Wildland Recreation, Resource Impacts and the Wilderness Movement Lecture 1 Sep , 2005

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Lecture 8
Wildland Recreation Resource Impacts WILDLIFE
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OVERVIEW

• Impacts on wildlife interrelationships with
  other types of impacts
• Recreation - wildlife interactions
• Types of Disturbance
• Wildlife responses to recreation activity
• Class Exercise
• Synthesis

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Inter-relationships between major recreation
resource impacts
Source Wall and Wright, 1977.
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Factors influencing wildlife impacts

• Type of recreation activity
• Behavior of recreationists
• Predictability of events
• Frequency and magnitude of disturbance
• Timing and location of disturbance
• Type of animal and animal behavior

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Wildlife impacts and Recreation

• Aircraft
• Snowmobiles
• Off-road vehicles
• Personal motorized watercraft
• Jet boats and other powered boats
• Mountain bikes
• Backcountry skiing
• Rock climbing
• Hiking/camping
• Others ???

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Major Effects of Recreation on Wildlife
Source Wall and Wright, 1977 in Hammitt and
Cole, 1998 72.
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Classification of Disturbance to Wildlife

• Type 1 non-consumptive recreational use (animal
  aware of visitors presence but no
  contact/interaction) Harassment
• Type 2 habitat change access (trail) and
  facilities construction (campgrounds, visitor
  center, cabins) Habitat Modification
• Type 3 direct and damaging contact with the
  animal (live capture, hunting, fishing, vehicle
  collisions) Harvest

Source From Liddle, 1997
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Wildlife disturbance and harassment

• Raised heartbeat
• Scanning behavior (head turning)
• Alert behavior (jumpy/restless)
• Startled/violent behavior
• Escape behavior

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Wildlife disturbance and harassment
Behavioral response to aircraft noise Crested
Tern (Sterna bergii) colonies
Source Brown, 1990
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Wildlife disturbance and harassment
Visitors and Alligators
Number and location of alligator-visitor
incidents in the Everglades National Park
(1972-1982)
Source Jacobsen and Kushlan, 1996 in Liddle 1997
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Alteration of behavior
Grizzly Bear Behavior
Unnatural
Natural

• Moving towards people or pursue them when seen
  from a distance
• Chasing people or horses when no natural
  aggressive explanation is available
• Extreme boldness in approaching people and
  visiting campsite or cabin

• Females defending their young
• Defending its food
• Defending itself when approached too closely

Source Jonkel and Servheen, 1977
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Alteration of behavior
Visitor use, bear incidents, and property damage
in Yellowstone National Park
Julia Gerlach Paul Way
Source Hammitt and Cole, 1998 81
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Alteration of behavior
Elk Response to a Visitor
Arrows indicate the direction of movement
Source from Altman, 1956 in Liddle 1997
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Alteration of behavior
White-tailed deer and snowmobile
Encounters between snowmobilers and white-tailed
deer along a 10 km transect in St. Croix State
Park, Minnesota during winter 1973
Source from Dorrance, Savage and Huff, 1975 in
Hammitt and Cole, 1998 84
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Alteration of behavior
White-tailed deer and hiking trail
Distance of white-tailed deer from the nearest
hiking trail at night and during the day in St.
Croix State Park in the winter of 1973
Source from Dorrance, Savage and Huff, 1975 in
Liddle 1997
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Alteration of behavior
Mountain sheep and hiker

• Mean heart rate responses of mountain sheep to
  standardized approaches by a human
• 3 minute stops per location
• Post1 2 minutes post-disturbance
• Post2 4 minutes post-disturbance

Source from MacArthur, Geist, and Johnston 1982
in Liddle 1997
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Habitat Change

• Harder to determine (evidence hard to collect)
• Increase in number of domestic species
• Reduction in wildlife population
• Disappearance of some species or whole community
• Reduction in species diversity

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Habitat Change
Grizzly Bear Habitat Change 1800-1975
Source from Schneider, 1977 in Liddle, 1997
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Effects of Habitat Change Highway
Habitat Change
Primary ecological effects of the road-traffic
complex

• Habitat transformation
• Dispersal corridor
• Isolation
• Emission of matter and energy

Source Liddle 1997
Ray Roy
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Harvest

• Live capture
• Hunting
• Fishing
• Vehicle collisions
• Accidental/Intentional killings

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Harvest
Elk Hunt
Elk distribution before and during winter hunting
at the Ya Ha Tinda Ranch, western Alberta
Source Morgantini and Hudson 1980 in Liddle 1997
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Harvest
Reptiles observed by road-cruising during summer
1985 in northern Alabama
Dor Dead on the road Aor Alive on the
road
Source Dodd, Enge, and Stuart 1989 in Liddle 1997
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(No Transcript)
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Class exercise
A Troublesome Grizzly (No 80) !!??
Source Craighead and Craighead 1971 in Liddle,
1997
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Summary

• Research on impacts on wildlife growing in
  importance
• Three classification system
• Direct and indirect impacts
• Marine wildlife, birds, reptiles, and ungulates
  main subjects for recreation research
• More research needed to corroborate hypotheses
  about recreation-wildlife interactions.

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HOWDY!