Access management for wildlife conservation

石油和天然气开采、采矿和木材采伐的工业发展导致了阿尔伯塔西部大规模的道路建设。 众所周知，道路和人类对道路的使用会影响包括麋鹿、狼和灰熊在内的敏感野生动物物种的分布、运动和死亡率。 有人提议对通往公路的娱乐通道实行门控管理，以减轻工业发展对土著野生动物的影响。 我们提出了一个实验研究，以评估野生动物的道路上的西南阿尔伯塔东坡门控访问管理的有效性。 我们将使用重复的前后对照干预（BACI）研究设计和全球定位系统（GPS）无线电遥测监测麋鹿，狼和灰熊的运动，栖息地使用和死亡率。 我们将在GIS中使用新开发的统计方法，以绘制访问管理对野生动物分布和移动的影响，并确定应作为移动走廊管理的地点。 我们将评估栖息地的选择和组件的健身，以及如何修改道路和访问管理之间的关系。 我们将开发空间结构的捕食者-猎物模型（麋鹿/狼和熊），使我们能够识别道路和通道管理对捕食者-猎物相互作用的影响。 我们的研究将评估具有成本效益的方法，这些方法可以使敏感的野生动物在工业发展中得以持续存在。

Industrial development for oil and gas extraction, mining, and timber harvest has resulted in extensive road construction in western Alberta. Roads and human use of roads is known to influence the distribution, movement, and mortality of sensitive wildlife species including elk, wolves, and grizzly bears. Gated management of recreational access to roads has been proposed to mitigate the effects of industrial development on indigenous wildlife. We propose an experimental study to evaluate the effectiveness of gated access management of roads on wildlife on the east slopes of SW Alberta. We will use a repeated before-after-control-intervention (BACI) study design and global positioning system (GPS) radiotelemetry to monitor movements, habitat use, and mortality of elk, wolves, and grizzly bears. We will use newly developed statistical methods in a GIS to map the influences of access management on the distribution and movement of wildlife, and to identify localities that should be managed as movement corridors. We will evaluate the relations between habitat selection and components of fitness and how these are modified by roads and access management. We will develop spatially structured predator-prey models (elk/wolves & bears) that allow us to identify the effect of roads and access management on predator-prey interactions. Our research will evaluate cost-effective methods that can allow persistence of sensitive wildlife in the face of industrial development.