Brown Bear Den Habitat and Winter Recreation in South‐Central Alaska
ABSTRACT Increasing demand for backcountry recreation opportunities during winter (e.g., snowshoeing, helicopter‐assisted skiing, snowmobiling) in steep, high‐elevation terrain has elevated concern about disturbance to brown bears (Ursus arctos) denning on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA. To help i...
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crwiley:10.2193/2008-490 2023-12-03T10:31:32+01:00 Brown Bear Den Habitat and Winter Recreation in South‐Central Alaska GOLDSTEIN, MICHAEL I. POE, AARON J. SURING, LOWELL H. NIELSON, RYAN M. MCDONALD, TRENT L. 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.2193/2008-490 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2193%2F2008-490 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor The Journal of Wildlife Management volume 74, issue 1, page 35-42 ISSN 0022-541X 1937-2817 Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2010 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2193/2008-490 2023-11-09T14:01:21Z ABSTRACT Increasing demand for backcountry recreation opportunities during winter (e.g., snowshoeing, helicopter‐assisted skiing, snowmobiling) in steep, high‐elevation terrain has elevated concern about disturbance to brown bears (Ursus arctos) denning on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA. To help identify areas where such conflicts might occur, we developed a spatially explicit model to predict potential den habitat. The model indicated brown bears selected locations for den sites with steep slopes, away from roads and trails. Den sites were associated with habitat high in elevation and away from potential human contact. We then compared areas with the highest probability of providing den habitat with patterns of snowmobile and nonmotorized recreation on a portion of the Kenai Peninsula. We found limited overlap between the 2 recreation activities and potential den habitat for brown bears. At the landscape scale, however, backcountry skiing overlapped more high‐quality den habitat than did snowmobile riding. Our results may be used by land management agencies to identify potential conflict sites and to minimize the potential effects of recreation activities on brown bears in dens. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Alaska Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) The Journal of Wildlife Management 74 1 35 42 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics GOLDSTEIN, MICHAEL I. POE, AARON J. SURING, LOWELL H. NIELSON, RYAN M. MCDONALD, TRENT L. Brown Bear Den Habitat and Winter Recreation in South‐Central Alaska |
topic_facet |
Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
ABSTRACT Increasing demand for backcountry recreation opportunities during winter (e.g., snowshoeing, helicopter‐assisted skiing, snowmobiling) in steep, high‐elevation terrain has elevated concern about disturbance to brown bears (Ursus arctos) denning on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA. To help identify areas where such conflicts might occur, we developed a spatially explicit model to predict potential den habitat. The model indicated brown bears selected locations for den sites with steep slopes, away from roads and trails. Den sites were associated with habitat high in elevation and away from potential human contact. We then compared areas with the highest probability of providing den habitat with patterns of snowmobile and nonmotorized recreation on a portion of the Kenai Peninsula. We found limited overlap between the 2 recreation activities and potential den habitat for brown bears. At the landscape scale, however, backcountry skiing overlapped more high‐quality den habitat than did snowmobile riding. Our results may be used by land management agencies to identify potential conflict sites and to minimize the potential effects of recreation activities on brown bears in dens. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
GOLDSTEIN, MICHAEL I. POE, AARON J. SURING, LOWELL H. NIELSON, RYAN M. MCDONALD, TRENT L. |
author_facet |
GOLDSTEIN, MICHAEL I. POE, AARON J. SURING, LOWELL H. NIELSON, RYAN M. MCDONALD, TRENT L. |
author_sort |
GOLDSTEIN, MICHAEL I. |
title |
Brown Bear Den Habitat and Winter Recreation in South‐Central Alaska |
title_short |
Brown Bear Den Habitat and Winter Recreation in South‐Central Alaska |
title_full |
Brown Bear Den Habitat and Winter Recreation in South‐Central Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Brown Bear Den Habitat and Winter Recreation in South‐Central Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Brown Bear Den Habitat and Winter Recreation in South‐Central Alaska |
title_sort |
brown bear den habitat and winter recreation in south‐central alaska |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2193/2008-490 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2193%2F2008-490 |
genre |
Ursus arctos Alaska |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos Alaska |
op_source |
The Journal of Wildlife Management volume 74, issue 1, page 35-42 ISSN 0022-541X 1937-2817 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2193/2008-490 |
container_title |
The Journal of Wildlife Management |
container_volume |
74 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
35 |
op_container_end_page |
42 |
_version_ |
1784257851205615616 |