Distribution of suitable habitat in winter and summer for plains bison (Bison bison bison) in the Pink Mountain Region of British Columbia ...

• Main Author: Hoar, Bruce
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: The University of British Columbia 2021
• Subjects: Bison bison bison; Plains Bison
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0396663; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0396663

The plains bison (Bison bison bison) is threatened in Canada, with the biggest threat to their recovery being a lack of habitat in which they are considered compatible. Although the Pink Mountain, British Columbia, bison herd currently has about 1,000 individuals, there has never been a formal study of the suitability of the area to sustain the herd. Therefore, this study was performed to determine if the Pink Mountain region contains plains bison suitable habitat based on guiding principles for developing a Habitat Suitability Index. Data used for analysis was aggregated from Landsat8, Canadian Digital Elevation Model, Daymet, and the Freshwater Data Atlas of British Columbia. The final habitat suitability index combined a value for slope, distance to water, landcover, aspect, and snow depth. Separate calculations were performed for summer and winter. Based on the habitat suitability model conducted, there appears to be significant habitat of sufficient quality to support a population of plains bison ...