Carnivores in the Southern Canadian Rockies: Core Areas and Connectivity Across the Crowsnest Highway
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WCS CANADA CONSERVATION REPORT NO. 3 | SEPTEMBER 2007 carnivores in the southern canadian rockies: core areas and connectivity across the crowsnest highway Clayton D. Apps, John L. Weaver, Paul C. Paquet, Bryce Bateman, and Bruce N. McLellan WCS CANADA CONSERVATION REPORT #3 SEPTEMBER 2007 carnivores in the southern canadian rockies: core areas and connectivity across the crowsnest highway Clayton D. Apps1, John L. Weaver2, Paul C. Paquet3, Bryce Bateman1 & Bruce N. McLellan4 1 Aspen Wildlife Research Inc., 2708 Cochrane Road NW, Calgary, AB T2M 4H9 2 Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, 720 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 2T9 3 World Wildlife Fund Canada, P.O. Box 150, Meacham, SK S0K 2V0 4 British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range, RPO 3, Box 9158, Revelstoke, BC V0E 3K0 WCS Canada Conservation Reports: ISSN 1719-8941 Conservation Report Series (Print) ISSN 1719-8968 Conservation Report Series (Online) ISBN 978-0-9784461-0-9 Conservation Report No. 3 (Print) ISBN 978-0-9784461-3-0 Conservation Report No. 3 (Online) Copies of WCS Canada Conservation Reports are available from: Wildlife Conservation Society Canada 720 Spadina Avenue, Suite 600 Toronto, Ontario M5S 2T9 CANADA Telephone: (416) 850-9038 www.wcscanada.org Suggested Citation: Apps, C. D., J. L. Weaver, P. C. Paquet, B. Bateman and B. N. McLellan. 2007. Carnivores in the southern Canadian Rockies: Core areas and connectivity across the Crowsnest Highway. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada Conservation Report No. 3. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Cover Photo: Front Cover photo: Clayton Apps. View of Crowsnest Highway (Highway 3) and Crowsnest Pass looking northwest from Alberta into British Columbia. Back Cover photo: Clayton Apps. View looking north of Crowsnest Highway at Fernie, British Columbia. Lynx: John Weaver. Grizzly bear: Joe Lederer. Copyright: ©2007 The contents of this paper are the sole property of the authors and can- not be reproduced without permission of the authors. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada conservation reports series Wildlife Conservation Society Canada (WCS Canada) was incorporated as a conservation organization in Canada in July 2004. Its mission is to save wildlife and wildlands by improving our understanding of — and seeking solutions to — criti- cal problems that threaten vulnerable species and large wild ecosystems throughout Canada. WCS Canada implements and supports comprehensive field studies to gather information on the ecology and behavior of wildlife. Then, it applies that information to resolve key conservation problems by working with a broad array of stakeholders, including local community members, conservation groups, regula- tory agencies, and commercial interests. It also provides technical assistance and biological expertise to local groups and agencies that lack the resources to tackle conservation dilemmas. Already, WCS Canada has worked on design of protected areas (Nahanni National Park), monitoring and recovery of species (grizzly bear, lynx, wolverine, and woodland caribou), restoration of ecosystems, integrated man- agement of large landscapes, and community-based conservation. Although WCS Canada is independently registered and managed, it retains a strong collaborative working relationship with sister WCS programs in more than 55 countries around the world. The Wildlife Conservation Society is a recognized global leader in conservation, dedicated to saving wildlife and wildlands for spe- cies in peril, such as elephants, tigers, sharks, macaws and bears. For more than a century, WCS has worked in North America promoting conservation actions such as recovery of bison, establishment of parks, and legislation to protect endangered wildlife. Today, WCS Canada draws upon this legacy of experience and expertise to inform its strategic programs from Yukon to Labrador. To learn more about WCS Canada, visit: www.wcscanada.org. To contact WCS Canada, write to: [email protected]. The purpose of the WCS Canada Conservation Reports Series is to provide an outlet for timely reports on WCS Canada conservation projects. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 2 Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Sommaire .................................................................................................................................... 8 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 13 Background and Conservation Issues ................................................................................. 13 Research: Goals, Objectives and Approaches ..................................................................... 16 Regional Study Area .......................................................................................................... 17 2. Distribution and Vulnerability of select Carnivores in the Southern Canadian Rocky Mountains: Regional Modeling ................................................................................................ 21 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 21 Profiles of Focal Carnivore Species ............................................................................. 21 Methods ........................................................................................................................... 25 Model Development .................................................................................................. 25 Model Structure ......................................................................................................... 26 Data Sources and Variables ........................................................................................ 29 Results and Discussion ..................................................................................................... 32 3. Distribution of Grizzly Bears and Lynx along the Crowsnest Highway ............................. 43 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 43 Methods ........................................................................................................................... 43 Field Surveys .............................................................................................................. 43 DNA Analyses ........................................................................................................... 47 Evaluation of Regional Occurrence and Distribution Models .................................... 47 Results .............................................................................................................................. 50 Grizzly Bear Occurrence and Movements .................................................................. 50 Lynx Occurrence and Movements .............................................................................. 58 Evaluation of Regional Occurrence and Distribution Models .................................... 60 Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 64 4. Conservation of Carnivores: Core Areas and Connectivity ................................................ 69 Core Areas: Options for Security ...................................................................................... 69 Landscape Linkages: Options for Population Connectivity ............................................... 75 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 91 Literature Cited ......................................................................................................................... 90 Appendix A: Notes – Data Source Combinations for some Model Variables ....................... 99 Appendix B: Species-Specific Model Parameters ................................................................. 100 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank the Wilburforce Foundation for their vision of conservation in North America and their generous funding of our project on carnivores and connectivity in this strategic area of the Rocky Mountains. We especially thank Gary Tabor and Jennifer Miller at Wilburforce for their support and encour- agement (and patience!), and their outstanding leadership in conservation from Yellowstone to the Yukon. We appreciate a grant from the Sage Foundation that enabled additional field reconnaissance at an important time. We thank the Woodcock Foundation and the Y2Y Conservation Initiative Society for funding the printing of this report and associated communications. The Wildlife Conservation Society/ Wildlife Conservation Society Canada administered this project. We appreciate the vital support of Bill Weber, Jodi Hilty, Martha Schwartz and Ingrid Li of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Gillian Woolmer and Justina Ray of Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. We also salute the conservation leadership by Harvey Locke; Jan Garnett, Dave Hillary, Larry Simpson, and Ron Montgomery - Nature Conservancy of Canada, and Dennis Rounsville of Tembec Forest Management for their col- laborative efforts to secure key wildlife habitat in the Elk Valley and Crowsnest Pass area. Members of the Alberta