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Home → Publications → Forest Nursery Notes → 2009 Winter Forest Nursery Notes → 2009 Winter Forest Nursery Notes - New Nursery Literature → Grizzley Bears and Forestry. I. Road Vegetation and Placement as an Attractant to Grizzly Bears

Grizzley Bears and Forestry. I. Road Vegetation and Placement as an Attractant to Grizzly Bears

Roever, C. L., Boyce, M. S., and Stenhouse, G. B. Forest Ecology and Management 256:1253-1261. 2008.

Today's growing demand for timber is increasing road development in once roadless forest ecosystems. Roads create both local changes in plant communities and landscape-level changes in forest connectivity. Roads also increase human access, which can be detrimental to species such as grizzly bears. Because most grizzly bear mortalities occur near roads. we examined grizzly bear attractants near roads, which could increase bear use of roadsides and consequently increase human/grizzly bear interactions. We measured the prevalence of 16 grizzly bear foods near roads and examined patterns in road placement to better understand use of roaded habitats by grizzly bears in west-central Alberta. We found that roadsides had a higher frequency of ants, Equisetum spp., Taraxicum of]idnale, Trifolium spp., graminoids, and sedges; whereas. interior forest stands had a higher frequency of Shepherdia canadensis, Vacdnium myrtilloides, V. vitis-idaea. and ungulate pellets, an indicator of ungulate presence.


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Author(s): C. L. Roever, M. S. Boyce, G. B. Stenhouse

Section: General and Miscellaneous

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