Evaluation of Landscape Models for Wolverines in the Interier Northwest, United States of America

Authors

Mary M. Rowland, Forestry and Range Sciences Laboratory
Michael J. Wisdom, Forestry and Range Sciences Laboratory,
Douglas H. Johnson, USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research CenterFollow
Barbara C. Wales, Forestry and Range Sciences Laboratory,
Jeffrey P. Copeland, Idaho Department of Fish and Game/United States Forest Service,
Frank B. Edelmann, Idaho Power Company

Date of this Version

2003

Comments

Published in Journal of Mammalogy, 84(1):92-105, 2003.

Abstract

The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is an uncommon, wide-ranging carnivore of conservation con- cern. We evaluated performance of landscape models for wolverines within their historical range at 2 scales in the interior Northwest based on recent observations (n = 421) from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. At the sub-basin scale, simple overlays of habitat and road-density classes were effective in predicting observations of wolverines. At the watershed scale, we used a Bayesian belief network model to provide spatially explicit estimates of relative habitat capability. The model has 3 inputs: amount of habitat, human population density, and road density. At both scales, the best models revealed strong cor- respondence between means of predicted counts of wolverines and means of observed counts (P < 0.001). Our results can be used to guide regional conservation planning for this elusive animal.