We monitored the behavioral responses of bison (Bison bison), elk (Cervus elaphus), and trumpeter swans (Olor buccinator) to motorized winter recreation by repeatedly surveying seven groomed or plowed road segments in Yellowstone National Park during December 2004 through March 2005. We sampled >2,100 interactions between vehicles and wildlife groups and used multinomial logits models to identify conditions leading to behavioral responses. Responses by these wildlife species to over-snow vehicles were relatively infrequent, short in duration, and of minor to moderate intensity, with >81% categorized as no apparent response or look/resume activities, 9% attention/alarm, 7% travel, and 3% flight or defense. Analyses of similar data collected during 1999-2004 indicated the likelihood of active responses by wildlife increased significantly if (1) wildlife were on or near roads, (2) more vehicles were in a group, (3) wildlife groups were smaller, (4) ungulates were in meadows instead of forest or geothermal habitats, (5) interaction times increased, (6) wildlife were traveling instead of resting, and (7) humans dismounted vehicles and/or approached wildlife. The likelihood of an active response by bison or elk decreased as cumulative visitation increased, suggesting that these ungulates habituated somewhat to motorized recreation. There was no evidence of population-level effects to ungulates from motorized winter use because estimates of abundance either increased or remained relatively stable during three decades of motorized recreation prior to wolf colonization in 1998. Thus, we suggest that the debate regarding the effects of motorized recreation on wildlife is largely a social issue as opposed to a wildlife management issue.
Wildlife Responses to Motorized Winter Recreation in Yellowstone: 2005 Annual Report
2005
58 pages
Report
No indication
English