Toward the Restoration of Caribou Habitat: Understanding Factors Associated with Human Motorized Use of Legacy Seismic Lines

Abstract

Populations of boreal and southern mountain caribou in Alberta, Canada, are declining, and the ultimate cause of their decline is believed to be anthropogenic disturbance. Linear features are pervasive across the landscape, and of particular importance, seismic lines established in the 1900s (legacy seismic lines) are slow to regenerate. Off-highway vehicles are widely used on these seismic lines and can hamper vegetative re-growth because of ongoing physical damage, compaction, and active clearing. Restoration of seismic lines within caribou range is therefore a priority for the recovery of threatened populations in Alberta, but a triage-type approach is necessary to prioritize restoration and ensure conservation resources are wisely spent. To target restoration efforts, our objective was to determine factors that best explained levels of off-highway vehicles use on seismic lines intersecting roads. We investigated the relative importance of local topography, vegetation attributes of seismic lines, and broad-scale human factors such as the density of infrastructures and the proximity to recreation campsites and towns to explain the observed levels of off-highway vehicles use. We found that off-highway vehicles use was mainly associated with local topography and vegetation attributes of seismic lines that facilitated ease-of-travel. Broad-scale landscape attributes associated with industrial, recreation access, or hunting activities did not explain levels of off-highway vehicles use. Management actions aimed at promoting natural regeneration and reduce ease-of-travel on legacy seismic lines within caribou ranges can be beneficial to caribou recovery in Alberta, Canada, and we therefore recommend restrictions of off-highway vehicles use on low vegetation, dry seismic lines in caribou ranges.

Modeling multispecies predator–prey dynamics: predicting the outcomes of conservation actions for woodland caribou

“…Strategic restoration recognizes the purposeful removal of particular linear features that increase the overall effect of a restoration program over a broader area (Pigeon et al. , Hornseth et al. ).…”

“…The restoration of linear features occurs incrementally, as a percentage of total density over a defined time interval. The restoration of linear features is occurring across the range of caribou in western Canada, but efficacy is an area of research (Schneider et al 2010, Pigeon et al 2016.…”

“…This could include replanting roads or seismic lines with vegetation or blocking the lines to prevent use by wolves (Pyper et al 2014). Strategic restoration recognizes the purposeful removal of particular linear features that increase the overall effect of a restoration program over a broader area (Pigeon et al 2016, Hornseth et al 2018. For example, the removal of select features might prevent use by humans that suppress natural revegetation or access by wolves to larger areas of caribou range.…”

Examining the role of terrestrial lichen transplants in restoring woodland caribou winter habitat

“…Predation is a well-understood cause of caribou mortality (Seip 1992, Schaefer et al 1999, Environment Canada 2012. Whereas the influence of habitat alteration (McLoughlin et al 2003, Vors et al 2007, Environment Canada 2012, changed predator-prey dynamics (Seip 1992, Vors et al 2007, Boreal Caribou Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge -Aseniwuche Winewak Nation 2010, Wittmer et al 2010), linear features (James and Stuart-Smith 2000, Government of Alberta 2016, Pigeon et al 2016, and changes in forest structure due to mountain pine beetle infestations and/or associated salvage logging (Williston andCichowski 2004, Cichowski andHaeussler 2013) are more complex. It has become clear that unsustainable predation throughout the Canadian range of woodland caribou is facilitated by habitat change and altered predator-prey dynamics (Seip 1992, Festa-Bianchet et al 2011, Environment Canada 2012.…”

Analysis of the vertical canopy structure in native forest fragments and <i>Eucalyptus</i> plantations to detect edge effects

“…While the impact of seismic lines on regenerating ecosystems is fairly well-known (Bayne et al, 2011;van Rensen et al, 2015;Paulson and Thomson, 2016;Pigeon et al, 2016;Finnegan et al, 2018), less is understood about the combined interactions between seismic lines and proximal ecosystems. Numerous complex and non-linear interactions influence the condition of ecosystems within and beyond seismic lines, which are differentially affected by limitations to growth including variations in soil moisture and incident solar radiation (Gallardo-Cruz et al, 2009;Méndez-Toribio et al, 2016).…”