Guidelines for Winter Recreation near Wolverine Dens in Montane Western North America

Doris Hausleitner — 2024-03-03

Wolverine den in snowy areas with boulders or woody debris at or below tree line in montane western North America. They have naturally low reproductive rates, a fidelity to denning areas, and a sensitivity to human presence during denning. The goal was to synthesize existing ecological information for denning wolverine and identify risks from human presence in the categories of timing, distance, footprint, pattern of use, and frequency of use. The authors suggest commercial tenure holders and private users keep recreation in the low-risk category to minimize disturbance on denning females. Denning area surveys should be conducted prior to tenure application or renewals and dens can be identified by a concentration of tracks over more than three weeks from January 15 to May 15. Recreation should be restricted within a 5-km radius of confirmed dens during this window. Best practices include limiting the number of groups and concentrating movement on existing linear features as wolverine are sensitive to disturbance at a very low intensity of use and are at greatest risk when disturbances are dispersed and unpredictable.

A Comparison of Forest Edges and Interiors on the Infestation Dynamics of Dryocoetes Confusus Swaine (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae)

Lorraine Maclauchlan — 2024-08-31

The western balsam bark beetle, Dryocoetes confusus Swaine, is ubiquitous throughout mature subalpine fir ecosystems in British Columbia and is considered the most serious mortality-causing disturbance. Harvesting subalpine fir has increased recently; however, little is known about how this anthropogenic disturbance affects the population dynamics of D. confusus. Using high resolution photography and ground surveys, this study compared stand composition and D. confusus attack levels along natural forest edges and edges created by harvest <10 years or >15 years ago, to forest interiors, where no anthropogenic disturbance had occurred. Subalpine fir density and D. confusus attack were lower in natural forest edges than in harvested edges. There were differences in attack levels between harvest treatments, but the overall impact by D. confusus was similar to D. confusus-caused mortality seen in forest interiors. More recent attack differed among edge treatments, with the highest levels in the <10 years since harvest treatment and the lowest levels in natural edges. This short period of increased activity by D. confusus post-harvest has minimal

Journal of Ecosystems and Management

Guidelines for Winter Recreation near Wolverine Dens in Montane Western North America

A Comparison of Forest Edges and Interiors on the Infestation Dynamics of Dryocoetes Confusus Swaine (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae)