrilyn Vince, both of whom we thank for their contribution to the project. Additionally we thank all those who took the time to join us for meetings and workshops throughout the planning process. We are also particularly grateful for the input and encouragement we received from the Muskwa Kechika Advisory Board, and appreciate their ongoing support for the goals and objectives of the project. Likewise, support and guidance from Howard Madill, the Muskwa Kechika Program Manager, has been critical to the success of this project. Finally, we would like to thank the report’s peer reviewers, Craig Groves of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Dr. Brian Miller of the Denver Zoological Society, Dr. Peter Arcese of the University of British Columbia, Dr. Kathy Parker of UNBC, Dr. Jim Pojar of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, and Dr. Brendan Mackay of the Australia National University. Volume 1: Final Report Page i July 31, 2004 Conservation Area Design for the MKMA Table of Contents VOLUME 1: TABLE of CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................... i VOLUME 1: TABLE of CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. ii VOLUME 1: LIST of TABLES ......................................................................................................................viii VOLUME 1: LIST of FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xii VOLUME 2: LIST of APPENDICES ............................................................................................................xiii VOLUME 3: LIST of MAPS.......................................................................................................................... xiv LIST OF ACRONYMS ....................................................................................................................................xv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................1 The Muskwa-Kechika Management Area................................................................................................1 Project Rationale and Objectives...............................................................................................................1 Regional-Scale Conservation Planning ....................................................................................................1 Study Area Description.............................................................................................................................2 CAD ANALYTICAL COMPONENTS..........................................................................................................3 Analytical Framework...............................................................................................................................3 Human Use Analysis.................................................................................................................................3 Terrestrial Ecosystem Analysis.................................................................................................................3 Freshwater Ecosystem Analysis ...............................................................................................................4 Terrestrial Focal Special analysis..............................................................................................................4 Aquatic Focal Species ................................................................................................................................5 Fine-Filter Analyses...................................................................................................................................6 Permeability and Connectivity Analyses.................................................................................................7 CONSERVATION AREA DESIGN...............................................................................................................7 Primary Core Area Selection.....................................................................................................................8 Connectivity-Secondary Core Areas and Supplementary Sites .............................................................8 Conservation Area Design: Results and Discussion................................................................................9 GIS TOOLKIT.................................................................................................................................................9 IMPLEMENTATION ...................................................................................................................................10 RECOMMENDATIONS AND NEXT STEPS .............................................................................................11